What is your proudest achievement outside the workplace? How has it impacted you?

By the young age of seven, I had settled on soccer as my sport. During weekend tournaments, my goal count would often soar into the double digits, and I reveled in my role in the many team victories. The triple-tier trophies are stacked in storage now. What remains is the true achievement of recognizing how soccer forged my personal values of connectedness, self-awareness and leadership that will shape my future professional and personal goals. In my fourteen year commitment to the sport, I developed a deep sense of connection to the teammates that enabled my advancement and enjoyment throughout training and competitions. My integral role to a larger purpose is a value that sports ingrained within me. This awareness drew me to Anthropology as a major in college, as it nurtured my fascination with other cultures, and to my college volunteer work, helping refugees from war-torn countries acclimate to life in America. I have been adept at navigating networks closer to me; I acquired coveted summer internships during college, after which I pursued the same connected spirit to a consumer-minded position in marketing. Reaching for more meaningful bonds, I worked throughout my first year in graduate school to promote health prevention in under served communities. This rewarding, community-driven work was a reminder of the kinship that was fostered with my teammates and the importance of close connections in my life. The self-awareness that I gained through my soccer commitments has led me to discover the earlier influences that propel me. Growing up in a single parent home, I was driven by the priority my mom placed on sports as a source of confidence and fitness. As a former track athlete, my mom viewed sports dedication as essential to overcome the trying high school years. Although we had an unconventional relationship, my dad’s influence was even more profound in my life. He has held a high-profile role as a XYZ through which he prioritized wealth and success. The ways each of my parents embodied their sports persona taught me about how to be a purposeful team player in my personal and professional relationships.

I also learned the essence of leadership by serving as captain of my school and club teams consistently from the ages of 7 to 21. Taking initiative and building unity are leadership traits that have been ingrained in me through the example of my mom and grandmother. I was disheartened as a child to watch the downturn of my family’s healthcare business, pioneered by my grandmother, who had a commanding, task-oriented management style. However, I was invigorated by my mom’s success when she stepped in to reinvent her mother’s failing company, giving life to a new business, XYZ. Witnessing her collaborative leadership approach growing up influenced my resolve to be an effective captain, especially in times of ambiguity and challenge. My relentless dedication to serve as an example for my peers, including my former teammates and current colleagues, is a true reflection of what I have learned from the role models who inspire me.

In recent years, I have applied these values to my graduate thesis, where I am evaluating Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a groundbreaking delivery model initiated by President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. My inherent value of connectedness resonates well with the ACO model, where integrated networks of physicians and hospitals have a shared responsibility to keep a population of patients healthy. With keen self-awareness, I am navigating interviews with top-level executives and financial managers from leading ACOs to forge personal relationships and solicit critical input. My leadership is echoed in the feedback from Drexel faculty, who have already lauded my project—in which I manage two researchers—as a necessary, strategic effort that will produce results with far-reaching implications.

As I assess how soccer has shaped me, it is clear that the most important building blocks for my leadership lie within the foundations of how I was raised. The values that were instilled in me have already inspired a critical thesis project, and I know they will forever guide my professional and academic ambitions.