We value our community and it is important for each person to contribute to its success. What difference will you make as a member of the MBA class at the Tepper School?
I believe there are a thousand ways to do anything, and this can-do mentality allows me to position challenges as opportunities. I am competitive - mostly with myself – and my futuristic mindset inspires me to dream big. I attribute who I am to my approach to challenges and collaborative spirit.
During our athletic campaign, our team relentlessly prioritized between the time we spent training versus managing the business, and my ability to be calculated with decision making was a strength. To cover operational expenses, we needed a strong cash flow from donations. We achieved a high click through rate to our donation page on our website, yet our conversion rate was low. Recognizing the long-term opportunity this presented, we prioritized solving this problem and approached it from a few angles: we sought feedback from previous donors and studied other successful athlete donation pages. To create a simplified donor journey, we worked with our 501c3 to accept credit card donations through our website - a process that went against conventional thinking. This innovative approach increased our average website donations per month from $300 to $6,000.
My ability to quickly prioritize, identify opportunities, and collaborate within diverse teams were skills I took with me to work. During my role as Manager for the Thrifty Brand, we needed to determine how to make a 60-year-old car rental brand relevant to consumers. Thrifty’s tagline is “As Thrifty As You Are” and we believed the customer was thrifty and wore their thriftiness like a badge of honor. We took this insight and thought – what’s the thriftiest thing we could do as a brand from an advertising perspective? We reused an old Super Bowl ad that Thrifty ran in the 1990s, which was the last time the brand advertised on television. We cut it from 60 seconds and created a 6 second and 15 second spot. This campaign drove a 16% lift in brand consideration and generated 15 million views on YouTube.
In pursuing my MBA from Tepper, I will bring my positive energy and passion for problem solving to engage my peers, accelerating and broadening my thinking to meet the challenges of the 21st century. I plan to further build myself into a strategic leader by advancing my analytics skills with courses like "Optimization and Statistical Decision Making", entering team pitch competitions and participating in a global capstone course in Hong Kong.
One of my goals every day is to make someone smile. Bringing my experiences to enrich the lives of my peers is at the heart of the legacy I hope to leave during my two years at Tepper. Whether it’s leading a global trek, holding an active role in the Marketing club, or encouraging someone to say yes to an exciting weekend adventure like visiting the Andy Warhol museum, I look forward to inspiring and learning from world-class leaders within the Tepper community.