\u201cCultivator of connected ecosystems for human connections to spark impact, rippling across industries and generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hometown<\/strong>: Austin, Texas<\/p>\n Fun Fact About Yourself: <\/strong>Raising ducks created some of my happiest memories.<\/p>\n Undergraduate School and Major:<\/strong> University of Houston, Double Major Entrepreneurship and Marketing with minor in Sales<\/p>\n Most Recent Employer and Job Title: <\/strong>Dell for Startups, Sr. Program Manager<\/p>\n Aside from your classmates, <\/strong>what was the key part of Carnegie Mellon\u2019s MBA curriculum and programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? When I shared my vision to impact a million people through community frameworks, I didn\u2019t get polite nods\u2014I got introductions, collaboration offers, and genuine excitement about co-creating this future. This level of investment in students\u2019 purposes, where faculty become true collaborators in our journey, convinced me that the Tepper School is where my vision will become reality.<\/p>\n What course, club or activity excites you the most at Carnegie Mellon? <\/strong>Hard to say, there\u2019s a lot of heart in the Tepper School\u2019s MBA clubs especially around entrepreneurship. What I am most excited is the cross-pollination that could occur with the engineering and arts colleges. The moments where CMU student activities can collide to help support innovation and entrepreneurship is truly what I\u2019m most excited for.<\/p>\n The Tepper MBA is known for intensive one-on-one coaching and personal development. What area do you hope to strengthen during your two years in business school and why? <\/strong>Self-confidence in high-stakes decision-making and executive presence. While I\u2019m extremely comfortable building communities and bringing people together, I want to strengthen my ability to confidently advocate for unconventional ideas in boardrooms for all kinds of people. As I scale my vision to impact a million people through community frameworks, I\u2019ll need to persuade established organizations, government agencies, non-profits, corporate, and startups to embrace new paradigms. I\u2019m excited by the Tepper School\u2019s leadership program to help me refine how I present disruptive concepts with the gravitas and data-enforced convictions needed to drive global change.<\/p>\n The Tepper MBA is also known for being highly data-driven Why does the program\u2019s focus on quantitative analysis and decision-making appeal to you? How have been able to leverage this approach in your career so far?\u00a0<\/strong>Leonardo da Vinci famously stated, \u201cTo develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science.\u201d Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. Community building is just that, half art, half science\u2014and I\u2019ve learned it\u2019s the science which helps us transforms good intentions into measurable impact. Beyond creating spaces of belonging through multiple communities at Dell, ERG\u2019s and non-profits, I\u2019ve leveraged data-driven approaches to help produce social and business impact reports for events serving hundreds of people. In the process, I was able to help generate feedback and analyze how their authentic connections drove tangible ROI for attendees, organizations, and sponsors. By analyzing engagement patterns at both macro and micro levels, my work at Dell Technologies helped our team to understand not only the importance of what makes community engagement work, but how and why specific interactions create value.<\/p>\n When you think of Carnegie Mellon University, what is the first word that comes to mind? Why? Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: <\/strong>It\u2019s not going to be being an official speaker at TechCrunch, Collision, or SXSW. It won\u2019t even be about how we brought over a dozen corporate ERGs and a dozen non-profits together to align on Austin\u2019s DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n My biggest accomplishment happened in my last week at Dell, when I felt genuinely confident that everything I built would thrive without me. They say you\u2019re successful when you become irreplaceable\u2014I disagree. You\u2019re successful when you become unnecessary.<\/p>\n For over seven years, I cultivated Dell\u2019s startup ecosystem, but in those final days, I realized I\u2019d done something more: I\u2019d transferred not just knowledge and relationships, but the deep conviction that authentic connections create measurable value. I watched my team take ownership of frameworks I\u2019d created, improve processes I\u2019d started, and dream bigger than I had. The relationships I\u2019d nurtured became theirs to grow. The philosophy that community drives business outcomes became their north star, not just mine.<\/p>\n Real leadership isn\u2019t about building something that needs you\u2014it\u2019s about building something that transcends you. Watching that team now, expanding programs, deepening relationships, reaching startups I never could have touched alone, I see the true ROI of community building: impact that multiplies in your absence. Yes, there\u2019s always more to create, but knowing I built something designed to outlast me? That\u2019s legacy. That\u2019s the accomplishment that actually matters.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Being a part of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and the genuine commitment of the Tepper School community to support my vision. Even before starting my MBA, the staff and professors have encouraged and supported my mission to bring people together to create a stronger connected ecosystem \u2014already connecting me with opportunities to help bring Pittsburgh\u2019s startup community together through Carnegie Mellon University. This wasn\u2019t just a conversation about having access to resources; it was about creating a place to help find authentic partners who understand where I am trying to go and help proactively seek to support my mission.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Disruption. CMU doesn\u2019t just theorize about change\u2014it architects, executes, and invests in it. From spawning the AI revolution to transforming Pittsburgh\u2019s entire economy, CMU is the epitome of creating impact through calculated disruption. This resonates deeply with me: while others treat community as a soft skill, I\u2019m disrupting that paradigm by proving that intentional human connection, backed by rigorous data, drives harder ROI than traditional business strategies.<\/p>\n