This, That, and So Much More!

Although I don't recall having to pull an all-nighter in business school, last week I surely came close to it, functioning the next day on just two hours of sleep! Why do this to myself, you may ask. I had a speech to deliver for my Oral Communications course, a midterm exam for Macroeconomics, and a paper due for my Negotiations class - all on the same day! I suppose I am pretty used to working under pressure to get things done, but really these last two weeks have been a true endurance test! Allow me to share some of the bigger ticket items:

Thursday, 9/20 - New York City
I served as a volunteer at an event being sponsored by The Toigo Foundation at NASDAQ in Times Square. The event was for young professionals who are interested in pursuing their MBA and in particular, want to either continue or switch to a career in the financial services sector. The event also served as a reminder of just how small the MBA world can be. At the event I reconnected with a Sorority sister of mine, a former college classmate, and some Toigo alumni...all who also knew each other in some way or another.

Friday, 9/21 - New York City
Johnson is not alone amongst business schools that suffer from a low female to male ratio, but the school is attempting to ramp up its efforts to recruit women. On this day I participated in a focus group with Johnson alumnae (both recent and more professionally advanced), current students, faculty, staff, and corporate partners. Together this diverse group of women and one man examined the current situation and discussed opportunities to overcome this challenge. I am really looking forward to seeing some of our ideas come to fruition! As President of the Women's Management Council and as a female candidate for the MBA at the Johnson School, I feel it is my duty to actively work toward increasing the number of women here.

Friday night :) thru Sunday afternoon - Atlantic City (woohoo!)
Some college girlfriends and I had been planning this trip since mid summer as a little reunion so you can understand that despite the fact I had so many deliverables for school the next week, I could not miss this weekend with my girls. Life is not about assignments and deadlines, afterall, and it is necessary to continually develop and maintain those relationships with the people in your life. It was my first time to the AC and though it's no Vegas, I'm a fan and will likely make the trek again some day. I have to recoup the $30 I lost on the Wheel of Fortune slots afterall!

Hell Week...
Well, you know some of it from above but after returning from Atlantic City I had to hustle to get it all done. By Wednesday at 2:05 when I turned in my Macro exam I was ready for the weekend...and really looking forward to my Intro to Wines course at 2:55 where we try 6-7 different wines each class! To my dismay, we didn't taste any wines that day and instead had a course on responsible drinking led by the Cornell University Police Department. I have to admit that despite my initial pouting, I was happy for this lecture and hope the message reached at least some people in the audience. Not that Cornell has a huge drinking problem and driving while drunk is also not a cause for concern here either but I think it is important for anyone who chooses to drink be reminded of the possible repurcussions of their abuse of alcohol. Two weeks ago, I got a call from home...one of those calls you don't ever hope to get. My grandmother had been killed in a car accident. The driver of the other car involved in the collision was drunk. My inability to travel to Mexico for my grandmother's funeral and grieve with the rest of my family is a harsh reminder of the sacrifices I have to make to follow my dream and the sometimes unfortunate truth about being stuck in this silo called business school is that the real world keeps moving. No matter the situation, it is never a wise decision to get behind the wheel of a car if you are drunk.

I hate to end on a downer note, so I will share just one more bit of news. This year, the Johnson School launched a new series of events taking place after classes on Thursday afternoons that will serve as a sort of happy hour for students, faculty, staff, and families. Recently, the Student Council held a contest to name this series which I entered. I am happy to report that I am one of the winners of the contest! The weekly "Sage Socials" will be hosted by various school clubs, and departments. What's my prize? Bragging rights until the end of time...or at least until someone comes up with a better name :)

Cheers!

Operation: Find a Job

I survived! From Wednesday through Saturday I was in Orlando, Florida at the 29th annual National Black MBA Association conference (NBMBAA). This year, the Johnson School was fully represented with 17 current Johnson students in attendance. After enduring two full length days of pitch delivering, networking, and mini reunions with former colleagues, old friends, and fellow fellowship members & alumni, I am exhausted! Of course, this exhaustion is enhanced by the number of social events and travel to and from Orlando. In the end, the trip was well worth it on a number of different levels:

Career - One of the advantages to these types of conferences is that many times firms that do not recruit directly with my school but do have a an MBA recruiting program are present. This was my first time at the NBMBAA conference, but I did attend the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) conference in Cincinnati last year so I had some idea of what to expect and how to prepare. Prior to the career fair portion of the event, I uploaded my resume to the online database and took advantage of the online resources available such as job search and application components. I also looked at the list of exhibitors and mapped out which companies I wanted to target and when applicable, which positions I wanted to discuss with the companies - a total of 30 firms made my list. On my first day, I quickly found that I had high expectations of my ability to navigate through the list. By the closing bell at 4:00 pm I had only been able to see 12 firms and I had started at 10:00 am! Something I found interesting was that not all firms had MBA recruiting processes. In fact, some firms were there as a resource for individuals already in the workforce looking for direct hire positions. From these firms I was told to look at online job postings beginning around February or March. By the end of day 2 of the fair, I had met with about 20 of the 30 firms, saving the remaining for my trip to Houston for the 2007 NSHMBA conference in a few weeks.

Networking - You might be wondering what the heck I was doing during these long career fair hours to not have had the opportunity to speak with all of my targeted firms. Well, a huge component of this conference is networking. I don't mean to brag, but I have a pretty extensive network, mostly as a result of the past work experiences and the programs I have participated in (i.e. The Riordan Programs, Toigo Foundation, Forte Foundation, LEAD Program in Business, NSHMBA, and an extensive Cornell alumni network) but also from a social standpoint (like friends from my days in Los Angeles). Throughout the two days on the floor as I was walking around I would run into folks I know and took the time to catch up and meet some of their classmates or colleagues. It felt like a big reunion! In fact, there were times I was in a conversation with several people all from different previous experiences but were all also connected in some other way. Perhaps they were now classmates or had mutual friends. Its moments like these that remind me how small the world really is! (especially the world of Black and Latino MBAs) I am sure the 6 degrees is more like 2 degrees of separation here.

Other - This trip was also a great opportunity to just get away. I know I've only been in school three weeks, but its good to break away from the 24 hour day of being an MBA student every so often. One of my closest friends here at Johnson is Meloney (Mel). Mel and I rented a convertible for the weekend pledging to have the top down as much as possible! Fortunately, the daily rain showers that plague Orlando didn't get in the way too often :) Mel spent some of her "growing up" years in Orlando so she was a great navigator to the city. Although we didn't budget time to go to any of the theme parks, we did get to go to Citywalk at Universal Studios for the Diageo hosted event featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff and Biz Markie as well as the House of Blues event hosted by Courvoisier at Downtown Disney, where Shaq made a guest appearance. Aside from these late night events, we also contributed to the Orlando economy by doing a little mall shopping and as patrons at some local restaurants. I am still amazed at how much we were able to fit into a day!

It is good to be back in Ithaca again where it is already beginning to look and feel like fall - my favorite time of year here! The leaves will be changing more rapidly soon, but the air is already crisp calling for a light fleece when I go outside. This was a longer entry than usual, but hopefully as enjoyable as others. I'll be back soon with more stories of my Johnson adventure.

Cheers!

Back to business

It is good to be back! The semester is in full swing and I can hardly believe this is my last fall in Ithaca...again :) Ithaca has a strangely addictive nature that draws you back if you have been away too long. Too long can be a summer, a year, or a couple years but most current students and alumni alike click their heels saying "there's no place like home" when they arrive. There has been a lot of clicking these past three weeks on campus as the big bad second years have returned and today many alumni are visiting for the annual career fair that serves as the kickoff to the recruiting season at Johnson. I am actually awaiting the start of the event now...

I have to say, I am a lot busier than I expected to be this second year. On top of the need to manage my full time recruiting process, I am loaded with leadership responsbilities and not to mention classes. Unlike first year when all I could think about was the core and surviving Michaely's cold calling, I find myself jumping from club meeting to club meeting planning the events and activities of this last semester of leadership. Fortunately, I have a class schedule that allows me to manage all of these tasks. During this first half of the semster I only have classes Monday through Wednesday (sweet!) but my end of the week is a tough one. On Wednesday I have 4 classes back to back (to back to back) taking me straight through from 8:40 am to 4:55 pm. Phew! Fortunately, my last class on that day is Introduction to Wines. Yes, you read that right. This class is likely THE hardest class to get into at Cornell. It is offered through the Hotel Management school but I am sure you can understand the benefits of a business student taking this course. Sadly, I missed the opportunity to do it undergrad, which is why it was a priority this year.

Well, it sounds like the atrium is buzzing with pitches from first years trying to make their great first impressions on the recruiters and alumni at the career fair so I think I'll go join them now. But check back soon, because I still have a ton to share!

Cheers!