OneHaas

On this episode of the OneHaas Alumni Podcast, meet leadership coach Jeremy Guttenplan, a double bear with an MBA and a bachelor's degree in engineering from Haas. After years working in the data science and risk management fields, and holding top leadership positions at Wells Fargo and Capital One, Jeremy realized he wanted to spend more time coaching and developing his team than playing corporate politics. Jeremy chats with host Sean Li about how he made the pivot to coaching, explains the nuances between coaching, counseling, mentoring, and advising, and gives Sean a taste of his coaching style with an emphasis on the impact and return on investment personal development work can provide. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On his journey from data science to strategy, and discovering coaching as a career path“ I would get into these jobs that'd be very specific, very narrow focused.  And I had a way about me that I would create a T shape out of every role I'd end up in. So, you know, where they wanted me to do a certain thing and go really deep on something, I'd learn everything around it, connect all the dots together, you know, and make it really broad. Also, I generally master the one thing they wanted me to do pretty quickly, and then I'd get bored and wanna figure everything else out. And I was doing that in every job I was in.”On how the birth of his son propelled him to pursue coaching“I wanted to be a father, but I was also afraid I wasn't gonna be a great one. And there was a day that it hit me that, you know, I'm having a son and I'm gonna be his male role model.  And it was like a bucket of ice water got dumped on my head. It just woke me up. It woke me up out of this, whatever life I had been living up to that point, it wasn't what I'd want my son to look up to. I didn't see myself as a role model. A lot needed to change and a lot of that was about accepting myself.”On the definition of coaching“ Coaching is not about right or wrong, good or bad. There's nothing bad or wrong about that.  Coaching is about noticing it, asking yourself, is this getting me what I want? Like what I really want, what I say that I want right now? I might wanna be right about something, but what do I really want? And so that's what I ask my clients: Is that getting you what you say that you want? You know, thinking that other thing's gonna be better than this thing. And you know, the answer is always no. And it's an interruption tool to see that, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I have everything I need right now in this moment. I am already a whole complete, perfect human. And I can still aspire to be an even greater version of myself.'”On the ROI of coaching“ A coach can accelerate your journey to your freedom, your happiness, your fulfillment, whatever that is.  You know, whether it's in your relationships, whether it's in your job, whether it's with your finances, your relationship with money. The sooner you take care of these things, the more of your life you're gonna live, right? You might even live longer, because you'll be putting less stress on yourself.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileInstagram Profile Leading Your Life CoachingSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

For women's history month, the OneHaas Alumni Podcast is pleased to welcome Olivia Chen, a Haas undergrad alumna and the co-founder of Twrl Milk Tea.Like so many of the best entrepreneurial ventures, Twrl was born out of a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic. With boba milk tea shops closed, Olivia and her co-founder Pauline Ang were finding ways to still enjoy the treat at home while also making a version of milk tea that prioritizes quality and pays tribute to their Taiwanese and Chinese heritage. Olivia joins host Sean Li to chat about being raised by immigrant parents from Taiwan, her career journey from Haas to Twrl, and Olivia dishes on all the ways her on-the-go milk teas are taking the boba industry by storm.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On her family's deep Berkeley roots“I actually am,  I would say, like a Berkeley baby, because we were in the Berkeley family housing units, there are baby photos of me playing on the playground. And so Berkeley has always been a really big part of my identity because my family, my dad are Berkeley alums. And so, my parents were really, really proud when I actually was accepted into Berkeley. And so being kind of from the Bay Area, you know, when relatives came, the first place we'd take them would be Berkeley to go see the campus. And so when I got in, it was kind of a no-brainer that I would be attending.”Lessons on entrepreneurship from her parents' career paths “ How the evolution of entrepreneurship goes is, you know, you climb one mountain, but you're at the bottom of another hill. And so you just keep climbing these mountains and then you just hope you can peak at an amazing peak. And so that is literally entrepreneurship. That is also the journey of an immigrant, right? Like, you go through these ebbs and flows of mastering language or mastering cultural norms.  And so those types of skills that I've seen my parents persevere with, they have been very, very motivating.”On what makes Twrl stand out“ What makes our canned drinks unique is we're the first to bring nitro infusion to the tea category. We're the first to bring pea protein. And so there's very little innovation in the last 30, 40, 50 years of the tea category. So we are literally the first tea brand out of all these big players out there to bring nitrogen infusion, to use pea protein. So it has actually changed a lot of things that are happening in the tea category itself.”On how Twrl got its name “ Twrl is a really special name for us because we, you know, think about our heritage and our origin. And an emperor was walking through a garden holding a hot cup of water and a leaf twirled into his cup and that's where the first brewed tea was born. That's the origin story. And we'd love to kind of say that, you know, our brand is steeped in history, but we're twirling for the future. And so we're really excited to share a little bit more about ourselves. And we're really, really proud of our heritage as Taiwanese and Chinese Americans.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileTwrl Milk TeaPodcast Rec: How I Built This with Guy Raz Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

OneHaas is pleased to welcome Yael Zheng, class of 1992, who is a seasoned marketing executive with two decades of experience in the tech industry. She's served as the Chief Marketing Officer for companies like Bill.com and VMware, and has sat on seven different boards including MeridianLink and UC Berkeley's  Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.Yael moved to the U.S. from China when she was a teenager and found herself drawn to the world of engineering. After getting an undergraduate degree at MIT, she felt like her true calling was elsewhere and decided that business school was the best way to find it. Yael chats with host Sean Li about finding her passion for marketing at Haas, her family's experience emigrating from China after the Cultural Revolution, and some of the top lessons she's gained from serving as a Chief Marketing Officer and now a board member. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On coming to the U.S. from China in 1981“ When I came to this country, I went to New Jersey and was finishing up the last few years of high school. And it was such a completely weird experience. Eyeopening would be an understatement. And I remember going to a local supermarket and finding the shelves just full of stuff like everything was stocked with stuff, and I was telling my sister like, oh my gosh how could there be so much stuff in the store? You know, of course, I came from a country back then, stuff was still kind of scarce.”On the misconceptions of what a Chief Marketing Officer does“ It's not about just taking a product and then, you know, go put out a website and some blogs and whatever, some market advertising. I mean, that's kind of the tactic. [But] far more important and far more interesting is to really figure out, behind all the tactics, [the product market fit i.e. what customer problems need to be solved and how big and how pressing,] what strategy you need to adopt, how you price it, how you package it.”On the importance of doing your homework on a company before working there“ I've known people who kind of feel like, oh, you know, you seem to have got pretty lucky with several companies that have really gone somewhere. I think luck is definitely a big part of it. But I think like anything, as we all know, you improve your luck or increase your luck by really doing your homework ahead of time, right? You try to see, okay, this company is really trying to attack a problem that's really big. A lot of customers, right? A lot of businesses feel the potential pain. And so there's a really potentially big opportunity to try to solve that problem.”On being a board member vs. an operational executive “ I think that we are constantly reminded as board directors that it's not our job to actually run the company. That's the job of the leadership team, the management team. We're supposed to provide oversight and governance. So having been an operator for many years, you know, I have to constantly remind myself   nose in and then fingers off. So it's our job to ask questions and ask good questions to help the management team to make sure that they have the right strategy in place and that they're executing effectively.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileYael's recommendation – HubSpot blogSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

The OneHaas alumni podcast is pleased to welcome to the show Heather Rascher, the Senior Manager of Global Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at Abbott.Growing up in Sacramento, Heather's connection to UC Berkeley and Haas runs deep. After getting her undergraduate degree in economics and English from Cal, Heather went on to work in the investment banking sector, before deciding to return to Haas in pursuit of a more meaningful career path. Heather joins host Sean Li to chat about her California roots, her passion for supporting public institutions like UC Berkeley, how she gives back through board service and mentorship, and what led her to her fulfilling career in the medical devices industry at Abbott.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On her passion for public education“ I just am a huge believer in the ability of education to be transformative to people. And it was really a big thing that was transformative for my family – on my dad's side in particular. So when my dad's family came over from Mexico, his grandparents didn't have any education at all. They had about third to fifth grade education. When they came over here, one of the things that was really important to them was that their kids were able to get an education. Even though they never learned English, they were really clear that their kids had to not only go to school, but they had to go to college. And so all of their kids graduated from college.”On what drew her to healthcare and Abbott“ I just love working on things where there's a tangible benefit to many and an identified problem that it's a tough nut to crack. Even if I can solve one tiny piece of it, so the piece that I'm addressing is through the lives of diabetics and it's still meaningful and I can see that difference, not just in shareholder value, but in meeting diabetics who are using our products, that's what is so exciting to me.”Lessons she's learned throughout her career“I personally think it's better to work for a good manager and a good organization than work on something that's sexy. You can have both, but I think if you have to make a trade off, I've definitely had bad managers and I knew it and I just thought, Oh, but I'm getting red flags, but this opportunity seems too good and, or I'll be able to work with them. And it's true that you can work with them, but you may not thrive.”On the Somos Haas initiative “What we're trying to do is help people understand that you can come and get a business degree at Haas. It's attainable. And here's the way that you can do that. And then helping other organizations see the value of having diverse candidates apply that are all equally qualified. And so I think it's even more important now that there are organizations where people can feel a sense of community that are connected around a cultural identity, but also a singular purpose to be able to have a community that's focused on just supporting one another and driving a community that is oriented towards helping ultimately elevate, at least our objective is to elevate people of Hispanic origin in the business world.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileBook Rec: From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. BrooksBerkeley's BIG GIVESupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

On this episode, OneHaas is honored to welcome Chuck Gibbs, class of 1973, to the podcast. As one of the first Black MBA graduates at UC Berkeley, Chuck has spent his life and career paving the way for younger generations to follow their dreams. Chuck's time as a pioneer dates back further than business school. Growing up in Macon, Georgia in the ‘60s, Chuck navigated segregated times but nevertheless pursued his passion for aviation. At Berkeley, Chuck got his MBA before Haas was Haas, and applied that degree to an impressive career in aerospace, military tech, and Homeland Security. Chuck joins host Sean Li to discuss his upbringing in Georgia, his time in the Air Force, Chuck's experience at Berkeley including how he helped shape the foundation for the future Haas School of Business, his time working for the Department of Homeland Security, and how he continues to help future generations pursue higher education.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On growing up in the South during the Civil Rights Movement“ In my junior year, which was about 1965, schools are starting to be integrated in the state of Georgia. So I live right in front of, believe it or not, a white military school. And I used to see the guys out there doing their drills every day and, you know, marching around. I said, one of these days I'm going to go to that school. I went to that school and integrated it my senior year. That was one of the firsts of my life that I did. Everybody always said, you did things first. You were the first in everything. I was so involved with the Boy Scouts of America. I became one of the first Black Eagle Scouts in the state of Georgia.”On why he chose UC Berkeley“ I was always known to be a radical. Because I spoke my mind when I saw things being done wrong. I just couldn't bite my teeth. I had to let it out, you know, whether you like it or not.And I was that kind of person. I've been that way all my life. And if I see it's wrong, if something's wrong, I'm going to tell you it's wrong.  And how I can make it right or how we can make it right, you know, we're going to do it together.  And one of the reasons why, at Berkeley, Berkeley was just, it was one of the schools to be at in the United States during that particular time.”On how he's helping the future generations now“ Mentoring is the best way to make people feel good about themselves…So that's where I am right now in my life. I'm trying to encourage young folk, you know, I thought about writing a book maybe. And I said, well, is it really worth it?  No, it's really worth it for me to do exactly what I'm doing right now. Talking to you, you know, putting myself out there to let people know who I am and the life that I've had.”On how he celebrates Black History Month“ I learn a little bit more than I knew the year before. I do that for a reason, and try to put it in perspective. Somebody that created something, did something, you know, and then never recognized, you know, like myself. I created a lot of things, I've done a lot of things in my life, I never boasted on it, you know…But the real pioneers of black history, you know, we always say Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and whoever else, you know, the mainstream people, but you've got a lot of people, man, that are black history pioneers that have never been noticed. They didn't want to be noticed.”Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today's guest on the OneHaas Alumni Podcast is D'Juan Wilcher, the Deputy Director of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and a 2022 graduate of the executive MBA program at Haas. D'Juan comes from a military family with deep roots in Gary, Indiana. After getting his bachelor's degree at Indiana University, he decided to join the Navy as an officer. Over the course of his 14 years in the military, D'Juan learned the importance of putting service at the center of all of his work. D'Juan sits down with host Sean Li to chat about his time in the military, including the culture shock he felt arriving in Japan and his experience joining as an officer. They also discuss his decision to get an MBA at Haas and the impactful work the Bush Center does for veterans. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On his family's values around educationI also grew up in a home that was full of love, not full of very much money, not full of very much access. But my mother, she was definitely one who was big on education. She showed it when she was in school and she told us to lean into it the same way. I'm an advocate of public education for that reason. Every school that I've attended from the beginning all the way through Haas has been a public institution. Most of the time that has been by deliberate choice.On earning the respect of his subordinates as a Naval officerThe way that I earn respect from them is from showing up every day. This was the most instructive period of my professional career, was that you show up. That's half the battle,  right? Because some people don't. They just mail it in. That was the first way to earn their respect. Two, know my damn job. Take it seriously. I am new, so when they came to me, they expected to see my nose in a book. They expected to see me asking questions, being curious. Figuring it out so that I can get better to be a better leader for them. On his decision to go to HaasI'm looking down the road, and I can see the water, and I'm like, this is a done deal. This is a beautiful school, beautiful campus. Then I go to the classes, like, yeah, I like this approach. I went with my classmates. We had drinks and dinner afterwards. It's like, this is a done deal. I started my application and that's the end of that story. I never looked back at any other school. I didn't apply. This was my target school and I got in. On some of the work the Bush Center is doing for veteransWe recognize that part of the reason why people don't get to mental health care is because it can be difficult to navigate. So we've thought of creating an easy button whereby we have essentially a concierge service to do an intake. We have all these clinicians and veterans service organizations to help identify whatever supports you might need and we connect you for free. Your services that they get are for free and this year we've been able to reach 2,000 people. Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

The OneHaas alumni podcast is back for its seventh season and it's kicking off with a special guest — Fernando Lopez, Sales Director at Conviva. Originally from Mexico City, Fernando moved to the U.S. during the first dot com boom as a software developer and engineer. But the idea of building a business has always run deep in Fernando's family. After falling in love with the San Francisco area, he decided to pursue his MBA at Haas where he found his passion for sales. Fernando and host Sean Li chat about the art of sales, his experiences at tech giants like IBM and HP, why sales has historically been undertaught in business schools and how Fernando is working to change that. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:The origin of his passion for engineering and building things“I was told stories about me having like one of those musical boxes next to my crib and I would reach out and take it and start disassembling it and like trying to figure out how it worked. And I've always, still to this day, I like building things and like figuring out how they work.”His advice for facing rejection in sales“You can look at it from a mathematical point of view, right? Let's say your conversion rate on reaching out to people is 5%, right? That means you need to make 100 calls to get five people to engage with you. When you're going through them, you're going to get 95 rejections. You might as well just go through them. And don't take it personally, right? Like people are not rejecting you because of you. They're rejecting you because maybe they're busy.Maybe they don't need what you're offering.”One of the important lessons he's learned in his career“Many times, it is not about trying to convince someone what you say or so on…It's about asking the right question. And the same thing applies to leadership in many ways, right? Like, when you're trying to lead a team and you're giving them the answer, you're like, ‘Oh, this is how you should do it. Let me try to convince you this is the way.' You're not as effective as when you ask the right questions and they figure it out. So to me, that's really important in sales, in leadership, in life in general, right? Like trying to figure out not what's the right answer. Yeah, share that answer. What's the right question? So that whoever you're working with can figure out what's the right answer for them.”The critical role of sales in business“Not a lot of people go into sales right after business school. But I was sharing this with someone recently, eventually you do end up in sales. Like if you go into consulting and you make it to partner, you're in sales now. You know what I mean? If you make it to the C suite, like if you're the CEO, you're in sales.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileThe Qualified Sales Leader: Proven Lessons from a Five Time CRO by John McMahonMan's Search for Meaning by Viktor FranklMultipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz WisemanSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

On this episode of OneHaas, hear from alumna Sahar Kleinman – a global strategy and operational excellence executive at Amazon Advertising. Sahar, a first generation American, grew up in New York after her parents emigrated from Iran to further their education. The time she spent watching her mom work in finance on Wall Street and help run her uncle's photo business had a significant impact on Sahar's career path. She and host Sean Li chat about Sahar's experience moving from brick and mortar to the e-commerce world, the importance of taking risks, and how Haas provided her with her own personal board of directors. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:How her family's photo business shaped her early on“That was the first of my hard lessons to be learned as a child, to really learn what it takes to drive a business. And I'm talking about all the tasks that you can think of and having to earn my way to that spot where I could actually start working on developing photos for customers…and it started with grabbing that Windex bottle and wiping the windows outside of the studio.  And really learning really early on that it takes hard work to get to where you want to go.”Why it feels like she gained a personal board of directors from Haas“There's something about putting yourself in a room with a bunch of strangers who all of a sudden over time become family… And you get to know people and you share your stories, and you have this unbiased group of people who are just looking to help you unblock yourself oftentimes. And so maybe during the program things would come up that were work related and then you find yourself just having these go-to individuals that really help you think things through and hold you accountable to the things that you think of doing for yourself and the things that you haven't even thought of doing for yourself and for others.”What keeps her engaged and motivated to stay connected to the Haas network“I want to be able to create that same feeling of being in school and back in the program, even though we're not in the program anymore. I always want to feel that optimism that I felt in the classroom, that not only can I do anything and lead through anything and be anything, but I want others to feel the same thing. And so I want to create these opportunities in the forum for people to stay connected and be able to share what they've been thinking about that's inspiring to them and, you know, have a sandbox of network members to collaborate with to nurture and debate those kinds of thoughts.”On what's next for Sahar“I'm just always out there thirsting for the next big challenge. Ideally, I want to share my knowledge and help lead the next generation to solve big problems and make a big impact. And even better if those next generation leaders come from Haas.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

The OneHaas alumni podcast is honored to have Allan Spivack, philanthropist, community builder, and business leader, share his career path insights on today's episode. Allan spent much of his childhood fascinated by how his dad ran their family home furnishings business. But he was also curious about how businesses could be used for social good. After getting his JD MBA from Haas, he combined his two passions into RGI Home which he led for more than 30 years. He and host Sean Li chat about Allan's upbringing in New York, his unique business approach to RGI Home, and how a passion for community and social impact led him to study Middle Eastern politics and how that experience still influences his social entrepreneurship today. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On his relationship with his father“I remember pretty vividly spending a lot of time with my dad when I was quite young…My dad was not just an engineer, but he was also an inventor. So I would sit in his work room with him and marvel at the mystery of the inventions that he was coming up with. Then he fought for a couple of patents and I didn't really know the content of what he was doing, but it looked so interesting and innovative. And that was my introduction to bringing a different point of view to product and his point of view as well.”On his decision to get his JD MBA“I've always been somebody who attempted to be a student always and this was a chance for me to catch up to what I missed when I was in undergrad.You know, having taken the kinds of classes that I thought would matter once I got into business the quantitative side of things. So, law was gonna teach me how to think one way, but I felt business school would teach me how to think a different way. And together, it would provide me with the best, most well-rounded education.”Some of the challenges he faced running RGI Home“How to run a business with no money. That was my first challenge. Along with that, running an international business by fax, no email. So you're faxing overseas or whatever, and you know, people who don't even speak your language and trying to figure out how to be able to integrate, you know, the various offices with the U.S. based offices.”On his lasting legacy“Since I was young, you know, I've always thought about transforming societies. I can never quite understand why people couldn't figure out how to connect with each other. And also I thought that somebody like myself who had a fortunate upbringing and also had the fortune to be really educated, to go to places like Haas, build the business, had a responsibility to do more. So when I went to build a business, it was not just about industry. It was also about the ability to be able to give back to the communities that I was working in.” Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileRGI Home | HistoryTitan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron ChernowGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim CollinsSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today's guest on the OneHaas alumni podcast is Jeff Wang, the head of business at Codeium and co-founder of RocketFuel Education. Jeff grew up in Chicago with a passion for experimenting with the latest cutting edge technology. After some unfilling corporate jobs, Jeff got his MBA at Haas and jumped head first into the startup world. From there, he found a new passion for crypto and AI and started writing his own newsletter filled with keen market analysis. Jeff and host Sean Li chat about his unique view o  n the crypto and AI markets, what Jeff views as the best uses of AI currently, how those uses could shift in the near future, and if the overall impact of AI on our world is net positive or negative. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:What he got from his time at Haas“Open doors is probably the biggest kind of value that [Haas] can bring and meeting people that also were in the spirit. And I think at least like two or three of the opportunities after just came from other classmates who were trying to build something. And I think that's saying something that, yeah, opening doors is not because of going to a class. It really is like people that you interact with and have common values or common alignments of what you want to build.”On what RocketFuel Education is“We converted that into kind of like lessons on the crypto markets. And now it's more like crypto macro and AI markets and just like really understanding what's going on. And then again, being predictive.And if I'm accurate, sometimes that's great. And sometimes I'll be wrong, but I think over time, just having the understanding. And really understanding how markets work on RocketFuel Education, that is why people stick to it.”How he got the idea for RocketFuel“If you join these crypto communities, you actually get some really good insights as to what is upcoming that nobody else is going to be joining. If you go to these crypto conferences, you meet people that are actually the CEOs of these projects. And you can see if they're like for real or not. Or you could even meet the CEOs of projects that had not even been released yet. And you could actually invest in those companies as well. So you can get an edge by just being very early. And a lot of those interactions like kind of compelled me to be like, ‘Hey, spending all this time doing all this research, at least I should put a brain dump of that somewhere.'”On how AI is going to help humans“Everywhere that we are stuck in right now, like even if it's due to physics or if it's due to just manpower, right? Anywhere that humanity has slowed down. I think AI is just going to speed it back up again. I mean just think about like, if I could add more, headcount to any problem that humanity is facing. I think AI is kind of that solution, right?”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileJeff's education platform: https://rocketfueledu.com/Jeff's AI blog: https://jeffwang.substack.com/Codeium: https://codeium.com/Twitter: @jeffwangcrypto Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

On this episode of OneHaas, entrepreneur, advisor, and investor Albert Lee shares his career journey from finance to the startup world and his invention of the app, MyFitnessPal.Born to Korean-immigrant parents, Albert grew up in a small town outside Albany, New York. His dad worked as a scientist at a research and development laboratory right next to Albert's high school – a school with a reputation for producing successful entrepreneurs.Albert chats with host Sean Li about co-founding the health app MyFitnessPal, why his approach to entrepreneurship has a lot to do with solving everyday problems, and how his time at Haas helped him reinvent himself. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On his unique high school experience “Our school actually, you know what's kind of crazy is, has a couple other very successful entrepreneurs that have gone through it. So prior to me, a guy named Colin Engel, who founded iRobot, the company that makes the Roomba, actually went to my high school. And after me, actually Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, went to my high school as well. So it's kind of this small high school in the middle of nowhere, but has this sort of background of being affiliated with all of these like inventors and scientists. And so there, I think it fostered some entrepreneurial activity.”On the invention of MyFitnessPal“My brother and my sister-in-law were getting married and they had decided to have a beach wedding in Mexico. And my brother was like, man, I am not in good shape. He's like, you know, I really want to look good for this wedding. So they went to a gym, they went to see a trainer, they started working out. And the trainer said, you know, it's great, this is definitely important to get him to a fitness plan. But if you really want to reach your goals before this wedding date, you're also going to have to think about what you're eating. And so the way that I want you to do that is to keep a food journal. And here it is. And he literally presented my brother with this, like, paper and pen diary plus, you know, a little reference guide that had some generic information about foods and calories…And so my brother took that. I think he felt like logically it made a lot of sense to do this thing, but just couldn't believe there wasn't a better way to do it.”On his approach to entrepreneurship“You can start very organically from your own experiences and say, okay, well, what is the stuff in everyday life that I'm doing, seeing, feeling that just doesn't feel quite right to me? You know, are there products that I'm using that I don't like? Are there experiences that I'm having that don't make any sense? And I think my brother and I had determined that the latter way of  trying to build something was much more aligned with how I think we think and we operate and how we feel motivation. And it comes a little bit from the selfish place, which is like, well, I have this problem and I kind of want to solve it, you know, and it doesn't look like anybody else is going to solve this. So I'm going to try to do it on my own.”On how his experience at Haas shaped his mindset“I think one of the magical things about being a business school student is sort of this, you get this kind of new identity where you are.  You're kind of something, but also nothing, you know?  And I don't mean that in a disparaging way, but it's sort of like you have this opportunity to sort of reinvent parts of who you are and expose yourself to a lot of different things. And just like immersing myself in a community of people who, many of whom had entrepreneurial aspirations, just completely changed my personal mindset.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

This month, OneHaas is honored to welcome Noor Gaith to the podcast. Noor is the co-founder of Jaffa Coffee Roasters, named after the city, and specializes in artisanal coffee experiences.Noor and his brothers grew up in the Bay Area but come from a big Palestinian family. Raised by immigrant parents from Palestine and Jerusalem, Noor learned the importance of education and following your heart and passions at an early age. By 16, he was already running his own business selling iPhones. Noor brought that entrepreneurial spirit to Haas where he honed his talents for marketing and brand positioning. After graduating, he found himself at Square and it was through this job he found a new passion: coffee. Host Sean Li chatted with Noor about his journey from iPhones to coffee, how the creation of Jaffa is rooted in his family's culture, and what sets their coffee apart from all the other artisanal coffees on the market. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On his dad's decision to leave Palestine and head West“My dad left Palestine in the ‘80s after the Oslo Accords. And, basically not seeing any potential for us to have any opportunity for, you know, like a life of education and career in Palestine. He was the, I wouldn't say odd one out in his family, but he's the only one who didn't see himself staying, because he was the educated one. He was the one who wanted to study engineering and like he made that happen by finally getting a visa and leaving Palestine.”The early beginnings of his entrepreneurial spirit “In high school, I was buying candy bars from Costco and I would sell them, resell them at school. And then I started selling iPhone cases. And people would just buy them from me. They just knew that I was like the jacket guy. I was like, what do you want? And I didn't do it for vanity or like even really for money. I just kind of thought, I'm like, why isn't everyone doing this? Why isn't everyone turning a profit or making arbitrage? And my brain just understood buy low, sell high and provide value. People want candy. People want lemonade.”The specialness of Jaffa Coffee“Coffee roasters in San Francisco are the vanguards. They bring some of the best. As you go up North, you'll find that in Oregon and Seattle, they lack color. It's a very white world in coffee roasting. There hasn't been really one like coffee roaster that has been Palestinian in the Ivy League status of like Ritual, Blue Bottle, Stumptown. That doesn't exist. What we're doing is like the Michelin star equivalent of coffee.”On his passion for coffee“I would do this as a hobby. It was like my library. I would go and I'd order a latte and I'd order a cortado and I'd sit there and I would just think about coffee because it was fun to me.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileJaffa Coffee RoastersSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

In this episode of OneHaas, meet alumna Tricia Tran, Senior Field Marketing Manager of the financial services and Fintech group at ServiceNow. She's also the founding co-President of the Berkeley Haas Women in a leadership Alumnae network.A child of Vietnamese immigrant parents, Tricia grew up in the Bay Area with her heart set on one day attending UC Berkeley. Her family instilled strong values of education and hard work in her from a young age. Host Sean Li chatted with Tricia during Women's History Month. The pair discuss Tricia's amazing story of emigrating to the U.S. from Vietnam as a baby and the challenges her family faced along the way. They also chat about her experiences working as an Asian American woman in Asia vs. the U.S. and the alumnae group she started for Haas women called Women in Leadership (WILA).*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On the challenges her parents faced when trying to leave Vietnam“It was one of those moments where the decisions you make will alter your life. My dad had the choice to either keep waiting and risk the months of planning to get caught, and not be able to escape or leave for freedom and risk never seeing his wife and his daughter possibly ever again.”How her parents adapted to their new life in the U.S. “She learned how to cook and she learned it by memory. She remembered the flavors of the dishes that she had in Vietnam and she recreated those from memory. They both had several careers in restaurants, in condiments, in the steel business, in jewelry. There were several businesses that they had and I saw them pivot and try new things, and have success and sometimes failures, but they always learned from that.”Her experience working in Asia vs. the U.S.“Even though I was working in a key hub for Asia, like Hong Kong, you looked around and there were a lot of people of Asian ethnicity working there, but none in leadership. And in fact, when I interviewed with the head of our group, who was a Westerner from the UK, she remarked in awe, she said, ‘You speak beautiful English.' When you feel that you are Asian, but you're also American, there's all these facets of you. You're a woman, and you go to a different country with a different background and people have these biases and they have these assumptions and it's important, I think, but hard to call those out, right?”On the creation of WILA“I was struggling professionally and personally, and I wanted a space where I could seek out other Haas women who I knew could understand and provide some perspective. I knew I wasn't alone in feeling this. And today, WILA  is thriving and we continue to serve our mission.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileWomen in Leadership Alumnae Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

The OneHaas alumni podcast is thrilled to welcome Eileen Kwei, the Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of Artisan Partners, a global investment management firm that offers a wide range of high-value-added investment strategies. Eileen was born in the U.S. and spent the first six years of her life in New York where her parents furthered their studies at American universities. When they decided it was time to move back to Taiwan, young Eileen quickly realized she was not going to fit in with her classmates who all spoke and read in Mandarin while she only knew English. But she was determined to assimilate into the culture of her new home. A determination that would come in handy again when Eileen moved back to the U.S. for high school and had to re-assimilate into another culture. Eileen chats with host Sean Li about how those cultural experiences have influenced the way she builds relationships with people in her career, her family's rich cultural history as mainlanders in Taiwan, and her approach to mentoring and networking.  *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Her experience assimilating to Taiwanese culture“Having spent the first six years of my life in the U.S., English was my first language. I didn't speak or write Mandarin. I think thinking back to that period of time, despite how I looked on the outside, I was different, and being different was hard, and I learned that firsthand. But in hindsight, that period of time was also a very valuable life lesson for me to learn about perspectives. Don't make assumptions. Give others the benefit of the doubt. Walk in other people's shoes.”The importance of preserving Chinese culture in her family“My family fled from mainland China to Taiwan, but so did I think a million other people.And my grandparents on both sides had this strong sense of responsibility to provide for those who came along with them and to uphold that culture and those values that they were accustomed to when they lived in mainland China.”A major takeaway from her first job“There are many ways to invest. Alpha generation or generating returns above the benchmark is possible in any market environment and to be a good investor does not just require skill, but it requires tremendous judgment.”Her approach to networking“I really care about people, I want to understand where they come from. I want to be able to appreciate their perspective, whether it's the same or even better or different than mine, gives me maybe a more genuine starting point and hopefully that sincerity and authenticity comes across and is reciprocated, as not just a launch pad to have that connection off the bat, but to really serve as a foundation to foster meaningful, long-standing, hopefully lifelong relationships.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

On this episode of OneHaas, we hear about the incredible career journey of Laura Clayton McDonnell – the president of Corporates at Thomson Reuters and a board member at Signal AI and Zora.A first-generation American, Laura grew up in a military family from Panama with her parents always encouraging her to stay curious and never stop learning. She got her undergraduate degree at San Jose State and went on to earn her JD and MBA at Haas. From there, she worked with some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Apple, IBM, and Microsoft.Laura and host Sean Li discuss her experience working with tech giants, the important influence her parents have played in shaping her view of the world, and why finding your personal philosophy is crucial to your success. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:The influence that her parents' have had on her life“I think about that a lot, about how they came to the United States first of their family to come here. And I think about the sacrifices that they made. They left behind their family, friends, food, culture, language to create a life for a family yet to be born. And I think about the strength and the courage that they bring to the table and you know what – it actually informs the way that I think about the world.”How she uses her personal philosophy statement every day“When I start my day, I think about my personal philosophy and I commit to doing the best that I can. At the end of the day, I reflect and sometimes I don't do as well as I would like, but I commit to do better the next day. And so this, once again, you know, it just really influences everything, everything that I stand for, that I think about and how I live my life.”On her decision to join Microsoft“Sometimes you get these calls out of the blue and you almost have to say yes, because it absolutely made a difference in joining that organization. Satya had just been appointed the CEO, maybe he had been in the role for a year and a half, but he put together an incredible program to change Microsoft from being known as a ‘know it all' company to a ‘learn it all company.'”Why the personal philosophy statement is crucial in business“The first thing that you do when you meet a customer, [is] you're trying to build empathy as a salesperson, [and] you've got to know who you are. So you need to know what your personal philosophy is. So you're supposed to convey that. ‘Hi, my name is Laura Clayton McDonnell and I'm so glad to meet you. I'd like to share my personal philosophy and then I'd like to hear yours too.' And then you build that connection point. Talk about those words and what they mean.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileGrowth Mindset by Carol DweckSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

The OneHaas alumni podcast is thrilled to welcome Dr. Victor Santiago Pineda – a social impact entrepreneur, globally-recognized human rights expert, and a leading scholar on inclusive and accessible smart cities. After immigrating to the U.S. at seven years old and navigating life with a disability, Dr. Pineda graduated from the Haas School of Business in 2002 and has since gone on to advise Fortune 500 companies, negotiate international sustainability agreements, founded and run the foundation World ENABLED, and is an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Sciences. Dr. Pineda chats with host Sean Li about moving to the U.S. from Venezuela, the different opportunities that gave him, his work to enact social change in the world, and why building inclusive environments benefits everyone. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:The impact that moving from Venezuela to the U.S. had on Dr. Pineda“My mother was told that I would not be able to be educated, that I would not be able to have a job, I would not be able to form a family. And all of those ended up being not true, because it wasn't my physical limitations that constrained me but the lack of public policies, the lack of institutions, programs, and laws that allowed somebody like me to thrive. That all changed when I came to California.”How Dr. Pineda is enacting worldwide social change with his work“We're not going to fix these challenges by only pointing out what's wrong with the world, but rather what's investing in what's right with the world. So what we've invested in, in a partnership with the city of Amsterdam, was a three-year project on leveraging AI to map access barriers. Now that's important for disaster risk management and for emergency preparedness, as well as for infrastructure upgrading and climate adaptations.”How listeners can make an impact and support Dr. Pineda's mission“We can each become advocates for more inclusive innovation, no matter what sphere we work in. I think sharing my research around AI, this playbook on inclusive cities, the autism-friendly design guidelines, as well as some of the work we're doing to build a global advisory council on inclusive innovation becomes ways that the very talented Haas community could connect with real systems change.”Dr. Pineda's thoughts on ensuring AI is used as a force for good in the future “I think we need to open up our hearts. I think we need to be grounded with who we are as individuals, what we value, and really create a more intentional approach to how we direct our attention. Because what you appreciate, appreciates, right? If we're in a fear economy, we're feeding fear. For an economy that's investing in more integrated, holistic approaches, we're building those.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileThe Victor Pineda FoundationWorld EnabledMy Disability Justice Youtube seriesVictor Santiago Pineda's book: Building the Inclusive City: Governance, Access, and the Urban Transformation of Dubai Other recommended reads in this episode: Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by Kat Holmes Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel KahnemanThe Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

In commemoration of Native American Heritage Month, Indian Country Executive Michael Garrow joins the OneHaas podcast to talk about his cultural heritage, his career, and his time at the Haas School of Business. Michael is a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York and grew up on the reservation. After spending some time in an aviation career, he applied to Haas to get his MBA so he could give back to his community. Michael and host Sean Li discuss what it was like growing up on a reservation, the current challenges facing Native American communities, and how Michael has been able to use his MBA to help his tribe economically. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why he decided to change careers and get his MBA“I just started wanting to learn more about the finance and operations side and help the tribes. That really was my passion was to be able to give back to the community. When I applied to Berkeley, that's what I said I was going to do. And that's what I had always done with the reservation is helping youth and trying to develop the economy of the tribe because there's nothing really here. It's economically depressed.”How gaming changed the economic landscape for tribes“It gave our parents jobs, or in my case, us jobs, so our children had somebody to guide. Meaning like, they could see like a career path… You can get a job in a casino, and you can go get your education. But what's interesting with the Mohawks is a lot of people went to Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, back in the 1800s. So we are one of the most educated tribes, like reservations, where people have education. It's a big part of our culture is getting your education. So growing up was tough because there was not much opportunity.”How his generation keeps the next generation involved and connected to their culture“I think a  lot of that responsibility lies in the home with the parents and making sure they get out. For the Mohawks, a big part of our culture is the sports, you know, unplugging them and they're involved in sports and they have a positive outlet rather than drugs, alcohol. So I think doing things with your children as they're growing up. So when they're teenagers, you have a relationship with them, so they'll listen to you better.” His advice to young Native Americans about the value of college “I've talked to a lot of tribal youth and said, ‘Oh, I don't want to get in debt.' And I would, almost like a spreadsheet, explain to them how it makes sense to get in debt for a university. How you would be better off. I always say, ‘Well, you can get your sneaker at Walmart or you can get a Nike sneaker. Which one has more perceived value? Well, the Nike does.' And then go, ‘Well, that's about education. You go to a top university, the top employers hire there. And so that's why you need to work hard to get into these universities.'”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

It's Veterans Month, and this episode of OneHaas welcomes a special guest and a special guest host. Last month's guest, Cassandra Salcedo, MBA ‘21, speaks with her former classmate and military veteran Joseph Choi, an account executive at Amazon Ads.  As the son of a Korean military vet, Joseph grew up always wanting to go into the service. After attending the Naval Academy, he landed one of the few and coveted spots with the Navy Seals and spent nine years in the service before enrolling at the Haas School of Business. He and Cassandra discuss his parents' journey to America from Korea, the intensive training he went through with the Seals, lessons he brought from the military to business school, and his current role at Amazon. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Common misconceptions people have about military service members “One big misconception is that those who decide to join the military are very close minded, narrow minded, and not very intelligent people…Or sometimes that it's troublemakers who decided to join the military.”What inspired him to go to business school“I'm going to be real honest here. A lot of military folks when they get out of the military have no idea what they want to do. And I was one of them. I had no idea what I wanted to do. However, thankfully, because of a lot of those ahead of me who got out were great mentors in this sense where a lot of them do go to business school. So it's not uncommon to see a lot of military folks go to business school.”His advice to prospective business school students“I think what's more important is, you know, instead of taking that depth and trying to dive into academics, use that time to get to know your classmates, to try new things, expand your reach, do things that you wouldn't have done normally because I think it's also a safe time to take risks.”Insights he's taken from the military and business school into his current job at Amazon Ads“The job in itself is usually quite simple in comparison to people. People are the hardest. Human relations are the hardest thing to work with, to navigate around and deal with. And I think that is something across the board that I've seen consistent.  In the military, with my last role, with the current role, is that in anything and everything, humans are the most complicated, and hence that's why communication is so important, having empathy is so important.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

This month on the OneHaas podcast, we're celebrating Filipino Heritage Month with Cassandra Salcedo, a Product Marketing Senior Lead at Salesforce. Cassandra is a first-generation Filipina American whose parents emigrated from the Philippines in search of the American dream. It was this story that propelled Cassandra's adventurous career path and ultimately led her to Haas. She and host Sean Li discuss what it was like growing up in a traditional Filipino household and her trips back to the Philippines, her diverse career path from accounting to commercial banking to social enterprise to tech product marketing, and how she made it her mission to meet and spend time with nearly every single one of her Haas classmates before graduation.  *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:When she took the first big career transition “During my social impact fellowship, I had the opportunity to travel to the remote parts that most people in the world have not heard of in Ecuador and Peru and meet people from these regions and hear their stories about what they're using their loans for and how they're using it to propel them forward and got to tell those stories through different blogs, through different interviews that the organization I was working for could do.”What it was like to visit the Philippines and reconnect with her family heritage“They built up this whole community… It doesn't exist anymore today, but there's a family gas station that was called the Salcedo gas station. To see so many people in my family that I had never met before not really having a lot of things and enjoying life and just laughing with each other. That's when I think it sparked for me my appreciation for all the sacrifices that my parents had made.”Why she was drawn to Haas over other business schools“I remember very vividly at the first Haas info session I went to and there was a slide there that showed the career paths that people at Haas go into post graduation. And of course there was, you know, the traditional paths of banking, tech, but it was actually quite a linear graph across different industries. I felt like a lot of the other schools, it was primarily one, but that graph actually really stood out to me because I wanted a school that did that and I also wanted a school that was small enough to build a community.”On her initial introduction to the Haas community“I actually received a hundred percent response rate from all of the Haas alumni that I cold messaged on LinkedIn, which I thought was a telling sign of the community and people actually wanting to give back and share their experiences out of the goodness of their heart and just wanting to help.”Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

OneHaas' commemoration of Latinx Heritage Month continues with an interview with Adrien Lopez Lanusse, the former vice president of consumer insights at Netflix. Adrien's intersectionality between being Latinx and gay gave him a certain kind of insight into the culture within corporations and the impact of those companies' products on the consumer. He and host Sean Li delve into the art of consumer insights, how Adrien's upbringing shaped his work ethic, and what it was like to watch Netflix grow into the behemoth company it is today. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why he was drawn to a business career from an early age I was very curious. And in our household, being in a multicultural household, we consumed products and services very differently than my friends. And I was always curious as to why or how does culture drive or influence us as consumers?On how to ensure consumer insights work is inclusive I think finding the level of granularity is part of what leads to some of the insightful ideas. So, for example, oftentimes, a company will talk about their consumer in a monolithic way. And by not looking at some of the nuances of the different segments, the different types of consumers, you're balancing things out and missing some of the opportunities.How the Haas Thrive Fellows program is empowering future Latinx business leadersLatinx representation in business, particularly in the executive ranks, is a challenge…They've created this program to help educate, prepare, and motivate folks from underrepresented groups to apply and succeed in business schools, hopefully, Haas. And we want to reverse the trend in declining applications from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups. So programs and efforts like these, I think, are really important to increase representation in the executive ranks.On what his promotions have meant to him in his career The fact that someone recognized my value and decided to promote me was something I wouldn't have imagined earlier in my career. Growing up in a Latino household where we're taught to be humble, to be grateful for what we're given, I think, leads to a lot of us not being good at self-advocacy. And it's something we need to work on to increase our representation in the executive ranks. So, all the promotions that I've gotten, I never take them for granted, and I'm incredibly grateful for them.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileHaas Thrive FellowsThe Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick LencioniSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

To celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, the OneHaas podcast welcomes Patty Juarez, the executive vice president and head of Hispanic and Latino Affairs at Wells Fargo Bank. Patty found her passion for finance and banking at an early age, growing up in Mexicali, Mexico, watching her father run his business. After moving to the U.S. at age 11, education became a top priority for Patty and her siblings. When it came time to apply for colleges, Patty knew Haas was the school for her. She and host Sean Li discuss her childhood in Mexico and how her life changed after moving to the U.S., the work she's done at Wells Fargo to increase capital access for minority business owners, and how she got her nickname of “the people's banker.” *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:What it was like to leave Mexico at a young ageAs a sixth grader, I felt like it was the end of the world, like moving away from my birth country. Even if it was just across the border, really a few miles away, it just felt like a huge change. Of course, you know, you leave your friends behind and you start a whole new world in the U.S.Where her passion for finance beganI always knew I wanted to be a banker. It's almost like since I was a kid, I was the bank. Monopoly, I was the bank. If we played like little store, I was always the bank. I always handled the cash. And I always had money. I would save my money from birthdays and things. I would lend my money if my grandmother was short or whatever, and then she would pay me back. And if I'd give her $20, she'd give me back $21 or $22. And she taught me about interest when I was a little girl.On her idea to diversify commercial banking I just wondered how much more business we could get if we did it, right? If we actually came to clients in a culturally relevant way, if we recruited talent that looked like our client base, you know, how much more successful could we be? And that was the basis of me launching diverse segments, which really propelled my career to new heights at Wells Fargo.How she hopes to make a difference for minority business owners My goal is to have no access to capital gap, right? So that any business owner can get the financing they need and there's no bias in the decisioning process that leads to them getting turned down for a loan. And that's not gonna be something that's maybe gonna be solved in my lifetime, but I'm damn gonna try really hard to help it along. Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our spotlight on first-generation alumni continues with a conversation with Cassidy Nolan, the co-founder and managing member of Mach 1 Hot Sauce. Growing up, Cassidy struggled in school. But joining the Marine Corps after high school helped him find his drive and discipline that ultimately led him to Haas.  Cassidy and host Sean Li discuss his family roots in the kitchen, his military intelligence work for the Marines, how his education at Haas helped shape the idea for Mach 1 Hot Sauce, and why it's the hot sauce that pairs well with anything. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:How his time in the military helped with schoolPost-Marine Corps, I never found trouble in school. I learned how to study, I learned how to be disciplined. There weren't any distractions like what I used to have when I was younger. It was like, here's the work, and 50% of the job is just showing up, right? 30% of the job after that is participating in class, and then 20% is actually doing the homework and the test and the quizzes because if you do, if you show up and you ask questions, you're gonna learn and retain so much of it.One of the things he loved most about HaasIf you made it to Haas, chances are you're curious, you're not afraid to ask questions. You're not afraid to go out on a limb and say, ‘Well, I think it's this.' There weren't a lot of politics that got in the way. Like a lot of the time, we're just looking at brass tax…and I felt like the dumbest one in the room, and I loved it because it meant I had the most to gain, you know?The push he gave himself towards Mach 1 Hot SauceLook, if you don't jump off on this hot sauce thing, you're never gonna do it. Because you've always been scared to do it. You know what I mean? Because you're married, you have kids, and if not now, when? And that's such a hard thing, I think, for a lot of entrepreneurs or people who wanna be entrepreneurs is that fear of failing. But I think I just got to a point in time where the fear of not trying was greater than the fear of failing.What makes his hot sauce stand outThere's a dichotomy that exists between either it has flavor, but there's no heat, or it's just complete dry heat, and there's no flavor. And I really believe that we created a hot sauce that can pair with your food because it has a lot of flavor upfront. And then the heat rolls on in the back so you can still have your food and not have it be overpowered by the hot sauce.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileMach 1 Hot SauceSteve Jobs' 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford UniversitySupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

This month, the OneHaas podcast is highlighting first-generation alumni like Carolina Picazo. She's the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Spectrum Equity – a private equity firm focused on growth capital for internet-enabled software and information services companies.Before Spectrum Equity, Carolina spent 15 years at Deloitte working in tax services. Even as a child growing up in a Mexican immigrant family in San Francisco, she always had an affinity for numbers. That passion only grew in her accounting classes at Haas. Carolina and host Sean Li discuss her parents' immigration story from Mexico, why she initially hid her college applications from her father, and how she went from taxes to now holding a top executive job at Spectrum Equity. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On why she was drawn to a career in accounting Math was a strong suit of mine. You know English was harder for people like me whose parents don't speak fluent English or speak conversational fluent, but not super fluent, not a large vocabulary. So it's a lot harder. So, you know, you tend to go towards what you feel you're good at, right?Her first impression of classes at Haas My high school was crazy. It's even crazy now. It's a pressure cooker place. The whole time you feel like you're not good enough. When I went to Berkeley and I took classes, I felt like I belonged. I felt like I was prepared, and it wasn't a crazy pressure cooker situation.How her mom views her careerWhat makes her happy is the fact that I am an independent, self-reliant woman who is financially successful.I think that to her as a woman that grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, having a daughter who isn't dependent on someone else is really important to her. The other thing she says she's very proud of is the fact that I have three children who are successful. My youngest daughter is 19. But she's successful. I mean, my mom views her as successful. And she's like the continuation. She's like, ‘You did your career and you did all that, but you were able to balance raising three daughters who in and of themselves can be independent and strong and successful women.' She said, ‘That's not easy. And that's all you.The advice she gives her daughtersIt's a very long life after you graduate, and you need to feel like you have the tools to do something that satisfies you. Reality is you can't live without earning a paycheck, so find a way to earn a paycheck. And find a way to do it with something that makes you happy and makes you feel like you are intellectually satisfied.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSpectrum Equity BioSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our conversations for Pride Month continue with musician and composer Adrienne Torf. She and a few classmates co-founded the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual MBA Students Group, known today as Q@Haas.Adrienne has been a piano player her entire life, but after getting her undergraduate degree in Political Science at Stanford, she saw an opportunity to help fellow self-employed musicians build their businesses. She just needed to acquire the business skills before she could share them with her community of self-employed creatives. Getting her MBA at Haas sparked a second set of interests, and she spent the next 30 years in the for-profit and nonprofit worlds while still recording, performing and composing music. Adrienne and host Sean Li discuss her recent retirement from nonprofit CFO work and full-time return to music and composing, what it was like forming an LGBTQ student group at Haas in the ‘90s, and the current threat facing LGBTQ rights. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Her tough decision to either stay in school or go on tourMy father, ever the entrepreneur and, I think, really an insightful parent, cut me a deal. He said, “You finish school. You've only got a year to go, finish your undergrad, and I will pay your rent for a year after you graduate. So you can work as a musician without worrying about where you're gonna sleep at night.”What drew her to business schoolI wanted to come back to the community of artists, of which I was a member, with wisdom, with knowledge, with resources. And over time, I have been able to do that, but not as directly as I had intended when I started at Haas.The challenges her student group faced in the ‘90sWhen we wanted to get the word out that we were having meetings, many of the other men who were gay and who wanted to be connected to this group insisted that we not put announcements about the meetings in their mailboxes, which anybody could poke into if they wanted to. So we had to fairly clandestinely post notices about our meeting times and places on bulletin boards where these guys would sneak by and get the information. What she hopes people will do this Pride MonthSpend half an hour reading about all of the legislation in all of the states that is designed to silence the voices of queer and trans people that is designed to deprive everybody of books and films and curricula that keep us visible, and that are already making it impossible for trans people to access the medical care that they need in order to be physically healthy as who they are. Read that stuff, and I hope you will be compelled to do something about it.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileAdrienne's music on Spotify and Apple Q@HaasSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Happy Pride Month! To celebrate, Mark Buchanan joins the podcast to talk about his work in LGBTQ advocacy and community empowerment. After graduating from Haas with a degree in finance and accounting, Mark spent 22 years at Apple as a finance and sales executive. But now, he runs Buchanan Advisory, where he helps diverse leaders reach their full potential. Mark and host Sean Li discuss Apple's one-of-a-kind culture, how coming out helped Mark in his professional life, and what people can do to be a better ally this Pride month.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why Mark decided to leave Apple and start Buchanan Advisory It was a journey about how to help develop people and help develop leaders and help people find a voice to be better leaders. And so that really inspired me after I left Apple to start another chapter of how can I give back and help others be successful? So that's what led me to starting Buchanan Advisory was, I think I can help other leaders be more successful and focus on diverse leaders, focus on the LGBTQ+ community and really help them be successful, and be a mentor, a confidant, an advisor, and help people reach their full potential. On the importance of being your full, authentic selfThe more I came out and was comfortable being myself in front of everybody, the more empowered I was and the more happy I was, which actually helped me in my professional career as well.How to support and be an ally to the LGBTQ communityI think learning and being a student of DEI and belonging is important for all allies. And I think participation, you know, with Pride Month coming up, it's an opportunity for allies to learn, celebrate, be a part of it. And I think the more people are willing to be open minded and learn about the community, the more a better ally they can be, and be self-reflective.Why an organization like Openhouse SF is so needed There's still a lot of adversity for the LGBTQ+ community who become seniors. Some of them feel like they have to go back into the closet because there aren't enough elder care services or communities that are accepting of LGBTQ plus seniors, believe it or not.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileBuchanan AdvisoryOpenhouse SFStartOutGaingelsSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our celebration of AAPI month continues with a conversation with Celeste Fa'ai'uaso. Celeste is a senior program manager at Google and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She attributes her academic drive to her parents' passion for education. Celeste's father grew up in American Samoa before moving to the mainland for college, and her mother, who is Mexican American, was raised by a single mom in Compton, CA. Her parents and older brother were instrumental in shaping her into the determined individual she is today.She and host Sean Li discuss her upbringing, her father's Samoan roots, how Pacific Islanders are a separate demographic group than Asian, and how companies can do better to support their AAPI employees. *OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:How she discovered her passion for mechanical engineeringMy dad had a lot of tools and I found out how to use a screwdriver maybe when I was like six or something. And once I found that out, I was really curious on how things worked. And so I started to take things apart in my house.I'd get a phone and take it apart or get a radio and take it apart. And I think at first it was cute, but then my mom was like, if you're gonna take something apart, put it back together.Why she chose Berkeley over other schoolsHaas is the perfect school for me because of the community. It's such a small group and such amazing, caring people … You are with people who believe in you. They're not sizing you up. They're actually interested in who you are as a person and what are your goals, and they want you to achieve your goals.On the Pacific Islander erasure that can happen during AAPI monthOftentimes when I see commercials or initiatives, I don't see Pacific Islanders, and that really makes me sad, makes me angry because I'm thinking this month is supposed to highlight us and even in this month, I don't see me or my people, and I just don't want people to forget the PI whenever they say AAPI or Asian and Pacific Islander.A piece of Pacific Islander history she's especially proud of My Polynesian ancestors were the best mariners in the world, in human history of sailing the Pacific Islands way before Europe or Vikings were doing what they were doing. Like I've heard the distance they've sailed is equivalent to traveling from south of Mexico to Alaska. They traveled  by using the stars, the currents, looking where birds were landing, and they were covering the Pacific Ocean way before people from Europe and covering a lot more space in the ocean than Vikings. Show Links:LinkedIn ProfilePolynesian Wayfinders And The CosmosPolynesian Culture Center in Oahu, Hawaii Map of Pacific Islands: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

As part of AAPI Celebration Month, we welcome Eurie Kim to the show. Eurie is a venture capital investor, serving as Managing Partner at Forerunner. As a former entrepreneur, Eurie has deep personal appreciation for the emotional commitment and relentless passion required of a founder, allowing her to be radically empathetic to the entrepreneurs she works with while being realistic and honest in the advice she offers. Her point of view reflects her practical nature and her penchant for seeing the big picture through the mess of fighting fires day to day. Inspired by identifying evolving consumer needs, Eurie seeks opportunities to leverage technology to optimize and innovate every aspect of life and to find the right entrepreneur with the vision to take on the challenge.  Listen as Eurie and host Sean Li discuss her South Korean roots, growing up in white spaces, pivoting from consultant to venture capital, and staying cool, calm, and motivated.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On why she had not been vocal about her Asian roots and AAPI-related topicsMy answer, very authentically, is that I don't spend all my time thinking about it. I'm just really busy living life, doing work, trying my best, and moving forward. I didn't feel like I had discrimination overtly, either for being Asian, Korean, or female, to be honest. I know it was there, but I just didn't bother with it. I just kept moving on and ignored it and considered it the exception, not the rule.Now, with so much conversation that has happened over the years with all the AAPI hate, I felt very personally afflicted. And it's always sad that you can't really feel it until it gets that close. And I hadn't felt it until those few years. And now, it's more on my mind. And I say, representation does matter.On the path to becoming a good venture capitalistIf you do not have an appetite for risk, you will never be a venture capitalist. Well, you'll never be a good venture capitalist.So, for all of those listening who want to get into venture, ask yourself really, do you have the risk appetite? If you picked your next job as though that was your venture investment and your dollars was your own labor, what company would you pick? That mentality will help you get your head in the right place to speak the language.Challenges of being a VCI think one of the largest challenges of this job is that you don't know if you're good for over 10 years. It's not just one investment makes you a star. It's the continued ability to do this job on an ongoing basis and to have internal validation and motivation. So, it's a roller coaster industry. You need to have serious conviction in, not only the companies you invest in and the founders and the entrepreneurs you invest in, but also yourself. Because there's plenty of weeks where I'm like, I don't have a good idea. I'm not inspired. And then, there's other weeks where I can't stop myself from thinking things that are interesting. So, you have to think about it as like it's an ultramarathon, and you can't just get give yourself a pat on the back at 26.2 miles and be like, “I crushed it.” You've got 99 million miles to go.How Eurie keeps the motivation up and goingIf you can enjoy the wins of the building, when you launch a product, when you see that consumers are excited about something, when you work with a founder and you see her crush a pitch or raise that next round, those are absolutely worth celebrating, because those are the moments that I like to always say, my philosophy is all about the baby steps. The pyramids were built one brick at a time. You can't see it yet for so long, but you're building something amazing. And so, it does require you to be able to pan back.And I don't want to say there's no validation, because there is. You have to celebrate those wins, because otherwise, I mean it's honestly too long, of a course. But the motivation comes from knowing that you took something that didn't exist and you gave it life, or you gave the founder of this idea the chance to bring it to life.And that is amazing. That feels really, really special. Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileForerunner VenturesThe Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor FranklAtomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James ClearSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our conversations celebrating Earth Day continue with Adriana Penuela-Useche, a chemical engineer, startup consultant, and future investor who's passionate about the intersection between entrepreneurship and VC  as a way to create Climate Action and protect the planet for future generations.Adriana grew up literally hugging trees in Bogota, Colombia, and wanted to find a way to combine her love of nature with her passion for engineering. With her  11 years in the chemical engineering field, her passion to go beyond herself volunteering for  Engineers Without Borders and creating her new path supporting deeptech startups in the Climate tech sector.In this episode, Adriana discusses how her family's upbringing, immigration story, and experience at Haas shaped her, what she thinks are the biggest climate change challenges today, and the exciting technological innovations that could help with some of those challenges.*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:On how she has developed her love for nature and communityYou can describe me as a tree hugger, backpacker, camper, because I love all of those. What I love the most is that my parents developed me in a sense of holistic sustainability viewing it as:”we don't have to only care about nature, but also care about the community that surrounds us.” And to explore that through economics. So with my dad being a mechanical engineer, tinkering of many things and my mom being an economist  drove those two components in our lives and created these building blocks that I have lived throughout my life, which are  “community, not competition and a continuous love for nature and those in need.”On creating a better ecosystem for entrepreneurs There has to be a better way to create an economic system. And then from there, knowing that, for example, in Colombia or other places like what I saw in Ethiopia with Engineers Without Borders, there is so much innovation happening in the day to day that triggers and aligns with good capital to build astrong entrepreneurial ecosystem globally, like a real ecosystem of entrepreneurs, but also develop economies as a path.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileBerkeley Haas Sustainability Alumni GroupThe Sustainable Development Goals Wedding CakeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

In celebration of Earth Day, we invited Martin Szczepanik, NYC alumni chapter president, to talk about renewable energy and sustainability, topics that he is extremely passionate about. Martin currently works at PA Consulting as a Principal Consultant, where he supports their Clean & Smart Mobility offering, helping companies and cities transition to de-carbonized transportation. He also supports utilities and other entities with their purchase and acquisition of renewable energy. Martin is a first-generation American. His parents escaped communism in Poland in the 80s. He and his family faced adversity as they were assimilating in the United States. Martin faced some challenges that shaped where he is today. However, underneath all of it is his passion for clean energy. In this episode, Martin shares his early beginnings as a first-generation American, his career pivot and how his experience at Haas helped him with the transition, and what he does at PA Consulting as a Principal Consultant.Martin also talks about the future of clean and renewable energy and the new technologies people should be excited about.Episode Quotes:On choosing accounting and finance as his college degreeAt the time, it was essentially a safety decision because I knew no matter what was going on with the economy, no matter what happens, you're going get paid in a career in accounting. Accountants are always needed, whether the economy's doing well or not. And I also thought about it as understanding the language of business, and it opens potential new opportunities for me in the future. His passion for clean energyI don't really have one of those interesting origin stories, necessarily. I didn't see my house get swept away by a rainstorm. I didn't see, you know, anything crazy happen with being in a drought. But I do remember my junior year of high school, I was in an AP environmental science class, and at this point in time, it was pretty much peak emissions for the entire globe. And I think at the time, the United States was getting 70 to 80% of their power from coal, and the big Hummer came out. Everything was bragging about that, and I just had this feeling of desperation. What are we doing to our planet? Things are getting worse, and we were still burning so much coal and driving Hummers. There's not really a clear, viable path for us to get off of fossil fuels as a society.Show Links:Martin Szczepanik on LinkedInBHAN-NYC LinkedIn GroupBerkeley Haas Alumni Network NYCSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest, Carmen Palafox, is a seasoned venture capitalist. She is a Founding Partner at 2045 Ventures in Los Angeles and Venture Partner at How Women Invest. She is also a Partner at MiLA Capital.Carmen was awarded the Rising Star Award from the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce. She was spotlighted by the NVCA as a Rising Star in VC and featured by LA Magazine as 1 of 13 of LA's Powerful Women. Coming out of USC, Carmen was fortunate to land her first job at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where she scaled operations into LATAM, Canada, and Europe, going from $75 Billion AUM to $300 Billion AUM.In this episode, Carmen shared her journey into venture capital, launching a fund, the challenges of women and underrepresented founders in the VC world, and what people can expect in the coming years despite the uncertainties in the industry.Episode Quotes:How Haas led her to venture capitalI went to Haas thinking that I'd get into social impact investing, and that was in 2011, when impact investing was a little earlier than it is today. At that time, there's a lot of talk around social impact bonds and pay for success, and that's where I was thinking my career would be headed. But, you know, one of the advantages of going to Haas was the career development group and just the support I got there and the freedom to really explore. And that exploration led me to venture.The challenges that women and underrepresented founders face in the VC industryAs women, we don't want to think that our gender will hold us back. But there are systemic issues. There's bias that people may or may not be aware of. And I think one of the reasons women are successful when they do get funding is because they are capital constrained and do have to be more efficient. I mean, the same is true for underrepresented founders. You just don't know if there will be capital around the corner, so you are more judicious with what you have. And on the flip side, I think there need to be more capital allocators that are focused on outcomes, meaning, we want to see more women founders, we want to meet more women funders. And so, being focused on that as a primary driver to change the status quo. I think it's important to create more balance in an ecosystem. I think that should be our objective. It should be about balance. And I think we would solve a lot of these unintended consequences that we see as a result of the technology that's out there today if we were to bring more balance to the industry.Opportunities for early-stage founders I think it's an epic time, both because of the reset but also the fact that we're coming out of Covid, and during Covid, people had a lot of time to evaluate how they were spending their time, where they were spending their time. And so, I think a lot of people, if they're able to, are prioritizing differently and potentially looking for areas where they can have the most impact in their careers, and where they can shift priorities to their families. I've seen or talked to a lot of startups that are able to attract talent because they have flexibility in how they're going to manage building their company. If you can offer someone with technical talent the ability to work off hours or work remotely from wherever they want, then I think you have an opportunity there as an early-stage founder.Show Links:LinkedIn Profile2045 CapitalHow Women InvestMiLA Capital (Make in LA)Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

We welcomed Jerilyn Castillo McAniff to the podcast to celebrate Women's History Month. She is the Managing Director and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Oaktree Capital Management. In 2007, she co-authored a book with her husband titled, The Practitioner's Guide to Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance.  Jerilyn is originally from the Philippines. She immigrated to the Bay Area with her family in the seventies when things there were getting complicated. The Bay Area was a welcoming place for Filipino immigrants to come at the time. They had to start from the beginning, however, with the support of a large extended family, her parents and grandparents decided to stay and raise their family there.In this episode, Jerilyn talked about going to Haas, her career in finance, how she got introduced to investment banking, and her transition to a career in alternative investments. She also shared the importance of mentorship.Jerilyn is passionate about teaching new professionals and students interested in careers in finance. She is actively involved with AltFinance: Investing in Black Futures, Girls Who Invest, and the Blomberg Buyside Women's Network. Episode Quotes:Why she believes so much in the power of mentorshipI saw it transform me. If you have somebody in your life at a very early stage showing you how to do things, it helps bring so much confidence. And I know how transformative that can be for a person of color, a woman, or anyone when you didn't grow up in the same environment.On having a growth mindsetNo matter your profession or how you were raised, or what kind of life you have, we all face challenges. Every day presents challenges. And so much of it is how you look upon your life. Are you a half-glass full or half-glass empty kind of person? And when there's a road bump or something really difficult, do you look at it and say, Okay, what can I learn? What am I getting out of this? How is this going to help me grow as a person? Having that attitude that every challenge is an opportunity to learn something new, meet new people, do something you've never done before—when you have that outlook, everything is an opportunity. And it's a really great way to look at life.Why she and her husband wrote a book about investment bankingPeter and I wrote it with the goal of helping anyone interested in the business learn with a practical lens how to do the basic types of analysis that are expected on the job. That was really born out of this interest in trying to help people. It's an industry that can be very intimidating. And we wanted to eliminate that intimidation.What gets her up in the morning?I love helping others who are interested in learning about this (finance) business, this wonderful industry that has been so rewarding to me in many respects. Just being able to satisfy so much intellectual curiosity. I want as many people who have an interest in it to stay for the long term because it is so intimidating on the front end that people decide to leave and tap out. I want to teach and train them to stay engaged.How can people support other people?Whatever industry or career you're in, find out the mentorship and early education programs that feed into your business and see what you can do. Everybody can support someone new or younger than them in their own professional journey. So much of the opportunity that I've been given is because others made that investment in me. And to turn it around, pay it forward, and support the ones that come behind you, that's how we build stronger organizations. That's how we build better communities.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileThe Practitioner's Guide to Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate FinanceAltFinanceGirls Who InvestBloomberg Buyside Women's NetworkSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today's guest is Dr. Jenny Woo, Founder and CEO of Mind Brain Emotion, a company that creates cleverly simple and immediately actionable skills-building games and tools to help people become happier, calmer, and wiser.As a former president of the Women in Leadership Club at Haas, Jenny shares her journey from a little girl moving to the US to be reunited with her parents, to a female consultant working with global companies, to a mother entrepreneur-student juggling family, PhD, and startup.Jenny is passionate about helping people reach their potential - from classrooms to boardrooms. She has worked as a human capital consultant at Deloitte, a Talent & Strategy Manager at Cisco, a Montessori school director, a cognitive science researcher, and a lecturer in Emotional Intelligence.Having taught in grade schools and colleges, she saw a lack of resources and opportunities to help students develop what we call "soft skills" in the real world. This is how she started her company which was incubated out of Harvard Innovation Labs. She developed and launched the 52 Essential card series which is used in 50+ countries in homes, schools, and workplaces.Episode Quotes:Advice for people who want to pursue an MBAYou have to be crystal clear in terms of what you want to get out of it and what are your purposes. What are your passions?On why she decided to go into a Ph.D. programSometimes the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. And I wanted to really become an expert, in this case, in emotional intelligence, helping kids, and even adults, develop what we call soft skills in the real world. The biggest barrier she sees in undergraduate and graduate students and how to overcome itI see this need to feel prepared and somehow never feeling quite prepared enough and needing to be doing other things in order to pursue what ultimately we are interested in. I think that also is related to the imposter syndrome, why should I do this? Who am I to do this? What would people say? And would I fail? Those little negative voices in our head. Honestly, just do it. Just start. We can start baby steps. You don't have to get it all right. But even one little habit you implement, one little hour you spend will make a difference.In order to live your next thing or the thing that you've been putting off and on your wish list, is to not go into this all-or-nothing mentality. Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileMind Brain Emotion52 Essential Life Skills52 Essential Critical Thinking Skills52 Essential Coping SkillsSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today's guest is Juan Scarlett, a technology-focused venture capital, strategic finance, and equity research professional. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of OneValley Ventures, an early-stage investor in dynamic founders emerging from the OneValley ecosystem and its partners.Juan talked about his practical upbringing that led him to follow the most practical path in his education and career and eventually to venture capital. He also shared his experiences at Haas, what made him interested in investing and venture capital and his work at OneValley Ventures.We also discussed why investors should break the status quo and go outside their networks and invest in underrepresented and underserved founders.Episode Quotes:On growing up in a hardworking and practical familyWe really worked hard to make sure that we had everything that we needed and, maybe, a few of the things that we wanted. And for those other things you wanted, it was very clear that, from a very early age, you have to go make your own money to do those things.Why he left investment bankingIt's great money. It's got to be a good experience. It'd look great on my resume. But I know I'm not going to enjoy it. I know I won't love it. And so, I just decided (to leave).I already learned that doing something that you don't enjoy was not going to be fulfilling for you or for the company that you were doing it for.On breaking the status quo to help minorities develop pathways into VC  During 2022 and '21, during the racial justice movement, we started to see that people were much more willing to take that chance to invest in minority founders, ones that they didn't know or came outside of their networks. We started to take that chance. But there wasn't a follow-through, necessarily, in 2022.And so, I think you still have to just continuously remind people that that issue is still there and that it does require a little bit more work to find interesting startup opportunities to invest in outside of your small-ish network, and really develop broader top of funnel with the mindset, "Well, if I want to find these minority-led startups where they are, I have to be there, too."Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Lisa Morris Jones joins us in celebration of Black History Month. Lisa is an alumna of the undergraduate program here at Haas. She is a CFA Chartholder and a Master of Business Administration - MBA focused on Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she is the president of the LMJ Group, a real estate management and development of commercial and residential properties throughout California.In this episode, Lisa shared a little about her origin story, her interest in finance and entrepreneurship, and her extensive career. She is a strong professional with a demonstrated history of working in real estate development and management, investment management, and community development finance. She also talked about what it was like being a Black female in finance back in the 80s when she started working and what inspired her to push forward even with some roadblocks. Currently, she is supporting the Haas MBA fellowships program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.Another passion for Lisa is helping underserved and distressed communities. She is working on how to provide the needed capital to be able to help these communities thrive.Episode Quotes:How Haas helped her make her way through WhartonSo much of what I learned at Haas, especially in marketing, accounting, and finance, those fundamentals were just absolutely essential in helping me go to Wharton, to be able to do other things while I was there and to really enjoy that experience.On her experience as a Black woman in finance in the 80sThere were definitely people that discouraged me and many, many roadblocks. Lots of people telling me, "Maybe, you should focus on another discipline. This would be too challenging, too hard." You can't really control how people think about you. It's what you think about yourself that's really important. You have ways to really reinforce who you are and build yourself up. I always said that if I'm prepared, I know the opportunities will come. And then, I can be able to walk through them. And I know that change in time is on your side. It may take a little time, but things are changing and moving in the right direction. And you have to keep that level of optimism because there's always going to be someone to tell you, you can't do it.Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest today is Orion Parrott, General Partner at the Orange Fund. He is an experienced leader in business and technology and uses his background to build, explore, and invest in crypto. In this episode, Orion talked a bit about his background, his experience going to Haas for the EMBA program, and his transition from being an entrepreneur to an advisor and eventually becoming a general partner.Orion also shared about Orange Fund, the investment fund of Orange DAO that invests in crypto startups, some critical aspects of DAO, and what to expect in building, exploring, and investing in crypto.Episode Quotes:On getting his MBAI looked at the MBA as a way to really focus on this other set of skills, the people skills, but also some hard technical skills in terms of finance and accounting, and to be able to get a broad picture of what it would take to start a business. Some people will say you don't need an MBA to start a startup, but for someone like me, I prefer to go at it all at once. And it was such a whirlwind of productivity, growing a dollar, and seeing different perspectives. So many things that I had always wondered about the world made a lot more sense.On how DAOs can impact the investment worldI am excited about participating in the evolution of DAO, doing the group decision-making, and keeping it really about the people so that we can support each other and really be a community. I'm excited to see how being a DAO can be an enabler of the community rather than something that detracts from it. Because, honestly, it's not necessarily a better world by being a DAO, right? You lose some of the legal definition of how things might be treated, and we believe we're paving the way to make it possible for more folks to create DAOs, which will create more opportunities for community capital and investment.Words of wisdom for the Haas communityBeing in Berkeley Haas opens many doors, and folks should feel bold about reaching out to whomever they want to connect with. I refer back to what Dean Lyons would say during our EMBA program: Berkeley Haas takes you from saying they do things to I do things, and I guess that's the encouragement. When you see people doing amazing things, you are the people who are going to do that—now and in the future.Show Links:Orion's first OneHaas episodeLinkedIn ProfileOrange FundSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Bruce is a US executive with broad international experience in managing businesses, sourcing and making investments, and providing investment banking services, executive coaching, and leadership development services. His 17 years of experience working in Shanghai gave him an in-depth understanding of the business environment in China and developing Asia. Currently, Bruce is a Managing Director at Stout Bluepeak Asia Limited and a Partner at Rui Dian Management Consulting /The Resilience Institute.In this episode, Bruce shared his origin story, going to UC Berkeley and studying business, and eventually going into investment banking. He also went to Harvard Business School to get his MBA and entered venture capital.Bruce also talked about his amazing experiences in Shanghai, how the pandemic shifted the international scene, how he navigated through these changes, and how he can help companies venture into the international markets successfully.Episode Quotes:On his experience in investment banking early onI really enjoyed the deals, working on transactions that you read about in the journal, having access to CEOs and CFOs of companies, and helping provide them strategic advice about how to manage their businesses in regards to raising capital or mergers and acquisitions.How the Chinese economy has changed throughout the yearsChina has produced a lot of wealth, taken a lot of people out of poverty. But there's now a sense of them needing international technical skills, capital, and technology, and they're starting to have that on their own. They've got people who've trained at the best universities, they have a lot of capital, and they are starting to generate some unique technologies. So, I would say there's less of a need, in their minds, for so many foreigners and so much international influence. There's a big push for localization of talent.On venturing into management consultingAfter I left the firm that brought me to China in 2012, I decided to leverage the experience of living and managing in Asia, primarily China, in helping other executives who came to the area understand what it's like to manage in a developing market and giving them that perspective.I found a big demand for coaching services, essentially that cross-border nexus of people coming into China or Chinese managers having to go out needing coaching services. So, I've maintained that for 10 years and actually really enjoy helping people see the light, adjusting their management style, and achieving their career objectives.Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today, we have Seo Yeon Yoon, Research Scientist at Gladstone Institutes. She is an avid researcher passionate about bringing diverse talent and ideas together to innovate solutions that overcome incurable diseases. She was also recently named to the Poets and Quants 2022 list of Best & Brightest Executive MBAs.Seo Yeon is originally from Jeonju City, South Korea, a mid-small town that didn't have a lot of people from other countries or cultures. Her parents sent her and her sister to Canada as international students to study and be exposed to a world with many people from different ethnicities, races, and cultures. In this episode, Seo Yeon talked about her experiences as an international student, how she ended up in Berkeley as an undergrad, and why she chose to study Biology.She also shared her career at Gladstone Institutes, why she pursued her MBA later in her career, and her experiences at Haas. She also shared what made her start using her Korean name once again and why it was one of her impactful decisions.Episode Quotes:One of the lessons she learned as an international studentI think, looking back, it was really important that I had that much exposure to this bigger world with people that just didn't really think like me or even talk like me. But they were just really kind and really good people with really good hearts. And I always kept that with me as a life lesson that, wherever I go, that's something that I do have to keep in mind that I also have to extend as a friend and as a colleague in any places that I work.On her MBA applicationI went through the application process and tried to be as authentic as possible about who I was and why I really wanted to come to Haas. And while it was stressful, it just felt relatively good. It didn't really feel like it was an extra chore, per se. It was hard, but it wasn't something I was dragging myself into because I still wasn't sure about something. It was definitely a really good process to go through. And, of course, I was very, very happy to find out that all that effort and bidding on myself like that ended up very, fortunately, being a success. It was really wonderful.Why she started using her Korean nameI was thinking about how my parents named me. They didn't just name me just out of a whim or just out of nothing. They really had thought about it carefully about what they wanted to name their first child as. And my entire name is really, in and of itself, a form of a person, a woman my parents wanted me to be.And so, when I started to piece all of these puzzles together, I began to realize that, am I really doing justice to myself and also to the people that I love? That I will be sticking with an English name when it doesn't make anybody comfortable? And, first and foremost, it didn't make me comfortable.And so, I think that series of internal questioning and meditation and just, really, self-discovery process really got me to think about what is the easiest and also the most forefront thing on action can I really take to start on that discovery path. And the first thing was, really, the name.Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Alejandra is an Associate at Bee Partners. Her infinite curiosity and strategic thinking brought her to Asset Management. Her quest for large-scale impact and a greater connection with the people she supports attracted her to Venture Capital. Alejandra was born and raised in Chile. Her family spent some time here in the US before going back, where she reconnected with her roots.In this episode, Alejandra shares her origin story, her career path from finance to venture capital, and why she pursued an MBA even with an already successful career.We also hear about Alejandra's passion as an endurance athlete and how the things she has learned through her training experiences align with what she does in her current role at Bee Partners.Episode Quotes:On getting an MBAIt was something that I had always been thinking in the back end. And when I started having these questions of what's next and I just really hated visualizing and seeing what was coming next. It was all great, but I didn't want to have that level of certainty and have everything so figured out, being 20-something. And so, that's when I realized I want to change and I want something drastically different, not just a pivot or a tack that's similar to what I'm already doing.On taking her MBA during the pandemicI saw coming to business school during the pandemic as a good opportunity in the sense that a lot of things were going to change. And being a student, I felt, was the best way to experience that change and really learn about things that were going to be dramatically different, if we were able to get out of it or when we got out of it. And so, I saw it as a great opportunity to be a student rather than to be working and trying to do everything business as usual when the world was not business as usual.Parallels between her experiences as an endurance athlete and her current roleThe first thing is it's a marathon, not a sprint. And that means that you probably want things to happen now, but it's really important to just focus on what you have in front of you, have a vision of what you want the future to look like, what you want success to look like, but really hold it there, because you can't do both at the beginning. You have to focus on the present moment. And as you make progress, you start incorporating that future vision into whatever it is you're doing. But in the beginning, it's just about where am I. And what does the next short iteration cycle look like?Alejandra's word of wisdom to the Haas communityI feel like every important decision that I've had to make, although I've done a lot of rational thinking, in the end, it comes down to intuition. And I think that's my inspiration here. When you have to decide between different paths, rationality doesn't really help. Being rational helps you look at pros and cons, but you can very quickly and easily trick yourself into thinking this option is right, and then two seconds later saying, "No, no, no, but this one is better because of another reason."And so, when you're thinking about these broader scale paths or large decisions, it's really about your gut, honestly. And then rationalization is great for execution. It's great for, “I decided my path. And now, let me break this down, figure out where I want to go from here.” But listen to what you feel. I think connecting with your inner self and having that awareness — internal and external awareness — can go a really, really long way.Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest, Yogesh Pingle, is a Corporate Development Manager at Intel. He partners with business leaders and their teams to define and execute strategic growth initiatives.Yogesh was born in India, where he spent most of his formative years before moving to the US to pursue graduate school. Getting an MBA had always been part of his plans, and choosing Haas was a no-brainer.In this episode, Yogesh shares his experiences from studying engineering in India, moving to the US and balancing work and school, and his career as a planning engineer before eventually going to product design and marketing and ending up in corporate development.Episode Quotes:On pursuing a business educationI realized that to create maximum impact, you have to be on the business side of things essentially. And so, it was sort of what stoked in me, the desire to be a business leader. And I realized that perhaps if impact is what I'm driven by, then having a business education is also something that's critical to creating impact.Having different plans to mitigate risksSomething that has always been a part of my philosophy is to mitigate risk in such a way that the next step I take should always be something that doesn't close too many doors. On procrastinating and compartmentalizingFocus on the essentials, whether it is homework or your actual job. If you just do the main important tasks and ensure that they're done well, then that'll keep you moving forward. I think it's really important to sort of compartmentalize things and making sure that you're not procrastinating and the absolute essential tasks are being taken care of so that you're not distracted when you're with family or when you're at work.Word of wisdom to his future selfContinue the hustle and not settle. Regardless of what I end up doing in my life, I think there is this constant deal of learning that I should never let go of. So, just keep hustling and keep learning.Show Links: LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest today is Andrew Zellman, an Associate at McKinsey and Company. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a former officer in the US Navy.Andrew's passions include ultimate frisbee, climate, sustainability, and leveraging his technical background to drive impact and insights in his work.In this episode, Andrew talks about how he ended up going to a service academy and his experiences as a US Navy officer. He also tells us why he decided to transition out of service, get an MBA, and pursue a career in consulting.Words of Wisdom:For people who would like to get into consultingIf you're intent on getting into consulting, you should know what you want to get out of it and make sure you actively work towards that. Make sure you advocate for yourself and your goals. I think that goes for life too, but especially consulting because if you're not diligent and kind of present-minded about it, it's really easy to get swept away.For folks transitioning out of active duty or military serviceStay humble. There's going to be a lot of things you don't know. Asking for help can get you really far. Obviously, you have all the things that you have worked on to develop skill-wise, leadership-wise that are really important, but the onus is on you for articulating that to employers.Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today we're joined by Elena Gomez, Chief Financial Officer of Toast, a cloud-based, end-to-end technology platform purpose-built for the entire restaurant community. Before Toast, she served as the Chief Financial Officer at Zendesk, where she helped scale the company to over 1 billion in annual revenues. Currently, she serves on the board at Haas School of Business and The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco.Elena talks about her origin story, rich culture, what inspired her to go into finance and accounting, and her vast career experience in different tech companies. She also shares why she is deeply passionate about and committed to advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace. Episode Quotes:One reason why being a Latina and a female is important to her in her career“I was always looking up trying to see if there was someone that looked like me. And then I realized how important it was that, in fact, I had a responsibility to kick butt in the job, because I wanted to show them that, not only am I Latina and I'm a female, but I'm going to crush the job. I want to do really well for the next generation, so people can see that. Give us an opportunity and you'll see we're going to crush it.”On getting a job that is aligned with your values“It really helps you every day, because you're going to spend all this time working 14-hour days, 12-hour days, etc. And so, for me, the fact that we (Toast) could be in communities and, really, our mission-driven company to help small businesses really resonated with me. So, that alignment of your values with where you work, I think, is really powerful if you can find it.”Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

This episode is to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. We're joined by Cristy Johnston Limon, a Bay Area native and a proud "double-bear," having earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business and a BA in Political Science. She most recently served as the Executive Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership at Haas and launched her own social impact management consultancy called Proxima Partners, where she is currently serving as a principal. Today, Cristy shares her experiences growing up in a San Francisco immigrant community. She talks about going to UC Berkeley in college, eventually getting her MBA at Haas, and using it to scale her impact and advance her career. She also shares her involvement in community and economic development efforts, with her values aligned with building the beloved community from an equity and gender-based lens with a bias toward building solutions for the common good.Episode Quotes:What inspired her to focus on community and economic development efforts"So much of what we do does stem from childhood experiences. And, for me, it was seeing this huge contrast between the neighborhood that I would commute to across town on the bus every day to go to school. At a very early age, I became very conscious of inequities. And I think that really helped to form my worldview and to question those inequities and to really try to think about how to close gaps so that other young people growing up in my community who were really smart, really talented, but just didn't have access to AP classes or arts program or after-school enrichment programs. It just seemed like it was a matter of justice and fairness. And I think that runs really deep in our family, this idea of justice."On starting a nonprofit to support small businesses "I found it to be incredibly powerful to be able to help stabilize a small business owner. Because you're not just working with them, you're actually working with the entire family and the community that they employ. And I could see the power of supporting a small business owner. I worked directly with them to help them figure out how to purchase the property that their business was in, for example. And that's one pathway, is to start to stabilize and build assets and wealth, which we know is how so many folks are able to, in one or two generations, go from abject poverty to actually being homeowners and being able to affect generational transfers of wealth, which is how folks are building their family and their impact."Why she pursued an MBA, and what she appreciates the most about the program"My first inclination was that, maybe, I could benefit from a little more learning. There's so much that you know, but so much more that you don't know that you don't know. I'm really thankful for those folks in my community who've guided me along the way. When they see potential, they open doors. And I think that's what I appreciated most about the Haas MBA program. As soon as you're in, the whole world is open to you. It's an incredible way to just not meet people that, maybe, you wouldn't otherwise encounter, but really build relationships. It's not just about getting ahead or trying to advance your own work. It really is about getting to know folks and seeing what values you share, what aspirations you share. We have so much more in common than we don't. And so, for me, I think that was really one of the impacts of the program."Being a student-always"I really wanted to continue to learn. That's always been innate in my family. From a young age, my father was always instilling in us the need to pursue an education and to continue learning. Everyone says I'm a fast learner, but there's things that you really want to try to learn, like financing and marketing and great leadership. And those are the things that I just had never really had access to before."On why she continues the fight against generations of marginalization and inequality"In the 1980s, we saw a wave of Central American refugees who were fleeing ethnic genocide and cleansing from Central America. And here we are, 40 years later, seeing a very similar outpouring of people and these communities are here and getting adjusted to a new country, a new way of life. And that gives me hope. It means that there is an incoming generation of young people growing up in the United States seeing opportunities that they didn't have back home. It's why I work with young people. It's why I'm working in immigrant communities, because there's the ability to shape how these young people and their families are going to engage in a democratic society. It's why I'm working to make sure that they have their basic needs met, so that they can be involved in the political process. And so, that's how I stay inspired, just seeing, again, these new and growing communities across the country of folks who have the same values that we have. They believe in family. Many have a Christian or Catholic background and believe in God. And they pray. And they have this work ethic and this belief in supporting themselves and each other. They believe in education. We believe in higher education as another way to continue to build up and uplift our families and communities."Show Links:LinkedIn ProfileProxima PartnersSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

In this episode, our guest is Robert Paylor, a public speaker, and motivational leader, with the story of defining the odds and overcoming challenges. Robert shares his passion and purpose with others, which has allowed him to battle paralysis and achieve goals, no matter how daunting they may seem. Robert broke his neck in the 2017 Collegiate Rugby National Championship, and that accident instantly changed his life. He was told he would never walk or move his hands again. However, by shifting his mindset, he could walk again, do more, and be more. Robert took a leap of faith by turning down an offer from Intel to go into public speaking. He has embarked on a career as an inspirational speaker and has begun writing a book with the working title, “Paralyzed and Powerful.”Episode Quotes:On competing for Cal's rugby team"It was a tremendous opportunity to compete for the rugby program and go to school at a place like Cal. But it was also a significant challenge. I really had a hard time wrapping my head around not being a starter or being a mediocre or a subpar student amongst all these very bright people from all across the world. But I knew that the challenge was going to be significant. And really, in rugby, I'm not the fastest person out there on the field, by any means. And in the classroom, I'm not the brightest person. But I thought I had a good work ethic that would help me to be able to balance those scales and hopefully give me an edge."On making one of the biggest decisions in his life"In my mind, I was thinking that the answer was made. I couldn't believe that this had happened to me, but it did happen. And I've got one life. And I'm not going to spend the rest of my life with a victim's mindset, always thinking about what was and not what is, and what could have been, but what can I do? I couldn't stay in that mindset. I just needed to know that I was going to give absolutely everything I had to get absolutely everything I could get. I could live the rest of my life in a wheelchair or completely paralyzed, and I'll be okay with that as long as I give it everything I have. So, I decided to go into the surgery, and I said my prayers. I said goodbye to my family. I got rolled into the operating room. I closed my eyes. And that concluded May 6th, 2017."Being optimistic despite the challenges"Sometimes we can just have a mountain of a task in front of us, or we can just have this cataclysmic failure or drop in our lives that we just experience. And it can seem like we're just helpless, that there's nothing that we can do. We always have the ability to keep moving forward. We always have the ability to react in a positive way, with optimism."Robert's word of wisdom“My go-to for this is to be grateful for every day and moment. It's the advice I would give myself if I could go back and talk to myself on May 6th, 2017. This injury has shown me that life is fragile and life is a gift, and we ought to treat our life like a gift, embrace it, be grateful for it, to have the joy of receiving that gift every day. There are going to be challenges that impact us in our lives. And we don't have any control over that. But regardless, we ought to always focus on the positive things we have in our lives. There's always somebody who has it worse, and that's important for us to realize as well, to maintain that perspective, both looking through our experiences and the experiences of others, and to help us have that gratitude, just to realize the immense great things we have in our lives and just to never forget it. And when we start feeling down, to try to control our mindsets and remember that."Show Links:Robert on LinkedInRobert's websiteSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today's guest is another Double Bear! John Dio is a product manager and business professional with experience helping scale venture-backed EV and ed-tech startups. At Haas, John has been part of the Consortium for Graduate Study of Management, The Graduate Assembly, Haas Consulting Club, and Q@Haas. John is originally from the Philippines. When he immigrated to the US, he faced plenty of challenges, including culture shock, bullying, and coping with being an undocumented student. It wasn't an easy journey, but he overcame them all.In this episode, John shared his early beginnings, experiences as an undocumented immigrant, and attending college and pursuing an MBA. He also talked about his career in recruitment and pivoting into product management post-MBA. Finally, he shared insights on a couple of things he is passionate about - childcare shortage and women's reproductive rights.Episode Quotes:On standing up to bullies"Every time they'd retort, I'd be like, so what? Whatever. And that took the power away from it. Once I didn't care, they no longer thought it was fun. If you take away the bully's power to affect you in that way, it's no longer fun for them."On pivoting into product management"Product management stood out to me because there is the aspect of delighting customers when solving their problems."His biggest takeaway at Haas"It's all about how you want to set your journey at Haas because you could do a lot of things and everything. However, it's really up to you to manage your time and what you want to get the most out of it. I wanted to work and apply what I'm learning in the startup setting and then build a community where I can focus on the few people, if not some people, that were going to add a lot of value to my Haas experience versus trying to meet everyone. And there has to be that intentionality that needs to be there to make it all work."Show Links:LinkedInQ@HaasSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Chris chatted with David Siap, Associate at McKinsey & Company. David is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in energy, climate, and consulting. At Haas, David was part of many programs, including several MBA challenges and Berkeley StEP, the Student Entrepreneurship Program.David grew up in an undocumented immigrant Filipino family, which helped shape his relationship with change and challenges. It made him good and comfortable with rolling with the punches, dealing with ambiguity, and challenging himself.In this episode, he talked about his experiences taking up different majors in his undergrad, early professional career, and grad school at UC Davis.He then shared his time at a prestigious place after grad school, Berkeley Lab, going to business school right after, and eventually joining McKinsey.Episode Quotes: Pivoting from wind energy to climate tech"I want to understand why things are the way they are and how can I impact people. And I thought that, at that time, it seemed clear to me that climate change would be one of the biggest challenges of our generation. And I wanted to be there. I was already working on a climate-adjacent automotive product, but I wanted to be at the bleeding edge of the tech. And so, that's why I ended up pivoting."During his time at The Berkeley Lab"It was a really great time. I landed there and felt like, wow, everybody is so crazy smart, so much more than me. There's a Ph.D. from MIT sitting next to me. On the other side, there's a Harvard Ph.D. in physics. There's a Nobel Prize winner down the hall. It was a really crazy place to be. And it was great to be surrounded by folks who were so smart and focused on something that was a net positive for society. Everybody there was working on climate change when presumably a lot of these folks could have been out conquering the world and making so much more money than you make at a national lab. But they were there, I think, because they wanted to make the world a better place."On pivoting into consulting"I was starting to see this common thread. These people are in leadership positions, and they have X, Y, and Z skills that they're good at. And those are things that I want to be good at, essentially. And so, that's when McKinsey or the consulting space became more and more real to me. I realized the skills that you can develop in the space. And I was coming initially from a growth mindset as well. And so, it felt natural to extend the MBA. I've heard other people put it by going to a place like McKinsey, I can extend the MBA work on these skills that I want to develop. And I would actually get paid for it."David's piece of advice for everyone"Trust the process and follow your passion."Show Links:LinkedInBerkeley LabSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest is Stanley Lam, Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon. Stanley is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in engineering and product management. At Haas, Stanley was a Dean's Fellow and the VP of Careers for the Haas Technology Club.Stanley was born in Hong Kong and moved to the US alone when he was only 15 to study high school in a boarding school in Missouri. Here, he learned how to be independent, and he considers this experience one of his life's pivotal moments.In this episode, Stanley shares his journey of moving from a small town to a big city, his experiences studying in every major college in California, and his career pivots.Stanley also tells us why he decided to pursue an MBA, commuting experience, the importance of networking, and the value of jumping out of comfort zones and challenging the status quo.Community:Join the community for this podcast at clever.fm/haas. Here you can ask the guest a question, connect with other listeners, and leave your thoughts.Episode Quotes:On moving from a small town to a big city for college“That was challenging for me actually, just getting myself out there. Although I have everything that I learned from college, you just have to throw yourself out there, knowing that you probably don't know what you're getting yourself into, but you just have to believe in your gut feeling that this is what you want to do and where you want to be and just do it. Just that experience of jumping out of my comfort zone is something I'd take with me.”Transitioning from being a student to a professional right after grad school“It's definitely different. There's a lot of responsibility that, as a student, you don't have to deal with. Getting yourself situated with all the financial stuff, just one thing, and then just getting to be responsible. It's not late for homework anymore, or late for an exam. This is actual business. There's actually a business impact for you not living up to your expectations or doing what you're supposed to do. So, that's a big change. But I think, again, going back to my high school experience, just being independent, that helped me a lot in transitioning to the real world pretty quickly. Especially, getting exposed to very diverse people really early in my life helped me. It's just easy for me to get along with a lot of other people. That helped me a lot at work, honestly. Just to understand different cultures really quickly in my life is pretty good.”A piece of advice for everyone"Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. You only have a finite amount of time. And everyone dies. You just got to get out of your comfort zone. You will always remember when you get out of your comfort zone. You probably won't remember when you are in the comfort zone."Show Links:LinkedInclever.fm/haasSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Our guest on this episode is Priya Bajaj, currently Head of Engagement Management at Google Cloud for US West. She is an experienced business and technology professional with extensive career experience with tech giants.Priya is originally from India, but she grew up in Doha, finishing high school there. She then came to the US to pursue her undergrad.In this episode, Priya shares what it was like growing up in the Middle East, where the culture is so diverse. She also talks about going to college in the US and how she literally Googled the top schools to find the right one, ultimately ending up in Georgia Tech, where she spent most of her formative years. Priya also tells us why she still pursued an MBA even after accomplishing so much in her career and how she uses what she has learned in B-school in her current leadership role.Along with engaging executive leaders in her work, Priya is also passionate about creativity and giving back to the community.Episode Quotes:On her experiences at Georgia Tech"Most transformative years of my life, for sure. I think my mindset, my values, everything was challenged in those four years. I had the privilege to be meeting people from all walks of life, meet some great friends there, and learn a lot from people. It was a journey. At Georgia Tech, there were people who challenged my belief system, created awareness with respect to what's a different way of thinking about certain scenarios. And I appreciate that. I learned so much during those four years, not necessarily academically, but personally, about my hopes for life, what are the things that I like, what is the kind of life that I want to live? All of that reflection happened in those four years."Why she pursued an MBA"The first one, again, student always. Truly, for me, that constant learning was very important. So, getting an MBA fulfilled that part of me that wanted to learn more. The second was imposter syndrome. At Google, there are so many amazing people that I always felt, am I playing catch-up with their brilliance and their expertise? And do they know something more that I don't know? And since I knew I'm going to be in the business side of things for the rest of my journey, at least how I see it now, I wanted to make sure I, at least, understand at a one-on-one level, what are the different aspects of running a business as a leader? And what better way than to learn it in a structured manner at this school?And the third reason was to learn from other people. I think we as human beings are meant to be social beings. We are not meant to just be put in one place. And the best learnings and reflections that I get are from conversations and idea exchange and conversations with other people. And I really felt that, at Haas, meeting people from different backgrounds, bringing different perspectives, just like how it was at Georgia Tech, helped me think through the way I'm thinking about certain things. Opened my mind to different concepts, different ways of approaching, and grew myself professionally."On giving back to the community through mentorship"One of the things that keeps me grounded is giving back. Every six months, I mentor two women who are either at Google or outside. And I do this in a six-month rotation to allow for me to scale my impact, but also to allow them to take the learnings and go be successful. The reason it is so important for me is because I am acutely aware of how privileged we are to be here in the Bay Area working for the best firms. I would not be where I am today without the help of other mentors who coached me and guided me, either in a formal or informal capacity. The best thing I can do is pay that forward. And mentorship is one of the best ways I find of doing that."One piece of advice for MBA students"The biggest thing I would say is to not get pressured by the concept of networking. I have always done what I term as selective networking, because there often are going to be people in the room who are not there at every bar, who are not there at every party, but they still manage to get a lot out of the program. And I think I am one of them. And I would still like to think I'm friends with many people in my cohort because I took out the time to do those one-on-one relationships and create those bonds that were outside of the traditional networking avenues. So, for those who are unable to participate in those traditional avenues, I would say, don't be afraid of selective networking."Show Links:Priya Bajaj LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

We brought Lance Barnard to the show today to talk about his unique journey into entrepreneurship. Lance is CEO at Ward Road Pharmacy, a pharmaceuticals company that provides the convenience of a "one-stop-shop" for prescriptions and homecare supplies, expert advice, friendly service, and individualized solutions. He acquired it through a self-funded search, where an entrepreneur embarks on the journey of searching for a company without funding or an installed base of investors, opting instead to secure their funding once they've found their company.Lance grew up in New Jersey but wanted something different when it was time to go to college. So, he went to Southern Methodist University in Texas for his undergrad and studied business, which had always been his interest.In this episode, Lance shared his career experiences at Goldman-Sachs and Samsung Electronics, how he adapted to different company cultures, and coming to the Bay area to pursue his MBA at Haas, which has its own set of cultures.Lance also talked about how he was introduced to search funds, why self-funded search appeals to him more than traditional search, and his journey into acquiring Ward Road Pharmacy.Episode Quotes:On the time he spent in Texas“Overall, I enjoyed my time there. I think I got a really good education, learned a lot more just about the energy industry, which I never would have if I had gone elsewhere, got to experience a different perspective, and live in a different part of the country. I think that it did a good job exposing me to a lot of new things.”On starting with a finance career as a young professional“I was straddling between do I want to go do a career in finance, maybe go into banking and go into private equity, or did I want to do something more entrepreneurial? In the back of my mind, I probably knew the answer to that, but I thought, at the very least, starting my career in finance would be the best way to gain the core set of skills to be successful in business later in life.”Why he got into search funds“It's a bigger version of what I had previously done, buying my Amazon business, but stepping in. And it resonated with me because I don't think I've ever—unfortunately, just never had that spark to bring something from zero to one. I like to tell people I think I'm better suited to bring something from one to 10 than zero to one. I'm just really good at optimizing processes, improving things, efficiency, and having the resources to do big implementations or take some risks. And that's not something I necessarily get to do if I was starting from the ground up with limited resources. So, that model just resonated with me.”One piece of advice that had a positive impact on his life“Just not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. And always be comfortable being uncomfortable. I think that's probably a borrowed phrase. I don't know who to attribute it to, but my previous manager told me that. It's something that stuck with me. If you're totally comfortable, you're probably not pushing yourself harder enough.”Show Links:LinkedInWard Road PharmacySupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today, we have Alijah Talley, West Coast Growth Relationship Manager at Zimba Technologies and Founder and Executive Director at The Qonnection. Alijah is an experienced leader and executive with an extensive background that includes serving as a captain in the US Army, founding The Qonnection with the mission to advocate for African-American students pursuing higher education, and as a Consortium Fellow and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) Professional Development Fellow here at Haas. Alijah was born in Panama but didn't experience the country and culture because his family moved to the US when he was just a baby. He spent his formidable years and adult life in Texas. Alijah applied to West Point, but going there wasn't a smooth path. The admissions officer assigned to him said he wasn't West Point material. However, he didn't let it stop him. It motivated him to try harder and earned admission to the academy. In this episode, Alijah shares his experiences at West Point Academy and as an army leader. During this time, he also became the Diversity Outreach Admissions Officer, and his experiences in this position led him to found The Qonnection. He didn't want anyone to experience what he did, and he wanted the African-American youth to get a competitive advantage.Lastly, Alijah talks about his reasons for pursuing an MBA, why he chose Haas, internships, his job at Zimba Technologies, and plans post-MBA.Episode Quotes:On being told he wasn't a “West Point material”“I decided that no one's going to tell me what I can't do. I'm going to leave that up to the academy. And thank goodness that that was the information that I got at the time, because the only thing that that did was motivate me to try harder, to go faster. Pride is something else, because I was dead set on proving this guy wrong. And thank God I was, because I ended up earning admission to the academy. And I was really excited to go there and embark on a new opportunity.”On his experience at the Academy“It's definitely tough. But one thing I will say about the academy is it really forced me to grow up extremely fast. And the good thing about West Point is that everybody at the academy is just as motivated as you are. It's almost like an incubator. When you get into a room with 1,000 of your classmates and everybody's motivated, you just continue to push yourself and push yourself and push yourself.But in full transparency, I struggled with imposter syndrome very, very, very heavy at the academy. There were some days where I just felt like the dumbest guy in the room. These kids are just so smart. But that feeling that I didn't belong in the same space and that I was not as smart as my classmates served as a motivator for me to try much harder and to push myself as hard as I can go and get the best experience out of the academy that I possibly could. I think that everybody goes through that in some form or fashion at the academy. It has a very special way of testing you mentally and physically but definitely keen on the mentally.”On pursuing an MBA at Haas"The more research I did, it just started to make more and more sense that that was a time to transition, and specifically, Haas. And I started to notice this arc throughout my story that Haasies always made time for me. And I would say even in my experience here as a current student, that has continued to be a consistent long line. And it doesn't even just have to be Haasies, but Haasies just make time for people. Haasies care about humans. And I just loved that so much.During my exploratory phase when I was in a different MBA program, I was really concerned about the culture. I work best in collaborative environments. And I'm not a huge fan of the doggy dog mentality, we're all competing for a very small set of slots, billets, positions, whatever you want to call it. And every time I got on the room with a Haasie, it was just a great conversation. It was for sure the culture that got me."A piece of advice to somebody, either personal or professional"Don't close any doors, for whatever reason. We set deadlines arbitrarily. We get on this one track sometimes. So many things in this Haas experience and the army, just serendipitous conversations, something that may not look like an opportunity or something that just starts off as a very small conversation. It may turn into a whole non-profit. So, always keep your options open. I try to say yes to as many things as I can, just because of new opportunities and new experiences. And just keeping the doors open, truly being open to where life may take you for your next experience."Show Links:LinkedInThe QonnectionSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

We welcome Eric Sassano to the podcast today. Eric earned his B.S. in Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley and currently finishing his MBA at Haas. He works in Investment Strategy at Compound. Before joining Compound, he was with Caprock Group as Manager of Private Investments. Eric began his career at Hall Capital Partners, a multi-family office based in San Francisco. He initially spent his time advising clients on portfolio allocation decisions. Subsequently, he focused on research and due diligence for the firm's Private Equity and Venture Capital fund investments. Eric grew up close to Berkeley, so it's no surprise that he is a Double Bear. In this episode, we get to know a little about his upbringing, growing up within the Berkeley ecosystem, his experiences both in undergrad and graduate school, and why going to business school is one of the best personal investments he has ever made.Eric also shares what got him in the investment space, how portfolio management works, and the future of investing.Episode Quotes:On growing up within the Berkeley ecosystem, getting his undergrad, and coming back for graduate school“I was pretty awestruck by that experience. And such a beautiful campus. I never really appreciated that growing up, but as I've come back to Berkeley again, some of my best memories are taking walks throughout the campus. And so, that's been an important part of just being immersed in this, again, just long-tenured history.I'm fortunate to have that younger perspective and now a little bit older perspective. And I've certainly tried not to take it for granted because I think life is happening fast at 18, 19 years old. And you miss out on certain things just because things are moving so quickly. So, as I've come back, it's really trying to take the time and appreciate the experience for whatever it is.”Transitioning from being a collegiate athlete to a hardcore student “It was hard. I felt steps behind, Imposter Syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Still, I'm certainly out of my league. And certainly, I have overcome some of those things. But when I came back to Haas, it was another feeling of that again because such impressive people around you have done so many awesome and interesting things, like, whoa, how do I even deserve to be in this cohort of people?But I wouldn't lie that I certainly struggled for a period of time before I found my footing and that internal drive and belief to say, you know what? I do deserve to be right here. I can work at this level.”On his experiences at Haas “You're making an investment in yourself. And ultimately, it's been one of the best personal investments that I've made in myself, both from a financial return and non-financial return perspective. I think the relationships between professors, colleagues, and alumni have been unbelievable. I think you can't put a price on this professionalization and self-confidence-building exercise that I think a lot of people go through when they go through an MBA program. You get to a point where, perhaps, before it was a little bit fake it till you make it. And then, after, you're like, ‘No, I can do this. I can learn something totally new and thrive and succeed in that.' So, I think that's been incredibly invaluable.”Show Links:LinkedInSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations

Today is another episode in celebration of Pride Month. Our guest, Michelle MiJung Kim (she/her), is a queer immigrant Korean American woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the author of "The Wake Up," where she shares foundational principles often missing in today's mainstream conversations around “diversity and inclusion” and urges readers to go beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world. Michelle is also CEO and co-founder of Awaken, a leading provider of interactive equity and inclusion education programs facilitated by majority BIPOC educators, where she has consulted hundreds of organizations and top executives from Fortune 500, tech giants, nonprofits, and government agencies to spark meaningful change. In this episode, Michelle shares her immigrant story, coming out as queer in high school, and how it began her political activism journey. Michelle also tells us who and what inspired her to become an activist, why she is passionate about DEI and social justice, and what led her to write her book.Finally, we'll hear Michelle's insights on how we can be a part of the solidarity movement in more ways that are more than just changing profile photos, dealing with trade-offs and contradictions, and how we can truly incorporate racial equity and social justice in the workplace and the community.Episode Quotes:On what inspired her to be an activistI remember growing up in South Korea, I didn't have the language to talk about the experiences that I was having. But in retrospect, there were so many things that I was taught as a child from my grandpa around the importance of activism. I remember him teaching me some of the lessons that now I understand to be around activism, where he really believed in many, many social justice issues that were important. And I think about all of these nuggets of wisdom that I received from my grandpa, having had such a profound impact on me and my upbringing, without even realizing it. So, when I started understanding the kinds of work that other people were doing, I became really inspired. And I was fortunate enough to meet so many other people who were organizing to create a better future, who were kind enough to teach me and help me learn the language, help me understand the theories that weren't being taught in schools, even, for me to be able to understand and put language to the experience that I've lived that I know viscerally in my body but didn't have the words to describe. So, once I started learning the language, it felt incredibly liberating and empowering because now I can describe what it is that I'm experiencing. So, I think all those small experiences led me to being the person that I am today and the way that I understand the world.Defining performative allyshipPerformative allyship, to me, is similar to virtue signaling, when people are so quick to claim that they are in solidarity with certain movements or certain marginalized people and groups that they are quick to claim that identity before actually having done the work or before they are actually committed to doing the work in a sustainable way. And so, for me, that quick, urgent desire to claim that you are a good person, that you are an ally to a certain community, can sometimes be the very barrier between you actually living the values that you want to live, because you desiring to do something but without actually having sat with the necessary introspection can sometimes lead to unintended harm that could burden more marginalized people rather than being supportive or being seen as true solidarity.What does "The Wake Up" meanWhen I titled the work "The Wake Up," it wasn't just about us waking up to other people's struggles and the injustices that are around us in the world. It was also about our waking up to ourselves, our waking up to our capacity to change and transform, but also our capacity to wake up to our complicity in some of the systems of oppression that we're so quick to denounce.What I want to see is all of us taking the work of self-transformation seriously even before we claim that we are out there ready to march alongside other people. So, starting with ourselves begins with our questioning the why. Why are we doing this work? Why do I feel compelled to be a part of this social justice movement? On trade-offs and living in contradictionsWe will all have to, at some point, be willing to give up something in order to move the movement forward, whether it is our resources, our positions of power, our privilege. So, when it comes to actually doing the things that are in alignment with our set values, what are we actually willing to trade off? When it comes to doing this work, there will be some trade-offs that we have to be honest about making. Or when we're not ready to or willing to make those trade-offs, then let's be honest about why and interrogate where that fear is coming from. And they could be very valid reasons.So, these are some real decisions, real trade-offs and sacrifices sometimes that we are needing to make in order to stay in alignment with our values. We're not shooting for perfection, but we are trying to be honest throughout this process. So, I don't ask people to ever be perfect in their decision-making because I'm certainly not. And I live in contradictions all the time. But in these moments of contradictions, can we be courageous enough to be honest with ourselves and be willing to do the work in order for us to be closer in alignment with our values every single day?On holding onto hope and not giving in to cynicismI think holding onto hope is such a powerful and courageous thing for us to do, and to remember that change is indeed possible, and it's not only possible but that it's happening every single day all around us. And I think of Mariame Kaba, black abolitionist, somebody who I really admire and look up to and learn from. Her quote is, hope is a discipline. And that's the thought that I want to leave folks with because I think we need a lot of hope these days, and to remember that a better world, a more just, inclusive, safe, equitable world is possible and that it is being built right now by so many people with the same vision. So, don't lose hope. Don't give in to cynicism. Claim the corner of your life and the world that you're in charge of. And make that your frontline where you do the work to create change that you want to see.Show Links:WebsiteLinkedInThe Wake UpAwakenSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations