The GMAT Club Podcast - NYU Stern MBA experience and its Return on Investment ROIYou can also listen to The MBA Show by GMAT Club on Episode Summary:0:33 Intro to Lisa Rios, Assistant Dean for MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business
2:12 Intro to Devna Shukla
3:55 Intro to Drew Stern
7:17 How did you start exploring the MBA?
14:43 How did the Stern MBA help you in your career?
23:39 Can you tell us about a challenging time at Stern and how did you navigate it?
28:20 How did you build relationships at Stern MBA?
33:30 Student clubs at NYU Stern
36:54 How did the Stern MBA help your leadership style?
43:36 Navigating change and uncertainty?
43:36 How to answer Stern’s essay question about personal call to action?
50:45 If you were to do it again, what would you change about your Stern MBA experience?
55:45 What would be your advice to NYU Stern prospective applicants?
59:14 Closing
Moderator: Lisa Rios serves as Assistant Dean for MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business, leading a team of 20 professionals. In this capacity, she oversees the core admissions function for the School’s full-time MBA programs, as well as marketing and operations. Lisa joined Stern in 2008 and has evaluated nearly 50,000 full-time MBA applications and seen nearly 5,000 new full-time students start their MBA journeys during her nearly 14 years at the School.
The best part of her role is that it does not feel like a “job”; she loves what she does. The biggest reason for this is the “Sternies” with whom she works every day; the second is the fast pace at which Stern innovates and challenges its people (including the Admissions team) to ideate, to try new things, and to continue to learn. She also enjoys the travel that is part of her job and the chance to explore other cultures; Mumbai, London, Istanbul, Tokyo, Toronto, and Beijing are just a few of her recruiting stops. And, the places she does not get to visit in person, she experiences through applicants’ vivid images and descriptions in their “Pick Six” visual personal expressions admissions essays.
In addition to her role leading the MBA Admissions team, Lisa also serves as a program chair for a cohort of MBA students as part of the School’s Leadership Fellows Program. She also hosts one-on-one sessions with students to help them understand their individual Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) results and development plan as part of Stern’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity (IDBE).
Prior to joining NYU Stern, she worked in industry at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Liz Claiborne. Lisa earned a master of arts degree in higher education administration from NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Richmond.
Besides spending time with her family, Lisa spends most of her free time reading and baking. She is (quite) obsessed with making scones because they serve as a blank canvas and, in the summer, she plays with fresh herbs from the garden. She is currently reading Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal with her daughter and Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue with the MBA Admissions team’s book club.
NYU Stern alum: Devna Shukla is an Emmy award-winning producer and currently a Senior Business Development Manager at Microsoft. Before Microsoft, Devna studied political science at UCLA and received an MBA from NYU Stern. After graduating from UCLA, Devna joined CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and ultimately became an editorial producer for the program, covering historic moments including the Newtown shooting, the Ebola crisis, and the Boston Marathon bombing. While at NYU, Devna was co-president of the Stern Technology Association, Vice President of Allyship for the Hispanic and Black Student Association, and co-host of the student podcast, "Stern Chats." Devna was also awarded the Joseph H. Taggart award, Stern's highest honor for excellence in leadership, community service, and academics. Now at Microsoft, Devna works on strategic content partnerships to engage over a billion users across Windows, Edge, MSN and Bing.
NYU Stern alum: Drew Stern (He/Him) is an award-winning technology CEO and a proud LGBTQ+ leader with 3 high growth exits over the last 9 years. Throughout his career he's cultivated a portfolio of experience creating, growing and exiting successful SaaS start-ups, as well as leading Product, Marketing, Operations and Alliances for Fortune 100 companies.
Drew is currently the CEO and Founder of Stageyo- an early stage start-up and the world’s 1st digital marketplace specifically for stage performers to directly engage their supporters through unique content, experiences and patronage.
Previously, he was the CEO & Co-Founder of Esquify, a venture-backed, AI-driven tech company which was acquired by Xact Data Discovery (XDD) in Dec. 2018.
As a product innovator and accomplished technology executive, Drew has held leadership positions at Salesforce/Buddy Media, XDD/Consilio and American Express, has been recognized as ‘40 Under 40’ by M&A Advisor, winner of the "US LegalTech Venture Competition" and a ‘Notable LGBTQ Exec’ and a "Notable Entrepreneur" by Crain’s Business Chicago. He holds his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
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