Career Conversations

Ikya Kandula ’22 spent her summer as an intern at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. This episode is part of a special mini-series of “Career Conversations” focused on MBA summer internships where we ask rising second-year MBA students to check in from their experiences, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM. She is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Sam MacAvoy ’22 spent his summer as an intern at NASA and the Ames Research Center. He is also an active duty member of the U.S. Navy. This episode is part of a special mini-series of “Career Conversations” focused on MBA summer internships where we ask rising second-year MBA students to check in from their experiences, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM. He is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Camino de Paz is Yale SOM's Assistant Dean of Global Network Programs. She brings 20 years of experience and a passion for global collaboration to her role working with students across all of SOM's programs. 

Natasha Nair ’21 was born in Nigeria to Indian parents and grew up in South Africa. She has lived and worked across seven cities in four countries over the past five years, gaining a unique ability to imagine the world from multiple perspectives. Her expertise lies at the intersection of customer research, human-centered design, and business strategy. At SOM, she was active in the Design + Innovation Club, founded her own venture, and took electives that focused on the consumer perspective. Prior to SOM, she received a B.A in Business Science, specializing in Finance and Economics, from the University of Cape Town, and an MBA from IE Business School.

Sarah Wilson ’15 is a Managing Director on the Responsible Investing team at Nuveen, a TIAA Company. She integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions for the firm's $970+ billion assets under management, with a focus on fixed income. She holds an MBA and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University.  During her time at Yale, Sarah was a finalist in the 2014 Nespresso Sustainability MBA Challenge and the 2013-2014 co-chair of the Net Impact Club. Prior to Yale, Sarah worked at Green Mountain Energy Company, a leading retail provider of electricity from renewable sources to homes and businesses.  Sarah is interviewed by Jenn Burkha ’21. At SOM, Jenn focused on impact investing, venture capital, and entrepreneurship in the sustainable food/agriculture industry. Prior to earning her MBA, Jenn spent 7 years in the food and hospitality sector working for Holland America Line and the Marcus Samuelsson Group, a celebrity chef-driven media and restaurant group.

Andrew Seth Jacobs ’22, a rising second year in the full-time MBA program, came to SOM after a career in nonprofit fundraising. He serves as Co-President of the Consulting Club, and Co-Leader of Out of Office, SOM’s LGBTQ+ affinity group. He is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Emily Averna ’22: I am looking to pivot from the nonprofit sector to corporate sustainability efforts. Before coming to Yale SOM I was fortunate to spend eight years working on sustainable development at a nonprofit organization. Through that work, I caught glimpses of the power and potential of the private sector–both big companies and small businesses–to be engines of inclusive, green growth. I’m eager to build the foundational business knowledge, skills, and networks that will allow me to tackle sustainability issues from within the private sector. An MBA will help me make this shift. Emily is interviewed by Pascal Su ’22.

Reeve Harde ’21 works in the global strategy group at Samsung Electronics in Seoul, Korea. Prior to SOM, Reeve worked at Deloitte M&A as an Advisory Manager, Special Acquisition Services performing buy-side due diligence. During his time at Yale SOM, Reeve was the Student Government president, an SOM admissions guide, and a member of the Media & Entertainment Club, Technology Club, Private Equity & Venture Capital Club, Ski & Snowboard Club, and the Hockey Club. Between his first and second year, Reeve interned in strategy at Comcast.   Reeve Harde is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21 and Amy Kundrat ’21.

Professor Nathan Novemsky is Professor of Marketing at Yale SOM and has an appointment as Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. He co-teaches the Yale SOM core course Modeling Managerial Decisions. He is an expert in the psychology of judgment and decision-making, an area that overlaps heavily with behavioral economics and consumer behavior. His research explores how people make judgments and decisions based on the information in front of them, how they know what they like, how the way they frame decisions affects the choices they make, how they choose and evaluate gifts, how their goals influence their behavior and other topics in judgment and decision-making. He is interviewed by Leon Dong ’21.

Ariana Day Yuen ’19 is the founder and CEO of Forested Foods, a vertically integrated agroforestry venture in Ethiopia. She began her career as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in their D.C. and New York City offices where she advised clients across the government, non-profit, and private sectors. She then joined TechnoServe as a Fellow in their Ethiopia office and joined them full-time thereafter supporting a range of projects that focused on designing and building more sustainable and equitable value chains and market systems. Her accumulated experiences, passion for sustainable and delicious food, and deepening sense of responsibility to tackle complex societal issues are what led to Forested Foods. She is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

In his 17th year as founder and chief executive officer of Mastery Schools, Scott Gordon ’88 oversees an organization that is known for turning around struggling public schools in Philadelphia while creating better and varied post-secondary opportunities for its students. Mastery created a new college-ready school model while cultivating a supportive environment for students and addressing the racial and economic context of educational injustice central to its work. Scott is also a graduate of The Broad Academy (TBA) 2014-15. He is interviewed by Ezra Nelson ’21, a former high school math teacher at Boston Collegiate Charter School. Ezra is a student leader for SOM’s Education Leadership Conference. You can hear about his summer internship at Robinhood Foundation in this previous Career Conversations episode.

Max Dworin ’21 is the co-founder and COO of Onda, a canned sparkling tequila beverage company. Onda is made with blanco tequila from a woman-owned distillery in Jalisco, Mexico and flavored with real fruit juice. Prior to SOM, Max worked at Boxed as Chief of Staff and on the business development team launching their Wine & Spirits business. Max also worked in politics, serving as Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and Vice President of Communications for the Partnership for New York City. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21 and Amy Kundrat ’21. 

Uma Krishnan ’19 is a consultant in the Houston office of Bain & Company. In this episode, Uma discusses how her passion for the education industry led her to the MBA program at SOM, life as a Bain employee, and her experiences on one of the company’s DEI taskforce teams. She is interviewed by Andrew Jacobs, a full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022, leads the conversation.

Sunny Mehta ’21 is a MAM student in the class of 2021. He completed his MBA at HEC Paris. Sunny has always followed his passion, first in politics and now on his startup within the sports industry. Sunny speaks about the upsides and pitfalls of working in politics and how his MBA and MAM degrees are aiding him in his transition to a new industry. Sunny also shares key insights into his entrepreneurial journey and the role Yale SOM has had in transforming his idea and building it into a reality. He is interviewed by Natasha Nair ’21.

Martha Bull is a second-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2021. They interned with PepsiCo last summer in their marketing department and is a second-year leader for Out Of Office (SOM LGBTQ+ Affinity Group). Martha discusses their background in the arts, trends in the marketing world, affinity recruiting, and their favorite PepsiCo product. In this podcast, they are interviewed by Andrew Jacobs, a full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022 and first-year Out of Office leader.

Linhang Ren is a first-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022. He is a co-chair of the Internship Fund at SOM, and a co-founder of a new food startup that’s part of the Tsai CITY Accelerator program at Yale. Prior to SOM, Linhang was a serial entrepreneur who has founded several tech/travel start-ups. His most recent start-up was Touchtrips, a B2B travel tech company that enabled hotel guests to instantly book POI in their hotel room or on their hotel app. Linhang is interviewed by Pascal Su, a first-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022. Pascal is an elected Senator for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) at Yale, and a leader of the Data Analytics Club at SOM. Prior to SOM, Pascal was an investment professional at a $70B private equity fund of funds, where he managed assets on behalf of institutional clients.

Grace Bergin has spent her career in the arts working in music education and as a conductor for choirs, orchestras, and opera. She is an MAM student at Yale SOM and has completed her MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Business School in Ireland. Grace is interviewed by Natasha Nair ’21, and they speak about how creating and conducting music connects to business.

Adhi Murali is a second-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2021. He interned in investment banking this past summer and is leading the Finance Club this Fall. Adhi talks about the recruiting process for investment banking and the role played by Yale SOM's Finance Club. Prior to SOM, Adhi worked for VMware helping Fortune 500 clients solve their most challenging technology problems using VMware solutions.

Tanmay Manohar ’16 is the Vice President for People Analytics & Workforce Planning at ViacomCBS. He started the people analytics function at the company as a way to use information in a more intelligent way to solve HR problems. He uses predictive analytics for hiring, improving diversity and inclusion, succession planning, employee engagement and career development. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21.  

Nancy Pfund ’82 is the founder and managing partner of DBL Partners and a pioneer in impact investing.  Pfund worked at JPMorgan and Hambrecht & Quist before founding DBL Investors, a venture capital firm that invested with the aim of achieving both financial returns and social or environmental impact. In 2015, the firm joined with the clean tech practice of Technology Partners to form DBL Partners. Pfund has made successful investments in such firms as Tesla, SolarCity, and Pandora.