Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog

From being exposed to varying cultures to opening doors to new industries, my time at Fuqua has shown me that the world is filled with more opportunities than I thought.

As a queer woman in the process of coming out and earning an MBA in a new country, I was worried about being accepted and being able to live my life to the fullest, both professionally and personally.

Once I committed to Fuqua, I knew I wanted to build more bridges between the Duke and Durham communities.

I knew the experience and skills gained through an MBA would help make me an even better HR leader.

I would describe Fuqua as my lifetime school, where I have grown professionally and personally, where I learned important life lessons, and where I met lifelong friends.

Global Week is an event celebrating Fuqua’s international diversity and inclusivity, and typically it’s a great opportunity for Fuqua students to showcase their home cultures and interact with alumni with international backgrounds.

Reflecting on the sun setting on my time here at Fuqua, I share the speech I delivered to my peers at the MBA Association Academy Awards event.

Reflecting on my background helped to enable me up for my personal mission in Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). My first opportunity in D&I came in the form of supporting our recruiting team by going back to Temple, my undergraduate alma mater, to identify candidates to join the company.

I had been researching business schools for a couple years, and after a while, all the top schools seemed the same. I needed something that would cut through the sound bites and similarities to know whether or not I, an openly gay individual, would belong.

As I was boarding my flight for a spring break ski trip in early March 2020, I thought our class had already been tested. And that had nothing on what was yet to come.