Naseem Sayani, Class of 2008

Hometown: Chino Hills, California
Undergraduate degree: BA in Business Economics from University of California, Los Angeles
Prior work experience: Five years with IBM Global Services focused on consulting projects and technology implementations across media, entertainment, government, manufacturing and automotive clients
Current specialization(s): Global Business, Finance, Operations
Club affiliation(s): Stern Women in Business (Co-President), Management Consulting Assoc. (Casing Director), Emerging Markets Assoc., Media Entertainment & Sports Assoc., South Asian Business Students Assoc. at Stern
Career interest(s): Management Consulting, Media and Technology, Strategy 
Summer internship: Summer Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton
Full-time position after graduation: Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton
NYC neighborhood: Upper East Side

The end is actually here! We’ve been waiting 2 years for it, and now, when we weren’t looking, our diplomas are ready to go, and we’re wrapping up what will henceforth be deemed some of the best years of our lives!

It’s been an incredible run, and it wouldn’t be fitting for Stern to not wrap up the year with a serious *punch*! While a large majority of MBA1s are spending countless hours studying for corporate finance (the final is this Friday!), most MBA2s are switching to ‘cruise control’ and relishing the last few days of Stern-life. Post-term kicks off today with a big MBA2 trip to Atlantic City! About half the class is headed to Atlantic City for an evening of the finest in chaos and debauchery (and there’s no doubt Facebook will be ripe with the best antics of the night tomorrow)! Wednesday night we’re headed to Water Taxi Beach, and Thursday, everyone’s inner ‘Idol’ will come out for a night of karaoke! We hit the weekend with a day at Six Flags on Saturday and a performance by our very own Stern band on Sunday in the Village. Next week, a huge pre-celebration party is scheduled for Monday night, and the infamous boat cruise will take us to the finish line! We’re all pretty certain that by the time family comes to town next Wednesday for graduation, we’ll be in full-recovery-mode and sharing knowing glances at graduation about the misdeeds that went down the week before … it’s going to be ridiculous! I can’t wait.

It’s a little bittersweet to be writing my last blog this week. It’s been incredibly fun to share the ‘inside scoop’ on Stern with you, and I hope we’ve been able to give you a real sense of what it’s like to be a student here.

• For those of you joining Stern in the fall, the best parting words I can give you are to make the most of every minute you have here because it goes by faster than you can even imagine! Make the list of ‘things you want to do in business school’ and take the initiative to make them happen! Stern’s greatest asset is the students who go here, and every opportunity is provided for you to take hold of the destiny you’ve envisioned. There’s no excuse to not make it happen while you are here!
• For those of you thinking about applying to Stern (or any other business schools), take the time to learn about the schools you choose. Understand what makes them ‘tick’ and where the real ‘umph’ comes from. I’m convinced that choosing the right business school is all about identifying the ‘energy factor’ and when you can walk on a campus and say to yourself ‘I can totally do THIS’ – you know that’s where you’re supposed to be! And hopefully Stern is that place for you!

Thank you for being the avid readers you are and helping to bring our blogs to life! I wish you the best of luck in everything you do going forward, and hopefully I’ll meet many of you in the future as a Stern alumna!

Enjoy the summer and get some sunshine in! I know I’m going to!

Welcome to the second to last week of the semester! It’s amazing the year has gone by so quickly. For many first-years, this has been a year jam-packed with new classes, new friends and a new appreciation for the term "death by Outlook". For many second-years, including myself, this has been a year of stronger friendships, lasting connections and deeper knowledge of the topics and business skills we came here to learn! It's been an AMAZING year and as much as I could live without the last few projects I need to finish for May 15^th, it's difficult to accept that in 10 short days Stern will become part of the memories I attach to one of the greatest times of my life. (A bit of a sappy moment I know, but for any of you joining Stern this fall, you'll know EXACTLY what I mean two very short years from now ...)

On to some real blogging! I have been utterly neglectful of my blog for the last two weeks, and I first want to give you an update on my trip to New Orleans. In short – it was incredible! The students at the charter school were passionate, enthusiastic and creative with the mini-business-plan we helped them build! And the teachers were incredibly appreciative of the insight and advice we provided on how the New Orleans education system can be rebuilt.

The city itself is unreal! We saw parts of town that look fully rebuilt and where business is back to normal – and other parts of town where it’s hard to believe there was once a thriving neighborhood. Foundations of houses, remnant schoolyard fences and boarded up restaurants are all that remain amidst over-grown grass and weeds. It was really difficult to see and even more difficult to understand what the people who lived there must have gone through after Hurricane Katrina. The silver lining though (you knew there had to be one) is that it really helped crystallize the impact we could have as MBA students taking an interest in understanding the needs and resource constraints of the area. From rebuilding houses to recruiting teachers and establishing new businesses, the government and private enterprises of New Orleans can only recover successfully if there is awareness of what is needed. This trip brought more awareness to the 8 of us than anything else. We left knowing we’d had an impact on the students and teachers we met, but also acknowledging there is so much more we can do – and that’s a better feeling than we could have ever hoped for!

We also wrapped up the final transition for the new Stern Women in Business (SWIB) officers just last week culminating in an amazing new-board-old-board dinner extravaganza at a nearby East Village restaurant. SWIB has been an incredibly important element of my experience here at Stern, and it’s been immensely exciting to see the new team come together so well. They are already holding their own board meetings and generating ideas for next year’s events! It makes me proud to know that we’ve passed on the legacy of SWIB to such a bright and versatile group of women, and I’m confident the impact and strength of the organization will continue to go up from here!

The next two weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity for most students! Daytime classes are wrapping up by May 5^th, which means all final projects for these courses are due in the next week. Evening classes will wrap up by May 12^th, with all projects and assignments due shortly after. MBA2s then head into a week of fun-filled events and activities (called “post-term”) including a trip to Atlantic City, karaoke for the masses, a day at Six Flags and of course a boat cruise!

Most of us MBA2s are looking forward to wrapping up our experience here at Stern “in style”, and the countdown is definitely ON! I’ll be back next week with more on the last few weeks and the path to graduation. Stay tuned!

What a week it was last week! The annual Stern Follies event – which I mentioned in my last blog – was AMAZING! Every skit, performance and video was so creative and reflected so much of what the Stern experience is all about. It was hilarious! I was in the opening sketch along with 17 other MBA2 Stern ladies. We recreated the opening cheer from "Bring it On" incorporating a dance-off between the Graduate Marketing Assocation (GMA) and the Graduate Finance Association (GFA) cheerleaders! I was on the GFA squad and despite what you might hear from the GMA team we totally won! It was a RIOT!

I’m headed to New Orleans this weekend for a rapid-fire consulting project with a charter school. We’re spending a half-day on Friday working with middle school students on a mini-business program. They’ll learn what it takes to start a business, develop a business plan, secure financing and make and sell their product (friendship bracelets). I love projects like this because I enjoy seeing the ideas “click” in students' minds. We will relate concepts like revenue, cost and profit to things as simple as their allowances.

Then we spend the afternoon with the school's teachers and administrators and present insights and examples we’ve collected about how to recruit and retain new teachers, improve support and funding from the government and identify the best new projects for the school. Over the weekend, we’re visiting with a handful of local and national nonprofits working on rebuild projects in the area and will get an up-close-and-personal experience with the impact Katrina has had on the economics of the region. It should be a really incredible trip!

My new evening class started last week, Strategy and Success in the Digital Age with Professor Mezias. It’s definitely one of the most timely and relevant classes in my line-up this semester. The readings and topics for class are all tied to recent events including Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo, Electronic Arts' attempted acquisition of Take-Two, Facebook’s continuing success in a social networking space previously occupied by MySpace, Netflix’s dominance in the DVD rentals market and the impact to movie studios, Apple’s music-mogul status and the list goes on and on! The professor does an amazing job of combining theory with relevant changes and decisions we may face as the business world becomes more and more electronic.

The school weeks are getting busier with finals just around the corner and the buzz of graduation in the air! This year’s commencement event will be at Radio City Music Hall, and most MBA2s have already ordered tickets, caps and gowns. Many of us still can’t believe we’re already graduating!

But we’re not done yet! There’s more to come over the next 6 weeks – stay tuned!

Stern is back from another great Spring Break!

Almost every Sternie was traveling somewhere this year, and I’m sure the stories we hear this week will be pretty incredible! Many took advantage of the plethora of treks that took place during the break - 170 Sternies went to Japan with the Japan Business Association (JBA), 70 Sternies went to Turkey with the Emerging Markets Association (EMA), 60 Sternies went to Rio de Janiero with the Association of Hispanic and Black Business Students (AHBBS), another 50 went to Chile with the Social Enterprise Association (SEA) and yet another 70 students went to Tanzania with the (newly founded!) Stern in Africa (SIA) organization! It’s pretty incredible that we had folks in so many difference places this year. (Last year, I went to Morocco on one of these same treks – it was amazing!)

Many other Sternies, mostly MBA2s in hopes of maximizing the last spring break we might ever have (!!), traveled to far off destinations for great food, lots of sunshine and what can only be described as ‘senior-year-antics’! Sternies were vacationing (i.e. trouble-making) in India, Costa Rica, St. Thomas, St. John, Antigua, the Dominican Republic, Europe and (me!) in Los Angeles. The few people who stayed around New York probably hadn’t experienced such a quiet city and Stern campus in a very long time! For my break, I spent the entire week in Los Angeles rounding out a lot of my wedding planning activities and catching up with tons of family and friends who I hadn’t seen since last Thanksgiving – it was great! The weather in LA was amazing (I spent the entire week in flip flops!), and it was so fun to drive around the Westside again, have some amazing cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory in Marina Del Rey, eat at my favorite restaurants in Old Town Pasadena, hit up my old gym and spend some time relaxing away from the nonstop life of New York City.

Now that everyone (including me!) is well-fed, tan and refreshed, this should be a very good week back at Stern. It works out well also since we have some very fun events coming up. The annual Stern Follies event is on April 4^th at the Skirball Cultural Center next door to Stern – this should be so fun this year! Students put together skits, short films and musical routines to express the life and times of our experiences here at Stern – and it can get pretty hilarious! Even the professors will get involved. I’m part of the opening act for this year’s event and – without giving away the act we’re re-creating – if I can get my pom-poms in order, it should be a very good time! We have practice three times this week, and our choreographer has even sent us videos of the routines – we have no excuse to not practice!!

Two weeks later we have Stern’s International Passport Day on April 14^th where the cultural clubs on campus sponsor tables showcasing their ethnic foods and culture, and many of these same clubs put together performances to highlight the music and dance of the regions they represent. I participated in the Bollywood dance last year!

Finally, as I mentioned last week, we did wrap up elections for next year’s Stern Women in Business team, and I’m so excited about the new group! The new Co-Presidents – Monica Khurana and Whitney Talbot – are perfect for the organization, and the rest of the team came together amazingly well. Our website should be updated soon with the new board’s bios and information, and they’ll be transiting into their new leadership spots before the end of April. Next year should be a rockstar year for SWIB, and I can’t wait to see what new and great things these women bring to Stern!

I’ll bring you updates on the prep for these events as we get closer to them – the last 6 weeks of our time here at Stern is kicking off with a really great start. Stay tuned for more next week!

My first piece of news to report is that the Social Enterprise Association (SEA) “Think Social, Drink Local” event on Friday went extremely well! The fashion show was amazing, and we had such fun struttin down the runway - despite rapid-fire costume changes, makeup and hair adventures in the pouring rain and stuck zippers in the dressing room! Over 500 guests sipped organic libations from local and national producers - making a libation from wheat still tastes amazing! Dean Fraser got his groove on on the dance floor (no joke!), and every Sternie came out for the event! It was amazing!

Last week was also a great week for the Management Consulting Association since we made our decisions on the new executive board! The new Casing Directors - Gillie Nevel and Jeff Casey - are awesome, and I’m so excited to have such great people taking over our positions. Everyone on the new board has had a very successful recruiting season, and most are lined up with either management consulting or internal strategy positions for the summer. We’re really excited about the new team and can’t wait to finalize their transitions and see the team get rolling!

We should be finalizing the new board for Stern Women in Business (SWIB) this week also! The final meeting for the current board is tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll bring you updates on the new team of SWIBsters next week …

In my blog last week, I had mentioned we were having an AMAZING guest speaker in my Film Marketing class. This speaker was supposed to be Michael Lynne, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Line Cinema, (incredible! I know!) – unfortunately though, he had to cancel the morning before class and was unable to join us. The entire class was disappointed that he couldn't make it. But, given our recent class discussions and hypotheses from the week before, we were actually kind of proud of ourselves. (huh?) I’ll explain.

For any of you following the media and entertainment industry, you’ll know that New Line’s latest release was The Golden Compass. Last week in Film Marketing we discussed the marketing plan for this film at length (special promotions, print ads, product tie-ins, actor salaries, commercials, book sales...). We came to the unanimous conclusion that the studio had not done enough to really place the film in movie-goer’s minds as the “must see” first-installment of Phillip Pullman’s highly acclaimed book series by the same name. We determined that so many great revenue opportunities had been left on the table (including ownership of the international distribution rights, radio plugs by the author and actors and pre-Oscar pomp and glamour). We believed that New Line would be struggling to recoup the production and marketing costs for the movie, while still paying a profit to the producers and writers of the film. Professor Reed Martin made the (then outlandish) statement that if the movie didn’t deliver at the box office, Warner Brothers (New Line’s parent company) would have no choice but to fold New Line back into the parent studio to save costs on the remaining installments of the series. This is in fact EXACTLY what happened in the days before Michael Lynne was due to join us! We were shocked and disappointed all the same time! Did we called it or what??

It’s amazing how the discussions you have in class can sometimes become so timely and relevant that you’re literally watching the business happen as you study it. I’ve had a number of examples like this happen in my experience at Stern so far, but last week was BY FAR the most entertaining! This week, we’re expecting to have someone from Miramax visiting our class and save any predictions of the future from our Professor, let’s hope no *breaking news* happens before tomorrow at 6 p.m. to thwart that visit as well!

I’ll be back next week with updates on SWIB and other Stern-life adventures. Stay tuned!

This week has been another great week at Stern! As I mentioned in my last blog, I’m heading to New Orleans for a weekend in April with other MBA2s (including my fellow blogger Genna Weinstein) to do some rapid-fire consulting work at the charter school in the area. This school has been pursuing some great initiatives to rebuild the education system in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, and the MBA2 leading our effort Mel Ochoa, President of the Social Enterprise Association (SEA), has been speaking with school reps to identify the best projects for us to help with. It should be a great time and a great way to give back!

My classes have been a lot of fun! I was able to put together such an intriguing mix this semester, and it's been a great way to round out my Stern experience. Managing Growing Companies with Professor Okun is a fantastic class. Professor Okun not only knows the finer business details behind small and growing businesses, but also since he has a law degree gives the class a great perspective of the legalities behind the small business. It’s amazing! The class is like an advanced business class and introductory law class, all wrapped into one! Film Marketing and Distribution has been another fantastic experience! Professor Reed Martin speaks from a broad range of experience marketing both independent and blockbuster movies and uses everything from movie clips to commercials to print advertising to actual marketing budgets and projections, so the class really understands what it means to be in the movie business. For many of us, we almost take for granted that movies show up in the theatre, that movie posters look the way they do and that products are co-branded with upcoming releases – this class makes the entire marketing process so scientific that I’m realizing how much planning, forecasting and strategy goes into making a movie work. It’s pretty incredible …

In club news, I’ve been interviewing great MBA candidates for board positions in both MCA and SWIB and should be making a decision on the new people who will take over very soon! It’s been really great to see so many MBA1s express an interest in taking on club roles and having an impact on what happens here at Stern. Getting involved on campus is one of the best decisions I ever made (and one of the reasons I came to Stern), and it’s great to see so many students interested in taking over the charge!

On a personal note – I added Guitar Hero III to my Wii game collection this weekend. If you have not had the chance to play this game, you must do it soon! It’s amazing! Truth be told, if I hadn’t gone down the business school/consulting path, I could have TOTALLY been a rockstar! The  game is amazing and my fiancé and I have been playing non-stop ever since we bought it!

I’ll be back next week with updates on the club front and some great activities going on this week! SEA’s annual fundraiser – Think Social, Drink Local – is this Friday and I’ve been recruited to be a model for the "La Vie en Vert" Eco-Fashion Show hosted by the NYU Stern Luxury & Retail Club at the event. And we have a great guest speaker coming to our Film Marketing class on Tuesday – I can’t say who yet, but I’ll give you the inside scoop next week!

Stay tuned for more!

February 22, 2008

Welcome to week 3 of classes! It’s incredible how fast time has been flying lately. Late last semester, I kept thinking how far away Valentine’s Day was  - and then all of a sudden last week it was here! We’ve blown past Christmas, New Years, a trip to Hong Kong and Thailand and the SWIB conference, and I can’t believe we’re headed full speed towards March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day in just a few weeks!

My evening classes finally got rolling last week, and they’re some of the best electives I have taken yet! Monday nights I have IT and Corporate Strategy with Professor Arun Sundarajan – this class should be extremely interesting. We’ll be covering firms like Facebook, Google, MySpace and Apple and discussing all the innovative ways they are changing the game when it comes to IT, and how that is translating into a new playing field for corporate IT strategy and investments. These firms are making it sexy to be involved with IT, and they know everyone wants to be part of something that’s “bleeding edge” – it should be pretty interesting to take a much closer look at what it all really means for businesses going forward.

Tuesday nights I have Film Marketing, Distribution and Exhibition with Professor Reed Martin. I have never had three hours go by as quickly as it did for this class last week! It was amazing! The class essentially brings together marketing, finance, distribution and the creative elements of movie making into one strategic discussion: how can you define the talent roster of a movie (directors, producers, actors, etc.) such that your initial salary spend for their commitment is appropriately balanced by the future expected cash flows you will gain from their “brand” being attached to your film; how can you estimate your opening weekend box office dollars such that you recover your initial marketing budget; how do you create, sustain and pay for “buzz” to then also capture the future (and more lucrative) revenues of your DVD/VOD/Rental markets; and how do the economics of all this change when your financing an independent film versus a major studio blockbuster. It’s pretty amazing stuff!

In club news, we’re rapidly nearing the transition period for most campus organizations. For many MBA2s, including myself, who have dedicated the better part of our two years here to a handful of (what we consider) “critical” student organizations, it’s time to hand over the helm to new leadership and entrust them with all the amazing and groundbreaking future adventures we hope these organizations will take on! For me, the organization nearest and dearest to me is Stern Women in Business (SWIB). MBA1s interested in taking on club leadership positions will be submitting their applications in the next week, and then the club teams will interview and appoint the 2008-2009 club leadership boards. Having been on the SWIB board for 2 years and having pushed the organization to do bigger, better and more compelling programming while I was here, I’m excited to see who takes over the charge and where the club will go!

A few other events on the horizon for me include: a case competition at USC Marshall in two weeks focused on the entertainment industry and a trip to New Orleans to deliver a mini-business-basics course to middle school students who survived Hurricane Katrina and are now back in a rebuilt school. I’ll bring you updates on both events as they get closer!

I’ll be back next week with more!

The first piece of news I have to share with you is that the Stern Women in Business Conference last Friday was amazing!! From the new off-site location, to the overflowing goodie bags and the INCREDIBLE speakers – we couldn’t have asked for a better day! The conference team and the SWIB board worked tirelessly last week to bring all the final details together – goodie bags, nametags, final scheduling – we even rented a UHaul to transport all the boxes to the conference site two nights before the event! (I don’t know about you, but driving a UHaul in downtown Manhattan seems like a very scary thing to do! But the team made it!)  

Cathie Black of Hearst Magazines and Suzy Welch, management expert and author, were both amazing keynote speakers! They were engaging, insightful, very funny and extremely candid with their remarks and perspectives on where women in business have been, and where we are going. The panelists were all amazing, and the afternoon roundtables went perfectly.

An additional bonus for this year’s event was some great publicity we were able to secure outside of campus – Pink Magazine included the conference on their website, the Forte Foundation included our event in their monthly events update and the local MetroNY paper ran an article the day of the event! (I’m even quoted in it!) There were so many people who mentioned the article when they arrived on Friday – we couldn’t believe it!

Having attended the conference myself when I came to interview at Stern, and as Co-President of SWIB this year, it was incredible to see it go so well.

The first week of classes was otherwise calm. Most students were just getting into the swing of things – buying books and supplies, finalizing class schedules and figuring out study groups and assignments. I have three daytime classes this semester including Managing Growing Companies with Professor Glenn Okun, Game Theory with Professor Adam Brandenburger and Advanced Strategy Analysis with Professor Goncalo Pacheco. All three have been great so far! The cases are new and relevant, the class discussions have been fun and the assignments look pretty challenging. For my last semester at Stern, it should prove to be a very good day time mix! I have two evening class that won’t start for another week – I’ll bring you updates on those later also!

This week seems very calm compared to last week so I should hopefully have some time to do more social activities around the city than before! I’ll bring you more updates on the behind the scenes scoop at Stern next week – until then, have a great one and enjoy the snow!

The wonders of modern technology. Welcome to my first blog of the new year! Brought to you directly from Koh Phi Phi Island in Thailand and my Blackberry Pearl! It's amazing to me that there are days in New York when I have one bar of cell reception, and yet at a beach in what can only be described as "the middle of nowhere", I have four full bars!

The break after last semester for most MBA2s has been a Pandora's box of travel and adventure! Most of us headed out of the country on one of many Doing Business In... (DBI) courses around the globe. There were Sternies in Australia, Argentina, India, Beijing and (my trip!) Hong Kong. 

I had, until this trip, utterly neglected all Asian countries in my travels and couldn't wait to finally get my feet on the ground in Hong Kong! And thanks to a very well-delivered course and great local professors at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, this DBI did not dissapoint! I thought I had a pretty good idea what it meant to do business in China - I mean, we've all read enough about out-sourcing, labor savings and just the sheer critical mass of people in China - but until I got the inside scoop first-hand from the team in Hong Kong, I don't think I truly understood what it was all about. Communism notwithstanding, the markets and business climate in China are changing more rapidly than we (or they) can really know, and unless today's multi-national business effectively strategizes for China, the rapid increase in profits they gain from being here could just as quickly dissapear! It was an amazing experience to see it all up close for two weeks!

So how did I end up in Thailand? Haha! That's the *bonus* that is post-DBI traveling! Almost everyone in my DBI class had plans to travel after the course - there are Sternies in Shanghai, Cambodia,  Tokyo, Bangkok and (my group!) in Koh Phi Phi! It's been amazing! Considering the weather in New York is about 13 degrees right now, its great to be tanning in 80 degree weather here! The funniest part about it though, is that even though the many small groups of us didn't plan our trips together, we have been running into people everywhere!

We saw Sternies from the Australia trip at the airport in Hong Kong, more Cambodia-bound Sternies at a street market in Bangkok, and yet even more Phuket-bound Sternies at a restaurant just last night by our hotel here! It's been hilarious!

Most of us are due back in the big apple this weekend, and when we're sitting in class next week will surely be wondering if our tans will persist through the "wintry mix" of Manhattan!

I'll be back next week with updates on the first week of class! Enjoy the rest of January - I'm off to secure more sun-block!

We are officially in the last week of the semester! Can you believe it? Another great semester at Stern has gone by in what feels like an instant! From great classes, SWIB events and conference planning, MCA bootcamp and recruiting preparations, to career coach resume reviews and technical mocks interviews – I actually made it through without a scratch! Phew!

The finals for most of my classes this year are papers and projects (as is the case with most electives), and I only have one sit down final (at 1:30pm today!). The work load should lighten up in the next few days! I was a studying machine this past weekend – I finished my final paper for Professional Responsibility, wrapped up my sections of our project for Service Operations, studied and made my 2-page cheat sheet the International Macro Policy exam (this is the one today) and put together a working version of my final paper for Supply Chain Management. Crazy right?? It was amazing – once I sat down and just powered through it all, I was working down my list of “to dos” at WARP SPEED! Let’s just hope it all pays off!

The biggest news I have to share is that SWIB has officially launched our marketing efforts for the upcoming Stern Women in Business Annual Conference – it’s very exciting! The theme is “Business in High Heels: Making our Mark, Breaking the Mold.” The discussion for each panel and session during the day is focused on how women are taking it upon themselves to change the way business is done. Given the changes we have seen in recent years - including a refocus of women’s goals in the workplace - and an evolution of networking events from golf games and cocktail hours to shopping events and high tea get-togethers – the platform for women is becoming increasingly dynamic, and today’s generation is not just looking to develop their business careers, but to take their role to the next level and make their mark in the business world.

We have a great new design for the conference this year also – see the graphic to the right – and the day is going to be amazing! The date for this year’s conference is February 1, 2008, and we’re at a great new location off the South Street Seaport.

December 4, 2007

It snowed this weekend! This year’s first snowfall was fantastic! While I was walking back from the gym on Sunday morning in the snow, I caught some snow in my glove and it’s actually shaped like little snowflakes!! Who knew? I probably should have assumed that this was true, but given the Santa-charade and Easter-Bunny-hoax how can you believe any stories you hear anymore? By Monday, most of the snow had melted away again, but we’re due for more by mid-week which should be fun!

I spent most of my Saturday playing Nintendo Wii this weekend. Yes, I should have been reading for my Supply Chain Management class or writing a mini-paper for my Professional Responsibility class, but instead, I spent a good portion of the day playing Mario Party! It was so fun! I grew up a bit of a video-game-enthusiast – had everything from the old-school Atari 2600 to back-in-the-day Nintendo NES to Nintendo 64 – but the Wii has really changed the game! It’s just so fun! And you’re on your feet so much more, you really get a serious workout! My fiancé and I had a great time dueling it out for gold coins all over Mario-land .. haha! (I got all of my work done on Sunday instead …)

As part of my responsibilities as a Career Coach with the Office of Career Development, I have been conducting technical mock interviews with MBA1 students over the last week. It’s been so interesting to be “on the other side of the table” – having been through this process myself. Now giving the same case we received this year, it’s easier for me to understand what an interviewer goes through during a full day of interviews! Some students are able to plow though the case, knock out the analysis, provide great insight and just nail it with no trouble at all – others, while good at most parts of the interview, I send off with targeted feedback and directions to practice as much as possible to fine-tune their method and approach. It’s actually been kind of fun, and since most have been doing pretty well, it means our efforts in delivering MCA’s bootcamp sessions have paid off! With each interview, I also get more creative with how I give the data and what recommendation questions I ask – the folks who get me this week are in for some interesting thought experiments to say the least! I have one more week of mock interviews left and then the MBA1s will be left to their own commitment and practicing discipline to prepare for interviews in January!

In addition to more mock interviews, I have a handful of assignments coming due this week – a paper for Professional Responsibility, the starts of a paper for Supply Chain Management, a simulation activity for Service Operations and our final homework assignment for International Macroeconomics. There is also a briefing meeting for the DBI course I am attending in January – I’m headed to Hong Kong for two weeks, and I can’t wait! I have completely neglected most Asian countries in all my travels to date, and this will finally give me some exposure to the Asian cultures in a highly targeted way. I’m also planning a week of traveling after the class with other MBA2 students – we’re heading to Thailand (Bangkok and the beaches) for a week afterwards!

That’s the week on my end – hope everyone has a great week on yours!

You have to love Thanksgiving! I went home to Los Angeles for the week and did nothing but EAT all week – turkey, stuffing, gravy, Indian food, naan bread, ice cream cake and kettle corn were just the beginning! (It was amazing!) My fiancé and I also took care of all kinds of wedding planning activities, celebrated my youngest sister’s 20^th birthday with her and played one of the most entertaining Monopoly games EVER! It was a very good week :)

For those of you though, who aren’t thrilled by the prospect of eating for 5 days straight, there were a number of other Stern activities also taking place this last week:

• A group of 40 MBA2s went to Ireland for a Doing Business In … course. The stories and pictures I have seen so far are hilarious!
• A second group of 50 MBA1s went on the London Trek hosted by the European Business Society and the Management Consulting Association. This is an annual trip where students are able to meet and greet with firms across the banking, consulting and high tech industries who are looking to hire MBAs for their European offices. It’s a great way to make contacts and really see what life is like abroad!
• Many smaller groups of students took the week-long opportunity to vacation and take a break before we head into finals - I have seen pictures from Chile, Costa Rica, Argentina, Scotland and Hong Kong!

Since this was the first time we had the entire week of Thanksgiving off, everyone took full advantage of the free time!

The next two weeks will rapidly wind-down the semester. It’s incredible that this year has been going by so fast! The MBA2s (myself included) each received our registration schedules for next semester. I’ve picked all strategy based classes which will let me round out my Strategy specialization (see my blog for Nov 5^th for my course list)!

In other news, the city is gearing up for the holidays in classic New York style! Bloomingdale’s is ready to roll with their lights and beautifully decorated windows, the snowflake music display at Saks Fifth Avenue is up and running and the skating rinks are packed all over the city! This Wednesday marks the historic annual Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center, and great New York activities are going on every day! I’m headed to the lighting this week and will have other fun New York updates in my next entry!

Have a great week! 

The weather has changed in New York. It’s averaging about 45-50 degrees during the highest point of any day and falls well into the 35-40 degree range in the evenings. Coming from Southern California, I think the weather changes – and the concept of “weather” in general – have been the most surprising aspect of New York life I have had to adjust to!

Given that the temperature rarely deviated from 75 degrees in Los Angeles, and “storm watch” meant one day of rain and temperatures (shockingly!) slightly below 65 (in the evening), the notion that the outside temperature can get anywhere near (or even below) 30 or 40 degrees is just unbelievable to me! Before I moved to New York, I had never seen snow fall before (no joke!). I had seen snow on the ground, done my fair share of Big Bear trips, but seeing actual snow falling from the sky was something totally new! I had never owned a coat that weighed more than 0.25 pounds, let alone one with a fuzzy hood and triple lining. I had never stepped in puddles that could engulf my entire lower extremity, let alone been soaked (true New Yorker style) by a cabbie blazing down the road and through a precarious puddle off the curb in front of me. Needless to say, for any of you moving to New York from warmer regions of the country (or the world!), you have quite the transition in front of you!

Despite the tribulations of the weather here in New York, there is so much you gain, it’s easily well worth the frozen bones and icicle-covered hair.

Case in point: I attended two great New York events this weekend! The first was the NY Comedy Festival. I saw Damon Wayans perform live on Friday night at the Beacon Theatre. He was hilarious! I haven’t laughed so hard in AGES!  The second event was Wintuk on Sunday afternoon – the newest installment in the Cirque do Soleil bag of tricks – it’s a revamped and New York-centric version of all the amazing creativity and death-defying feats we know and love about Cirque. The show was hosted at Madison Square Garden and they actually made it snow in the theatre! Cold weather or not, you can’t deny the increased cultural experience of living in New York!

This week should be pretty quiet on the school front – we’re headed into a full week of Thanksgiving break next week, so most people will be in “holiday mode” already (I know I am!).

You won’t see another entry from me until after the break! For those of you who are applying first-round at Stern, good luck on the final wrap-up of your application! I hope our blogs have brought you unparalleled insight and perspective into our fabulous, albeit chaotic at times, lives at Stern J

Enjoy Thanksgiving, and leave no turkey behind!

This past weekend marked two milestones in my life at Stern this year.

The first, I officially registered for my last set of classes at Stern this weekend. The feeling was both exciting and depressing, all at the same time! MBAs before me always said “it goes by so fast!”, and I never believed them. I mean, it’s TWO YEARS! When I started last fall, it felt like the end was so far, and now, it’s literally only a few short months away (sigh). But I’m committed to making the most of the last semester and have selected classes that will round out the finance-masquerading-as-operations-masquerading-as-management coursework I have taken so far.

The hit list for next semester includes:

• Game Theory with Prof Brandenburger: a thought leader in the field and industry game-changer with his concept of “Co-Opetition” as a strategic framework.
• Managing Growing Companies with Prof Okun: I’ve heard nothing but good reviews and have to experience this great class for myself!
• Advanced Strategy Analysis with Prof Pacheco-De-Almeida: The Prof has received great reviews from past students and the description promises to “explain major new strategy concepts and analytics [and] how to quantify the sources of competitive advantage … evaluate choices [and] competitive options that create economic value, execute competitive decisions and preempt competitor's responses.”
• Strategic Analysis and Success in a Digital World with Prof Mezias: Another course with great past reviews and a highly compelling focus on understanding the competitive vortex that has been caused by digital convergence in entertainment, media and technology firms.
• IT and Corporate Strategy with Prof Sundararajan: This one is right up my alley! The syllabus includes coverage of industry-changing firms like Facebook, MySpace, Apple, Google and Amazon, and what they have done to be successful, and what they could be doing in the future! I’m pretty excited!

The second, was the Opening Doors for Women Admissions event. This event is one of my favorites during the year. Stern brings together prospective female applicants, female Stern alumni from a host of different industries and current Stern Women in Business (SWIB) members to talk about the momentum and progression of women in business, the value of an MBA to women in business and the strength of the female MBA network here at Stern. It’s amazing to see so many strong applicants all in the same place asking so many of the questions I had asked when I was in their shoes! The event went extremely well and hopefully many of the attendees will be adding Stern to the top of their business school list!

This week should be another marathon of group assignments and classwork leading up to the Thanksgiving break in two weeks! Given how hectic life has been this semester, I know a lot of people feel the break can’t come soon enough!

Hope everyone has a great week! I’ll be back next week with more details on the inside scoop at Stern!