Julia Hawkins launched her own company as a student on the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA—and she’s got big ambitions for it
After graduating with an undergraduate degree in public policy from Duke University, Julia Hawkins entered the startup world. However, the company she worked for exposed her only to poor leadership and business acumen.Her search for pastures new took her into an executive assistant role for a VC firm where she spent four years. But the role she was placed into was far from the role she craved.
Hoping her third move would be the charm, Julia then decided it was time to augment her business acumen. She enrolled in business school and, in her words, was looking to “get back in the swing of startups.”
Julia chose in New York City. She says after speaking with current students there, it was a no brainer.
Everything is “super practical,” she explains, and the curriculum offered the opportunity to study rapidly changing and cutting-edge tech topics. “You come to Manhattan and it’s full steam ahead on startups and disruptive technology!” she smiles.
Women in Tech
Julia says that the atmosphere at Cornell Tech is one that promotes equality among students and empowers women to land tech-based roles.
The WiTNY (Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York) program is one such initiative, open to all members of the Cornell Tech community.
Students can participate in lunch-and-learns; workshops on issues facing women in technology and entrepreneurship; a speaker series with industry leaders; and have access to a network of female colleagues and executives.
There are also opportunities to volunteer as mentors for high school and undergraduate women in the New York City area.
“Cornell Tech is empowering the next generation of women in technology, and giving back also means that [students] feel empowered as well,” Julia explains.
She admits there are still fewer women than men in the program—only just though, the class of 2019 is 41% female—but women are treated as very valuable assets to any team. “There’s a lot of talk in class about women leaders in technology,” she says, “and how diversity increases your bottom line—it’s not disguised.”
That diversity goes beyond men and women, too, and is woven into the curriculum. An approach to cross functionality means Julia took classes with engineering students, sat in on blockchain and computer science classes, and took courses on networks and markets, ethics and technology.
“This is by far the most diverse group of people I’ve ever been among and you feel immediately like you’re all teammates,” she continues.
“It isn’t about the MBA who’s telling the engineers what to do, it’s everybody working together toward a common goal, and you also learn how different people are from you.”
Starting a startup
The melting pot of diversity, leadership, and empowerment led Julia to co-found her own company during the —Cabinet, Inc.
Cabinet, Inc. is an online platform that connects administrative professionals together in one space. Here, they can share advice and recommendations—for hotels, meeting spaces, appliances, for example—and connect and share their knowledge base with peers.
The idea originates from Julia’s time as an executive assistant, where she saw the trials and tribulations of the modern administrative professional. She says she was determined to help this group of people who are oftentimes left to their own devices and have to think fast and solve challenges off the cuff.
Julia was able to push on with the idea after Cornell Tech’s Startup Studio—part of Cornell Tech’s curriculum for all graduate degree programs—where she met Amber Chen, a design student at Parsons School of Design in New York City.
They were on the same team during a project on the class—Cornell Tech has a partnership with Parsons School of Design—and after spending four months formulating their business plan, decided they wanted to set it up.
They were joined by fellow co-founder Evan Kesten—a dual master’s degree student in information systems and information science at Cornell Tech—whom they met during the same Startup Studio project. They were provided office space at Cornell Tech, and Evan and Julia continue to work on the startup full time.
“It’s been critical to have Cornell Tech provide us office space,” Julia asserts, “because it validated that we had something going for us, and gave us a safe place to accelerate our ideas.
Now, she says she wants to take Cabinet, Inc. to the next level. If she gets her way, the venture that grew out of Cornell Tech will become the number one technology resource for administrative professionals.
Ambitious? Yes. Achievable? Absolutely.
Student Reviews
Cornell University The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Outstanding facilities
Cornell University is widely renowned for its esteemed reputation. It boasts remarkable educators, well-stocked library resources, and efficient administrative services. The university offers outstanding amenities that cater to the needs of all individuals, with ample computer facilities and study areas. Moreover, students benefit from excellent educational communication and writing support, as well as guidance from highly knowledgeable education professionals.
Gaining knowledge
Cornell is an amazing school with tons of opportunities for future careers. The campus is beautiful, and the professors are awesome. I feel like I'm getting a great education, and it's tough but rewarding. It's pushed me to grow and improve myself, and the competition here is healthy, not cutthroat. I'm learning to work with others and to help them, just like they've helped me. This is the best school I could have chosen.
LLM Program at Cornell Tech
The LLM program at Cornell Tech offers a transformative educational experience, seamlessly merging law and technology. Its innovative curriculum, exceptional faculty, and proximity to New York's tech hub provide an unparalleled learning environment. Another plus I could think of is the close relationship between programs - as we did our classes in one relatively small complex, so I could easily interact with colleagues from Computer Science or Business programs. Such an experience allows me to gain fresh perspective in many matters.
However, one downside of doing the Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship program is the insufficiency of the curriculum to allow the students to sit for the bar (not that this would matter to people with common law background). But, if taking the bar is your goal, Cornell provides you with the option of taking an additional semester in Ithaca that will fulfil the required courses for NY bar.
All in all, I love my Cornell Tech experience. Would do it all over again 100%!
Evident
I'm thoroughly impressed with the courses and the people at Cornell. The variety of unique and captivating courses is exceptional, and it's evident that the majority of the staff and faculty are sincerely invested in your success. Additionally, forming friendships with fellow students has been a delightful experience, as they hail from diverse backgrounds and consistently support one another.
Diversity driven
It's an amazing place to be, populated by a variety of individuals from different origins, all motivated by their interests and goals. You can explore a wide array of subjects, and we're skilled at both working hard and enjoying a lively social life.
Various fields of study
The university provides a great opportunity to delve into new fields of study, with its wide range of majors and options for pursuing unique career paths. Participating in extracurricular activities and building friendships can help reduce the stress and competitiveness that often come with academics, fostering a more balanced and healthier experience.
Social life
It's an incredible location to be in, filled with a diverse range of people from various backgrounds, all driven by their passions and ambitions. You have the opportunity to study virtually anything you can imagine, and we certainly know how to enjoy ourselves. Balancing hard work with an equally vibrant social life is our specialty.
Friendly environment
I liked being able to meet so many different people from all over the country and the world, and Cornell has always been welcoming to me since the day I arrived in freshman year. Cornell's community is very supportive; students are encouraged to work together to solve problems and really support one another in every situation, and professors are always willing to assist students in need.
Masters in CS, practical learning program
I studied MS CS at Cornell Tech. It is an intensive 9 months program which focuses on practical learning. The highlight of the program is the studio based curriculum where students learn how to build ventures from scratch.
Open to any kind of view and ideas
I spent time training abroad at Cornell University (Ivy League University), Ithaca, USA, working on a project entitled “Characteristics of Packaging films made from whey proteins”, under an ‘International Student Exchange Program’. Although I was simply enrolled in an undergraduate program, I took a keen interest in undertaking a challenging food science research project, which demonstrated my independent thinking at an early stage. I worked on the feasibility of preparing edible packaging films using whey protein isolates. I demonstrated scientific and analytical skills in carrying out the experimental work, while working in a research laboratory. In a very short time span (6 months), I was able to demonstrate my experimental, interpretation and analysis skills. As a result, my research work was accepted for presentation in the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, Dallas, Texas in the year 2000.I demonstrated intellectual/problem solving/management judgements and good communication skills. It was stated that the work was carried out with “great care, paying particular attention to detail”. Enjoyable campus landscape.
