Since then, she has worked as an Analyst for Blackrock, opened her own yoga studio and worked in sales for pharmacuetical company Boehringer Ingelheim. In September 2012, she restarted the women-only business club and truly believes that the MBA club can help the women of St Gallen network and explore job opportunities - especially those on offer in Switzerland.
What are the main aims of the MBA Women In Business Club?
With the new class, I'm not going to be as involved because I’m graduating in August. I will still be a part of the club, but someone else will take over the initiative. I already have someone in mind and we had a discussion. The main aim is going to remain similar to this years' aims: to the strengthen the network of the club; to grow the club membership; and to also be more involved both with employers and other clubs initiated by women in the Zurich area and the rest of Switzerland - because primarily everyone who is at the University doing the MBA program does stay here in Switzerland after graduation. Slowly but surely people are starting to go more international as well, but many people do stay within Switzerland.
How many members does the club currently have?
We’re almost at 70 people - not including the new class that’s going to be joining this year. This club includes part-time and full-time students and that is why we have so many members at the moment. Otherwise, we would not be able to gather that many people: our MBA class is fairly small this year. This year we had the largest representation of women – we had a third of the class, exactly 11 women out of 33 students. That's also why the initiative went extremely well, because we had obviously a greater number of people who wanted to participate and share their ideas.
What’s the biggest event the MBA Women In Business Club has had this year?
We had a round-table discussion with Julia Balandina Jaquier. She is a faculty member of the St Gallen University but she is also an entrepreneur. She is a successful business woman and an amazing person who was able to share her experiences on how she grew her business; how she used to be part of the corporate world; how she dealt with it as a woman; how to balance work and personal life; and on eventually leaving a consulting company and having enough courage to open up her own business. It was inspiring!
Obviously the women of the club joined but we also had some men joining as well, because she was such an important person to come and listen to. We would like to have more events going forward where we could join up with either other men’s clubs or just invite men from the MBA class or St Gallen alumni to join these events as well.
What companies does the club network with?
One of the initiatives for this year was to reach out to companies and see if they can sponsor the club. So, we’re in discussions with a few companies at the moment and hopefully, starting September, we’ll be able to secure some contracts. But at the moment we don’t have any set companies that are sponsored directly with the club - but that’s another initiative that’s in the making going forward!
What can female MBAs hope to gain from joining this club?
The biggest thing they can gain is being part of the network - especially for the women who are not in Switzerland. Many are (from Switzerland) in the class itself: we have 33 students of 22 different nationalities, many people come from other parts of the world. Just joining this network provides, first of all, advice, friendship, the sharing of ideas and of course the opportunity to explore job offers and that’s what we hope to provide, and that’s why the women join this club.
Who is the most successful alumni that was part of the MBA Women In Business Club?
There are a lot of successful alumni’s!
After consulting with Alexandra Michailescu who is the original founder of the St.Gallen WIB Club and who is a great role model to me, we both agree that success is hard to define and it is even more difficult to place a criteria on how and who has reached it. For women especially, we measure success not only based on our accomplishments, but often on the accomplishments of others around us - be it spouses, children, siblings or parents. The ultimate achievement is of course to pursue your individual dream and reach a personal goal. This is a benefit not only to the women themselves, but to their families, communities and society at large.
When did you become the club's President and have you found it difficult balancing the responsibilities with your MBA studies?
Originally it was started by someone else and the initiative sort of did not continue for 2-3 years. I took on the initiative to restart the club last September, almost as soon as we started at the university and we had our first event, I believe, in October or November.
I think it’s more rewarding versus difficult, because you’re constantly focused on the university activity in terms of studying and group work. Then the other part is organising the social aspect and bringing people together. So it’s not so much difficult - I did it primarily because I truly enjoy it!
What do you think your members can do to stand out in the business world once they graduate?
I think the best thing they can do is to be successful, of course!
One of the ideas of getting your MBA is to find yourself and to figure out what it is that makes you strong: what gives you a competitive advantage. Not only against the people within your class but overall against everyone who has an MBA. Of course, apply that knowledge after studying to peruse the career, a career that they believe they will be truly good in. Not based on salary but based on their personal fit with the career their ambitions, their goals, their dreams and that’s what I find most successful people ultimately become if they truly peruse their dreams and ambitions.
What do you plan to do once you complete your MBA at St Gallen?
I plan to continue working in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently I'm doing an internship, as part of our MBA is we have to complete an internship before graduation, and after that we write a thesis and then the graduation happens at the end of August. So we’ll be graduating in about a month and post-graduation I'm currently exploring opportunities to stay in Switzerland and pursue my career in the pharmaceuticals - the industry that I have so much passion for. That’s my goal.
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