After a career as an engineer, Harmonie Jacobson (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘20) decided to pursue an MBA to transition careers. With the help of the Forté MBALaunch Program, Jacobson got access to expert guidance from on GMAT prep, tips for navigating the admissions process, and a network of fellow female MBA applicants and alum to build relationships with for her time in business school and beyond. During our interview, Jacobson shared how the Forté MBALaunch program accelerated her path towards her career goals, and how the Program continues to help her as she navigates her time at UNC.
MBASchooled: Why did you decide to go to business school, and how did you hear about Forté MBALaunch?
I ultimately decided to go to business school to round out my skill-set, pursue a career pivot and make an investment in the future of my career. I have an engineering background, so had not even taken a Finance or Accounting course prior to b-school, but realized that having a foundation in business would be important if I wanted to pursue upper levels of leadership. As I started to identify others around me that had career paths that I aspired to, I realized that one of the common themes was having an MBA. I also consider myself to be a lifelong learner, so the opportunity to spend two years as a full-time student again was actually very appealing to me (if I could make the finances work).
I first learned about the Forté MBALaunch program through a Forté newsletter. I subscribed to the newsletter back during my undergraduate studies. During one of my summer internships at a Forté sponsor company (Goldman Sachs), I was introduced to Forté. I had been casually filing away most of Forté’s newsletters with the thought that one day I would come back to them once I was ready to pursue my MBA.
MBASchooled: How did Forté MBALaunch help you in navigating the admissions process and transition into business school?
The Forté MBALaunch program was an absolute lifesaver and I can’t say enough good things about the program! After applying and being accepted into the 2018 cohort, they hosted live webinars covering everything from GMAT prep to putting together applications. Additionally, the opportunity to attend a live kickoff event and Forté Forum in Los Angeles allowed me to network with other like-minded prospective female students and meet representatives from top business schools. Most importantly, the timelines/deadlines that Forté set with regards to taking the GMAT and putting together my application held me accountable. With the craziness of work and planning a wedding, I needed the accountability.
MBASchooled: One of the valuable aspects of Forté is the network that it gives you. How has that helped you, in your time in school?
Forté helped me to grow my network both before and during school. Having attended both Forté and other female-focused events that I learned about through Forté prior to school, it was great to know that I had a network beyond students at Kenan-Flagler. This was incredibly helpful for conducting project research and recruiting for internships. Additionally, Forté has an annual Leadership Summit that they host each Spring for Women in Business club leaders. I attended this past Spring, and it was a fantastic way to meet and network with those leading other organizations to both share and obtain ideas for events and initiatives. This past summer while interning in New York City, I had the opportunity to attend a meetup to meet other MBA students in the area. I’m now serving on a Student Leadership Steering Committee for Forté, which has been a great way to provide input and feedback in future events and summits.
MBASchooled: Later this year, you’ll be participating in the leadership summit. What will you be doing and what happens at the Summit?
The leadership summit is an opportunity to bring incoming and outgoing Women in Business leaders together to network, develop and share best practices. As an outgoing leader this time around, I hope to share my lessons learned with incoming presidents at other schools, and also continue to build my network as I get ready to graduate from b-school (I can’t believe I’m talking about graduation already!)
MBASchooled: How did you get involved with Carolina WIB, and why did you choose to take a leadership role in this organization?
I immediately felt drawn to CWIB as a first-year student for a couple of reasons. First, CWIB made me feel so welcome as a prospective student. During Kenan-Flagler’s annual Experience Weekend for admitted students, CWIB hosts a really nice brunch at the Carolina Inn. Amidst the jam-packed series of weekend events, I immediately felt at home at the brunch–it was a place to meet other females considering Kenan-Flagler or that had already made their decision to attend, and also gave me the opportunity to connect with current students and learn more about why they chose to come to Carolina.
I also saw a lot of parallels between CWIB and another organization that I hold near and dear to my heart, Society of Women Engineers (SWE). As a leader of the professional section of SWE in San Diego, I had the opportunity to surround myself around other aspirational females with different backgrounds, grow, develop and give back to the community. I saw those same opportunities with CWIB.
I started my involvement with CWIB as a first-year liaison for Prospective Student Initiatives, but involved myself in other aspects of the club, such as volunteering to help with CWIB’s annual conference. As I contemplated how I wanted to give back to the Carolina community during my second year of the program, it was a no-brainer for me that CWIB was where I felt the most passionate.
MBASchooled: As the President of Carolina WIB, you are leading a number of initiatives that foster diversity, equity and inclusion within the UNC Community. Can you talk about what you are doing with these initiatives?
First, I helped to pilot a Lean In Circle program along with a couple of fellow CWIB members and with the support of our MBA Program Office and one of my biggest role models, Joan Kuhl (an executive coach/consultant for our program, one of my role models and author of Dig Your Heels In). We started with one all-student Lean In circle, along with a hybrid student/faculty/staff circle, back in the spring of this year. Participating in more intimate circle meetings with a small group of other classmates has been extremely rewarding, as it has provided an outlet to discuss the many challenges we’ve faced both in and out of the workplace.
More importantly, we’ve together strategized on how we can overcome those challenges. Since then, CWIB has launched eight additional Lean In circles across the MBA program (with 65 total participants, or roughly 12% of students).
Second, CWIB has doubled down on our Males Allies initiatives this year. I’m really excited about the engagement we’ve had this year. I have a fantastic Allies VP, Jermyn Davis, that’s leading an entire committee that has hosted monthly meetings with record attendance (the kickoff meeting this year had over 50 attendees!).
In these meetings, men in our program have the opportunity to educate themselves and open up the dialogue on how they can be better allies not just while at business school, but back out in the workplace. The Committee has launched a program-wide Allies Newsletter called the Carolina Twist, and has several other unique events planned for the coming months.
Finally, we’ve tried to mix things up in terms of the types of programming that we offer to our members. Although we still have events focused on recruiting and networking, one of my favorite events of the year thus far has been a session provided by our Learning & Development team where we brought in one an executive coach, Cheryl Stevens, to educate us on the ways to recognize and combat imposter syndrome