After working in marketing roles across technology and politics, Kendra Kelly (Olin, ‘21) came to Washington University (Olin) to get her MBA and take the next step in her career. Immersing fully into the experience, Kelly did a global immersion across three continents and was elected President of the Graduate Business Student Association amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Kelly shares how she navigated her first year at Olin, how she made the most of the virtual academic experience, and her advice to incoming students about how to prepare for their MBA experience.
MBASchooled: What did you do prior to business school, and why did you choose to come to business school?
Prior to business school, I worked in marketing across a variety of industries including politics and technology. My last role before school was with a sports and entertainment tech company called Experience, where I was the Senior Direct Channel Marketing Manager. I led automated email and SMS strategies for partners across the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, Live Nation, and more. I knew relatively soon after graduating from undergrad that I would pursue an MBA. I double-majored in political science and journalism yet immediately transitioned into marketing upon graduating. With the lack of formal business education, and desire to further my career, the MBA was the next right step.
MBASchooled: After you decided to attend business school, what was your timeline like leading up to business school? What did you do leading up to coming to school, and when did you arrive on campus?
I had about 5 years of work experience once I started exploring programs, and entered school with 7 years of experience. During the 2 years that I explored programs, I spent the first year visiting 3 programs and the following year visiting 3 more programs. My goal was to become a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow, so in addition to traveling to the schools through their organized events and building relationships, I also attended many virtual and in-person Consortium events.
Prior to moving to St. Louis, I saved as much money as I could, hired and trained my replacement, and began preparing for OP— the Consortium’s annual recruiting conference. To effectively prepare for OP and other summer recruiting conferences, I worked closely with Olin alumni, second-year MBAs, and the career center. I moved to St. Louis in late-June.
MBASchooled: The first semester of business school can be an exciting but challenging time. How did you navigate these challenges early on, and what resources, programs, etc at Olin were helpful in your transition?
I knew my cohort for a week and a half prior to jumping on a plane with all of them and circumnavigating the globe. For six weeks we trekked across three continents while taking classes and working on client projects in Barcelona and Shanghai. The summer was rigorous, but an incredible—and wildly fun— experience. I’m grateful for the rigor of the Global Immersion as it helped me walk into the fall confident that I could take on the content and workload. The closeness of my cohort was an early byproduct of the Global Immersion.
This came in handy as I had a built-in support network and knew which classmates I could turn to for help in different areas. When coursework was particularly challenging, I made sure to schedule time with my professors. A benefit of Olin’s smaller community is that professors are extremely accessible. It was always easy to schedule time to meet with them. Additionally, our Graduate Programs Office pays for tutoring for any student who requests it, which I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of for a few courses.
From a recruiting perspective, I started recruiting in May. As a result, I was in the middle of recruiting while abroad and returned to the states ready to take on core and final-round interviews. Balancing coursework, case competitions, club involvement, and early leadership opportunities were challenging. But with the help of my Olin family, supportive professors, and recruiting conferences like Consortium’s OP and JumpStart Advisory Group’s Path to Brand Management forum, I secured 5 offers by late-September.
MBASchooled: During your first year, was your favorite experience, and why?
If I was asked this Pre-COVID, I’d say the Global Immersion. I’m so grateful I traveled around the world with strangers turned friends who now feel more like family. I expected a study abroad experience but never anticipated that I’d end up feeling like a businesswoman working abroad thanks to challenging projects. Ultimately, I returned to St. Louis acutely aware of the areas where I needed to grow both personally and professionally and more skilled in cultural fluency than I could have ever imagined.
However, once COVID-19 struck, everything turned upside down as we transitioned to virtual, distance-learning. I had only just become President of Olin’s Graduate Business Student Association (GBSA) and was navigating a challenging new normal while trying to sustain our strong community virtually. One of the initiatives I created was a weekly COVID-19 virtual speaker series that explored the global impact of COVID-19 in the business sector.
Each week, the GBSA, in partnership with clubs like Olin Women in Business, Adam Smith Society, and our marketing club, led discussions with Olin’s top professors in strategy, economics, marketing, and organizational behavior. Each session we discussed the professor’s unique perspectives on the immediate and future implications of COVID-19 relative to their areas of expertise. The immense amount of collaboration that was needed to ensure this was a success provided powerful lessons that I will surely invoke post-business school. At times the initiative was riddled with challenges, but we successfully overcame them and delivered the series with record turnouts.
MBASchooled: What did you want to do when you came to business school and what did you end up recruiting for? If it was different what changed?
I knew I wanted to remain in marketing and was extremely interested in brand management for a Consumer Packaged Goods company. I would often say that the ideal opportunity involved product innovation, exposure to diversity and inclusion strategies, and allowed me to work with brands that I knew and loved. I was pleasantly surprised that four out of my five offers were in brand marketing roles with leading CPGs, and the offers aligned closely with my goals.
MBASchooled: Knowing what you know now, what else would you have done prior to business school to prepare for the first semester?
I would have saved more money. Adjusting to life without a paycheck is tough but doable with proper planning. Case competitions, exploring your new city, a spontaneous weekend trip with classmates—these are all things you’ll likely experience. I underestimated the cost of these experiences when creating my initial budget and thus quickly readjusted the budget.
Save as much as you can because the more you save ahead of time, the more disposable income/emergency funds you’ll have. I always recommend that incoming MBAs go over their budget with a few current students or recent alumni to poke holes in it and ensure what they have is realistic.
MBASchooled: Given the shift to a virtual MBA Experience as a result of COVID-19, what was the last part of your year like? How did you and your classmates try to maintain the experience?
Even before the pandemic changed life as we knew it, I considered my classmates to be some of the most resilient people I had ever met. So it came as no surprise to me that once we learned we would not be returning to campus after spring break, most members of the community were immediately trying to make the best of things amidst our grief for the way things were ending. As president of my student body, I also felt a responsibility to ensure classmates transitioned as smoothly as possible and that we provided outlets for virtual community building. As a community, we instituted happy hours, an informal cooking club, a book club, and more.
While as a community overall we held strong, I’ll admit that the last half of the semester was challenging for me. I’m deeply social. I love the random coffee chats that turn into life-affirming moments at the Starbucks in our building, bumping into a professor and out of that conversation learning an interesting detail about his life, or the impromptu study sessions that take place in the grad lounge. We did our best communing virtually, but once Zoom fatigue set in, even virtual hangouts didn’t have the same charm they once did.
MBASchooled: How did you adjust to the virtual academic experience? What worked for you, and what was challenging?
Despite all of my professors grading for participation, I found myself so easily distracted during class. I would have to frequently check-in to ensure I was fully present. I soon realized that turning on my video camera helped tremendously, otherwise I would easily slip into passivity.
One suggestion, create a routine and try to stick to it. Also, make time to do the things that make you happy. For me, that meant walks in Forest Park, supporting local restaurants once a week, reading books to the sound of ocean waves, cooking dinner every night, and allowing time to binge shows. I frequently reminded myself that nothing was normal about what we were going through and we were all just trying to adjust as best we could. That perspective helped me be more patient with myself and others.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for how prospective MBA students should prepare before going to business school especially considering the uncertainty right now?
It sounds weird to say “practice networking” but that’s my advice. Start having informational interviews with professionals across industries and companies you’re interested in before arriving at school—especially if you’re interested in declaring a platform to direct your coursework and/or you’re pivoting. It’s often easiest to establish connections by working through your alumni network first but do feel empowered to venture outside of your alumni network. This pre-program exposure will help you become a master at networking, direct your focus while in your program, and can even help you get a jump on recruiting. Don’t forget to follow up with everyone you meet— always send a message thanking them for their time.
None of us are sure what recruiting will look like— particularly fall and early-winter recruiting— due to COVID-19. But one thing is sure: investing time in building meaningful relationships will be immensely helpful in your recruiting journey. As someone who’s initial internship offer was rescinded due to the pandemic but was able to secure another one in 3 business days, trust me when I say that you want to develop strong networking skills.