Name: Elle Wisnicki
Class: 2022
Future Industry: Health Tech, Mental Health, Animal-Assisted Therapy/Retreats
After working for two healthcare consulting firms and as a mental health coach, Elle Wisnicki (Haas, ‘22) originally decided to pursue an MBA to create a mental health startup. After going through the MBA admissions process, Elle enrolled at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business where she is wrapping up her first year. During our interview, Elle spoke about her journey to Haas, why she chose Haas, what makes Haas unique, how her career goals have changed during her MBA, and her advice to admitted MBA students making admissions decisions.
MBASchooled: What did you do before business school, and why did you choose to apply?
Prior to Haas, I worked for two consulting firms focused on the pharmaceutical industry, IQVIA and 1798 LLC. Notable projects include pricing, market research, and policy analysis for birth control products and market access and product launch for an innovative sickle cell disease product. Additionally, I was a wellness coach for Sibly and started my own babysitting agency as my first attempt at entrepreneurship.
I applied to MBA programs for a few reasons. On a base level, it was challenging to pivot out of consulting – I applied to numerous companies across the healthcare industry and received no bites. I also wanted to learn how to persuade high level stakeholders to buy into innovative ideas as this was a weakness for me in consulting. Additionally, I had a startup idea for improving access to mental health treatment and found building a company without the structure and network of an MBA to be really challenging. I wanted to explore whether being a founder was right for me and when might creating my own business make sense with the community of an MBA program around me.
MBASchooled: Oftentimes, the word “culture” gets thrown around when talking about MBA programs. Can you characterize the culture at Haas ? Can you share an example of an experience that you think personifies what this means?
The people at Haas really stood out to me. The students and alums I spoke to were so giving and kind from the beginning. I immediately noticed the empathy, transparency, and availability of the community. For example, when I finished up my interview, I was standing on campus waiting for a Lyft and a Haas student asked me a question and I shared I had just interviewed and she just went in for a hug and gave me well wishes and made me feel confident about my interview that I was nervous about. Another example is that I cold reached out to an alumni who worked in healthcare and she was so open to chatting with me immediately and even introduced me to other alumni, people in her network, VCs, and more. These two examples are two of an infinite amount. We have a really comfortable culture where people can be themselves. People are really cognizant of each other’s mental health, super supportive, not competitive, and genuinely want their peers to do well professionally and personally. Overall, Haas, UC Berkeley as a whole and Berkeley as a city are all very relaxed. Additionally, the students really care about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Several students have been incredible allies to BIPOC students and students of all backgrounds have pushed the needle on inclusion for the Haas community and larger business world. It’s also important to mention that I’m a Consortium Fellow and have been immensely grateful to be part of a community of students that are consistently pushing the envelope for diversity, equity, and inclusion inside and outside of Haas. I recommend students who feel they might be eligible, based on a history of promoting the inclusion of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in American business, to look into applying through the Consortium if interested in applying to up to 6 of its 21 member schools.
MBASchooled: Now that you’ve been at Haas for a semester, is there a specific moment or highlight where you felt confident that you made the right decision? / What has been your favorite experience at Haas so far?
For some context, I came to Haas to create a mental health startup for crisis response care, but soon realized that being a founder maybe wasn’t for me. Through the student entrepreneurship community, and the Black Business Students Association I met 2nd year student, Akon Mubagwa, who soon became my informal entrepreneurship mentor and overall supporter. Akon would regularly check in with me and one day he checked in when I was feeling really defeated. I shared with him that I was taking time to enjoy nature more including climbing rocks in creeks, climbing trees, and visiting goat and llama farms. I shared with him that I wanted to create a career for myself longterm that would allow me to be in nature more and maybe even 5-10 years from now transition from health tech to run my own farm with activities like animal-assisted therapy, goat yoga, sustainable farming, and more.
Akon talked to me for an hour talking through how I could utilize my MBA program to create/explore the life I want and how I could use each semester to explore different facets of my short-term and long-term goals. Akon was so thoughtful, understanding, and creative with me. He made me feel like it was okay to have non-traditional interests and helped me craft how I could use my MBA for my diverse interests. He was non-judgemental and made me feel like it was okay to be me.
This experience has been one of my favorites and made me feel like I made the right decision about attending Haas. It’s really the people that matter. Surrounding myself with like minded individuals who are big dreamers, understanding, questioning the status quo, and can help me truly examine how I want my life to be has made such a big difference for being able to find myself and what professional and personal plans will help me feel fulfilled. I love that so many Haas students are so entrepreneurial and so visionary and have helped me learn so many skills that will be useful across a diverse array of career and personal pursuits.
I ended up meeting a Haas alumni through the mental health entrepreneurship community, who is interested in wellness/farming as well, which I feel like is one of those connections that is so unique that it has to be a Haasie.
MBASchooled: What were the most important questions you asked in order to help make your admissions decision?
I asked myself, which schools had the most robust healthcare curriculum and network, which schools had the best resources for entrepreneurship, where would I find the most welcoming student culture for myself, and finally what city did I want to live in for at least 2 years and potentially after.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for admitted students on how they can make the best decision? / As an MBA Admissions Ambassador, you talk to many prospective MBA students. What questions should admits ask before making a decision?
Such a challenging question. I’d say that first and foremost your classmates will really make the experience what it is. Who are the kind of people you want to be around? What are the kind of things they are pursuing? Are the current first years (who will be your 2nd years) people you look up to and can learn from? Ask yourself these types of questions and see if you feel comfortable with and inspired by your classmates because they will be the core of your experience.
Second, really consider if your program has the resources for the industry that you are interested in. Is that in the form of extracurriculars, initiatives, accelerators/incubators, centers of excellence? Classes? What does that look like for you? Even if you’re someone who isn’t sure what industry they want to go in, does your program give you the opportunity to explore a few of the things you are interested in? Are there other students interested in the same career pursuits that you are that you can learn from? Are there other grad schools at the broader university that you are able to take classes at that will qualify for your degree? Also consider if the required courses in the core are ones that you feel good about.
Finally, this is a tricky one, but where makes you feel good? Although you’re only in your MBA for 2 years, and everyone is coming from a different situation, where you live can matter for many. If your environment and surroundings make you happy and allow you to do the hobbies you enjoy that may positively impact your wellness. MBA programs are challenging, thus easy access to wellness activities can make a difference! Also consider if it matters to you that you’re in a place where you might consider living after since you spend two years building a life there or at least consider where alumni from the school end up. For most schools, alumni end up all over the country and world, but it’s worth looking into.
MBASchooled: What are you excited about for Admit Weekend? What should prospective applicants take advantage of?
I’m actually pretty excited about most of it. The Haas Student Ambassadors (for admissions) worked to be intentional about the weekend. We scheduled the events based on goals for each day. For example, Thursday’s focus is on extracurriculars, Friday is about connection with classmates, Saturday’s goal is to highlight community and what makes Haas unique whereas Sunday is more about communicating the resources for students.
To start with, on Friday evening, admitted students will have the opportunity to work on their intention/goal setting for the weekend in breakout rooms with an ambassador facilitating. I often tell students to really think of the 3 things they are hoping to learn from admitted students weekend and focus on those themes throughout the weekend. I think that’s extremely important because it’s a lot of information all at once. I remember feeling overwhelmed when I was admitted to MBA programs and know how much trying to focus on a few themes is challenging but critical.
My personal favorite event of the weekend will likely be the alumni keynote and panel on Saturday morning. I invited my mentor Ace Patterson FTMBA ‘16 to be the keynote speaker. He is a really enthusiastic person who lives life outside the box. He’s an extremely authentic person with a diverse background, with components that may relate to a lot of admitted students.
Currently he’s working at Youtube in Global Music Partnerships, while rising to be a top independent Hip-Hop Artist (Call Me Ace), currently up for a BET Music Award. He formerly worked at Facebook and Deloitte. Additionally, the panel will feature dynamic alumni across ~5 industries.
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