MBA Student Insights: Q&A with GSB Pride
Hello. Everyone and welcome to our webcast MBA. Student, insights a Q&A, with GSB pride my. Name is Eddie boys ER and I'm a first year MBA student, here at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and, a co-president, of GSB, pride and I'm. Joined here by Duke, Tran Vince. You and Jack, Armstrong, and like, me they're also current, MBA students, and GSB, pride club members. We'll. Be talking about our personal journey, to, the GSB the. LGBTQ. Experience, here on campus and the. GSB pride Club and community and we're going to try to answer as many of your questions as we can, to. Submit a question to us you. Can click on the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen and we. Won't be talking about the admissions process the, application, or financial, aid but, you can contact, the MBA, admissions office. Directly by emailing MBA. Admissions, at, GSB, dot stanford.edu. So. Before we begin it. Would be great if we can begin, with some introductions to. Duke Vince and Jack, if, you can start by telling us a little bit more about yourselves where. You're from what, you were doing before coming, to the GSB and, what your goals are after graduation, that, would be great so Jack do you wanna start hi. Yep so Jack originally. From the UK first. Time living in the u.s., before. School I was, a turnaround, and restructuring, consultant, so working. With distressed, businesses. Hoping. To figure out what I want to do after school I think, it looks something like, working. With private equity funds in their portfolio, teams, but. But still working on it. Vince. Hi. I'm Vincent, you I was, born and raised in the Philippines I grew. Up there I studied there all my life and prior to coming to the GSB I was, an oil and gas salesman, in the Philippines and thereafter. I was in consulting, and with, Bain and Singapore what. I plan to do after the GSB I'm actually, a sponsored, student by Bain so I'm heading back but I'm joining their San Francisco office. Hi. I'm Duke originally, from San Jose California, so just down the street, prior. To the GSB I lived in DC for six years. In government. And in international, development and post. GSP still, figure now but probably somewhere. In consulting, or tech yeah. And, I could just wrap. Up with myself, I'm, originally from North, Jersey I grew, up in Hasbro tightest New Jersey in Bergen County, before. The GSB I was working in New York City at Bain & Company like, Vince and, I worked my fourth, year in the Paris, office. After. Graduation. I am a sponsor student as well and I'll be going back into consulting, in New York and. For the long term still, trying to figure that out. So. Just to kick off the first question. What. Is the LGBTQ. Community like, at the GSB and what. About the campus at large and what. Kinds of support, involvement, and interaction, does the rest of the class have with the, GSB, Pride community, so. Jack, and Vince do you want to kick that one off sure. Yeah. So I think the, the community of the GSB, has. Been fantastic I know. For me personally it's, the first time I've really engaged in the community and. Didn't really prior, to school and. So for me it's been really warm really welcoming, I'm very friendly I think. What's nice is the relationship, between the MBA one class in the MBA to class and kind. Of turning up on campus and having some friendly faces to, the community. And. Also, I think the, kind of allied ship that you see in the class more, broadly. Yeah. Definitely I would like I'd like to stress on the Isle a ship because having. Grown up in Southeast Asia it was just like relatively, more conservative, than the, Bay Area it's. Definitely been quite refreshing how accepting, everyone's been and how many, allies are in class it's as if like.
And Again. Like coming from a place where my. Identity is almost, attacked on TV on a daily basis and like moving to a place where you. Know it's just celebrated, is very, refreshing, that. In degeus being also like in the. Campus at large yeah. Thanks. And. Building, off that point can, you guys, talk about your experiences, specifically, with GSB pride can, you talk about some of the social events that pride. Organizes, throughout the year. Any other types of events that private sponsors, or organizes, so. I might throw that one to you Duke and then Jack as well sure I mean I've lived I loved the prank group here I think pride is really what you make of it so we, meet. Up about once a week just to hang out and catch up with each other both, classes which is as just mentioned a really. Valuable. Thing for me. We. Also do alumni, reception. We, have an alumni reception, once a year we. Attend, Rhambo which, is the LGBT, conference in the fall, we. Do National, Coming Out Day I think, we host informal. Small group dinners and that we where we get to film one another so, lots of it that's throughout the year yeah. I think what's really nice is the, touch, point of that kind of weekly, social event that we have it's just a nice way of coming together you can bring allies you can bring friends and and people just get together and, sit and sometimes. You talk politics, much of which I don't understand, there's a break time trying to avoid it. But, then everything from that through things going on in the community or school more broadly and it's just a nice space to be able to get together and in, a no-pressure environment once, a week which is nice do. Either you have a favorite, GSB. Pride event from this past year that is especially memorable, to you I think. The alumni event was was, fantastic, I think. You. Realize that they're not only rock stars in their. Lives but then like rock stars in terms of what they've done for the community a lot of them which. Is fantastic to see them and for, them to just be so open to getting to know us and helping and supporting I think I was great for me yeah, for me I really, enjoyed brahmbhatt, in the fall it was a great you. Know first event, for entering. Students, got to know a bunch of my classmates and met a bunch, of new people from different schools, great. So. Talking a little bit more about, what. The GSB life, is and how that intertwines. With the GSB pride community.
Can. A few of you talk about your, involvement in. Social and professional clubs, other than, GSB pride so. Vince do you want talk about your experiences, sure so. I'm a co-president. Of, two clubs currently first is. Co-president, of the game Club which. Is basically just a bunch of geeks getting together talking. About video games pursuing. Video and super set professional, career so, that's pretty great. Second. Is I'm also co-president, of the age of Business Student Association and, what. I find is what. I find like coming from Asia and going, into you know foreign country at the u.s. I found. That. My. Idea, I never really like appreciated, my attend yet as an Asian until, I actually came to a you, know a geography, where which has like a lot of the ethnic diversity yeah, and yeah, that's being, part of both GSB pride and the Asia business dude Association has helped me appreciate both, layers of my identity the intersectionality, between those two yeah and I guess apart from that we're. Also planning a Philippines, global study trip so, hopefully that comes through also. I. Guess I can talk to that as, well for my own experiences, so aside. From being in GSB, pride I am also an Arbuckle leadership fellow so. The Arbuckle leadership, program is designed. For second-year, MBAs, and helps. Second year MBAs learn how to develop and coach others and be, more effective at coaching and developing others so. We take specific classes, throughout the fall quarter and the spring, quarter now and. In the Fall Quarter when the first year MBA is arrived we actually take. Leadership of a squad of five, or six first-year MBAs, and help, them develop them, to, become better and more effective leaders through simulated, leadership exercises, throughout the quarter so. It's it's a really awesome, experience. I've, definitely been learning a lot ever since joining, the program and, I feel. Like I've been developing my leadership skills, in a new and unique way here at, the GSB. So, shifting away from the. Pride, community, and. Extracurricular. Activities, I want to talk a little bit more about. Career. Plans so. What. Are your career plans and how has your experience at the GSB helped, shape what, you might want to do in the future. I might throw that to you jack to answer that from first, yeah. So I think in. Terms of how. The GSB has helped shape how. I think about career plans I think you're, just surrounded by 800. Across the two classes amazing, people who. Have done a massive. Range of interesting, things and so I think the first way it kind of impacted me was it, kind of showed me the art of the possible in terms of the opportunities, out there you. Know wells I'd never even heard of or thought about so. I think that was really powerful just being able to speak to engage. With people and really, dig into what those kind of opportunities, look like, and. Then, I think more broadly. The. Resources, on campus so things like the Career Management Center. Is, a fantastic, resource whether. That's helping you think about what. You want to do which I know I went in with a blank piece of paper and came out with several really good options and then. They help you through every step of that process whether, it be interview. Prep CV reviews or kind of. Negotiating. Internship. Opportunities, and full-time roles, I'm. Looking to transition into private equity and, specifically, operating, within, private equity and. Lots of our classmates come from from various firms and have been really helpful with that you. Know in particular several. Members of the prior community, have put me in touch with their.
Previous Employers, or people that they're in conversations, they then have helped to make that connection for me yeah. How. About you Duke yeah, I think my career paths that's been pretty, evolving, I echo Jack but the, career services has has been super helpful in. Thinking, about, designing. What your career would be and strategies, on how to engage with alums, and. Even, your professors, on. How to think, about your career so, I came into the GSB thinking. That I wanted. To do consulting and, I may, still do that but I'm also exploring, tech specifically. Thinking, about whether or not it make like, I would like product management for example so, and I think that's what's great about the GSB is like you can talk, to people who, are experts, in the field and it really iterate on what you want and what you're good at and I, think just to add on that I have, one specific example of kind of the community aspect, there. A couple of months back there's a company on campus, and. The day before I saw one of our classmates who I'd spoken to about what I wanted to do and, he came up to me and was just like hey. These guys are on campus tomorrow I've already dropped them an email to let them know that, you're interested and, like this is your background because, he made the connection between what I wanted to do and what they were talking about and, I would have totally miss an opportunity, if that hadn't happened that was totally proactive, on their part so I think I think the community aspect is really important on that yeah, just, like add to the community aspect, um I know I mentioned a while ago that I'm actually headed, back to Bane but. I think, what the GSB has helped me figure out is what I want to do in the long term say like five to ten years down the line I, also, mentioned, that I'm part of the game Club and through the game Club I actually was able to network with lots of people for the gaming industry met. A lot of people from you know big companies like Activision, Blizzard EA. EA Games and what thought and really. Like these conversations. With these different sorts of people who you know are passionate in their craft sort. Of have. Inspired me to pursue gaming. At least this summer so this, summer what I'm actually gonna do is I'm gonna be working as a product manager for a midsize gaming company in.
San Francisco I'm. Working on a video game called war, dragons, helping. Create dragons, for people. Who are gonna play that. Game on their phone so that's pretty interesting that's awesome. I, want. To pick up on a theme that all of you touched upon which was your interactions, with employers, on campus and, how, supportive that the pride community, has been in that, but. Talking a little bit more about your, interactions, with employers, can. You speak to whether. You, were out in your interactions, with them and generally. How respect, how receptive have employers been to. Your identity, and if you can speak to experiences. Now or experiences, before the GSB, please. Feel free to so. I, might, toss that one to you do first yeah for, me like I'm pretty, comfortable with being, LGBT, and I'm not a lot of people are so I've always been out at work. And. I personally. Believe that it's important for me to be able to come to work. As. My full self and. Even on my resume lying I think I have a line that says like enthusiastic. RuPaul's Drag Race pain. Just. To make it clear. How. About you Ben so I guess like for me it's been a stark, contrast having. Worked in oil. And gas sales before I was. Actually told by boss very early on in my career that, like, I couldn't out myself to select clients, just because the, arena had to be like a mofo big and whatnot yeah and my, experience in the Bay Area because I've been primarily. Applying for internships here. Is that it's. It's an like, being out and proud as a non-factor some, people might argue that it might actually be a put like give, you some brownie, points for me a diversity, candidate, so, yeah if anything being. Out and proud while. Applying to different companies as a GSB, person. Is a, good thing yeah, give. It a jack um. Yeah I think certainly, a lot of the big employers, are really good at engaging with. The community and helping with that kind, of process of applying. And. I think one, of the things that I, notice. Is that especially. If you're talking to alumni or companies with alumni at them. That. They, you, come with this brand that's already really powerful, and actually they. Know so. Much about you and they've been part of the GSB community, before so I think has been really well received in, general yeah yeah, thanks. For your perspectives, on that one I I'm, actually seeing that a bunch of questions are coming in from. The audience so I want to, get. Me have some time to answer some of those as well so the. First question that, I'm seeing is. Hi. Team thank you for your time today you're, welcome I was. Wondering what what, is the women, to men ratio in the GSB pride just. Asking since you, are all men on the panel today, so that's a great point, we. Do have a number, of women in GSB pride who are super super active, in organizing, a lot of the activities that we do just to, give it an example of the four presidents, this. Past year three of them identified as women Alice Jess and Ellen. We, have a number, of groups a number, of events that occur, throughout the year one, of them most recently happened, in. San, Francisco I believe it was a brunch that was attended by over 25.
Plus The, GSB Pride women and alumni, from around the Bay Area so, there's a super super active community I can't give exact, numbers on, on the ratio and percentage, right now because they don't know them off the table head butt they, certainly are a big part of our community and, an. Important. One as well. And, then. Another, question, that we got was, when. Applying were, you out on your application, could. You discuss how you communicated, it, does. Anybody want to take one of those yeah. I can take it I was, definitely out on my application. Mostly. Because I. Had. Talked about it in my essay and what you know coming out and. Being from my family's pretty Catholic and what that how. That shaped me into the, person that I am today and. I, was involved in a bunch of LGBT, organizations. Too so I listed, those on my. Resumes. I. Did. The exact thing do dig in. Mind, what matters most and why is a talked about equality you know and I think of course lots, of elements of equality that, I was able to weave in were from you know me being queer in a very in, Southeast, Asia yeah so me. Being out came out there and of course in your CV you can communicate it as well. How. About you jack were you out in your application, I don't. Think I was I think it's just, if. It, feels might, my thoughts on this all you have to be authentic in your application, and if it authentically. Fits into your story, in your essay or you, know in the other parts of your essay then it other parts your application, then certainly. Flag it but. Yeah. I think it's more about being. Authentic to answering the questions yeah, I think that's a great point and I've gotten this question a. Couple times as well from prospective admits. Our. Or, my advice every time has been, if. Being. LGBT and. If that, part of your identity is, a huge part of who. You are today. What makes you a great leader and what, makes you a great fit for the GSB then. I would absolutely put it in your essays or in, other parts of your application. What I wouldn't recommend is, putting. It in just just, to put it in without any particular reason. Because. That's something that admissions, definitely, tries, to tease out is who. You are as a person and what, kind of value will you add to the GSB, community. Other. Questions, from the audience. How. Active, are the allies when it comes to, defending.
Someone. Who identifies as LGBTQ. In, a bird situation, do, you have any interesting. Situations. To share. I'll. Give you guys a couple moments to think about that, or. Maybe two the first question how. Supportive, have you have, you perceived. Allies. To be on campus and would, they, come. To defend you and in interesting situations, I think. So. I think more broadly at the GSB I think was very rarely a situation. Where I could. See that happening in any form of diversity or any situation I don't think I've seen an argument. Since being here unless, it's a heated debate in a, case or in the classroom, and. I'd certainly see very. Often people voicing, their, opinions. Or thoughts for support and when, discussing cases or just, talking diversity, more broadly. So. In terms of Allied ship I think people would certainly stop in and and certainly. Are, involved, in the community with us more probably. Yeah. Anyone. Else have anything to ition like really, there's no situation yeah. Okay. I guess. It's just not an issue yeah. I think that's the general theme that I'm hearing from from, all of you is that it doesn't really seem to be an issue on on. Campus that. Said we do benefit from being in the Bay Area we do benefit from being in California so we can't speak to. All, you. Know all environments. Everywhere but certainly. At, Stanford, in, Palo Alto specifically. There I've. Been, out, and I'm, pretty young I haven't experienced, any issues yeah I would also. Say I think there's a healthy discussion I think one, of the things that happens a lot at the GSB is is a healthy discussion around a collection, of topics whether that be out, your identity whether that be diversity, or politics, or career. Or so. I think I've been in lots of situations where, people are certainly tested, and challenged and ask questions and thought about things and so, I think you see that happening a lot and I think that's a healthy debate that we see yeah, absolutely and I think on the lsah point. We have tremendous, allies, who come. To our pride events all the time and I know next year Eddie's planning on, doing. More formal. Engagements. Or Live socials with the different diversity clubs out there and with, the Woodman and management group no. Yeah. Do you want to talk a bit about that. Yeah. So I think and I'm sorry I have to think about what you were referring to yeah so, we. Just got, elected we just chose our new leadership this just a couple weeks ago so we've just been in the process of putting together our gender for next year and one of the things that we're really focusing, on. Really. Organizing, and adding, into the agenda or more community, focus initiatives, and specifically. Education, focus initiatives. Not, just for GSB pride but for the broader Stanford, and GSB community, I think if there's one thing that we would wish to do, more, as jsb pride members is have. The ability to have. Open conversations with. Like other students, within. Within. The the GSB community. We do receive a lot of questions about how people can be a better Ally so. Because of this interest we've just decided to to. Have more, events. Around you know just the casual lunches but also formal, ask me anything type. Of events which we plan on organizing for, next year so that's all in the pipeline and we're really kind, of excited to kick kick, off take, all that off. So. I want to switch gears a little bit to another, audience question that, was more around the lines of. How. We chose, to, come to Stanford versus, other programs, and what, research we did to really inform that choice so, one question was. During. The research phase of your MBA application, journey, what. Questions did you ask. Alumni. At the GSB or, did you ask in general. About. Other programs and, how. Did that inform your decision to choose Stanford, over another, program whether it was in the country or internationally. I might. Throw this one to you jack because I know personally you were making this choice, yeah. I, probably. Did a slightly unconventional. I definitely. Didn't plan to do business school and. So. Kind. Of a few months before round one I. Downloaded. The FTS top ten school, lists and kind of started from there. And outside. Of the kind of year-round sunshine that, Stanford provides, which, is a Britt was really important, to me I think I thought about, whatever. It was that I wanted to get in terms of skills development, and then how I think about and, then I thought about how I like to develop those skills and and for me it was a lot about how is the course structured what, flexibility, do I have in that and. Then what's, the community going to be like and I think, for. Me that turning, point was admit weekend when I kind, of was, looking at various options and decided, to come to admit weekend and then I just had this weekend where everybody, I met I was like oh you are my people and.
So I think that's a really important factor that it's hard to test for through. You, know websites. Or statistics. I think for. Me it's who do I want to spend two years with and who do I want to grow with and so. That was really important, yeah. Do. Any of you have sort. Of similar experiences, so I applied to so. My application story was I. Literally. Just applied to the top three schools I got, in a couple of them and ultimately the, choice the, choice boiled. Down to where. My, partner and I could. You. Know my partner and I intended to move to another country where, we could get married or have kids and. It. Seemed that Stanford provided. The perfect like environment being in the Bay Area to. You. Know make. The transition, easy for us because one whenever. We'd have to fly back to Manila which is a direct which is just the direct flight from Sanford to San Francisco, yeah from, San Francisco like. That flight would be easily available one and two. You know San, Francisco is known as the gay Mecca so to speak so that. Is like. Like. That just makes the whole transition was easier for us I can talk about my my, own experience as well so, for. Me I was, really. Torn in trying to decide between, Stanford. Or an international school like INSEAD. One, of the benefits of going, to an international school is that you have a little bit more of an international focus which, is great but, at the end of the day what it boiled, down to me was where. Did I feel like I could, develop. Most as a leader and. Having. A two-year program at Stanford to me, kind. Of tribes a one-year, program at, an international, school somewhere else so that's kind of how I made my. Choice, even though my my, fiancee is French and definitely. Wanted to be good to go to INSEAD had. To let him down. So. Switching. Gears now into. Mentorship. One. Question from the audience is. How. Do you personally engage. With. Mentors. GSB. Alumni I know we talked about the alumni event but are there other avenues. That any of you have experienced, with engaging with. Any. Mentors, or alumni through the network I. Think. One. Of the things, that. You get at the GSB is, lots. Of moments, of mentorship, that, might not be specifically, a mentor so I was. Telling the guys just before I came in that I. Did, a small group dinner with a faculty member here who is. A very successful VC, in the Bay Area and, at. That small group dinner offered, ups it's kind of one-on-one conversations. And. 2-3, weeks later I'm start having coffee for, 30 minutes talking, about anything that was on my agenda. Whether. That was whether I wanted to pitch a startup idea what whether I wanted to talk about my career or how, to manage the world that is the GSB. That's, one example of where you, know that, mentorship happens, in the moment I know, I, think my favorite class of the first quarter, is, managerial. Skills where basically, you, get these rock stars who. Come in and teach, you basically, how to, hire, people how to fire people how to, manage. Difficult conversations, and again. We did a small group dinner with our faculty member there I've had follow-up coffees and these, are people that you know you couldn't get time with you tried in the real world and, I think you get lots of moments of small. Mentorship. Which. I think you can grow then into longer-term relationships, if it feels right yeah. And I've had a similar experience, as well when.
I Attended, the reaching, out and be a conference, this past fall I. Had met a GSB. Pride alumni. There who I didn't know before, at. A reception at Google and he. Him. And I, connected. Immediately. After. The reception he was absolutely, instrumental in, helping me through the process and helping me with. Interviews helping me with questions. So. I really really felt like he. He. Wanted me to succeed and I. Think without that GSB, pride connection, I'm, not sure if I would have been able to connect with any other recruiter, at the conference because of that so, that's just one example I, mean I think the punch line here is like, we, found the alumni really, really supportive. Even. If we only see them you know a couple times per year at ad-hoc, events you know they're, always there for support I guess we also haven't touched on is MBA, to use as mentors so during. Your first year you take this class called leadership labs in which you're assigned an Arbuckle leadership fellow they'll, lead you along with a group of six in, like leadership, development exercises. Where you pick up different soft skills and whatnot and I found that to be a very good mentorship tool and, in. The to succeeding corridors you can actually get paired with a personal leadership coach in the form of an Arbuckle leadership fellow who. Will, you know meet up with you seven or eight times to, fulfill. Whatever leadership, needs you have and for me that was very powerful because. In. Those specific moments I had like very like, particular. Conversations, I had to had with regard to like say trying, to extend a job I trying to like push. A job offer or like for example extend, the deadline of a job offer and whatnot so, so. That time, with that coach was very valuable and yeah I guess, the wouldn't, what what. I'm trying to say is MBA. Tuscon serves as mentors it's service mentors as well and I guess just to allude to what Jack said I learned. So much from MBA. Ones who are seasoned, and experienced, and different sorts of like environments, and industries that I may treat them as mentors for ticular things in, other times like for certain, topics awesome. On, that topic of leadership actually another. Question, submitted by the audience is. What. Are you learning about leadership while, at the GSB that, you didn't already know and this, is a really really important question so I'd like for I guess everybody to answer it do. You want to start yeah I mean I think one, thing that I've learned is the power of like vulnerability, in the context of management, that, it helps build trust, that. It helps folks. Connect with you that you are managing or working with I think, that came as a surprise for me because. I don't, I'm not, naturally. Vulnerable. But. I think that there are tons, of opportunities, at the GSP to. Practice that muscle and really, build that trust with your classmates and, actually. Vulnerability, was the first answer that came to my head but because dig ticket I, guess. Like, not. Leadership in particular but developing leadership skills I, think what. I learned that was very valuable at the GSB was, to, immerse yourself, in like situations. That. Like. The. What. Came what came to mind was like the value of role-playing and whatnot and basically what I'm alluding to is how. Just. Immerse keep immersing yourself in like situations, that you, know you should think you may experience in the future that. You, know you feel like, getting. Lost keep, you like immerse yourself in situations that, you feel will. Like. Help. Develop your leadership skills in the future yeah so say for example in, that Arbuckle, leadership class we would roleplay, certain things like firing an employee hiring, an employee I'm, having a difficult conversation with someone like two layers above and. Just. Immersing, yourself in those situations that, you, could potentially face in the future like we'll end up developing those skills yeah I think one thing you hear a lot here is that leadership. Is a set of behaviors rather than something that is intrinsic, to a specific. Person so, I think to. To. Build on what Vince is saying that if you put yourself into situations where, you are able to build, on those behaviors, and exercise those behaviors, you will become a better Lee yeah. How. Are you jack I think, for me, it's.
The Lead leadership. Comes in so many forms in it's very personal, I think one of the things we. Talked about this leadership labs program and basically the ultimate question is you. Know why would somebody follow you as a leader, and, at, the end of the the course you basically go round as a team and say. Why you would, or wouldn't follow everybody as a leader and. No. One answers the same and I, think everybody, there is a reason, that everybody, can be a leader and there's a there's, things that make. Them really impactful as a leader and, that might, be a variety, of things I think you can take a set of tools a set of behaviors make. It authentic to, you and that's what's going to make you successful if you, try and play, a playbook, that's, not gonna work and, I think that's what's nice is really getting, the feedback and understanding, like why people. Follow you and what behaviors work for you and also seeing their different types of leadership play out yeah and. Just to add on to what everybody said one of the first things that I thought about during that question is vulnerability. And openness as well which, I think just speaks to how. Stanford. Has hid this concept, home for everybody on repeated, basis. And. Just. To provide an example of of how that's incorporated or curriculum, one. Of the classes that I'm taking right now is called interpersonal dynamics aka. Touchy-feely. And. It's really one of the cornerstone, classes, of the, GSB experience. And. It's essentially, a, class, in which you learn all, the. Different models and, concepts. On how to understand, how to communicate with others and why breakdowns, in communications, happen, why conflicts, occur between people, and. Part. Of the class is literally, sitting in a room with. 13. Other people in a circle for three hours at a time and, just. Letting. The communication, unfold, and it. Sounds super ambiguous, and unstructured but, I've only had I've had two classes so far and it's been absolutely.
Riveting. To just sit, and to, just sit in like, this group and just see how. Communication. Unfolds, and and taking. Risks, and expressing. How you actually feel. Is. Such. A out. Of the comfort zone for me but I'm kind of understanding, now how, that would make me a better leader in the future. So, a, lot, of things that were unexpected for me coming into the GSB about, leadership but I'm, definitely. Learning a lot. So. I we, have about 10. Minutes or so left so I think we can answer a few other questions. There's. A question, from. The audience around. How being. LGBTQ. Has informed, how you show up and be present in the. Classroom, so, does anyone have any thoughts about if you. Made a contribution that, was informed, by your identity. Or, whether. You. Viewed. Something, a different way or brought a new perspective because, you were LGBTQ. Any, experiences, like that in the classroom or in group. Meetings I, guess. Not in, particular. In the classroom but I guess we can, talk about is talk yeah. So talk is like a. Weekly. Event in which we get two of our classmates to seek speak in front of the whole student body and share maybe for 30 to 45 minutes just their life story and whatnot yeah, and I, guess so I had, my talk last quarter and you, three attended thank you it, was way it was fantastic, so. I had my talk last quarter and that just gave me a venue to like tell, people about my identity in my journey to. The GSB and like my journey in life this far and a lot of that like involved my identity as a queer person and. I feel like that just served as a venue for me, to like just share my life story to everyone, and hopefully. People queer. Or not queer were able to like just pick. Something. From that yeah, I, think. For me something that I think about is sort. Of coming into school you. Know I very much played a role at work doing. Kind of turn around and crisis and it was very much. Relatively. Straight faced and I was there to do a specific thing and I, think I came into the classroom a little bit like that thinking, like this is business I this is business school like let's, talk about what. The cases in front of us and then. What I've seen is all my classmates bringing, in this wider perspective. Around who. They are as a person and and now identity, in bringing that to, the conversations. That were having and I've, seen how powerful that's been and, so I think less.
And Less my disconnecting. Who. I am and, what, I'm doing and, bringing. More of myself to those conversations, into the classroom so I think for me it's still a process that I'm going through. But. I've definitely seen, how, it's been impactful. In the conversations, that we've been having. Yeah. And, I, can just talk from my, I did not personally, do this but I know of someone. Who. Who. Made a an. Informed. Comment in class where it, was our marketplaces, class and the. We. Were talking about dating apps as a form of marketplaces, and. Someone. That I know actually, you. Know raised her hand and. Pointed. Out to the professor in the classroom that you know we're looking at dating apps from a very heteronormative, perspective. And we should also consider. The. Implications of a marketplace for. For. A queer queer. Dating app or. Like, tinder. Or or, you, know like same-sex dating app so it. Was a really insightful I found that to be a super super insightful, comment and to, be a very brave comment, as well but, I could literally see. People's. Faces changing, in the room from. To. Just being. Curious but to just a broader understanding of, like oh these are issues that we actually need to think about and we need to be aware of. When. When talking about the real world so. I thought that was a really really cool experience that I've witnessed recently. I. Think. Another question, this one is a little bit more about social, life at, the GSB LGBTQ. Nightlife at the GSB so we can answer this one really really, quickly, because I know I was curious at least when I was playing is. How is LGBTQ. Nightlife near, the GSB. What. Do we do, are there. Venues. Do. We organize things on campus or do we go out to San Francisco, kind. Of leading you. Guys have that answer right now. I think, one of the one of the fantastic things about business school whether it be you. Know. Pride. Specific, or non like if you, get 50 really interesting, people in a room yeah, you can make a party that's really easy to do so it's. Palo Alto the best nightlife in the world, absolutely. Not do. You need it to be absolutely, not we. Have our weekly PG, PG, which is our kind of happy hour pride. Which. We really make the most of and enjoy and then. We head up to the city for. Various events or, just. To go and enjoy the nightlife every, few weeks probably, I do yeah, I think we go up to the city pretty often, like once or twice a month there's. A. Good. Chunk of your social life is also traveling, with your classmates over the weekend so. I would say that that has been the constraining, factor in, terms of how often we go up to the city so, not necessarily. Like. That Palo Alto was bad which. It is but like there's there's other stuff out there. Yeah. I would say it's, a one question that I had that I know. That. Some others might have is how accessible, is San Francisco, because. Vince you mentioned that San Francisco is a very welcoming, City to to. People who identify as LGBTQ. And. It absolutely is San Francisco is super super accessible, from. Palo Alto you. Can either take a public, transport taste if I could train there and it gets you there in like, correct, me if I'm wrong like 35, minutes 35. Minutes to an hour or. If, it's at night and you and you want to go to experience, in the nightlife I know that we kind of just pile into an uber, and. Split the uber four ways and it winds up to being really really a can. Taking, their back sometimes, you take a bus surprise we've done as events as well where women. Come with other schools and, other grads, kind of students, and and, we've gone up and done kind of bigger organized trips up to the city embarked as well yeah for sure.
So. We have five minutes left so. I want to end on, one. Question, and that's. What. Do you find most rewarding so. Far about. The Stanford experience. Jack. Do you I do yeah. It's. My, ons as a Kapow answer it's really easy it's the people yeah and. I think. You. Are basically surrounded by. 420. Classmates, who have your back are really. Really interesting. Care. Deeply, about. One. Or many things that they're passionate about and so, I think the most rewarding thing is how. My mind has been opened up to so many opportunities and, so many interesting. Conversations and. How. Those. Friendships, and relationships are, only gonna continue to grow, whether. That be from a professional perspective or, personal perspective, I. Think. The most rewarding part is getting, to do it with this group of people. Especially. These guys. Apart, from. Ya. Jack put it very well my answer my first answer would definitely be the, people the network you could get out of the business school experience, but for, me personally I. Think. What I gained from the GSB most thus far is just. Being able to explore, gaming. As a long-term career because. Like, having. Had like. Multiple, conversations with, different people about gaming. Potentially. Interning, for a gaming company this, summer really, like solidified, my. Hypothesis. Or like my thesis of like trying to test whether I want to do gaming in the long term and I feel that if I, hadn't, gone to the GSB I wouldn't, even be trying to pursue this thing long term so that has potentially, this, that may have potentially, dictated, what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life and, I think that's very valuable oh another, thing we were talking about is the opportunity to take Tyra Banks class in spring, she's, he's lurking around campus. Right. Now somewhere, some people saw her 30. Minutes ago. So, I would also echo like the people are absolutely critical. And. I, have, been tremendous. People here who are friendly. Caring. Interesting. Super, nice so, I would, say that it's. Top. I think for be, also, type is a huge thing. In, terms of you are you're. Super busy the MBA program but, you have taught a lot of time for self reflection for. Career. Exploration to. Learn. About. Anything you want essentially, what's, great about the GSB is you can also take, classes outside. The. GSB at other schools in Stanford so, it's basically, a two-year, opportunity. To meet. Great people learn. Super, interesting things and just reflect on who, you are as a person and. What you value yeah. And and just to wrap up for the group before we go I think the. Most rewarding part about the Stanford experience for, me is having. An opportunity to, take risks in a. Low risk environment, so before. Coming to the GSB I would consider myself, a really, really risk-averse person. Both in the work in the workplace but also in, my personal life and. Just. We've, only been at the GSB for what like seven months now and it's, completely, changed my perspective on, what it means to take risks. So, I'm, doing. Activities, that I would never, have done, before. Outside. Of the GSB like I'm taking a swim class when I had no idea how to swim before. I'm. Testing. New ways to express. Myself I'm, testing new ways to communicate with others almost on a daily basis, and it's. Really really exciting and scary, at times but it's all, for, the learning and I. Can't stress this enough that being. At Stanford is a lower-risk environment, and, they. Really cultivate, you to learn, how to be a person that takes risks, and, that's been. By. Far in a way the. Biggest benefit so far. In. My first year so we'll see what well what's in store for us in our second year but I'm really really excited for that and sad, as well that we're almost halfway through our, experience. Together. But, anyway. I think, that's all the time that, we, have today so, thank you to, the three of you for for, coming and participating. Thank, you everyone in the audience for for tuning in to the, live webcast, you. Can learn more about the MBA program by, visiting the, GSB website, at GSB, stanford.edu. And. I. Think. That's, it for us. Oh also, if you have questions about the. Pride. Group feel, free to email GSB. Underscore, pride leadership. At stanford.edu, as, well. But. Thank you again and have a great day.
2019-05-09 00:12
