
How One Female Founder Is Solving a Critical Gap in Health Care

A Problem-Solver Finds Unexpected Purpose in a Corporate Setting

What Makes L.A. a Great Place to Earn an MBA?

Most Disruptive MBA Startups: OYA Femtech Apparel

A Seat at the Table and a Voice in the Room

Caroline W. Nahas (B.A. ’70)
Senior Advisor, Korn Ferry
Chair, UCLA Anderson Board of Advisors
In a career filled with firsts, the longtime UCLA Anderson benefactor and board member has adhered to a couple of mantras: Stretch outside your comfort zone, and maintain a balance of optimism and honesty, particularly during difficult times.
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Conducting research is often solitary. Even the welcome opportunities for collaboration can be limited to fellow academics whose work falls within similar lines of interest. One of the great pleasures of serving as UCLA Anderson’s dean is that it’s afforded me the opportunity to widen my circle and develop important relationships with a multitude of strong and creative students. Among the standouts are women leading some of Anderson’s most ambitious initiatives.
The women in our alumni network include the CEOs of tech giants and innovative health care companies who continually redefine what accounts for possibility. The women on our Board of Advisors and my colleagues within Anderson’s faculty and administration are crucial to the school’s mission of education, research and service. Most important, the women in our student body reinvigorate and reenergize our scholastic and professional experience. I’m proud to serve as their colleague and ally.
— Tony Bernardo,
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Nicole Gebriel (’23) Receives the Second Jenessa Shapiro Fellowship
The award commemorates a UCLA Anderson professor’s groundbreaking research on prejudice and stereotype threats
To honor and advance the legacy of Professor Jenessa Shapiro (1980–2018), the UCLA Anderson community established the Jenessa Shapiro Fellowship Fund, now totaling more than $200,000, through the generosity of students, faculty, staff and friends. The second Jenessa Shapiro Fellowship was presented in fall 2021 to Nicole Gebriel (’23). Like Professor Shapiro, Gebriel is a champion of inclusivity. She serves in leadership roles in the Black Business Students Association and AnderTech, and as a Riordan MBA Fellow. She is headed toward a consulting career with a focus on driving societal impact.
DONATEWe can probably all agree that any top business school offers a high-quality education and the potential for career advancement. What sets UCLA Anderson apart is its unique and supportive culture. The women in our current class are not just my partners on the next class project, they’ve become a personal board of advisors — a lifelong network I can lean on and rely on, regardless of what life throws at me. The community of Anderson women includes involved alumnae setting examples, while experienced students serve as mentors to the incoming classes. The ever-present support of our male allies is important as well. Anderson is an environment where the women’s network is strong, while the men have our backs and uplift our efforts.
That supportive culture is a crucial element of the business school experience for women as we prepare to not only overcome but to solve real-world challenges. Women still earn only 82 cents on the dollar compared to men. One in every three women will face gender violence in her life time. Still, every day I see women with different backgrounds working together to collectively lift each other up to overcome challenges and empower those around us.
— Sarah Robertson (’22),
President, Women’s Business Connection
Research Spotlight: Gender Bias
5 Questions With
Dedicated to Professor of Management and Organizations Jenessa Shapiro
Commemorating her groundbreaking research on discrimination and prejudice
UCLA Anderson’s annual Women’s Leadership Summit inspires warmth, laughter, cheers and sharing among an enthusiastic audience. In 2022, Velocity returns in person, convening under the theme “Rise” to celebrate female leaders who have come together to become a catalyst for change, rising above the challenges our society faces today.
Resources

What's Going On
HERstory: A Primer on the Black Female Path to Success
A panel of Black women from UCLA Anderson’s MBA programs describe their wins, losses and lessons

Is Peer Pressure More Persuasive than Cost Savings?
UCLA Forecast economist Leila Bengali runs the data on solar adoption

Women Worth Watching
Anderson MBAs Advise Small Enterprises Pro Bono in Pandemic
Impact@Anderson’s Bhavna Sivanand (’14) introduces the Crisis Response Corps


Women Worth Watching
Never Let Anyone Make You Choose
Warner Bros. VP Amy Castillo (’09) is a woman worth watching

Marketplace
What Kind of Recession Did COVID-19 Trigger?
Marketplace asked Andrea Eisfeldt about the “health shock” of 2020

Thrive Global
Promise in the Real Estate Industry
Veteran investor Vicky Schiff (’96) sees great advantages for women

Bloomberg
Mellody Hobson Is Named Chair of Starbucks
Wooden honoree among corporate America’s highest-profile Black directors


Natacha Rafalski (’95)
Présidente, Dineyland Paris
“Leadership is something that you grow into. The teams you build around you are critical.”

Andrea Almeida Mack (’94)
Managing Director, Institutional Marketing and Consultant Relations, The TCW Group
“You have to be a listener and be able to think quickly on your feet. ”

Shaila Chopra (’09)
Vice President of International Television Distribution for Europe, Middle East and Africa, MGM
“When I feel like I’m not getting flexibility naturally in my role, that’s when I start thinking about my next step.”

Maddy Wodjak (’19)
Player Growth Strategist, Riot Games
“My passion is introducing new people to products that I love.”

Mitchella Gilbert (’21)
CEO and Co-Founder, OYA FEMTECH Apparel
“I was inspired to create leggings that were just as strong as the women wearing them. Welcome to the femtech revolution.”

Sumita Jonak (’21)
Founder, Nur Labs
“When you combine interdisciplinary fields you get phenomenal outputs. Nur Labs is looking at an old problem with a fresh pair of eyes.”

Nicole Gear (’20)
Co-Founder, Lanikai Labs
“The UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator helped me survive the stress of completing an MBA while launching a startup.”

Lori Santikian
Faculty Director, UCLA Anderson Fink Center for Finance and Investments
“Investment teams with diverse backgrounds are better poised to generate superior returns. Competitive advantage relies on the ability to see and do what others cannot.”

Katie McGrath
Co-CEO, Bad Robot Production
“Over 50% of our leadership is women, and we’re at 45% people of color. The ‘best’ comes from every part of the country that has often not been at the table.”

Lizzeth Rosales (’20)
FUSE Executive Fellow, FUSE Corps
“I am interested in creating opportunities that empower underserved communities, tackle entrenched social problems and create a more equitable world for all.”

Jennifer Abbondanza (’06)
Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, NBCUniversal Media LLC
“Diversity is a corporate strategy, which means that we have a responsibility to track how we’re doing and constantly make adjustments to do better.”

Satiya Witzer (’13)
Director of Human Capital M&A, Private Equity Services, Alvarez & Marsal
“There’s a real need for underrepresented students to see a role model who looks like them. I talk about my personal experience: I’ve been able to accomplish what people call the American dream by taking advantage of opportunities in front of me and working really hard.”

Angela F. Williams
President and CEO, Easterseals
“There are other women CEOs in the health care space. What power it would be for us to come together! We’re developing a call to action around the social determinants of health that impact Black Americans.”

Marissa Vasquez (’18)
Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine; and Primary Care Head Team Physician, Los Angeles Dodgers
“I am the primary care head team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers and a sports medicine consultant. Little did I know that I would start my new job during the pandemic.”

Susan Love (’98), M.D.
Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research
“There’s no other organ in our body that goes through so many changes than the breast does, and yet we know very little about it. It shows you why you need to have women doing some of the research.”

Christine Simmons (B.S. ’98)
COO, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
“Just as we look to diversify our workforce, we also want to ensure that the businesses that we’re affording contracts with out in corporate America are going to the business owners that are women-owned, minority-owned, LGBTQ-owned, veterans and people with disabilities.”

Andrea Hoplein (’10)
Vice President of Global Brand Management and Marketing, Electronic Arts
“Every brand that I’ve ever had the pleasure and privilege of working for has been tied into storytelling between humans that triggers a passion point for an individual. Understanding the root and the center of that passion is the fundamental motivation of what makes me tick.”

Erica Millwater (’19)
Data Scientist, BCG GAMMA
“A lot of the effort goes into figuring out how we can communicate what we’ve done. Because if people who aren’t data scientists don’t understand how a model works, they’re going to be skeptical about using it and won’t understand the value of what we’re providing.”

This Behavioral Scientist Studied Chinese Factories and Found Surprising Keys to Productivity
What motivates employees extends into the U.S. as well, according to Sherry Wu.
Featuring: Sherry Wu, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations

What Baseball Teaches Us about Our Own Performance
Hengchen Dai gleaned data from baseball to show that instances of “fresh starts” boost performance — and can be applied to our lives as well.
Featuring: Hengchen Dai, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations and Behavioral Decision Making

Would You Rather Have an Award or Some Cash?
The answer might surprise you, as Jana Gallus tells Warren Olney.
Featuring: Jana Gallus, Assistant Professor of Strategy and Behavioral Decision Making

The Way the FDA Approves Vaccines Should Be Different Now
As Fernanda Bravo tells Warren Olney, it should be risk versus reward.
Featuring: Fernanda Bravo, Assistant Professor of Decisions, Operations and Technology Management

Women Consider Jobs Differently, and Employers Know It
Warren Olney navigates hours, work/life balance and pay with Melanie Wasserman.
Featuring: Melanie Wasserman, Assistant Professor of Economics

Many Fine Wine Labels Are Hiding That They’re Organic
Magali Delmas found the quality is higher but eco-labeling would leave a sour note.
Featuring: Magali Delmas, Professor of Management; Faculty Director, Impact@Anderson