Stronger Together

When UCLA Anderson Executive MBA students Peggy Sin (B.A. ’09, ’24) and Jay Zelenkov (’24) each decided to run for EMBA Council president, neither knew that they’d be running against the other. When the election dust settled, the two friends found themselves co-presidents, with shared goals for the upcoming academic year.

Sin earned her undergraduate degree in anthropology from UCLA, then followed her heart into a career in marketing. This led to jobs in entertainment at Sony Pictures and Lionsgate, food and beverage at Red Bull and the cannabis business world at Raw Garden. “I tried to break into different industries to gain experience and knowledge,” the Sacramento native says. Her anthropology degree served her well in these pursuits. “Anthropology is about understanding culture by using research methods such as ethnography, which apply well to market research.” Sin’s years of exploring different career options helped her realize her true passion was brand management in the consumer-packaged goods space.

As fate would have it, she kept meeting folks who happened to be Anderson alumni. “These were people with their own consulting agencies and companies,” she says. Sin came away from conversations inspired. “I’d been thinking about applying to Anderson for years. Suddenly, the timing felt right for getting closer to my goal of starting a brand marketing consultancy.” Sealing the deal was this parting word from an alumnus at a networking event: “You should apply to Anderson.” “And yeah,” Sin says, “I did just that.”

Zelenkov was 13 when he saw his first computer. After playing around on it for 10 minutes, the Estonia native had an epiphany: “I fell in love with coding and knew I’d be working in technology.” Within a year, he had the language of coding down pat. Feeding his growing obsession, Zelenkov began participating in competitions.

Diversity is a hallmark of UCLA Anderson's Executive MBA program

When it was time to enter college, he decided to forego a full scholarship to Estonia’s Tallinn Technical University to attend Germany’s Munich University of Applied Sciences. While there, he says, “I learned German and worked part-time jobs coding for German companies.” This led to gigs such as one with eBay Deutschland. A job with the startup YesPath brought the software engineer to the U.S. When YesPath ran out of funding, Zelenkov dove into interviewing, landing a senior web solution engineer gig at Google.

For seven years, Zelenkov has been happily working at Google. The urge to work in startups, a prospect that was daunting, continued to nudge at him. He knew adding business experience to his tech expertise would increase chances of success during the launch of a new startup. When investigating business schools, Anderson’s Business Creation Program (BCP) capstone project caught his attention. “It’s the perfect combination for me,” he says. “I can learn business and practice creating a company in a safe environment instead of trying to raise venture capital funding on my own.”

With diverse work experience under her belt, Sin had arrived at the point where she was ready for more structured learning. “I knew there were knowledge gaps from my former workplaces, and I wanted to explore if brand management was the right path for me. Spoiler alert,” she says, “Anderson strengthened my love for brand management.” Sin participated in Anderson’s International Exchange program this past summer by attending London Business School. “It widened my knowledge and made me aware of global opportunities,” she says. “It inspired me all over again.”

A vow Sin made while still a UCLA undergraduate came into play, too. “I told myself, if I got into Anderson, I’d participate in different clubs and consulting challenges to push myself and grow.” After becoming an EMBA Council admissions rep, she began seeing ways she could make an impact at Anderson by sharing resources with classmates and serving as an advocate when they had concerns. Running for class president seemed like a good fit. “It opened up different avenues to be more involved and feel pride for the school,” she says.

For Zelenkov, Anderson’s EMBA program proved to be a revelation. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” he says of the experience. “I knew I’d learn about entrepreneurship, but I didn’t expect that the process could be analyzed so systematically.”

After commuting from Mountain View for biweekly classes, Zelenkov relocated to Los Angeles while continuing to work for Google. As he became more involved with the Anderson community by serving as an academic class representative, Zelenkov threw his hat in the ring for the class presidency.

Sin and Zelenkov had met on campus their first day at Anderson and struck up a friendship. They then found themselves going toe-to-toe for class presidency. Aware of their synergy, Sin struck on the idea of running as co-presidents. “By partnering, we brought together our different strengths and shared vision,” she says. “This would enable us to do more for our class.” The concept held specific bonuses for Sin. “It inspired me to work harder and gave me a source of accountability.”

Zelenkov concurred. “It made sense,” he says. “Our different backgrounds — she’s very active with admissions and social events, I’m more focused on the academic side — complement each other.” As their discussions progressed, Zelenkov says, “We felt we were aligned on what we stand for, as well as how we could add value to our class.”

Zelenkov says the experience of running was exhilarating. “We had to think on our feet, identify patterns and topics for our campaign messages, and there was a lot of engagement with our classmates.”

Despite running with a partner, Sin found campaigning to be challenging. “I’d held student leadership positions when I was younger, including with the Future Business Leaders of America and student council in high school,” she says. “Our class wanted a presidential debate, which stretched into new territory. It ended up being fun.” The dual role brought its challenges. “Technically, we’re sharing one role, but from two people’s perspectives,” Zelenkov says. “This meant communicating with a unified voice. Coming up with a system for working together that included strong coordination and communication was imperative.”

The Sin-Zelenkov strategy worked, and the duo brought home the co-presidency.

With their newly minted positions, Sin and Zelenkov are already tackling goals for the Class of 2024. “We’re considering opportunities for expanding our network, including developing connections between our class and the class of 2025,” Sin says. “With this in mind, we’re looking at creating spaces and events like town halls where networking can happen.” A goal in this scenario, Zelenkov says, is working with the EMBA class council to “forge a strong cohesion within our class that will follow us into the future.”

Also on the horizon, says Sin, “We’re building an advisory network to connect alumni who are willing to help our class.” Zelenkov elaborates, “We’ll be strengthening the existing alumni network, services and events.” They anticipate numerous ways these ties will benefit classmates. “If anyone in our EMBA class is going through a transition, is looking to make a career switch, or wants to learn more about different fields, they can tap into this network for guidance.”

The co-presidents have already pulled off EMBA’s first prom, a first for Zelenkov, too. “We don’t have proms in Estonia, so it was the first prom in my life.” The success of the prom, which included current students and alumni, has them looking at next year’s follow-up. Sin says, “We have a committee working on it, led by our EMBA class social representative, Lizzie Brown. The creativity is going to shine.”

Hear Sin and Zelenkov talk about the importance of one voice and it’s evident how they take this tack. When asked for advice for people considering applying to Anderson’s EMBA program, they echo one another. “Have a clear goal and develop a thoughtful plan for what you want from the program — whether that is exploring a new field, gaining skills to advance in your career or finding a community. Delve into the resources available at UCLA Anderson to achieve that plan and be open to the multitude of new experiences that come with being a student. Be mindful of where you’re putting your efforts and be strategic in choosing what activities are most relevant to you.”

And finally, “EMBA is a very diverse program. There are many people of different ages, cultures, backgrounds and experiences, which creates opportunities to learn.”