Women In Business

For the women at Kelley (and men too, if they want to be involved), the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA) is our national affiliation. We have a student chapter, and participation in this group has been a highlight of my MBA experience. Recently I returned from the annual NAWMBA Conference in Louisville, KY, and I have a few reflections that I would like to share:


Connections and community – Through NAWMBA, I have built relationships with MBA students and professionals from all over the country. These relationships go beyond simple networking or connections to a next job. I have become a part of a community, one that is growing and gaining momentum. One of my most memorable conversations from the weekend was with Jessica Berger, NAWMBA National Student Director. She gave me some great advice on a few things, and when I thanked her for the insights, she simply responded with, “Jen, you don’t need to thank me. That is why we are here.” Yes, NAWMBA is indeed a strong community and one that I am so proud to be a part of. Navigating the MBA life and figuring out a career path can be a bit daunting, but I know there is an amazing support system just a call or an email away.


Exposure to inspirational business leaders - The quality of speakers that NAWMBA brings to its events is incredible. I've never left a session disappointed (and I've been to quite a few now). This year, we got to hear from Lynn Tilton, and in 6" stilettos and “liberal” dress, she may challenge everything you think Corporate America should look like, but, wow, can this woman deliver! A banquet room packed full of students and professionals was dead silent as she spoke...everyone was hanging onto every word. And here is one of my favorite points - the further away you get from your passion and natural talents, the greater decrease you will see in your chance for success - in essence, stay true to yourself…a simple message that is too easily forgotten.


Opportunities to give back – Embodying the spirit of women empowering women, NAWMBA has found a meaningful way to reach an underserved population. Through the Shideezhi Project, approximately 30 MBA students from around the country mentor high school girls living on the Navajo Reservation. And the value of this new initiative has not gone unnoticed. At the conference, Sam’s Club/Walmart awarded scholarships to 5 mentors to pay for program-related travel costs, including a trip to the Reservation. The energy around this program and the support we received was incredible!


While my involvement in this group has certainly made my already hectic life a little busier, the professional and personal growth, the fun, and the new friendships are well worth the few missed hours of sleep!

The Importance of Giving Thanks!

What’s up KD! I hope this blog finds you well. Things are picking up at work and with school, but the pace is manageable.


Today’s blog is actually about a topic that we don’t always get to – saying thanks. It’s funny, I have been meaning to write this blog for a couple of weeks, but much like giving thanks in general, we run out of time – and it gets put on the back burner. In fact, I want to thank a friend (Stacy Oliver) for the idea.


Well, as you take on this experience, there are several other people who are also along for the ride with you. If you have family, or friends, or a job, then you definitely know the strain on them that any academic program can cause. Moreover, while we all know that things will be better at the end, we often forget to say thanks for all of the people that are involved in making the production of getting an MBA happen. Moreover, this doesn’t even begin to include the tons of KD staffers, who are rooting for each of us to do well in our experiences, but often fade into the background over the course of our experience.


Well, for all of those people – I am saying thank you. And since this list is nowhere near comprehensive, I’m also going to say thank you right now to anyone that isn’t on it. But, here are a few people that I need to say thank you to.


Stephenie, my wife – Honey, thank you for taking the kids when I need to study, or do a conference call, and/or take a test or anything else. Thank you for being willing to enjoy this journey with me - about my crazy stories about the Economy, my Business Simulation, Six Sigma, and/or any of the other crazy things that I often love to talk about with the program. But, mostly, thank you for your support. I couldn’t have done this without you.


Erin Kilbride-Vincent – Thank you for your encouragement, information, and help with the program. I can honestly say that without your encouragement, I might not have done the things I needed in order to be in the program. You have made a difference in my life – thank you.


Lindsey Spoonmore – Thank you for your energy and welcoming attitude. I am amazed at times at the number of people that come through the conference center for trainings and in-residences. If you are half as welcoming to them as you were to our group, I’m sure that they are leaving more connected to one another and KD. Thank you.


Sheri Fella – Thank you for your passion, IU spirit, and energy. I, often, will reflect on my experience during the In-Residence program, and find myself humming the IU fight song. Between your great stories, informative classes, and willingness to challenge us, you gave us all the confidence and passion for the KD program. Thank you, and I look forward to our reunion in the Spring.


Lisa Richey-Burgis – Thank you for your patience. I seem to call with the most random requests, at the most random times, and you have always treated me with elegance and grace – even when I haven’t always deserved it. I mean, I registered, withdrew, registered, and withdrew from the same class all within a 2 day period, and you were nothing but helpful and accommodating. Thank you.


Sherry Woosley – Thank you for your confidence in me, when I didn’t have it in myself. In addition, it was your idea for me to start this MBA journey, and I, now, am seriously considering getting a Ph.D. in the field. Thank you for getting me started, and being the best mentor I could ask for.


My Co Workers – I have worked at 2 institutions since I started the program – Indiana University, and now, Southern Illinois University. I want to thank my colleagues, my supervisors, my direct reports, and my students. You all have been bored to tears with stories that start with, “I’m in this MBA program, and …”, and all the while, you have been patient with me, as I learn – the material and about myself in the process. Thank you for your support, your willingness to deal with my kooky ideas, and your encouragement. I don’t say it enough, but it means the world to me.


My Fellow KD Classmates – Since I began the KD experience a year ago, I have had tons of group projects, partners, study buddies, etc. And throughout all of my experiences, I have never been disappointed. We all come from different backgrounds, work and learning experiences, have different goals for the program, and yet – you all have been the most amazing group of academic colleagues I have ever experienced. Thank you for allowing me to learn with and from each of you. I hope that I have been able to give you a small piece of the learning that you have given me.


I hope this blog encourages you to thank those in your life that are right there along for the ride with you in this KD program.


Well, I hope that’s helpful KD! Until next time, I’ll catch you later.

Getting Easier...

In my blog intro, I promised to reflect on the life of an MBA student and full-time working professional. I think I'm past due for a "how to balance it all"-specific post.

I still remember my first term, and to be completely honest, it was pretty overwhelming. Getting used to new teachers, new subject matter, and a new way of learning - all while keeping up with the day-to-day - was certainly not an easy feat. To make it all work and to push down the feeling of "what have I gotten myself into?!?", I started out with a very disciplined approach. I looked at my work for the entire week and used a planner to record what I wanted to accomplish each day. This tactic of breaking things down into smaller chunks worked very well for me. After a few weeks, I got into a groove and began to see that merging a student and professional life together was indeed very possible.



Now, it is about 1.5 years later, and I am only 4 classes away from completing my MBA and another 4 away from getting my MSSM. I can't pinpoint the exact moment, but somewhere along the way, perhaps in my 2nd term, everything just started to fit together. With each class, it became easier, more natural to find the time to get my assignments done to a high standard while still fitting in socializing time and sleep. Class no longer feels like this extra thing that I have to squeeze in; rather, it is simply a part of my day. With that said, I do believe that strong organization and discipline have remained key components to my success.



In addition, I found tools and techniques that worked well for me after a little bit of trial and error. I still use a planner to record all assignment due dates for the entire term during the first week of class. This allows me to see what I'm up against for the next 3 months and even gives me the chance to plan some small trips and other social activities. As far as actually tackling the assignments, I like to get my reading in during my lunch break and do some work each night so I have free time during the weekend. However, I know that other students prefer to do the bulk of their work over the weekends, treating Saturday and/or Sunday like a full workday. The takeaway is that there is definitely more than one way to be successful in this program; it is in the hands of each individual to find the balance that works for his/her lifestyle and priorities.

An introduction and 1st Post

Hi, this is my first post so I thought it would be best to introduce myself. My name is Leonardo Kim, but you can call me Lenny. I am currently an owner of two small international grocery stores in Bloomington. The first store is the Oriental International Mart and the second store is the Olive Market. The first store mostly sells Arabic products. The second sells mainly Indian and Mexican products. Each store consists between 5 to 8 employees, depending on season and sales, and both are open 7 days a week. My main goal in earning an MBA is to gain strong business knowledge and tools to help build my two stores. My goal is to build my two stores not as a chain or as a supermarket but rather both as unique small specialty stores.


My background, aka other life, was in classical music. I studied at the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University in which I earned a Bachelor's in Music in violin, piano, and composition. Some of my music accomplishments was performing at the La Roque Music Festival in the South of France and studying with Jacque Israelievitch, former Concert Master of the Montreal Symphony in Canada.


My main hobbies are playing the violin, piano, and composing. I also teach violin and piano when time permits. Teaching is something I really enjoy! Other hobbies are cooking, exercising, and traveling. I have traveled several times to Japan, Korea, China, and HK.


My stress relief hobbies, which I use quite often, consist of writing in my diary, dining at nice restaurants, watching Anime, and most importantly playing games on a Playstation (i.e. Splinter Cell and Metal Gear) or a computer (i.e. Starcraft and Warcraft).


I am currently starting my 2nd year at Kelley. I cannot believe a whole year has gone by. It feels like I just started by first In-Residence. By the way, the second In-Residence is a lot less stressful than the first. For you 1st year students, you can always post questions or comments about challenges you are facing in balancing school, work, and some time for family. I will try to provide some valuable insight from my KD experience.


I have found my KD experience to be wonderful so far!!! The faculty are experts in their fields, the students are intelligent and accomplished, and the staff really try to help. Everyone and I mean everyone at Kelley wants you to succeed and wants to be there to help out in any way possible during your long challenging journey in earning an MBA. If you are considering an online program, I strongly recommend you look into Kelley Direct!!!!!


Looking forward to writing more posts!

Our Greatest Fear

What’s up KD? I hope this blog finds you well. Life is going well, life is finally starting to calm down a little – well, at least the non-academic portion. Today is the first day of school for the KD program for the fall semester; and while I am not getting on a yellow school bus, all of the same emotions are there.

Today’s blog is actually going to deal with one of the emotions that you feel during the first day of school – fear.

One of my favorite quotes is the following quote by Nelson Mandela, by way of Marianne Williamson:

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,

but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.

It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine,

we consciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

The reason that I love this quote is because it deals with one of the major issues for people – fear of a new situation. With the start of a new school year, especially if you are coming back to school after being away for a while, it is easy to fear this upcoming semester. Furthermore, during the course of the year, as your academics get more challenging, you may begin to doubt whether or not you can actually complete the coursework.

It is during these times that I encourage you to review this poem. The Kelley Direct program only admits the best of the best applicants from all over the world. Moreover, they would not have admitted you if they did not believe that you could complete the assignments and the work.

It is also during these times that I would encourage you to lean on those people within your support network – your family, friends, fellow classmates, etc. They may not understand your respective challenges, but hopefully their belief in you will fuel your to move forward. And for those of you without that support network, you can lean on me. While I may not know you personally, as a fellow KD student, I believe in and support you. You can make it through this tough time. You can and will do great things.

Well, I hope that’s helpful and uplifting KD! Until next time, I’ll catch you later.

The Kelley Direct In-Residence Experience

I'm in the airport waiting to fly back to Indiana for my second Kelley Direct In-Residence. I can't believe it has been a year since I was on the Indiana University campus for my first in-residence. My first year in the Kelley Direct MBA program has gone by fast. It has been challenging, inspiring, rewarding, and fun. As I reflect on all my experiences from my first year, I have to say my favorite part of the program was the first in-residence in Bloomington. I thought I would share some of my experiences from that in-residence in this post.

It all started with a reception dinner in the Indiana Memorial Union Hotel. We heard from leaders and professors of the program, and it was our first opportunity to meet other students.

I was so excited for the program to begin, I was the first to arrive at the classroom on the first day of classes. I knew I was surrounded by greatness when the first two students to sit next to me had each previously earned their Ph.D. in different fields. I never knew any of the people in this photo before the program, but I became friends with all of them. Three of the four people in this photo were later in groups of mine in different classes.


The professors at the Kelley Direct In-Residence were awesome. Clockwise from top left: Professor Linda Dunn-Jensen, Professor Sheri Fella, Professor Sarah "Intelligirl" Robbins, Usha Venkat, Professor Steve Hayford, and Professor Tatiana Kolovou.

The lunch breaks were a good place to enjoy some delicious food and meet other students in the program. My advice to everyone planning to attend an in-residence: take advantage of every opportunity to network.

Our cohort was broken up into teams of six. We did all case analysis, assignments, and presentations with our team. Meeting and working with my team was the highlight of the week for me. They are some of the brightest, most talented people I have had the pleasure to work with. I hope that we will all be friends the rest of our lives.


The in-residence culminated with a case competition. Here we are preparing for our presentation for the competition. It was a long night, but we stayed on schedule and did some of our best work. Most nights we were up until 1 or 2 a.m. finishing our assignments. This night was no exception.


Despite our busy schedule, we were able to get out and enjoy some of Bloomington's finer eating establishments. This night we were in the mood for Thai food.

Here's my team working on a simulation. The goal of the simulation was to get 60% buy in from the employees regarding a shift in strategy. We had to choose which tasks to perform in what order. Each task would affect the employee buy in either up or down. We got up to about 56% buy in before we ran out of time and money.


One of the funnest evenings of the week was the Kelley Direct social at Nick's English Hut. My team and I arrived in matching Kelley School of Business t-shirts. It was fun to relax and hang out with new friends without having to worry about assignments or deadlines.


Here my team is working on our assignment for a social media module. Our assignment was craft a social media policy for our fictitious company. When the company I work for posted their first social media policy earlier this year, I had to pull out my team's policy form the in-residence and see how it compared.


I am looking forward to the second in-residence. It will be different than the first because I have a better idea o f what to expect. I know many of the faculty and students who will be there. I have a year of MBA training under my belt. On the other hand, I am currently enrolled in two other courses and will I have to balance completing assignments for those classes while focusing on the workload for the in-residence. In the words of professor Kolovou, I'll have to be a "total and excellent juggler." I'm sure I'll be fine. My first year in the program has taught me that I can do it all.

A Year in Review

What’s up KD!! I hope this blog finds you well. I am writing to finish up our double feature, as promised. Life is still busy, we have moved, and are about to move again – due to some challenging living conditions. But, we are still up beat and excited about life!


Today’s blog is some tips from my first year in the KD program. I just registered for classes for this coming fall, and it seems nuts that a year has gone by already. But, alas, it has, and with that idea, I figured that I would give you some tips as you prepare for your first year in the KD program.

• Do the in-residence early!

Due to my career in education, I could not do the in-residence in August, but I really wish that I could have. I wound up doing the in-residence in February, which was great, but some of the information from the in-residence would have been handy during those first couple of quarters.


During the in-residence, you are welcomed to the Kelley Direct program, and meet many of your peers in the program. But, more importantly, you learn about ANGEL, the program your classes are in. You will also get a chance to meet a number of your professors and the other staff in the program. It was invaluable to have faces to go with names in this program – especially with everything being already distance, due to the nature of the program.

• Figure out your study style.

Whether you are a person who groups assignments around certain days, or like me, someone that does a little every day, you need to figure out your study style and stick to it. I know people in the program who are successful a number of different ways, but I would advocate for doing a little every day. It makes the load more palatable, and is more manageable with a life. I have a family with two small children, so that was the only way that this was going to work for us.


If you are not sure, I would talk to colleagues in the program to see what they do. It might be a little bit of a transition moving back into school, especially if you have been out for a long time. Sometimes, getting advice can be helpful.

• Understand your plan of study.

Whether you are a dual-degree student, like me, or just going for one degree, you need to make sure that you understand your class schedule. You need to especially understand what classes are offered at which times. If you don’t change your class schedule, you will be fine – but you may determine that you want to take different classes at different times.


Moreover, if you are a dual degree student, you really need to understand the plan of study, because it will allow you to take your dual degree classes to meet electives in your primary program. This is what I am doing with the MBA/MSSM degree.

• Connect your class work to your everyday job.

This is the tip that is the most valuable on this entire list. Even if it is not the easiest fit, connecting your current job with your class work will make the class work much, much more interesting. I can understand if you have to strain a little to make it work, much like I had to with my job and operations management this past quarter, but you have to do your best.


If you are successful, not only will the class work seem more relative, you will be in much better position to work with other departments or individuals, as you will be able to speak their language. The best example I have of this is my experience in the finance/accounting course. My ability to get and apply those concepts made my conversations with the finance people in our department much different. They began to understand that they could not “talk over my head”. So, we greatly improved our communication – and it worked wonders.


Well, I hope that’s helpful KD! Until next time, I’ll catch you later.