As part of AAPI Celebration Month, we welcome Eurie Kim to the show. Eurie is a venture capital investor, serving as Managing Partner at Forerunner. As a former entrepreneur, Eurie has deep personal appreciation for the emotional commitment and relentless passion required of a founder, allowing her to be radically empathetic to the entrepreneurs she works with while being realistic and honest in the advice she offers. Her point of view reflects her practical nature and her penchant for seeing th...
May 18, 2023•32 min
Our conversations celebrating Earth Day continue with Adriana Penuela-Useche, a chemical engineer, startup consultant, and future investor who’s passionate about the intersection between entrepreneurship and VC as a way to create Climate Action and protect the planet for future generations. Adriana grew up literally hugging trees in Bogota, Colombia, and wanted to find a way to combine her love of nature with her passion for engineering. With her 11 years in the chemical engineering field, her p...
May 01, 2023•41 min
In celebration of Earth Day, we invited Martin Szczepanik, NYC alumni chapter president, to talk about renewable energy and sustainability, topics that he is extremely passionate about. Martin currently works at PA Consulting as a Principal Consultant, where he supports their Clean & Smart Mobility offering, helping companies and cities transition to de-carbonized transportation. He also supports utilities and other entities with their purchase and acquisition of renewable energy. Martin is ...
Apr 21, 2023•31 min
Our guest, Carmen Palafox, is a seasoned venture capitalist. She is a Founding Partner at 2045 Ventures in Los Angeles and Venture Partner at How Women Invest. She is also a Partner at MiLA Capital. Carmen was awarded the Rising Star Award from the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce. She was spotlighted by the NVCA as a Rising Star in VC and featured by LA Magazine as 1 of 13 of LA’s Powerful Women. Coming out of USC, Carmen was fortunate to land her first job at Dimensional Fund Advisors, w...
Mar 31, 2023•28 min
We welcomed Jerilyn Castillo McAniff to the podcast to celebrate Women's History Month. She is the Managing Director and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Oaktree Capital Management. In 2007, she co-authored a book with her husband titled, The Practitioner's Guide to Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance. Jerilyn is originally from the Philippines. She immigrated to the Bay Area with her family in the seventies when things there were getting complicated. The Bay Ar...
Mar 24, 2023•27 min
Today's guest is Dr. Jenny Woo, Founder and CEO of Mind Brain Emotion, a company that creates cleverly simple and immediately actionable skills-building games and tools to help people become happier, calmer, and wiser. As a former president of the Women in Leadership Club at Haas, Jenny shares her journey from a little girl moving to the US to be reunited with her parents, to a female consultant working with global companies, to a mother entrepreneur-student juggling family, PhD, and startup. Je...
Mar 09, 2023•32 min
Today's guest is Juan Scarlett, a technology-focused venture capital, strategic finance, and equity research professional. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of OneValley Ventures, an early-stage investor in dynamic founders emerging from the OneValley ecosystem and its partners. Juan talked about his practical upbringing that led him to follow the most practical path in his education and career and eventually to venture capital. He also shared his experiences at Haas, what made him inte...
Feb 23, 2023•31 min
Lisa Morris Jones joins us in celebration of Black History Month. Lisa is an alumna of the undergraduate program here at Haas. She is a CFA Chartholder and a Master of Business Administration - MBA focused on Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she is the president of the LMJ Group, a real estate management and development of commercial and residential properties throughout California. In this episode, Lisa shared a little ...
Feb 09, 2023•29 min
Our guest today is Orion Parrott, General Partner at the Orange Fund. He is an experienced leader in business and technology and uses his background to build, explore, and invest in crypto. In this episode, Orion talked a bit about his background, his experience going to Haas for the EMBA program, and his transition from being an entrepreneur to an advisor and eventually becoming a general partner. Orion also shared about Orange Fund, the investment fund of Orange DAO that invests in crypto star...
Jan 12, 2023•25 min•Season 4Ep. 147
Bruce is a US executive with broad international experience in managing businesses, sourcing and making investments, and providing investment banking services, executive coaching, and leadership development services. His 17 years of experience working in Shanghai gave him an in-depth understanding of the business environment in China and developing Asia. Currently, Bruce is a Managing Director at Stout Bluepeak Asia Limited and a Partner at Rui Dian Management Consulting /The Resilience Institut...
Dec 29, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 146
Today, we have Seo Yeon Yoon, Research Scientist at Gladstone Institutes. She is an avid researcher passionate about bringing diverse talent and ideas together to innovate solutions that overcome incurable diseases. She was also recently named to the Poets and Quants 2022 list of Best & Brightest Executive MBAs. Seo Yeon is originally from Jeonju City, South Korea, a mid-small town that didn't have a lot of people from other countries or cultures. Her parents sent her and her sister to Canad...
Dec 15, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 145
Alejandra is an Associate at Bee Partners. Her infinite curiosity and strategic thinking brought her to Asset Management. Her quest for large-scale impact and a greater connection with the people she supports attracted her to Venture Capital. Alejandra was born and raised in Chile. Her family spent some time here in the US before going back, where she reconnected with her roots. In this episode, Alejandra shares her origin story, her career path from finance to venture capital, and why she pursu...
Dec 02, 2022•27 min•Season 4Ep. 144
Our guest, Yogesh Pingle, is a Corporate Development Manager at Intel. He partners with business leaders and their teams to define and execute strategic growth initiatives. Yogesh was born in India, where he spent most of his formative years before moving to the US to pursue graduate school. Getting an MBA had always been part of his plans, and choosing Haas was a no-brainer. In this episode, Yogesh shares his experiences from studying engineering in India, moving to the US and balancing work an...
Nov 17, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 143
Our guest today is Andrew Zellman, an Associate at McKinsey and Company. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a former officer in the US Navy. Andrew's passions include ultimate frisbee, climate, sustainability, and leveraging his technical background to drive impact and insights in his work. In this episode, Andrew talks about how he ended up going to a service academy and his experiences as a US Navy officer. He also tells us why he decided to transition out of service, get an MBA, and...
Nov 04, 2022•38 min•Season 4Ep. 142
Today we're joined by Elena Gomez, Chief Financial Officer of Toast, a cloud-based, end-to-end technology platform purpose-built for the entire restaurant community. Before Toast, she served as the Chief Financial Officer at Zendesk, where she helped scale the company to over 1 billion in annual revenues. Currently, she serves on the board at Haas School of Business and The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco. Elena talks about her origin story, rich culture, what inspired her to go into fin...
Oct 15, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 140
This episode is to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. We're joined by Cristy Johnston Limon, a Bay Area native and a proud "double-bear," having earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business and a BA in Political Science. She most recently served as the Executive Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership at Haas and launched her own social impact management consultancy called Proxima Partners, where she is currently serving as a principal. Today, Cristy shares her experiences...
Oct 09, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 139
In this episode, our guest is Robert Paylor, a public speaker, and motivational leader, with the story of defining the odds and overcoming challenges. Robert shares his passion and purpose with others, which has allowed him to battle paralysis and achieve goals, no matter how daunting they may seem. Robert broke his neck in the 2017 Collegiate Rugby National Championship, and that accident instantly changed his life. He was told he would never walk or move his hands again. However, by shifting h...
Sep 29, 2022•46 min•Season 4Ep. 138
Today's guest is another Double Bear! John Dio is a product manager and business professional with experience helping scale venture-backed EV and ed-tech startups. At Haas, John has been part of the Consortium for Graduate Study of Management, The Graduate Assembly, Haas Consulting Club, and Q@Haas. John is originally from the Philippines. When he immigrated to the US, he faced plenty of challenges, including culture shock, bullying, and coping with being an undocumented student. It wasn't an ea...
Sep 15, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 137
Chris chatted with David Siap, Associate at McKinsey & Company. David is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in energy, climate, and consulting. At Haas, David was part of many programs, including several MBA challenges and Berkeley StEP, the Student Entrepreneurship Program. David grew up in an undocumented immigrant Filipino family, which helped shape his relationship with change and challenges. It made him good and comfortable with rolling with the punches,...
Sep 01, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 136
Our guest is Stanley Lam, Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon. Stanley is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in engineering and product management. At Haas, Stanley was a Dean's Fellow and the VP of Careers for the Haas Technology Club. Stanley was born in Hong Kong and moved to the US alone when he was only 15 to study high school in a boarding school in Missouri. Here, he learned how to be independent, and he considers this experience one of his life's p...
Aug 18, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 135
Our guest on this episode is Priya Bajaj, currently Head of Engagement Management at Google Cloud for US West. She is an experienced business and technology professional with extensive career experience with tech giants. Priya is originally from India, but she grew up in Doha, finishing high school there. She then came to the US to pursue her undergrad. In this episode, Priya shares what it was like growing up in the Middle East, where the culture is so diverse. She also talks about going to col...
Aug 04, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 134
We brought Lance Barnard to the show today to talk about his unique journey into entrepreneurship. Lance is CEO at Ward Road Pharmacy, a pharmaceuticals company that provides the convenience of a "one-stop-shop" for prescriptions and homecare supplies, expert advice, friendly service, and individualized solutions. He acquired it through a self-funded search, where an entrepreneur embarks on the journey of searching for a company without funding or an installed base of investors, opting instead t...
Jul 21, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 133
Today, we have Alijah Talley, West Coast Growth Relationship Manager at Zimba Technologies and Founder and Executive Director at The Qonnection. Alijah is an experienced leader and executive with an extensive background that includes serving as a captain in the US Army, founding The Qonnection with the mission to advocate for African-American students pursuing higher education, and as a Consortium Fellow and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) Professional Development Fellow here at Haas. A...
Jul 07, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 132
We welcome Eric Sassano to the podcast today. Eric earned his B.S. in Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley and currently finishing his MBA at Haas. He works in Investment Strategy at Compound. Before joining Compound, he was with Caprock Group as Manager of Private Investments. Eric began his career at Hall Capital Partners, a multi-family office based in San Francisco. He initially spent his time advising clients on portfolio allocation decisions. Subsequently, he...
Jun 23, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 131
Today is another episode in celebration of Pride Month. Our guest, Michelle MiJung Kim (she/her), is a queer immigrant Korean American woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the author of "The Wake Up," where she shares foundational principles often missing in today’s mainstream conversations around “diversity and inclusion” and urges readers to go beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world. Michelle is also CEO and co-founde...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 130
Happy Pride Month! In celebration, we chatted with Mikhail Shneyder, President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as an owner of Nightingale College, an accredited, proprietary, post-secondary institution that specializes in nursing education, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is an experienced, visionary leader with a successful career of over 20 years of progressive management experience in health care services and post-secondary education for health professions. Through a generous gift to H...
Jun 02, 2022•43 min•Season 4Ep. 129
Our guest is Ryan Drake Lee, a Senior Principal at Keystone Strategy. He is an experienced leader and problem solver focusing on Technology Strategy, Digital Transformation, and Operational Excellence. A native San Franciscan, Ryan was influenced early on by his father towards business and economics and was exposed to a diverse student body and international experiences and cultures. Some of those experiences shaped his youth and outlook on the world. In this episode, Ryan shares what it was lik...
May 31, 2022•46 min•Season 4Ep. 128
We invited Ian Shea to the podcast in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Ian is the Founder and CEO of I M Human, an organization that works with companies advising on how to think through the variety of creative ways to culturally support the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being needs of their employees and implements initiatives that are relevant for them. Ian shares his Life Moments™, such as going to different countries for a youth exchange program, finally getting accepted at Co...
May 26, 2022•45 min•Season 4Ep. 127
In celebration of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we chat with Jason Wang, founding partner of Beluga Capital, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage technology companies. Jason has been a food and tech entrepreneur since 2011. He was the founding CEO of Caviar, a popular food delivery app that Square acquired in 2014. Before Caviar, he cofounded Munch On Me in 2011, a daily deals platform that was part of the Summer 2011 batch at Y Combinator. He’s also held var...
May 19, 2022•27 min•Season 4Ep. 126
Today we have John Bolaji, MBA, Master of Engineering candidate at UC Berkeley. Aside from being a Consortium Fellow, he is also Co-President of The Black Business Student Association here at Haas. John comes from a Nigerian family. He is good at Math and Science, and coupled with his passion for science fiction and technology, he went to MIT and studied Mechanical Engineering. However, John wanted to explore other industries other than tech and engineering. He worked as a Consulting Analyst in ...
May 12, 2022•42 min•Season 4Ep. 125
