Career Conversations

Ikya Kandula ’22 spent her summer as an intern at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. This episode is part of a special mini-series of “Career Conversations” focused on MBA summer internships where we ask rising second-year MBA students to check in from their experiences, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM. She is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Sam MacAvoy ’22 spent his summer as an intern at NASA and the Ames Research Center. He is also an active duty member of the U.S. Navy. This episode is part of a special mini-series of “Career Conversations” focused on MBA summer internships where we ask rising second-year MBA students to check in from their experiences, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM. He is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Camino de Paz is Yale SOM's Assistant Dean of Global Network Programs. She brings 20 years of experience and a passion for global collaboration to her role working with students across all of SOM's programs. 

Natasha Nair ’21 was born in Nigeria to Indian parents and grew up in South Africa. She has lived and worked across seven cities in four countries over the past five years, gaining a unique ability to imagine the world from multiple perspectives. Her expertise lies at the intersection of customer research, human-centered design, and business strategy. At SOM, she was active in the Design + Innovation Club, founded her own venture, and took electives that focused on the consumer perspective. Prior to SOM, she received a B.A in Business Science, specializing in Finance and Economics, from the University of Cape Town, and an MBA from IE Business School.

Sarah Wilson ’15 is a Managing Director on the Responsible Investing team at Nuveen, a TIAA Company. She integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions for the firm's $970+ billion assets under management, with a focus on fixed income. She holds an MBA and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University.  During her time at Yale, Sarah was a finalist in the 2014 Nespresso Sustainability MBA Challenge and the 2013-2014 co-chair of the Net Impact Club. Prior to Yale, Sarah worked at Green Mountain Energy Company, a leading retail provider of electricity from renewable sources to homes and businesses. 

Andrew Seth Jacobs ’22, a rising second year in the full-time MBA program, came to SOM after a career in nonprofit fundraising. He serves as Co-President of the Consulting Club, and Co-Leader of Out of Office, SOM’s LGBTQ+ affinity group. He is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.

Emily Averna ’22: I am looking to pivot from the nonprofit sector to corporate sustainability efforts. Before coming to Yale SOM I was fortunate to spend eight years working on sustainable development at a nonprofit organization. Through that work, I caught glimpses of the power and potential of the private sector–both big companies and small businesses–to be engines of inclusive, green growth. I’m eager to build the foundational business knowledge, skills, and networks that will allow me to tackle sustainability issues from within the private sector. An MBA will help me make this shift.

Reeve Harde ’21 works in the global strategy group at Samsung Electronics in Seoul, Korea. Prior to SOM, Reeve worked at Deloitte M&A as an Advisory Manager, Special Acquisition Services performing buy-side due diligence. During his time at Yale SOM, Reeve was the Student Government president, an SOM admissions guide, and a member of the Media & Entertainment Club, Technology Club, Private Equity & Venture Capital Club, Ski & Snowboard Club, and the Hockey Club. Between his first and second year, Reeve interned in strategy at Comcast.  

Professor Nathan Novemsky is Professor of Marketing at Yale SOM and has an appointment as Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. He co-teaches the Yale SOM core course Modeling Managerial Decisions. He is an expert in the psychology of judgment and decision-making, an area that overlaps heavily with behavioral economics and consumer behavior. His research explores how people make judgments and decisions based on the information in front of them, how they know what they like, how the way they frame decisions affects the choices they make, how they choose and evaluate gifts, how their goals influence their behavior and other topics in judgment and decision-making.

Ariana Day Yuen ’19 is the founder and CEO of Forested Foods, a vertically integrated agroforestry venture in Ethiopia. She began her career as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in their D.C. and New York City offices where she advised clients across the government, non-profit, and private sectors. She then joined TechnoServe as a Fellow in their Ethiopia office and joined them full-time thereafter supporting a range of projects that focused on designing and building more sustainable and equitable value chains and market systems. Her accumulated experiences, passion for sustainable and delicious food, and deepening sense of responsibility to tackle complex societal issues are what led to Forested Foods. She is interviewed by Amy Kundrat ’21.