Jackie Peszynski ’24

I’m deeply committed to promoting gender equity both in the workplace and in the world of professional sports, where a significant pay gap between men and women persists. I wanted an MBA to expand my skills, gain a deeper understanding of data science and modeling, and develop leadership abilities, including the ability to effect change at the organizational and industry levels. I want to continue my career in analytics as a leader at a major technology company. My long-term goal is to drive the commercial success of women’s sports globally and address the financial and cultural inequalities in the industry.

Yale SOM had all the elements I was looking for in a top MBA program. I wanted a global perspective and diverse classmates who were passionate about the school’s mission to educate leaders for business and society. I was also drawn to the small program size and impressed by the number of students pursuing dual degrees. Access to the other Yale graduate schools meant I could take a variety of electives in statistics and data science, and I plan to do a project with the Yale Center for Customer Insights next year.

The core curriculum provides a framework to view business problems from different perspectives, both inside an organization and at the industry level. I particularly enjoyed Competitor, which emphasized how firms can evaluate competitors and collectively create value through product differentiation. Modeling Managerial Decisions gives us the unique perspective created when structured quantitative analysis is combined with behavioral science, illuminating the ways that biases pose threats to logical decision-making.

One of the greatest benefits of coming to Yale is being part of a tight-knit community. As a leader of the Data Analytics Club, I’ve enjoyed creating career programming for students interested in analytics as a career or as a valuable skill set. Our leadership team spends time together outside of school, too. I was also able to compete with other club members in the 2022 Adobe Analytics Challenge, which focused on providing data-driven recommendations for Hilton hotels and resorts.

I’m also an active member of SOM’s Title IX Working Group, which provides programming and education to the SOM community on the topics of sexual misconduct prevention and gender-based discrimination. I had the opportunity to attend Yale Athletics’  50 Years of Title IX event, which celebrated the anniversary of women’s varsity athletics at Yale. We even heard from members of the 1976 women’s crew team who famously sparked a national dialogue about college athletics.