We are thrilled to introduce this year’s keynote speaker, Veena Jayadeva. Veena is the Vice President of Development at Grameen America, a fast-growing, NYC-based microfinance institution chaired by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammed Yunus. Grameen America currently serves over 13,500 women living in poverty in New York, Omaha, Indianapolis, the San Francisco Bay Area, Charlotte, and Los Angeles, and has disbursed over $66 million in microloans.

Veena has a decade of professional experience in the public and nonprofit sectors in the US and India, working at the World Bank, United Nations, and International Monetary Fund in microfinance and corporate social responsibility prior to enrolling at MIT Sloan. Prior to Grameen America, Veena was a strategy consultant in the Boston office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she served clients in the financial services and healthcare sectors.

While a student at MIT Sloan, Veena revitalized Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) and was a founding board member of Graduate Women at MIT (GWAMIT). Veena also led the Graduating Class Gift for 2010, which yielded a record $250,000+ in gifts and pledges to the School, and served on her 1st Reunion Committee that set a record for highest participation with 54% of the class making a gift. She was the sole recipient of the 2010 Seley Scholarship, MIT Sloan’s highest merit award for “outstanding leadership, professional promise, high level of academic achievement, and contribution to MIT Sloan.”

Veena earned her BA and MA in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, as well as an MBA from MIT Sloan. She serves as a Class Representative and Class Agent for the MIT Sloan Class of 2010, as Vice President of Membership for the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), and as an Executive Committee member for the MIT Sloan Club of New York.

During adMIT weekend, the Sloan Women in Management club partnered with the Admissions Office to host a breakfast introducing the organization.  Current students from the classes of 2013 and 2014 also attended to meet the adMITs and answer questions about life at Sloan, both from a professional and personal perspective.  Maura Herson, Director of the MBA Program spoke about the valuable contributions that women have made to the Sloan ecosystem, and the influential role that SWIM has played in supporting that work.

SWIM is excited to meet the second round of admitted students during adMIT weekend II, April 18-20.  Round II adMITs are invited to attend the annual SWIM celebration brunch that will be held on April 20 at the Liberty Hotel.  RSVP information will be provided by the Admissions Office directly.  If prospective or admitted students have any questions, please feel free to contact the SWIM Co-VPs of Admissions, Whitney Scully (whitney.scully@sloan.mit.edu) and Laura Numair (laura.numair@sloan.mit.edu) or the Admissions Office.

Dr. Heather McGregor, also known as Mrs. Moneypenny, entrepreneur, pilot, columnist for the Financial Times, and author of the new book Mrs. Moneypenny’s Careers Advice for Ambitious Women visited the Sloan Women in Management club (SWIM) last Thursday afternoon.

Moneypenny offered career advice and tips to the club’s members in an hour-long talk. She told students in attendance to take control of every aspect of their careers from managing human and social capital (networking) to learning to say “no,” learning to delegate, and building teams. She advised SWIM members to spend time learning and understanding their own financial literacy.

“You should spend at least an hour a month, if not an hour a week, on your own personal finances. If you are not doing an hour working on your own money, you are not doing enough,” Moneypenny noted. “Know exactly what it costs you to live. Every woman should have a personal financial finish line—that is understand how much money you will need to earn to pay down all your debt, and have enough to retire. Not enough of us do this.”

Moneypenny also advised students to have a third dimension to their lives – to do something more than work and run a home. This will also develop your human capital and social capital, she said.

A research study, Taking Charge, by ICEDR (headquartered in Lexington, MA) interviewed 60 top female executives in 20 companies in 19 countries in order to understand what high-powered women leaders do that makes them successful.

ICEDR found that the women executives interviewed take charge of their work and personal lives in three common ways: they explore who they are, own their choices and repay others.

Explore

Consider Kristin Peck, a member of Pfizer’s executive leadership team. Kristin has explored many career paths: from commercial real estate finance, to real estate private equity, to investment banking, to management consulting, to an HR strategy job, to a general strategy job, to leading innovation, and going back to business development. Kristin’s advice to young women: “A plan is a nice thing to have, but a career is an obstacle course. It’s not a path. There is no straight line.”

Own

Think of Liz Espin Stern, Managing Partner, Washington D.C. at Baker & McKenzie. As a third year associate, Liz took the lead on launching an immigration practice at a time when many large law firms did not necessarily have immigration practices. Launching such a practice so early in one’s career is rare: associates are typically dependent on having an infrastructure and hours provided to them. But Liz stepped up and took the initiative. Liz’s advice to rising women executives: “Dare to be a pioneer.”

Repay

Take Susan Yuen, Chief Executive Officer for the Hong Kong branch of ANZ. A few years ago, Susan decided to take up oil painting. She was such a prolific painter that she painted over a hundred pieces of art. At first, she wasn’t sure about what to do with all the paintings. Her solution? She sold them for charity and built a trust worth nearly $200,000. She put the money towards funding the education of an orphan, who is now a doctor in Malaysia. Susan explains: “Success to me is about a legacy.”

Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) invites you to a speed networking session to meet and mingle with women from Boston graduate programs and women’s organizations! Six sessions of five minutes will allow graduate women to meet and create six new contacts!

Bring a stack of business cards and join us for some appetizers, mingling and fun!

What: Boston Women Speed Networking
When: Monday, 11/19/12, 7pm-8pm
Where:  Sloan School of Management, E62 Lobby

Directions: 100 Main St., Cambridge, MA, 02142 at the Kendall T-stop

7 – 7:15pm  Registration and Mingling
7:15 – 7:45pm  Speed Networking
7:45 – 8pm  Event Wrap-up

Appetizers will be served!

• Balancing work and life, particularly in the more demanding occupations like consulting
• Managing your career aspirations with your life plans
• Expectations and reality checks when it all needs to be juggled

Below are 10 tips she left us with as we look for ways to balance work and life:

Top Ten Words of Wisdom for Balancing Work and Life (With a lot of help from my friends) – advice we would have given ourselves back when….

1. Settle. – understand perfection is impossible. Embrace the messy house, the unmatched kids, and the less than perfect work product. You will miss things – work things and family things. No one will notice any of it as much as you. Be comfortable with imperfection. The first time your kid does something horrifying or you get a note from the school about your little angel, you’ll realize you don’t have a choice. Forgive yourself. You will scream at your kids, be late to an important meeting, show up unprepared and miss a birthday. It’s endearing. As Woody Allen said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”
2. It takes a Village. Hillary, and before her, the African tribe who originated the saying, was right. And trust me, as much as the media and others would like to drum up a conflict, there is none. Non-working women do not judge working moms and they are there for support. Ask for help and you shall receive. Pay it forward to another woman who may need your help. We are all sisters and we are all in this together.
3. Write the check. Outsource and let go of control. As it was quoted to me from a Facebook friend, “Vacuuming is never a good use of my time.” Treat your baby-sitters well so you get first dibs and always pack lunch the night before.
4. It’s personal. – Do what is right for YOU. Don’t be peer-pressured, persuaded or preached to by others (and ignore your mother). Nothing is more personal than this. It’s about you, your family, your aspirations and what makes you comfortable.
5. Opportunities knock. A lot. If the right choice for you is to take a break from work, take a leave, switch careers – I promise you – you will not lose anything as a result. Too many examples prove otherwise.
6. LOVE your job. It makes balancing it all so much easier. By the way, love your husband and kids too. That makes all the pain of managing it worth it because both are fulfilling.
7. You are #1. This may sound selfish, but know what is important to you and don’t deprive yourself. I never miss a nail appointment, a workout or girlfriend time and my date night with my hubby is sacred. Never feel resentful. That stuff is more important to me than a homemade dinner or a clean house. Wear lipstick and mascara. You need to feel pretty.
8. If you are getting it done, it doesn’t matter where you are. Technology can be a blessing or a curse, use it for the good part. OK, you might miss the fly ball your kid caught, but if you are able to Blackberry a report to your boss, you get credit for both and you can fake the fact that you missed the catch. On the other hand, shopping for school clothes and a hot pair of new boots for yourself couldn’t be easier while listening to a conference call. Thank heaven for Zappos – free shipping!!
9. The Grass is SOMETIMES greener. I have friends who post or talk about shopping and tennis and lunches and I hate them a little. But trust me, I bet they are hating me for something too. If not, I like imagining that they do and that’s good enough. Also, see #3, those are the people I call on for help!
10. It’s a choice. And if that choice is the wrong one, make a different choice. Then make peace with the choice you’ve made. Remember: No One Is Keeping Score.

Advice from Lena, age 9: spend nights and weekends with your kids and try to make the most of it. Make that time special. And if your kids play sports, try to make as many of those games as possible.

Advice from Joely, age 7: If you are away, Facetime or Skype them.

Marcus relayed an important message of developing connections with “unexpected” people during her opening remarks at SWIM’s first annual mixer event. Students from a variety of Sloan and non-Sloan programs gathered to listen to Marcus tell her story of homegrown success.

In Marcus’ words, although she and her now business partner, Sal Lupoli, could not be more diverse on paper, they worked seamlessly for the type of business they were about to create together.

Marcus’ unpredicted partnership with Lupoli not only led to the formation of a widely successful company, but also gave her the means to help small food establishment owners to enter a competitive catering business previously dominated by big players such as Cosi.

Marcus’ entrepreneurial spirit has already fulfilled a great local need to streamline the catering process and now can serve as an inspiration and reminder to be open to innovative ideas, unimaginative solutions, and most importantly new people.

Blog by:  Aparna Sud, MIT Undergraduate Student, Class of 2013

When I spoke with Christine Marcus (Sloan Fellow ’12) a year ago, she asked me about my experience with organizing catering for the SWIM conference.  As it turns out, she was serious about making it easier for MIT students to do business with local caterers.

This vision led Christine to start Phoodeez with her Sloan classmate, Sal Lupoli, who is in the restaurant industry. Phoodeez is an online catering company that streamlines large food orders reducing time and stress for customers including students like me and the SWIM conference organizers.

Christine’s idea caught on like wild fire.  She had scores of emails from friends around campus placing orders before she’d even launched the website!  It was instantly popular among the student body but there is more to it.  Phoodeez also strives to help local restuarants and caterers grow their catering business.  Its a win-win for customers and businesses.  Early feedback from Phoodeez clients was very positive.  Customers reported hassle-free ordering, great food within budget and best of all – Phoodeez helps customers to never over order!

Phoodeez has an ambitious mission to reinvent the way large organizations across America manage their catering orders. Phoodeez is currently serving several locations in the Boston area with more locations coming soon.

Armed with her MIT Sloan MBA, Christine applies her skills and business judgement everyday as CEO of Phoodeez.  Among her many accomplishments as CEO is her commitment to a green mission at Phoodeez, where every restaurant she does business with is sustainable.  Christine is committed to delivering only the best service to her customers from ordering to delivery and account management.  She takes a personal interest in ensuring that only the top rated caterers are chosen suppliers on the company website.

Visit Phoodeez - ”Event Eating Made Easy”

http://phoodeez.com/
https://twitter.com/phoodeez

Blog Post by Lauren Blute

When I ask second-year Sloanies about what to expect from certain events in the first year core semester, the answer is usually along the lines of,  “Oh, it’s better if you don’t have any expectations. Don’t worry; you’ll have fun.  There’s no way to prepare, but it’s really important.” Mysterious! Vague! Fun! At this point, if that means less homework the night before, I’m all for it. Team Day, a one-day break from classes for all first years, was no exception.

As I found out, team day was a two-part event. [Spoiler alert for future first-year Sloanies: If you are looking for a spoiler, there isn’t one. The first part was a case discussion that highlighted the importance of proper decision-making techniques. Our case involved the risk of losing not only one human life, but also the reputation of an established company and a billion dollar contract. We had thirty minutes (!) to make a decision, and everyone had been given different background information. Understanding the importance of arguing your position concisely yet convincingly was tantamount to making the correct decision.

The second component was a less-structured meeting with our seven-person core teams.  My team has been amazing, but how could Sloan management know that at this point in the semester we dearly needed to re-evaluate our organizational structure? All of our goals had changed, most poignantly one team member who changed his primary goal (as discussed in the beginning of the semester) from “learning” to “just surviving.” Someone else changed her goal from focusing on improving her English communication to improving her proficiency in all the subjects. (My goal of “graduating and sleeping enough” remained the same.)

We spent several hours revising how we schedule meetings, and how we divvy up assignments and responsibilities. Since we’ve been in class for almost a month, we now have a much better system based on realistic work estimates that corresponds with our actual goals and pre-existing skill sets. Thanks, Team Day!

Before orientation, everything about the week was a mystery. You wonder what your Ocean (cohort) will be, who will be in your core team and why you need an entire week for Orientation.

On the first day, after an official welcome for the entire class, an e-mail informs you about your cohort (Go Baltics!). You might be overwhelmed at first, you meet so many people with amazing life experiences (because they also went through that long application process) and it is hard to keep track of all the new faces and names. For international students, add to this mix the fact that you will use English during the entire day, and by 4pm your head will be spinning.

Orientation is a week in which you begin a road to self-assessment and self-awareness. The schedule is packed with activities and games, including outdoor team building and the world famous beer game, a table game on steroids that gives you a glimpse of how supply chains work. Aside from having fun I am now more aware of the value of being uncomfortable and going out of your comfort zone in order to grow faster. Personally, some of the challenges included activities with physical contact, falling into a lake and being energetic and upbeat during 16-hours of socializing.

Aside from the games, Orientation is also a serious week in which you are confronted by moral and philosophical questions that prompt you to look inside and evaluate yourself. What type of footprint do you want to leave? Are you prejudiced in certain situations? Do you understand the extent to which your actions might affect others? We received clear messages about being open-minded when you are under stress and about the importance of designing environments that bring the best in people. I was pleasantly surprised at how much emphasis MIT Sloan puts put on these issues.

MIT Sloan Orientation gives you the opportunity to be overwhelmed by so many new faces, emotions, and food for thought.