Moving day!

I've moved to a new blog, Uptown Lovely. Check me out over there!

Hello again and bits of Southeast Asia

Something I really love about Stern is the focus on international perspectives and experiences.  I'll be moving to Paris for 2.5 months soon (eep - so not ready!) and this past January I had the amazing opportunity to go to Singapore for a class.  Yep- I traveled through 3 countries/cities in 3 weeks, and earned 3 credits. Whodathunkit?

The wonders of b-school.

Anyway, here are some iPhone snaps from my adventures...

Can kindness be a liability?

Earlier today I was reading a blog post over at the Harvard Business Review that asked the question: do nice guys finish last?  This is a question that I've thought about on and off ever since my decision to pursue a career in the business world (fun fact- I used to do a bit of freelance design and very seriously considered pursuing my MFA in illustration/fine art), and I still feel conflicted about the answer.

The author's answer?  Yep.  Nice guys do in fact finish last, a trend displayed by a study showing that men perceived as having more (or larger) "nice" attributes have yearly salaries averaging $10,000 less than their not so agreeable counterparts.  Interestingly enoough, the same didn't hold true among women displaying more "nice" characteristics.

So why is it that nice guys finish last but nice girls compete well (compared to their respective counterparts)?

Urban Revitalization: PopupHood

I've lived in Harlem since 2007.  More specifically, I've lived in the North/Western-est part of Harlem, a neighborhood called Hamilton Heights. Not quite Central Harlem and not quite Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights rests between Columbia's main campus and the med school, and is home to a primarily Dominican/Latino community.  In the almost 5 years that I've lived here the neighborhood has definitely changed.  While I definitely believe that gentrification comes with positive and negative effects, I do believe that in general urban revitalization and development is a great thing, even more so when it is authentic and relevant to the community it seeks to improve.
During some web searching recently I came across PopupHood, an innovative and ambition initiative that seeks to achieve community revitalization by partnering with property owners and artists to create comprehensive "neighborhoods" of stores, bringing retail options into communities that are on the path to growth.  A mini-documentary featuring PopupHood is below:

What do you think?  Does this seem like a sustainable model for urban revitalization?  How can we transfer this to other cities and communities?  Could it only work in a city with a booming artistic community- or is Oakland just special?

3 Tips (& 3 Crucial Questions to ask Yourself) for MBA Applications

It’s application/new student recruitment season, which means that I’ve had a wealth of opportunities to interact with prospective students- which I have to admit, has been pretty fantastic.  It’s a little crazy to see people where I was only a year ago, and very rewarding to be able to share as much knowledge as I possibly can with them to help them on their own journey- besides; NYU Stern is an amazing place, and whatever I can do to attract even more fantastic applicants/prospective classmates?  Well, I’m there!

Talking about my experiences during the application process forced me to reflect on my own application strategies and some helpful tips I learned along the way from trial & error, readings, and conversations with friends who have started/graduated from MBA programs.  The most important tips – and the 3 crucial questions to ask yourself when applying to an MBA program- are below:

Tip 1: Read Between the Essay Lines

Why Business School?

Why Our School?

Tell Us About a Time…

All of these questions are basically asking the same thing-