Professor Emeritus Patrick S. Noonan says it best: “Hidden amid a group of pretty brilliant thinkers and doers in business, you find some creative people—people who can play and write.”

These creative spirits can be found all around—undergraduate and graduate students, professors, and faculty. Read on to learn how four of them bring color into the classroom, further enrich Emory’s campus, and inspire those around them.

Track 1: A Musician to His Core

Noonan is a modern-day Renaissance man. The many hats he dons include community activist, business consultant, professor, and musician—he has worn the latter all his life.

Noonan was immersed in music from a young age—his mom sang in a choir, he bonded with his brothers over records, he played trombone in music programs throughout school, and in 1965, he formed his first band, now known as Outer Park (in which he plays guitar), with his childhood best friends.

Even after graduating from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Noonan felt music was his calling, so he just kept playing. He spent his 20s in Boston as a full-time musician, writing, teaching, and performing music.

“It turns out it’s kind of hard to make a living in music,” he jokes. Faced with this reality, Noonan started working at an environmental nonprofit, which led him to pursue an MBA at Yale, and later work at McKinsey and Company in New York. During this time, he realized he really enjoyed business school and decided he wanted to become a professor. He earned a PhD from Harvard and started teaching at Emory in 1993.

“So, where’s the music in all this? Well, it kind of got left behind. I was still playing the best that I could, but I had a family at that point and careers,” he says. “My self identity was still a musician. During all this time, I would tell myself, ‘I’m a musician. I just happen to be doing these other things.’”

Over the stretch of 30 years, Noonan did what he could to keep his music dreams alive—he kept playing guitar, collecting and assembling instruments, performing and recording from time to time. He also carved out a space for musicians and creatives on the Goizueta campus by starting a talent show for MBA students called The Coffee House, where he even took the stage with some of his pupils. “To be able to simultaneously embrace those two worlds was an unusual and very fun moment for me,” he says.

In his late 50s, he reached a point where he thought, “I don’t need to work anymore.” After 25 years at Emory—having taught more than 7,500 students and served as the associate dean of the MBA program—Noonan felt he had made his mark. “Playing more music was at the top of the list for why I started stepping back from my academic career.”

Although Noonan still teaches a bit, he has refocused his work to his creative pursuits. In the past five years, he has released six albums with Outer Park and a second longtime group, Laurasia, despite both bands’ members being spread across the world.

Laurasia recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new album and a concert in New York. Outer Park plans to drop a live album soon from a concert they performed at Emory’s Performing Arts Studio in 2022.

“My music is really rooted in the relationships I have with people. The creativity and the joy of music is always enhanced when you’re doing it with others,” Noonan says. “It’s still jarring to me to talk about some of these relationships and some of these projects having spanned a half century. Especially now that I’m making music again, I don’t feel like I’m in my late 60s. I’m able to be a lot more in touch with the person that I was when I was in my 20s.”

Track 2: Business and Law Student First, Enthusiastic Musician Everywhere in Between

Music pervades every aspect of Anthony Sciaretta’s JD/MBA25 life. “It’s a key part of who I am,” he says. “Always has been and always will be.”

Sciaretta’s passion developed at age 10 when he joined a local choir in South Florida. He went on to attend a performing arts high school, later joined a music performance organization while completing his undergrad at MIT, and can always be found on campus with at least one earbud in his ears. Even after he decided to simultaneously enroll in Emory’s graduate law and business programs, he made sure he wouldn’t lose touch with his first love: music.

His commitment manifested in joining the Emory Entertainment Alliance, a student band organization within the Law School, for which he serves as president. “The idea was to get students together who want to play music, while being a distraction from the rigors of law school, and play gigs in front of friends and have a good time doing it.”

Sciaretta found a tight-knit group of music lovers within the alliance and wanted to build similar ties with his Goizueta community. After talking with peers who expressed an interest in carving out a space for themselves as musicians, he formed the Goizueta Live Music Association (GLMA), a student organization that houses a six-member cover band, for which Sciaretta also serves as president. The initial version of the band included Sciarretta on lead guitar, Tanish Meher 25MBA and Sam Batiste 25MBA on rhythm guitar, Qazi Haq 25MBA on keyboards, Drew Wilcox 24MBA on bass guitar, and Apoorv Kumar 25MBA on drums.

The group is still in its infancy, but Sciaretta says their goal is to play at KEGS at the end of the semester, and hopefully, at some point, host a joint event with with the Emory Entertainment Alliance. At its core, Sciaretta says he just wants to provide the space and resources for fellow Goizueta students to be creative, as it can be hard to find a place to jam out (that won’t be met with noise complaints) and the equipment to do it.

“The reality is the band and the people in the band love doing what we do, because it’s an escape for us.”

Sciaretta’s business knowledge has even served him as he has presided over the two music groups. He says he has employed his finance learnings when deciding where to allocate money, as well as his marketing knowledge when it comes to getting the word out—which spans from posting on social media to writing on whiteboards in classrooms to collaborating with other student groups to put on performances.

He recalls one especially impactful memory from a concert with the Emory Entertainment Alliance. Per tradition, band members who are in their last semester are guaranteed a song of their choice on the setlist, which was the case for one of Sciaretta’s best friends, bass player Caleesha Body 23L.

“That show is always really special to me. We played a couple of songs that Caleesha wanted to play. Those are definitely the moments that you cherish on stage; the band related stuff for me is what matters.”

He hopes to create these same kinds of memories with Goizueta Live Music Association and the broader Goizueta community.

“The fact that in the infancy as an organization, we got six or seven people that immediately said, ‘Hell yes, we’re doing this’ and jumped right at the opportunity definitely says something. We have opportunities for music to be a thriving piece of what we’re doing, and I think it will only grow in the future. Music is something that’s really important to everybody. You can’t avoid it.”

Track 3: The Choir Singer

Alexa Schwartz 25BBA is no stranger to the spotlight. In fact, she has been singing all her life. As a little girl, she joined the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, with which she performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and on TV. Naturally, she attended the city’s famed performing arts school, LaGuardia, for vocals.

When it came time to chart her college path, she knew she didn’t want to go the traditional performance route. She sought a liberal arts curriculum instead where she could pursue both vocal performance and a more traditional study. She found exactly what she was looking for at Emory, as it boasts not only an incredible academic program but a rich music history. After befriending a convincing senior who spoke about his experience as a music and business double major, she decided to follow suit.

Schwartz notes that being a double major means having a long schedule and a full plate, but when it comes to music, it never feels like work.

“Other people’s breaks might be sitting in the coffee shop, but for me, I’m happiest when I’m singing. My music classes are a way to escape from school in a sense. It’s a way for me to take myself out of reality, and be like ‘I’m here singing a song from the 1500s with some of my closest friends and there are no other worries in my head right now. Just, can I get these notes right? Can I sing the rhythm? Can I sing the music?’”

As much as she enjoyed her Emory choir classes from the get-go, Schwartz wanted to also be a part of a more fun and less structured music environment. She found that missing puzzle piece when she approached the Aural Pleasure a cappella group table at the club fair, where she immediately received a warm welcome.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I want to be part of a community like this throughout my time at Emory.’” So, I auditioned. Thank goodness I got in because it has become the best community. From the first week, I knew, ‘These are going to be my friends for life,’” she says. “I miss them so much,” she added, while studying abroad for a semester in Italy.

As Schwartz has carved out a space for herself within Aural Pleasure, community leads everything she does. She took up her first executive board position as a sophomore, leading their public relations efforts. Last year, she assumed the Vice President role, where her biggest priority was “creating a safe community where everybody felt included and supported.”

There is surely no shortage of community when it comes to music at Emory. Schwartz recalls her first a cappella performance—a showcase of all eight student a cappella groups—that she didn’t think many people would show up to, only to be met with hundreds of people in attendance.

“Sometimes it’s hard to find music enthusiasts and people who can geek out with you to random songs and the chord progressions of these songs,” she says. “I felt like I was surrounded by my people. I was surrounded by people I can be myself in front of. That was a really pivotal point, especially starting at Emory, because I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

She felt this sense of belonging again at the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella, during which Aural Pleasure performed a three-song set that ended with Imagine Dragons’s “Believer,” soloed by a graduating senior. She says the energy in the room was simply palpable.

Schwartz’s love for music has never been something she has had to hide. She says she is incredibly grateful for her business professors who have been nothing short of encouraging of her music pursuits, often attending her concerts and recitals.

“I feel like people care about both sides of me, both aspects of my life,” she says. “It makes me very happy that at the business school, it’s not always by the book, play by play. I can even bring my creative side out in the business school through projects and assignments.”

Track 4: The Jazz Saxophonist

Will Scruggs 02BBA was destined to be a musician. He grew up surrounded by music, as his mother loved to sing and his father had a passion for playing guitar.

“Music is one of those things that some people just gravitate towards really strongly, and I think I was one of those people,” Scruggs says. “When I was a little kid, I wanted to quit music and my mom wouldn’t let me, and I’m so glad because that really was my calling.”

Scruggs’s instrument of choice was the saxophone, a decision that came down to a simple statement: “I just loved the sound of it,” he says. His mom searched high and low in Johnson City, Tennessee, for a saxophone teacher. After years of training, the saxophone became Scrugg’s undeniable passion, but he questioned if it could also be his career.

“When I first came to Emory, I wanted to keep doing music, but I didn’t think that that would offer me a good career path. So I went into the business school because I really felt that I would end up in the business world somehow,” he says. “My plan originally was to have music be a secondary thing, but I just loved it so much that it really became primary in a way.”

Scruggs declared a double major in marketing and classical saxophone. At Emory, he found mentors in his jazz music professors Gary Motley and Rev. Dr. Dwight Andrews, who he has still maintained connections with today. Their teachings prompted Scruggs to seek a more in-depth jazz education, so he found a local teacher named Fareed Mahluli. “He was an incredible teacher for me and also kind of a spiritual adviser,” Scruggs says.

Emory allowed Scruggs to collaborate with Mahluli on his senior thesis, The History of the Jazz Saxophone. It was this project that gave him the vision that he could make music a career—and he fully leaned in, but his business education was never lost on him.

Scruggs said he employed his awareness of marketing to help build his brand as a musician. He recalls having a professional appearance from the very beginning, citing how his first album had a logo that matched the branding of his website.

Later, when he became a dad, it became a priority for him to be local, so he partnered with Ray’s Restaurants, managing the music for several locations over 10 years. “My business training and acumen proved to be vital there because I was really acting as a liaison between the music community, the musicians, and this larger company. It really merged these two passions.”

This crossover, along with the fulfillment Scruggs got from providing work opportunities for other musicians, inspired his next endeavor: a Jazz Art Center. Scruggs is leading a group of investors (mostly musicians) in buying a property in downtown Decatur that they plan to open in spring 2025.

“It will be more than just a jazz venue, but a place that’s going to have education and music lessons for young jazz musicians,” Scruggs says. “My idea is to create a space where musicians are valued and put first, and to bring the whole community into a collaborative experience. I really love the idea that we’re going to have beginners just starting to understand music in the same building as international talent, and having a cross pollination between them.”

While Scruggs works on building up an enriching music presence in Decatur, he recognizes all the growth the Emory music department has undergone, from the opening of The Schwartz Center a year after he graduated to the university adding an official jazz track. He smiles as he thinks back on a homecoming concert where he performed with an alumni jazz band that spanned graduates from the 70s to just a few years ago. The special moment reiterated advice he already knew: “Keep music in your life.”

“Music and other arts really speak to the human experience in a way that everyday life might not be able to, and I think any community is going to be richer if it has a presence of artists and artistic expressions,” Scruggs says. “Without art, we are destined to stay in the status quo. Art is that visionary element that helps us see a better future and see a better world.”

Ready to turn your passion into purpose? Discover how a Goizueta Business School degree can prepare you to lead—and thrive—in any field. Explore our programs.

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Clariana graduated with a degree in business administration from Universidad Villanueva in his home country of Spain in 1998. Drawn by the pragmatic approach to learning in America, he initially pursued a postgraduate degree at UC San Diego. His experience there deepened his appreciation for the American learning style and solidified his belief in its effectiveness. This conviction led him to seek further academic enrichment, prompting his transition to Emory University’s One-Year MBA program.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the kind of environment where I would feel comfortable being in a country so different from the one I come from.’”

Clariana says Goizueta sparked his passion for entrepreneurship. It also gave him increased time management skills, international friendships, and two especially impactful pieces of advice.

The first was this: The secret sauce to a good presentation is knowing your audience. “That has helped me so much. The work doesn’t begin when you get in front of your audience. It starts with research and understanding beforehand,” Clariana says. “It isn’t a matter of, ‘Hey, this is my message, and I’ll share it with everyone.’ It’s more about others than oneself and adapting the message to people.”

That brings us to the second piece of advice: Hope is not a strategy. “I am an optimist by nature. But you either create your own world, for which you need to be active, or you end up living in a world created by others. You can’t just sit down and hope for things to go in the right direction. For good or for bad, life never comes as you had planned for it.”

Branching Out Into Glamping

Clariana has applied this guidance to his latest venture, Branch Out Glamping. The product is more than 10 years in the making, and it all started with a failure.

A few years ago, Clariana met a Spanish entrepreneur who launched glampinghub.com in 2013. The pioneering website and leading marketplace for glamping was literally ahead of its time. The term “glamping” (which combines the words “glamorous” and “camping” to refer to a style of camping that includes the amenities and comfort of a hotel) wasn’t introduced into the Oxford dictionary until 2016. Clariana and other investors joined the project. However, it didn’t scale as expected, and they sold it to an American investor in December 2022.

The venture faced a huge predicament. Since its inception, the demand for glamping had been skyrocketing (and is expected to triple over the next 10 years). But the supply was fragmented and significantly behind.

“Now, 10 years later, supply is still in its infancy,” Clariana says. “But we have learned a lot.”

Clariana is giving the glamping industry another try. This time, Branch Out Glamping is in the business of revenue sharing with property owners. He says they seek out partners who own ideal sites and ask to co-invest with them. And they are growing significantly. Branch Out will have more than 100 units deployed this spring. They expect 300 more to follow in the next 12 months throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Knowing Your Audience and Creating Memorable Experiences

A large part of their success, Clariana says, is knowing what their audience wants. When selecting partners, he holds them to certain criteria. These high standards are directly informed by 10 years’ worth of data and knowledge of what users are looking for. Criteria include location, types of units, access to certain activities, distance from a city, etc. When he finds the right partners, he makes sure to build trusting relationships with them.

“We’re giving people the opportunity to have an additional income and also deliver memorable experiences to users,” he says. “That’s really enriching.”

Creating memorable experiences is the beating heart behind everything Clariana does. He first became fascinated with glamping after having an “extraordinary” time doing so on an African safari. Later, he put together an immersive itinerary full of local gems for his Emory classmates who visited him in Spain. Now, he is helping to organize a trip to Spain for one of his partners in Texas, “so he can have a great time here in the same way he delivers memorable experiences for our users there.”

His ultimate goal is for the Branch Out Glamping name to be associated with unforgettable memories. “I would like people to recognize our brand in the same way they do a hotel of their preference,” he says. “They can know, if they stay with Branch Out Glamping, it will be a great experience.”

Sharing Your Skills

Through all his achievements and his pursuit of his mission, Clariana has never forgotten the transformative experience that was his Goizueta education. His gratitude shows up in the way he shares his penchant for planning with the school that taught him so much. Clariana organized a student exchange program with two prestigious Spanish universities so that the participating students could have enriching learning experiences similar to his own. It shows up in how he stays connected with the Goizueta community. Clariana says he always books his flights into the U.S. through Atlanta so he can meet up with friends, staff, and professors. Lastly, it shows in the way that his face lights up when he recalls memories from Goizueta all those years ago.

Goizueta changed the way I view life. It changed the way I view business.

Fernando Clariana

“Goizueta allowed me to get to know American culture with my classmates,” Clariana says. “That has now enabled me to take the lead of this company operating exclusively in North America. Despite graduating in 2004, Goizueta is still generating attractive returns 20 years later.”

Both a comprehensive and accelerated MBA, Goizueta’s One-Year MBA program is ideal for students continuing on their existing career paths who don’t need an internship to meet their goals. Learn more here.

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“I noticed there wasn’t a lot of diversity in the books I was reading aloud to these kids,” Jiang says. She recalls researching the issue at the time. The results: Only about 25% of children’s books featured main characters of color.

Taking Matters Into Her Own Hands

Jiang decided to do something about that statistic. She set out to write a book about appreciating one’s own beauty and the beauty of those around them.

“It was springtime when I was making the book,” Jiang says. “I was walking around my neighborhood and perceived a lot of different flowers around me. I thought back to the universal concept that ‘All types of flowers are pretty.’ That inspired me to make a metaphor between the diversity of flowers and the diversity of humans.”

Jiang began to study other children’s books. She looked for inspiration on how to compose a storyline, the appropriate syntax and grammar to use, and how to visually depict characters.

Next up, she independently storyboarded, wrote, and illustrated the project on her iPad. Then she sent the piece to her friends and a self-published author she found on YouTube for feedback. Nine months later, in September 2021, she uploaded “Just Like Flowers” to Amazon’s self-publishing platform.

Her debut literary work follows main character Julia, who struggles to paint herself in art class. Julia’s teacher, Ms. Ross, comforts her by exploring the flower metaphor.

Seeing The Impact With Her Own Eyes

The project has now come full circle. Jiang has since read her book aloud in several preschools, including three last semester. She hopes her story inspires children to love “what makes them and others unique,” while also serving as an example for students who want to become authors.

Jiang recalls one particularly sentimental moment during a school visit. “There was one girl who had her eyes glued to the page. She raised her hand at every question I asked and gave me a hug after the reading. It was incredibly rewarding to see the educational impact of my children’s book. I feel truly gratified after every read-aloud.”

Jiang points to one cornerstone of her experience: the drive for social change. It is something she has pledged herself to in all areas of her life. “With every single thing I do, I want to understand the impact that I’m having with the services that I’m providing,” she says.

Jiang says managing the economics of her children’s book pushed her to pursue an undergraduate degree in finance and quantitative sciences in the BBA program at Goizueta Business School. Seeing the positive effect her studies can have has only further ignited her passion for this field.

Plotting The Next Steps

To continue her mission, Jiang joined Consult Your Community, a club that offers pro bono management consulting services to small minority-owned businesses to help bridge the resource gap.

“I did a profit analysis for my client who was struggling to break even,” she says. “I did semester-long research and a financial analysis. It was super gratifying to be able to give back to her business and help her discover ways she could increase her revenue or decrease her costs. That helped me realize that, despite stereotypes within financial roles, there is a huge social impact behind things like quantitative responsibilities.”

This theme shows up again in Jiang’s participation in the Young Democrats of Emory. Through the club, she helps educate her peers on Georgia state issues, policymaking, and voter registration so they can be better informed and engaged citizens. With two more years at Emory University, she only hopes to continue to embody and spread her message.

The Goizueta BBA program gives students an approach to problem solving and a methodology for making things happen. Found out how an undergraduate degree from Goizueta can help you build a foundation that prepares you to tackle any challenge, anywhere, in any field.

Learn more about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Goizueta Business School.

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“I just got the bug,” she says. “I love making people happy, and at the end of the day, that’s what we do in the hotel business.”

Murphy speaks fondly of her humble beginnings working at the local hotel. After a couple decades learning the ins and outs of the industry, she’s moved up in a big way. Murphy now serves as the regional vice president of operations at HEI Hotels & Resorts.

Taking the Leap

Since she grew up around the business, it was no surprise when Murphy decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. After graduating, she worked her way up through the sales department at Hilton. Then, she moved into a brand management role at IHG Hotels & Resorts. It was during this time that she got her first taste of Emory University when she attended a senior learning theories seminar.

At IHG, Murphy worked on various development opportunities that placed her in front of investors at pitch meetings. She found herself  discussing topics that felt unfamiliar to her.

“I felt like, ‘I’m not going to sit in these meetings and not be able to talk in the same language,’” Murphy says.

And I thought, “I love the learning environment at Emory, I live in Atlanta, and I’ve always wanted to get my MBA, so let me take the leap.” I loved the whole experience.

Murphy credits the nationally ranked Executive MBA program at Goizueta with giving her the skills and deep business knowledge she needed to confidently close meetings and elevate her career. She says the university also gave her enriching professional and personal relationships that continue to positively impact her.

When thinking about her time at Emory, Murphy recalls a specific token of wisdom from an entrepreneurship professor, who told her, “If you can find somebody’s pain point and solve it for them, you’ll be very successful.”

“Although that’s a simple statement, it has really resonated with me,” she says. “I’ve taken that into every situation I’ve encountered.”

Putting People First

When she reflects on how fulfilling her career has been, Murphy points to the relationships she’s built. Regardless of the sector of the industry she’s working in—sales, operations, performance support, branding, development—or the iconic companies she’s been a part of—Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Trust Hospitality, Sonesta, HEI—her bottom line is, “the people are the best part.”

“I travel every week, so I’m always in the airport. Even now, I still enjoy watching people embrace when they see each other,” Murphy says. “I love people smiling and being happy. Every day we work to make sure our customers are leaving with a smile on their face. We want them to tell people they had a great experience.”

This sentiment applies internally, as well. Murphy says she loves her current role, largely due to HEI’s leadership and commitment to its employees. “They have a very strong associate culture they call ‘HEI Love’—it’s all about making sure our associates know they are highly valued.”

To embody this culture, Murphy takes on a mentor role. It’s just one way she can ensure her employees have the tools they need to succeed. “At the end of the day, they’re the ones that make it happen,” she says.

If you’re not cascading that feeling of being valued, it’s never going to work. I get a lot of personal fulfillment when I see people that are working for me succeed and grow into bigger roles.

Murphy says this is especially critical, the hotel industry can be tough. On top of the rigors of working in a 24-hour business, employees may encounter emotional blows such as bad online reviews or negative customer interactions. But Murphy is invested in building them up—and in doing so, building the future of the industry.

“If you have a desire to grow in the hotel industry, your opportunities are endless,” she says. “If you show ambition, hard work, the desire to satisfy guests, and you want to grow, we’ll give you the tools to get you there.”

Learn more about Goizueta’s nationally ranked Executive MBA program, and apply today.

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“Everything we have has massive amounts of data,” he says. “No matter what company you’re with, no matter which industry you’re in. We have a lot of information that can really help us understand our clients and improve our customer service. It’s all about how you can use that data, extract value from it, and use it to your advantage.”

Born and raised in Mexico, Suarez started playing competitive tennis at the age of three. He originally aspired to be a professional tennis player. However, at 18 years old, he chose to attend Georgia Southern for his college education. There, he majored in supply chain management while playing NCAA Division I tennis for the Eagles.

After graduating, Suarez worked in the supply chain industry as a global logistics specialist for Interra International.

“I realized there was so much data that wasn’t being looked at by the company,” he says. “Just by looking at data we could have solved so many issues. That led me to pursue my Master’s in Business Analytics at Emory.”

Suarez came into Goizueta with no coding experience. He says he was excited to pick up technical skills through the 10-month MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program. As he progressed through his master’s program, he increasingly saw merit in using data to make predictions and add value to business.

The MSBA program was great because it gave me an opportunity to learn more about myself. Data science is pretty broad, and there’s so many different branches of it, and I was able to learn which ones I liked.

Santiago Suarez 22MSBA

While at Emory, Suarez used his fifth year of athletic eligibility due to COVID-19 to play for the tennis team. He says the sport gave him a nice mental break during his intensive studies. Suarez also served as an MSBA admissions ambassador. This gave him the opportunity to speak to prospective students about his experience in the program and at Emory.

Following graduation, Suarez joined Truist, first in a retail analytics internship and later in an 18-month rotational program, where he currently works.

“Every day is a new adventure with new problems to solve.”

Interested in pursuing a business degree? Learn more about the unique programs Goizueta has to offer.

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“I was just thinking to myself, ‘There’s nothing you can do to make me leave here,’” he says. “It was an out of body experience to watch that magic happen.”

Watching rehearsals is one of Kovac’s favorite perks of his job as the Recording Academy’s chief of staff. He says nothing compares to the unfiltered beauty of artists preparing to share their art with the world on music’s biggest night. “You see musicians who have been in this business for decades still fine tuning songs and playing around with things.”

It has, too, taken him years to perfect his craft as a business professional.

An Entrepreneurial Education and a Background in Business

Emory was the first university Kovac visited on his tour of colleges. He appreciated its fantastic facilities and the unlikelihood of snow. And, after meeting some students who offered to show him around, Emory quickly climbed to the top of his list.

It wasn’t just southern hospitality, it was Emory’s version of it. I left there thinking, ‘This place is incredible.’

Michael Kovac

Kovac pursued a business degree in entrepreneurship and decision information analysis while in the BBA program at Goizueta. He reflects that Goizueta was ahead of its time in offering such a program. Kovac says he has always been curious about what data exists and what story it tells. Now, many businesses strive toward data-driven decision making—a skill that has served him at every job in his career.

After graduating, Kovac worked in consulting for Deloitte and later Sony Pictures Entertainment. After a few years and lots of traveling, he decided he wanted a creative outlet. He was specifically looking for one that would allow him to tap into his love of photography. A gig with Getty Images allowed him to do just that. Kovac was a consultant by day, and an entertainment photographer by night.

After years of shooting various events, premieres, and red carpets in Los Angeles, Kovac developed a relationship with the Recording Academy. His knowledge of the Academy proved beneficial when he had the opportunity to meet then-Interim CEO Harvey Mason Jr.. He was looking to build a team to transform and level up the 65-year-old organization. Mason Jr. brought Kovac on board in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help him realize his vision.

Beyond the GRAMMYs: A Mission in Music

Kovac’s first order of business was to help marshal the Academy’s efforts to support its charitable arm, MusiCares. In just a few months, with the MusiCares chair, Steve Boom, the organization raised and distributed more than $37.5 million to music individuals in need.

“We’re best known for the GRAMMYs—three and a half hours a year—but during those other 364 days a year, the Recording Academy is a busy mission-driven organization,” Kovac says.

Since we arrived, in our DNA is a very strong bias for action. We support music and the people who make it because we know the value and power of music and what it means to the world. I don’t know if there’s a better job than that.

Michael Kovac

In addition to MusiCares, the Academy has an educational focus through the GRAMMY Museum and GRAMMY U, a program that helps develop the next generation of music creators and professionals. Through their advocacy department in Washington, Kovac says they are also actively working to restore artistic protection with the RAP Act, championing creators, and fighting for the well-being and lives of those in the industry.

Kovac says each day that he strives to amplify the power of music and that he and his team consider: How can we do more? How can we be better?

“The Recording Academy’s role is to be in service to the music community and to recognize excellence, and that’s what we get to do every day,” Kovac says. “I hope to help grow our mission and to be able to serve more people—a more diverse, global base of people. Music transcends borders, and it brings people together. It helps us understand each other better. Through music, we are doing the work to make this world a better place.”

Interested in pursuing a business degree? Learn more about the unique programs Goizueta has to offer.

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“We’re providing students with a hands-on experience to identify and scope an analytics project based on a real business problem. That means having a strategic focus area, talking about potential actions that the client could take to reach their objective, then talking about the analytic solution that would support that objective and how it would be part of that business process,” MSBA managing director Scott Radcliffe says.

Fifteen teams of four to five students developed plans to leverage Truist’s digital banking apps to improve the customer experience of its wealth management clients using Truist’s strategic focus areas.

At the end of the 13-day challenge, students submitted their solutions. Radcliffe and Truist wealth data and analytics data scientists Kail Amoakon, Jared Blum, and Maiya Brown reviewed each submission.

On October 4, the three top student teams competed in the finals. They delivered a presentation showcasing their extensive knowledge and outlining innovative solutions to the complex business challenge.

Phoenix Pei, Truist’s senior vice president and data & analytics manager, says judges evaluated student responses for logical and creative thinking, varying interpretations of the business problem, and project structure.

“It’s rewarding to watch students develop the competency of being an effective business analytics consultant,” Radcliffe says.

The True Prize: Experiential Learning

Team TruAegis took home first place. The team included Lekha Challappa 24MSBA, Brice Muvunyi 24MSBA, Foster Mosden 24MSBA, Pacifique Iradukunda 24MSBA, and Jenevieve Zhang 24MSBA.

“The challenge pushed the boundaries of our creativity while staying anchored in practicality,”  Zhang says. “While thinking outside of the box is essential, feasibility also ensures that our solution can be realistically implemented. Our team stayed connected and built upon each other’s contributions while embarking on this adventure with Truist. It was an opportunity to transform our knowledge from the MSBA program into a deliverable solution for the bank.”

“My primary takeaway from this challenge is the reminder that most data solutions serve a human need,” Challappa says. “We tend to become accuracy-focused in data science, spending our time designing the most successful model. This challenge taught me to place myself in the perspective of the consumer in every step of the building process. Through a dual mindset of simulating human needs and delivering analytical results, our team was able to achieve success.”

Pei says the most rewarding part of challenges like this one is giving back to the community. “Truist is a key partner of Goizueta Business School’s MSBA program. As part of our purpose and mission, we are always looking for ways to enhance students’ experiences.”

About the Partnership

Truist is a key partner of Goizueta Business School’s MS in Business Analytics program. The company is the longest running sponsor of the program’s spring practicum projects. Truist’s analytics talent team runs events like this challenge to gain exposure to Emory students who may be good candidates for its data science accelerator and data science internship programs.

Learn more about Goizueta’s full-time MS in Business Analytics for early career professionals or the advanced part-time MS in Business Analytics for Working Professionals.

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“I am ambitious,” Genie says. “I always want to know more.” 

Originally from Honduras, Genie sought out an undergraduate education at Georgetown University, diversifying her studies with majors in marketing and management and a minor in theology. She spent semesters abroad in Hong Kong and Barcelona. 

After traveling to Japan for a post-graduation trip, Genie worked at a cybersecurity firm in San Francisco. Then, after a year in California, she relocated to Mexico City to help build the company’s Mexico office. After six months in Mexico, Genie returned to her Honduran family business, Henie Farma, a pharmaceutical company founded by her father and grandfather that manufactures and distributes branded generic medications. 

Genie created and manages Henie’s marketing department, transforming the business from largely door-to-door sales by creating more focused marketing strategies and digitizing company processes. 

“I brought my knowledge of common U.S. business practices, technologies, and tools back home,” she says. 

A Small Class Packs a Big Punch

After Genie got married, she honeymooned in South Africa before moving to Atlanta—six minutes from Emory’s campus. She always imagined earning her MBA but didn’t know when she would return to school. After seeing Emory around town, she decided to apply. 

“I want to have bigger oversight of the family business,” Genie says. “I want to learn more about operation, strategy and management. Because I specialized in marketing, and that’s what I’ve practiced throughout my career, I became pigeonholed into marketing. I want to gain more experience in other mindsets.” 

Now several months into Goizueta’s One-year MBA, Genie reflects that the program is intense, but her 42-person class feels intimate. 

My class is half international, half American, so you can just imagine the difference in perspectives and cultures. It’s not only what you learn in the classroom, but what you learn from your classmates. 

Maria Fernanda Genie

“The professors know your name, where you’re from, what you want to do, so they tailor the information,” Genie says.

Global Ambitions

Genie says Henie Farma has a lot of opportunities for growth. One of her aspirations is to expand the company to include a skincare line. 

Genie will continue to work for the company remotely from Atlanta—taking any chance to travel back home or elsewhere. 

“I like to learn about different cultures, and the best way to do that is traveling—eating from different cultures, talking to people about their cultures,” Genie says.  

So far, Genie has visited 38 countries, and says India and Korea are next, after having met several Emory peers from the two countries. 

Her involvement with the family business alone will keep her moving. 

“Our medicines are manufactured in Honduras, but really the only part that’s Honduran is labor,” she says. “Pretty much everything else is from a different part of the world. Our supply chain is extremely global. There’s always traveling in business.” 

Whether you’re looking to accelerate your career or make a career pivot, our full-time One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs and part-time Evening MBA and Executive MBA programs, prepare you to challenge business as usual and become the innovators who disrupt it. Learn more here. 

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While enrolled in Goizueta’s two-year MBA program, Rao says his motto was “I’ll sleep in May 2008”—the month he was set to his graduate. Rao sunk his teeth into anything he thought would give him a well-rounded experience, even if that meant staying up late to finish his coursework and readings. Looking back on his time, Rao recalls making it to all but one KEGS in the Courtyard, the Goizueta Advanced Leadership Academy sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands, and a trip to China where he and peers learned how business is conducted in the country.

His latest venture is Smart Studio, a software startup that streamlines business tools and processes used by the fitness and personal training industry. Rao says he hasn’t had one boring day since he conceived the company in 2020.

Taking a Different Path

Rao originally earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Mumbai in 2000 and had plans to pursue a Master of Science degree, before a chance encounter set him down a different path entirely. While attending a trade fair, Rao met the CEO of the German company, SEMIKRON, who offered him a rotational management job. Interested in trying something different, Rao accepted. He spent a couple of years working in Germany and another three years in France. At the end of his time with the company, Rao realized business–rather than engineering—was the path for him.

Rao discovered Goizueta Business School while looking at two-year MBA programs at schools in the United States. He soon connected with Goizueta’s program office—which introduced him in turn to some of the school’s faculty, students, and alumni. He knew then it was the right fit.

“I came to Emory in 2006, and there’s been no looking back,” Rao says.

The professors helped me fundamentally change the way I think about solving problems. I learned a lot during those two years, which I still use 15 years later. It completely changed my career path.

Aditya Rao

After graduating, Rao worked on mergers and acquisitions consulting projects at Deloitte, until he found something that interested him enough to leave: BLAST, a startup that provides wellness and fitness services. Rao helped set up the company to scale, and during his time there, he noticed the technology used by many fitness businesses was antiquated and clunky—enter Smart Studio.

Rao says Smart Studio has had to pivot a few times since its founding almost four years ago, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the software has grown significantly across the country. Most recently, they partnered with the Atlanta BeltLine. Fitness trainers use Smart Studio to manage their classes along the BeltLine and collect attendance data, which allows the BeltLine to better understand attendee demographics.

“Seeing this come to fruition and have people use it and say, ‘This is making my life easier,’ is very satisfying to see,” Rao says. “It is helping people in the way we envisioned it would.”

He says they are in talks about expanding Smart Studio into a smart suite of general event management products that would cover non-fitness programming on the BeltLine, such as public meetings and art events.

Rao’s team plans to roll out new services, too, including a consolidated calendar, a peer benchmark function that shows how a business compares to the average of its kind in a given area, and a single sign-on that allows users to use one profile for all fitness studios that use Smart Studio.

It Takes a Village

While at Goizueta, Rao says he received guidance from generous alumni on topics ranging from how to navigate the job search to how to navigate friendships. He says  support from the Emory network has been just as strong since he graduated.

“At every step of the way, I’ve had someone associated with Emory helping me out,” Rao says.

Some of my professors are still my mentors today. I’ve had help from Emory alumni, current Emory students, friends, and advisors who are tied to the school. The Emory network is powerful.

Aditya Rao

Wanting to pay it forward, Rao joined the Goizueta Alumni Board in 2012, and served as its president from 2018-2020. He is an active supporter and mentor of the START:ME Accelerator and the current president of the Emory Entrepreneurship Network.

His favorite piece of advice is, “You’ve got to do things that excite you.” It’s a note he applies not just to his professional life, but his personal life, too.

In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Rao is a hiking and camping enthusiast, certified scuba diver and sailor, and an aspiring mixologist. His signature smoky bourbon-soaked oak chip old fashioned serves as a testament to Rao’s knack for blending the perfect mix—whether it’s an innovative business solution or a cocktail behind the bar.

Interested in learning more? Find out how the Goizueta MBA takes students beyond business as usual. 

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When Garcia arrived as executive director of Jardín Botánico de Medellín in 2020, the botanical garden was facing a financial crisis brought on by the pandemic. She knew she had to tell her staff they were in trouble.

The garden’s communications team suggested creating a video to send to employees, conducting a live stream from Garcia’s office, or holding a meeting that would not allow questions. She turned down all of these suggestions.

Garcia vowed to act authentically to preserve the trust of the garden’s employees. In return, 89 percent of them pledged to donate part of their salary to the botanical foundation.

I said ‘I want to meet with our people. I need to talk to our people and let them ask questions.’ And my team said, ‘What if you don’t know the answers?’ I said ‘I’m not going to know the answers, and I’m going to tell them that, because that’s the vulnerability of our leadership.’

Claudia Garcia

“We pay 25 percent above the legal minimum wage, and we had people saying I will donate 30 percent of my salary. We had to come out with a policy saying no one can donate more than 10 percent of their salary,” Garcia says. “We have such a clear purpose that people feel so proud about working at the botanical garden that they didn’t hesitate to donate their salaries.”

Jardín Botánico de Medellín is the second largest botanical garden in Colombia, with more than 500 employees. The garden is a scientific institution that conducts conservation research, educates stakeholders about Colombia’s biodiversity, and provides the city with forestry and landscaping needs.

Before she took on her current position, Garcia worked as human resources director of Grupo SURA while enrolled in Goizueta Business School’s Executive MBA program. She had learned of Emory University during one of her early jobs as the executive director of an insurance company in Colombia, where Garcia helped organize sponsorships for talented potential professionals to access master’s degrees abroad.

Garcia says Goizueta allowed her to grow personally and professionally through exposure to diverse cultures and points of view among her peers and professors. “The type of questions, the type of classes, the interaction that you have with your classmates is very, very rich at Emory.”

Blossoming Among Thorns

Even with the toolbox of skills she picked up from her previous positions and her Emory education, Garcia says her work at the botanical garden has been her biggest professional challenge to date.

In 2019, the garden had a contract with the municipality for around $5 million, which represented 80 percent of their income. In 2021, their contract was reduced to $1.5 million, leaving the garden financially strained. In addition to speaking with stockholders, bringing on more clients, and sourcing additonal grants, the garden had to eliminate 44 positions.

Garcia said this downsizing was the one of the darkest moments of her career, however, the way she dealt with it became one of her proudest triumphs.

“We parted with these employees with a lot of respect,” she says. “We gave each of the 44 people a letter of recommendation so they could apply to different jobs. One month after that, 90 percent of the people that we had laid off had a job—and we’re talking about 2020: in the middle of a pandemic. The next week, they were visiting the garden and having lunch with us.”

Recently, Medellín’s city council held a debate about the relationship between the city and the botanical garden. Garcia said they used the eight-hour meeting as an opportunity to amplify the garden’s impact and its purpose to conserve biodiversity and protect plant life. Following this meeting, they secured a $4 million contract.

“We’re not in a wealthy part of Colombia. My neighbors are not rich,” Garcia says. “Having this institution in this part of the city and interacting with my neighbors is a privilege that I cherish. I’m driven by the ability and opportunity to touch, teach, and learn from people.”

In Goizueta’s Executive MBA program, you’ll develop the leadership skills necessary to forge your own path. You’ll brush up on business foundations and go deep on business strategy concepts that apply to a broad range of industries, You’ll cultivate not only the knowledge needed to excel, but the confidence to put it into action. Learn more here.

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The free, intensive program will operate on a hybrid schedule for 13 weeks spanning January to April, with a graduation ceremony in May. Start:ME supports talented small business owners who live, work, and/or provide valuable products and services to their local communities. Each community offers peer-selected grant pools of $15,000 to invest in local ventures looking to start or scale up.

Since its founding in 2013, Start:ME has served 395 small businesses, of which 83 percent are led by people or color and 71 percent are led by women. The program has created and retained 722 jobs with annual revenues of $19.5 million. The accelerator’s seed investment pool has provided 125 ventures with almost $370,000 in start-up capital. A generous $1 million grant made by The Truist Foundation will allow the program to operate in its three established communities and expand to a fourth geographical location, yet to be named, in 2025.

What started with Professor Peter Roberts hosting sessions in his living room along with the local community center is now a full-fledged program that is replicable and operational in three communities.

Alina Mencias, Start:ME program associate

“It’s very exciting to have made it this far,” says program associate Alina Mencias.

Celebrating a Decade: Alumni Pay It Forward

To commemorate a decade of Start:ME, Mencias says they are holding a networking party on September 8 for the partners, entrepreneurs, mentors, and supporters they’ve had over the program’s tenure.

The event’s drink menu will feature a Start:ME ten-year beer—called “Ujamaa”—crafted by program alumni Khonso Brewing and Crafted for Action and adorned with a label created by Teresa Abboud of Teresa Afternoon.

Khonso Brewing—founded by friends ​​Kevin Downing, Corby Hannah, and William Teasley—began with a passion for beer and a homebrew kit and has since grown into a robust business. The brewery, which joined Start:ME in 2019, has a contract brewing partnership with Hippin Hops Brewing and other local breweries, and has traveled across the U.S. sharing its work.

“Ujamaa is a golden-colored ale that blends barley, wheat, oats, honey, and molasses with American hops,” Teasley says. “This Kott-busser style ale combines diverse flavors, cloves, and spicy hops to create a smooth and delicious combo.”

Like Start:ME, this ale shifts the paradigm by transforming its ingredients into something wonderful.

William Teasley, Start:ME 2019 alum and co-founder of Khonso Brewing

Abboud went through Start:ME in 2020 and now serves as a mentor. She says when she thinks about the program the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child,” comes to mind.

“Start:ME is my village, from being an alumna and then becoming a volunteer business mentor,” Abboud says. “I feel I am giving back to new businesses all what I learned and inherited.”

Microbusinesses: Small in Size, Big on Impact

Start:ME connects selected businesses with knowledge, networks, and capital to build and develop sustainable businesses, bridging the microbusiness gap. The program works across all business stages and industries including everything from nature-based education to music therapy, sourdough crackers to ice cream, comic books to healthcare services for people and pets. The program focuses on microbusinesses that demonstrate dedication and community impact.

Microbusinesses are small in size, with five or fewer employees, but create a big impact. According to The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), microbusinesses account for 92 percent of all US businesses and create 41.3 million jobs. When they thrive—generating income, creating jobs, occupying spaces, providing role models—their neighborhoods do too.

Mencias says the ultimate goal is for every entrepreneur to walk away with a better understanding of their business and a full-fledged business plan, including financials.

“Having a support group while being an entrepreneur is not something that’s readily accessible to everyone,” Mencias says.

Entrepreneurship can be a really lonely adventure. Start:ME provides a welcoming atmosphere and allows entrepreneurs from various backgrounds and industries to come together and learn from each other.

Alina Mencias

Mencias says the program continues to embrace the needs of these businesses even after they’ve graduated from the program by developing their alumni base and connecting Start:ME entrepreneurs with other resources, including Emory Executive Education.

“We have such strong success because we pour into the people who poured into the program,” Mencias says.

About Start:ME

Start:ME is offered annually by Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in partnership with community lead nonprofit organizations the East Lake Foundation, Focused Community Strategies (FCS), Friends of Refugees, and Purpose Built Schools Atlanta.

Start:ME is made possible by the generous support of Bank of America, Delta Community Credit Union, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Regions Foundation, Target Corporation, and Truist Foundation.

Learn more about Start:ME, apply, or volunteer as a business mentor at startmeatl.org.

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From his personal collection to his career, King has dedicated his life to the sneaker industry. He spent about 13 years working for various brands, big and small, before starting his own—the first Asian American owned, designed, and inspired sneaker brand, 1587.

An Unconventional Path to a Dream Job

Determined to work in the industry straight out of college, King created a video introduction of himself and sent it to Reebok CEO Uli Becker’s home address every week.

After a few weeks, it caught Becker’s attention. He wrote King’s name and number on a piece of paper and slipped it to the person who would become King’s future boss during a meeting. “He called me up,” King says. “He’s like, ‘Who are you, and why am I talking to you?’ I said ‘Oh, I’m trying to get a job.’ That guy actually helped me get my first job.”

Over his tenure with Reebok, King worked in sales, product development, and product marketing, starting in Boston and later moving to Germany and Vietnam.

King says he eventually wanted to move into startups, but he wanted to build up his skills and resume to best position himself for the transition. He was first able to apply his factory experience to the Italian leather sneaker startup KOIO.

“My job at KOIO was the first time I had dreamed about starting a shoe company or doing a startup,” he says.

At KOIO, King says he realized there were several aspects of business he never had to think about before. Practicing those aspects gave him the confidence to start 1587 Sneakers.

Unapologetically Asian American

“After years of being in the industry, I saw how Asian Americans are undervalued and overlooked by the sneaker industry,” King says.

King thinks the sneaker industry is 20 years behind the rest of society in terms of marketing toward Asian Americans. Examples he lists include the lack of representation of Asian models, sneaker companies’ reluctance to use the term “Asian American” in marketing copy, and the rebranding of Asian culture with terms like “streetwear,” “skate,” and “hip hop.”

King consistently noticed how Asian Americans over index as customers, yet marketing money was not spent on them. When King asked why in meetings, he was told Asian Americans are “follower” consumers, meaning they don’t need to be marketed to because they will buy the products anyway, and Asian American culture is “not very aspirational.”

“Often Asian American culture tells you that you have to be quiet, you have to fit in, you have to assimilate,” he says.

At 1587, we want to empower all people to be unapologetically themselves.

Adam King

King says co-founder Sam Hyun, who he describes as “the heartbeat of the company,” exemplifies how they want people to feel when they wear 1587 sneakers: loud, energetic, assertive. King says co-founder Jerry Won, “the thought leader of the company,” exemplifies what 1587 stands for.

As for King himself, he says, “I’m just a sneakerhead who is so passionate about shoes.”

As CEO, King is involved with every aspect of the business. As such, he has made sure everything is executed with thought, starting with their name 1587, the year Asian Americans first arrived in America. “Every time people say go back to your own country, we say we’ve been here for 400 years.”

The company’s logo is meant to resemble Asian characters. The inside of their shoes are lined with messages like “Unapologetic for 100 years” and “Leave your shoes at the door.”

Their first collection is inspired by King’s favorite childhood festival, the August Moon Festival.

“That’s the DNA that runs in all our shoes,” he says. “We have traditional Asian American or Asian depictions of the moon. The fun part is to do it so it tells a story, but don’t do it so aggressively it scares people away.”

Each customer receives a handwritten note and an email that allows them to leave feedback. King says the response they’ve received has been humbling and rewarding, from selling 50% of their inventory within 30 days of their May 1 hard launch to customers’ long messages about the Asian American pride 1587 has ignited in them.

They only hope to grow this community by collaborating with other Asian American brands for upcoming collections and attending Asian events.

Unleashing Success

Personal. Unapologetic. Unconventional. These are words that mark King’s career, and the sentiments that make up his best advice.

“Just be super hungry, and take that shot,” he says. “Keep trying, keep knocking. The doors will open. That’s how I got my first two jobs.”

Whether you’re looking to accelerate your career or make a career pivot, our full-time One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs prepare you to challenge business as usual and become the innovators who disrupt it. Learn more here.

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