“I love the international focus at the University of Mannheim”

Why did you decide to study at the University of Mannheim?

I always knew I wanted to go to college, but I decided to go to trade school for tourism management first, and so I moved to Göttingen to do the program. After I obtained my certification, I knew that I definitely wanted to pursue a degree in a business-related field. Once I got clarity on what I wanted to do, I knew that it had to be at one of the top-rated universities in Germany, specifically for business administration. In addition, it was important to me to select a university known for fostering their students’ skills and providing them with opportunities to get involved on a bigger scale while pursuing their education. The University of Mannheim fits all of that to a tee, boasting a wide range of   student organizations and departmental student committees. It is what made me want to come to Mannheim for my undergrad, and it is what made me want to stay for my master’s degree.

What do you like most about your degree program?

I love the international focus here at the university. When I was doing my semester abroad during my undergrad, I got to spend six months in South Africa. Now, I am pursuing a double degree program and actually get to spend a year in Paris and three months in Singapore. That is obviously a huge privilege. Here at UniMa, I ended up specializing in accounting. One of the things I really appreciate about my accounting professors is their one-on-one advising approach and the fact that they provide me with a lot of opportunities to continue to grow and develop—which is no easy feat considering the large number of students that are enrolled in the program.

You played a key role in launching the student organization mynds at the University of Mannheim. How did you get involved, and what is your mission at mynds?

During my undergrad, I attended a lot of women in business events and really enjoyed those experiences. It made me realize that there was not a space for me at university to network and gain more experience in the professional world. That is why I came up with mynds.

We want mynds to provide women with the tools they need to pursue careers in leadership positions. At the same time, we are sparking critical discourse about the business world to see if there is anything we can do to change it. Our goal is true equality in the vein of a meritocratic system that provides talented women with the same opportunities as their male counterparts. To this end, we are launching an event series in the coming semester called “myndSet” that tackles the thorny issue of gender gaps. With this series, we are helping to create a platform for discussions with experts in research and the industry. We also run workshops and coaching sessions for our members. We are also planning special networking events for women to allow female students to talk to and get to know women who are active in the industry.

We also encourage men to get involved in our organization. Two of the chairpersons on our board are male, which we’re thrilled about and hope to keep up.

What does your work at mynds involve?

Currently I’m the chair, and because we only just launched, I have a pretty wide range of duties. That includes admin and housekeeping, such as getting accreditation for the initiative from the University, and running a non-profit organization. I also talk to a lot of different stakeholders, from the university, business or other potential partners. As a team, we plan our events and meetings. We really had a mountain of work ahead of us after we launched, and I am grateful to be part of such an amazing team. Each of the four other founders of mynds brings their own strengths and skills to the table. That is why we were able to grow so quickly and were able to welcome our first members as early as last semester. Our newest members are also pitching in a great deal, sharing ideas and networking with businesses for future partnerships. 

You have already organized two successful events. What was the goal behind that?

We held our first event on International Women’s Day — a women’s lunch at the university in partnership with Deloitte, one of the Big Four in auditing. It was great getting to network and lunch inside the beautiful Schloss. One of the speakers talked about balancing career and family, followed by a rigorous Q&A session. For our second event, we went to the Frankfurt office of Simon Kucher, a strategy consulting firm. We got to dive into the world of strategy consulting and network with some of the staff during brunch.

What are your plans and hopes for mynds moving forward?

As of right now, our membership is still mostly made up of business majors, but we are getting more members from the Department of Law. We have got our first events for law students coming up in the next spring semester. In addition, we are planning our event series “myndSet,” which we are launching this fall, in partnership with the Women in Economics group from the Department of Economics.

Our goal is to work together with other programs and disciplines, get more students involved and run successful events. We are also trying to find motivated young people, including for positions on the board. The long-term goal is to continue to grow as an organization and to expand our impact.

What is next for you after you graduate?

I have another year and a half until I am done, so I still have plenty of time. This year I worked for two start-ups which allowed me to rekindle my passion for how fast and tight smaller companies are usually run. That is something I liked when I was in trade school, too. When I go to Paris, I will be specializing in corporate finance, which I hope to combine with my other emphasis in the future. I could also see myself starting my own company in the long run. In that sense, mynds is such an amazing project because it allows me to dip my toes into what it’s like to start a company without any of the risks. I am looking forward to applying what I've learned to my own start-up.

Interview: Tamara Gminsky / August 2024