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LSG Careers Highlight, cont.7 min read

Welcome to another installment featuring the dynamic and diverse career backgrounds of Langone students! A huge part of what makes Stern such an invigorating learning environment is having classmates coming from all walks of life and industry. Enjoy!

Saugandh Shingare

Spring 2021, Weeknight

Hometown: Karad (India) but currently live in South Plainfield, NJ

Educational and career background:

Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Engineering Management. Most of my career has been in supply chain planning in luxury skincare.

Long-term career goals:

My long-term career goal is to accelerate my career and to one day be a part of the C-suite. Stern is the only school I applied for because I knew it offers a variety of specializations and flexibility to accommodate my schedule. 

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

Solving intellectually challenging problems in a collaborative team setting.

Jessica Hong

Spring, 2021, Saturday

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

LinkedIn

Educational and career background:

Educational: BA in English Literature at UC Berkeley/ Career: mixture of lobbying, public affairs, human capital management across public sector (Korean Embassy) to tech (Samsung, Lyft) :). 

Long-term career goals:

I want to transition to consulting or corporate strategy and one day, I would like to start my own business, and that’s the reason why I pursued an MBA. I chose Stern because I wanted to continue to grow my career and pursue an MBA at the same time, and Stern provided one of the top part-time MBA programs in the country.

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

Classes were very helpful but I feel like I really learned how to prioritize my interests and tasks because it’s a must-have skill for part timers. 

David Smilowitz

Fall 2020, Weeknight

Hometown: Aventura, FL

Educational and career background:

Environmental Engineering, BS ’15; Designed solar energy systems with SolarCity and then worked in climate change strategy & planning for Southern California Edison (Los Angeles) and now Con Edison (NYC).

Long-term career goals:

Long-term goals to grow as a leader, build my skillset, and find a career that is not only impactful to the community but provides me as much joy/passion in the office as I find in life outside of the office.

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

New York City is the best city in the world.

Jason (Qishen) Xu

Spring 2022, Weeknight

Hometown: Shanghai, China & San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Educational and career background:

Data Science @ University of Michigan; Public Cloud Solution Architect @ IBM

Long-term career goals:

Progress in my career at IBM and also open to next level opportunities in start-up/ VC.

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships or knowledge come from compound interest. Therefore, attend one more value adding networking event, build one more valuable connection and ask one more question in class. It will bring you a big return in later life.

Melissa Vega

Fall 2020, Weeknight

Hometown: Jersey City, NJ (born & raised!) 

Educational and career background:

Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Minors in Public Relations and Legal Studies. Seton Hall University. Graduate Education- Brand Management, Strategy, Business Analytics

I have worked in media for the past five years. I recently started at a new media agency called OMD, where I am an Associate Director with Integrated Media Planning supporting Pepsi Beverages. 

Long-term career goals:

My long-term career goal is to become an even stronger and informed marketer, whether that is at a media agency or client side for a brand that I resonate with. I chose Stern because the Brand Management specialization track and every professor, student, and alum I networked with was so enlightening! I loved the Stern community, opportunities, and classes.  

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

The biggest thing I learned so far from my time at Stern is who I am! Stern has made me a better version of me, so I can give that back to those around me. 

Srinath Swaminathan

Fall 2021, Accelerated two-year

Hometown: Mumbai, India

Educational and career background:

Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan, then hard pivot to working as an Algorithmic Trader for BNP Paribas.

Long-term career goals:

Move to a hedge fund, quickly make money, quit and live out my days teaching community college by day and bartending at my bar at night.

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

How much more there is to learn from people coming from such vastly diverse backgrounds and experiences.

CJ Chen

Spring 2022, Weeknight

Hometown: China -> Los Angeles

Educational and career background:

B.S. Chemical Engineering, now I am an IT Product Line Lead in a large Pharma company (Merck)

Long-term career goals:

Corporate Strategy

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

You meet the best people at Stern 🙂

Alexandra Svokos

Spring 2020, Weeknight

Hometown: New Jersey

Educational and career background:

Undergrad: Columbia University, econ degree; EIC of student news site. Career: Covered 2016 election as a reporter for Elite Daily before company was acquired by Bustle Digital Group, then transitioned to editor, leading News vertical through acquisition. In 2018 joined ABC News’ Digital team as an editor; in March 2020 promoted to senior editor role where I manage daily news coverage for the network’s website.

Long-term career goals:

Ideally, I’d like to be a news executive. I love journalism, but I’ve seen what the industry’s gone through in an uneasy adjustment to the internet and I want to be part of the leadership that’ll see news through into the future, which is why I’m getting an MBA. I chose Stern because I wanted to stay in the city and of course NYU has a great reputation – both in general and from friends I know who’ve attended. 

Biggest thing learned so far at Stern:

Pretty much everyone has seen there is no clear-cut career path to the top, in any industry. 

Stay tuned for future installments of the Langone Student Spotlight Series!

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