UCLA Love Story: Tiffany and Richie

Sunday, April 21, 2024, at UCLA Anderson, Richie Chang ’21 proposed to Tiffany Lin ’24.

All love stories are beautiful, and this is no exception.

20240414 Tiffany Lin and Richie Chang proposal-will you marry me IMG_3909
Will you marry me?

[As much as I’d like to try, I can’t tell this story any better. This is direct from Tiffany, permission granted to share. -Dylan]

Hi all,

As most of you have already heard (or were involved in the planning), Richie and I are engaged! On Sunday, before Gonzalo’s EOY FEMBA Council party, Richie, Hasini, and some folks from the FEMBA office (Cedric, Bonny, Melissa, and Dylan) devised a plan to lure me to campus before the party and he popped the question on the balcony!

For those of you who haven’t heard our story, we actually met in November 2020 on a FEMBA admissions Zoom call (during the pandemic)! Richie was a FEMBA 2021 and the FEMBAssadors Co-President at the time, and he led a very engaging virtual AMA that kept me coming back to more FEMBA sessions. Eventually, I sent Richie a Linkedin DM to connect, and after an initial five hour call later, the rest was history 😊.

UCLA Anderson & FEMBA is such a big part of our love story because of how transformative the experience was for both of us. I was so lucky that he had gone through the experience, fully immersed himself in every aspect, and supported me through every part of the last three years of my FEMBA journey.

For some backstory and context, Richie is the one who supported me running as a first year rep in FEMBA Council and eventually stepping into the President role. He was also the one who encouraged me to take Professor Kramer’s class (I was a bit scared of the work 😃) and eventually TA and experience the Singapore immersion together! He was also the one who believed in me so much that he encouraged me to apply for the Wooden fellowship. 

We both loved FEMBA so much that I had to follow in his footsteps and become a FEMBAssadors Co-President because we love talking about our experiences to prospective students. FEMBA was such a huge foundation in our relationship (even without overlapping years), and it was truly such a full circle moment to celebrate our engagement with some of you on campus this weekend.

I wanted to share and pass along some of my favorite pictures from this weekend and just thank you all for being a special part of Richie and my FEMBA journeys!

P.S. @Stafford, Dylan, you can definitely share our love story with prospective students 😊.

Best,

Tiffany Lin Fully Employed MBA Candidate | Class of 2024
FEMBA Council President

Overwhelmed.
She Said Yes!
It takes a team, to create a surprise this big!
L-R Annie with Drew Alemania, Maddie Haley, Richie & Tiffany, Jared Velazquez, Shannon Hu, Special Appreciation of Hasini Sundaresan ’24 (center, front, Richie’s amazing-mastermind-partner to create the surprise), Ashish N., Melissa de Ramos, Cedric Dicker, Dylan Stafford and Bonny Kim.
Ahh!

P.S.

From Dylan

OK. If you scrolled this far, you get a bit more.

Here’s some extra flavor I love about this couple and their story/ies.

A) Tiffany Lin

Like many of our rock stars, Tiffany was admitted to both Anderson and Haas. Richie’s [five hour!] FEMBAssador call not only ultimately led to their engagement, but also helped woo Tiffany towards UCLA where she brought her leadership as both a future FEMBAssador- and then FEMBA Council-president.

B) Richie Chang

Richie’s been inspiring us all since his first week at Leadership Foundations in August of 2018. Richie set a goal that week to meet every person in his class. And he was tenacious. He kept a list and greeted and shook hands and worked-the-room until he’d met every single member of his class. MBA programs are a lot about effort: his effort has been amazing for the six years I’ve had the honor of knowing him.

Richie also exceeded our expectations by pivoting successfully both industry and function, from pre-UCLA MBA as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne, to post-UCLA MBA as a Senior Associate-Finance Transformation at PwC.

C) Hasini Sundaresan ’24

I cannot shout out Hasini enough. I’ve had the honor of working with Hasini and David Luong ’25 this year as FEMBAssador co-Presidents and they’ve done an AMAZING job. Our FEMBA applications are up 63% from last year, and up 36% from our five year average.

Hasini comports herself with grace and power and is always moving the conversation forward. Watching her map out the surprise for Tiffany–arranging nails and clothes and location and moment and coordinating about 30 people and keeping it all a surprise–Wow! That was an MPA, a Master of Proposal Administration, at a level I’ve never witnessed. Well played Hasini!

D) Lastly, a note about hanging out with high-aspiration people, about sharing success.

There’s some grandma wisdom:

“You want to catch a fish? You better go where the fish are.”

Tiffany and Richie “caught” each other.

Of course, UCLA Anderson is NOT a dating service…

…But…

We have every type of person here…

Tired of meeting people digitally?

Maybe it’s time to go where the fish are…

Grateful 2023

Happy (early) Thanksgiving 2023,

I’m writing from my UCLA office on Friday afternoon, the weekend before the holiday. The Los Angeles sun is setting just above the undergraduate dorms to the west. I can hear the UCLA band practicing through my open window. This fall, we had the biggest Round One ever and my team’s been stretching all November to get the applications read. (Thanks Team!)

Tomorrow before sunrise, I’ll depart LAX with my wife and boys to fly to the east coast to be with her family for Thanksgiving. We will visit colleges with our high school junior (Duke, UNC, UVA and Virginia Tech). We will watch football with family who have different favorite teams (Go Cowboys!). We will eat too much. Perfect.

Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday in 1863, during the Civil War. Then, as now, the world was full of serious challenges. And, if our great-great-great-grandparents could join us today and see how we all turned out, how their sacrifices allowed us to be here now, I imagine that they’d be satisfied. Even with all our challenges today, there’s never been a better time to be alive. We live in a moment of wonder. We can live longer, do more, experience more, than any of our ancestors ever could.

We created Thanksgiving to pause and to recognize what there is to be grateful for right now, at this moment. I hope you have a moment to pause this week. I hope that you turn your eyes to what is working in your life, for the blessings you can see and also the blessings underneath the blessings, that are sometimes harder to see.

A dear friend lost his mom this week; I’ve called my mom twice since I learned of his loss. We never know how life will go: The past is a memory; the future is a dream; and life always happens right now, in the gift we call the present.

In my 12-step work, we have a catchphrase, “I can’t be hateful when I’m grateful.” I wish you gratitude in your life this Thanksgiving.

All best,
Dylan

A Story about a Storyteller

Brandie June Chernow, MBA ’11 and BA ’05 is a double-Bruin with an undergraduate degree in Theater plus an MBA in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Social and Digital Media. Brandie is also a storyteller and a wonderful person in our network.

Brandie June Chernow ’05 and ’11. Author, playwright, entrepreneur!

Brandie’s currently running a Kickstarter campaign and it’s our pleasure to share her effort with you here. In her own words:

On the surface, I probably don’t look like a ‘typical’ MBA alumni. I’m currently running a Kickstarter, but not for a new business or technical innovation, but rather a Jem and the Holograms parody musical I wrote and am producing that will be premiering this summer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. (Check it out! It will be something fun to do after finals!) The truth is that long before I started my journey at Anderson, I was a storyteller. And while I went to Anderson to learn about business, I was most pleased (and even surprised) to realize how an MBA has improved my ability to be a creative person.

I was an actor as a kid and majored in Theatre when I getting my BA at UCLA. The plan was to stay in Hollywood and be a working actor after college. The plan didn’t quite work out. I stayed in LA, but wasn’t getting enough paying roles to support myself. I got tired of the crummy survival jobs that I took to make ends meet. I needed a change and a reliable career. When I got accepted into Anderson, I assumed my creative work would be replaced with a business career.

I was and wasn’t correct. Business school didn’t kill my creative life the way I was afraid it would. I still loved to tell stories, and now was getting to tell stories in different ways. I discovered how a good marketing plan was a story and shifted my professional goals to include marketing. I now work as the Marketing Director of the Kids & Family Department at Shout! Factory, where I create the best release strategies possible for the movies and T.V. series I manage at the company.

And not only do I still find the time to create my own stories, but I have a better set of skills to share and market those stories. In 2021, my debut novel, GOLD SPUN, was published. It’s a Rumpelstiltskin retelling featuring a miller’s daughter who is a con artist. I used my business acumen to develop a marketing and promotional plan around the release and pitched myself and my book to various podcasts, speaking events, and signings. The exposure was so much more than what I would have received had I done nothing. (And I credit some of my time management skills from my days as a FEMBA while holding down full-time employment!)

“Gold Spun” is Brandie’s debut novel

And it hasn’t ended there. As I mentioned, I’m currently producing TRULY OUTRAGEOUS, a new musical. I’m participating as both a creative (the writer) and the business professional (the producer) to create a new work of art. I definitely had some preconceived notions of what a ‘typical’ MBA student needed to be, and for a long time I struggled to fit my creative self into that mold. But the truth is that Anderson accepts a wide variety of people who have a variety of backgrounds, skills, and goals. And each of us gets to create our own story. Mine involves telling stories, and I have no plans to ever stop.

The cast of Truly Outrageous

UCLA Love Story: Maria and Jason

In honor of UCLA being in the Sweet 16, the true love story of Maria Fabregas-Iglesias ’23 and Jason Guo ’23, how they met, commuted, courted, and married–all during FEMBA!

My grandmother always told me, “If you want to catch a fish, you better go where the good fish are.” With over 125 different graduate programs, plus our amazing undergrads, UCLA attracts the best “fish”, the most talented, high-aspiration people from across the US and world. 

My way of expressing the personal possibilities to create lifelong friendships at UCLA is Hogwarts meets the United Nations, by which I mean the magic of Hogwarts + the global diversity of the United Nations. When you read Maria and Jason’s story, you’ll see the magic of an international love story, made here in the USA at UCLA. Go Bruins!

Maria and Jason’s Love Story

Jason and Maria Wedding
Maria and Jason: from Orange County to UCLA, commuting turned into courtship

Although Maria and Jason’s paths never crossed during their undergraduate studies in San Diego nor when they both relocated to Irvine, it was when they enrolled in the UCLA MBA program in 2020 that their lives ultimately intertwined. The pandemic kept them apart for a while, but when they finally met in person in the summer of 2021, they quickly became close friends.

Living in Irvine, Maria and Jason found themselves carpooling to school events and gatherings. Jason, normally selfless and eager to help others, deliberately declined to include others in their carpool. He wanted Maria to know he was pursuing her. Luckily, Maria consistently asked to carpool with Jason, and he was more than happy to oblige.

During their long drives to and from UCLA, they enjoyed quality time together and truly got to know each other. They shared many interests, especially in regards to finances and investments. They found common ground in their love for Disney but had one major difference: Maria was devoted to Apple products while Jason was an avid Windows and Android user. This led to a choppy texting experience between their devices. However, Maria quickly suggested WhatsApp to bridge the gap, and Jason absolutely loved Maria’s sense of practicality and problem solving.

As the end of 2021 approached, Jason found himself captivated by a Formula One race. He was a diehard Red Bull fan and watched in awe as his favorite driver Max Verstappen won the championship. Overcome with emotion, Jason knew it was time to take a chance and ask Maria out. To his delight, she agreed. Even more, she asked him what had taken him so long!

Their first date was delayed until mid-January 2022 because Maria was visiting her sister in Spain, but Maria and Jason wasted no time in deepening their connection. Within the first week of dating, they met each other’s parents; within the second, their parents had met each other. Soon after, Jason asked Maria’s parents for their permission to marry Maria, and with their blessing, Jason quickly bought a ring and proposed just a month after they began dating.

Maria and Jason had an intimate civil wedding in May, surrounded by their closest family members. Their friends and classmates were both shocked and unsurprised by the quick progression of their relationship. Funnily enough, their parents were completely unfazed, already inquiring about future grandchildren.

Maria and Jason’s love story had begun in January, led to an engagement in February, and culminated in marriage by May of the same year. This is the level of productivity you would expect out of UCLA Anderson MBA students!

Maria’s perspective:

Coming to UCLA Anderson, I knew I would encounter like-minded people and learn from talented professors. Little did I realize that I would also meet the love of my life and so much more. Since day one, I felt at home at UCLA, and developing friendships came naturally. When I met Jason, I thought it was too unreal to be true. Juggling a demanding job, lofty aspirations, and school is no easy feat; I never imagined I would find time for dating as well. The idea of meeting someone who understood the pursuit of an ambitious career seemed unfathomable to me. Jason not only understood but also shared my goals, constantly encouraging me to do what was best for myself. Fortunately for me, he was what was right for me! Saying yes to his proposal was the easiest decision I ever made. Having my classmate as my partner and support system has been amazing as he always empathizes with my experiences.

Jason’s perspective:

I always knew that I wanted a business partner in a wife. Maria shares my curiosity and empathy, and I adore her genuine kindness and care towards others. Her ambition, intuition, and intelligence make her an amazing companion, and we could talk for hours without getting bored. Whether we accomplish 100 tasks or none at all, spending time with her never feels like a waste of time. What is even more exciting is that we share the same entrepreneurial mindset, with an equal amount of caution. We are both passionate about building something amazing together, and I know that we are going to accomplish great things. I am so grateful to have found my business partner in life, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us! Maria is my type, and I love her so much.

Who is Maria Fabregas-Iglesias ’23?

Maria pursued her undergraduate degree in economics at UCSD. She then became an associate at Goldman Sachs where she continues to work. She decided to pursue her MBA at UCLA to accelerate her career and acquire the technical skills she knew would facilitate her growth. Maria enjoys traveling, especially to visit her family in Mexico and her sister in Spain. She is bilingual and is now learning Mandarin Chinese in preparation for visiting Jason’s family in China! UCLA Anderson has taught her that one’s network is of paramount importance.
Maria on LinkedIn

Who is Jason Guo ’23?

Jason holds finance and accounting degrees from the University of San Diego. He began his career in tax, gaining M&A experience and assisting with company restructuring, digital implementations, and long-term strategizing. Jason later shifted to real estate investments and is currently pursuing an MBA from UCLA to expand his knowledge and network, joining 17 clubs and attending countless events. Jason looks forward to pivoting into technology after graduating from UCLA and appreciates all the support from the faculty and his classmates. Most of all, he found Maria, the love of his life. Even more, Maria’s family in Mexico and Spain also love Formula One!
Jason on LinkedIn

Jason Guo and Maria Fabregas-Iglesias
When you know, you know
Life is better with a best friend.
Happy journeys Maria and Jason.
Oh, the places you’ll go!

Real-Time Results: Kwasi Bowman ’23, Director of Account Management at Gavelytics

Kwasi Bowman ’23 is half-way through UCLA Anderson. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, by way of a BS in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins, Kwasi is now here in SoCal as a Director of Account Management at Gavelytics. Kwasi’s MBA journey is transforming his career in real-time.

Graciously, Kwasi accepted his peers’ nomination at the outset of UCLA Anderson, Leadership Foundations, to be a “Voice of FEMBA” and he’s been cataloguing his journey for us.

Here is Kwasi’s third installment, recorded at the completion of Core courses and the beginning of electives. And below are his prior two Voice of FEMBA reflections. See Kwasi’s real-time transformation as he shares his journey, recorded January 18, 2022.

And here below is Kwasi’s second installment, recorded at the completion of the first year of UCLA Anderson, August 3, 2021.

And here is Kwasi’s original video, recorded 16 months ago (October 26, 2020) after the completion of the opening Leadership Foundations experience. See Kwasi’s real-time transformation.

New Year, New Recruiting Evening

We hosted 79 future UCLA Anderson FEMBA’s last evening for our January 2022 “Why FEMBA for Your Career” webinar. Thanks to my team, Raymond, Erin and Chris Lyu, for supporting the evening. Thanks to all our attendees. Here is a link to the session.

Happy Thanksgiving 2021 & Save the Date for Palooza 9: July TBD, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving 2021 FEMBA friends!

[January 13, 2022 update: The Palooza 9 Date has moved and will NOT be July 16, 2022, as stated in video below. New date to come soon. -Dylan]

I hope you share fellowship, food and laughter with loved ones this weekend. My wife and I leave with our boys at 5:00am tomorrow for their first trip to Yosemite. We are trading football and turkey for Half-Dome and El Capitan.

I know it’s early, but looking ahead to 2022, after a two-year pause, we are bringing Palooza back!  I recorded a little preview: https://youtu.be/Pbi1i57Exww.

Of course, we will follow the health rules, but assuming we can safely host a large event, please save-the-date for FEMBApalooza 9, Saturday, July TBD, 2022, 3:00 P.M. to Sunset.

For the first-time ever, we are hosting Palooza at UCLA Anderson which allows

  • more learning and career-networking sessions
  • friends and family to see your school
  • Alumni to see our new Marion Anderson Hall
  • (Plus lots of clean restrooms!)

And, don’t worry—we will still have great food, a kids’ zone (with bounce houses), the opportunity zone with clubs and tons of networking, and of course our incredible beer garden featuring custom-crafted, FEMBA-flavors brewed by our very own Dr. Diego Benitez, FEMBA Class of ’19.

Palooza 9 welcomes the Class of 2025 and offers our 24 and 23 FEMBAs their first Palooza. Hosting at Anderson allows for more great content, but as a sneak peek, here are three speakers we’ve already confirmed:

Health Tech Session

Dr. Nasim Afsar, FEMBA ’17       
Medical Doctor. Mother. First-ever Chief Health Officer of Cerna Corporation, overseeing 1,000+ healthcare professionals in product development and patient care.
What’s next in Health Tech?
Listen to Drive Time Ep 42 interview of Nasim

Brick and Mortar Entrepreneurship feat. Progress Brewing, So. El Monte’s First Microbrewery

Dr. Diego Benitez, FEMBA ’19    
PhD in Chemistry from CalTech. Serial-Entrepreneur. Father. Founder of Progress Brewing in South El Monte, and longtime brewer of Palooza’s beer.
What’s it really like to be a founder and entrepreneur?
Listen to Drive Time Ep 33 interview of Diego

Family & International Business Session

Billy Erickson, FEMBA ’23            
Sixth-generation tequila distiller and family business leader with Fortaleza Tequila. Father. What’s it like to have your dad as your boss, and carry forward a family legacy?

These three sessions are the tip of the iceberg. We’re getting our organizing committee set. This year, FEMBA Council and FEMBAssador leadership will take their biggest role ever. We’re going to have a great day.

As we come into Thanksgiving 2021 tomorrow, especially when I reflect on where we were a year ago, I am optimistic. One thing I am thankful for is being part of a community as rich and varied as ours here at UCLA Anderson. Palooza 9 will showcase that and support you deepening your network. Please save-the-date. 

All best and Happy Thanksgiving,
Dylan

Derek Cox ’21, Summer Spotlight #2 of 6

From the NFL to his MBA, Derek’s boldly reinventing his career.

Summer Spotlight #2 features Derek Cox ’21. Derek is one of six new alumni nominated by his classmates because his outstanding UCLA story is a first-person example of how to maximize your MBA from UCLA Anderson.

Before UCLA, Derek played professional football player for seven seasons in the NFL. During FEMBA, he did an internship with Paradigm Sports and is recreating his career to be a Sports Agent / Athlete Marketer. Some of the highlights of Derek’s story include:

Enjoy Derek’s Spotlight yourself, then please forward this page to future UCLA FEMBAs in your professional circle of influence. You support the next generation, as they start to consider graduate study at UCLA to achieve their goals.

Very best,

Dylan Stafford and friends, the Drive Time team

Samantha Hollon ’20 – Director and Lead Editor
Darcy Hitt ’20 – Producer
Drew Mandinach – Social Media Manager
Raymond Morada – Marketing and Communications
Vanessa Carey & Alex Razzaghi – Graphics
Graham Smith – Trailer Editor
Manuel Burgos – Studio Supervisor

Full Episode here https://youtu.be/KfaFk6VBF8o


James Feng ’21, Summer Spotlight #1 of 6

Today, we released our first of six Summer Spotlights for Drive Time: James Feng ’21. The six Spotlight nominees were selected by their class as having outstanding UCLA stories. We recorded these six Spotlights with you in mind, to give you first-person examples of how to maximize your MBA from UCLA Anderson.

James’ story includes boldly giving up a great career with Accenture to go for a brand-new adventure with Flatiron Health. You’ll hear about James experiences including:

  • growing up in NYC as a first-generation American
  • student leadership in FEMBA Council
  • travel to Finland, Sweden and India, plus a quick Munich visit for Oktoberfest
  • attending two classmate weddings: Sahara and Henry in Dallas, plus Dan in Italy!
  • ​​​​​​​being in the All-Day Saturday Section: What house in Harry Potter was his section most like?
  • doing BCO, the Business Creation Option
  • earning first place in the Gilead Biotech Case Competition
  • being our Commencement Speaker on June 11. 2021

As always, my thanks to our Drive Time Team

Dylan Stafford and Drive Time team:
Samantha Hollon ’20 – Director and Lead Editor
Darcy Hitt ’20 – Producer
Drew Mandinach – Social Media Manager
Raymond Morada – Marketing and Communications
Vanessa Carey & Alex Razzaghi – Graphics
Graham Smith – Trailer Editor
Manuel Burgos – Studio Supervisor

Tori Brodsky ‘23 – Reflection Document, Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson

Victoria Brodsky

“A year ago, I celebrated my 27th birthday alone in my apartment. I had started the year excited to begin my new journey as a female founder for my beverage startup, DrinkLyte Co. Having just launched the company earlier that year, I had manufactured 6,000 units of inventory that would expire by the end of the year. However, in March 2020, I was loading up my car for Vegas to pitch my product to distributors when the COVID-19 stay-at-home order was put in place. It seemed that my brand-new venture (which relied heavily on the events/hospitality industry) was taken away in an instant. Like many successful startups, I had to pivot and fast.

Today, I am finishing my first year as an Anderson Fully Employed MBA (FEMBA) and participating in the exclusive Winter/Spring “Accelerate” cohort at the Anderson Venture Accelerator. As I reflect on how much has changed in the last year, I am finding immense gratitude for the Accelerator community and the opportunity, resources, and support they have provided to help me rebuild my business. The Venture Accelerator launched its formal program in 2018 as part of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and is hitting new strides every day. The extensive resources offered by leveraging the Los Angeles startup and business ecosystem are irreplaceable and perfectly augment the classroom theory with real world practicum to continue to scale my company, even during a global pandemic.

Since we began the program in February, I have gained a number of pro-bono expert advisors, and received important legal and financial advice from esteemed entrepreneurs, lawyers, and investors. These resources have provided access to the knowledge and how-to skills that I need to make sure my company both pivots and scales profitably. The Venture Accelerator team not only put together these resources, but also runs the program. I view them as an essential part of the Anderson experience as they teach me by leveraging their professional backgrounds, provide technical skills, and year-round programming for the founders that keeps us accountable and productive. Beyond the resources offered, the Accelerator management, or advisory team, have deep private sector experience and networks to continue to push DrinkLyte forward.  Most importantly, I have gained a small, yet mighty group of advocates in this team who believe in me, fight for me, and have been there to give me whatever I need to reach my goals. This advisory team creates an immeasurable amount of impact on every founder to successfully launch us into the LA startup ecosystem. To date, they are running at an 85% success rate post-graduation, an unusually high success rate for an early-stage program. I have no doubt it is due to the hands on, 24/7 program support offered by the management team.

UCLA is operating digitally due to the continued COVID-19 guidance, and even though I have never met the team in-person, I feel like I know them personally through our numerous Zoom calls throughout the program. This team has created a ‘best in class’ program that is competitive with any other University or for-profit accelerator in Los Angeles. Their dedication to me has impacted me, my team, and my business in the best way possible. I have encouraged other students to apply, knowing they will be wholeheartedly supported by these incredible people. It is clear that the Venture Accelerator is a tool that can help elevate the UCLA Anderson brand to prospective and current students, and be even more competitive with other top MBA programs. 

This year was a challenge for everyone, and I am confident that those challenges will be used as valuable lessons for future cohort members to make the program even stronger. Last year, I started my DrinkLyte endeavor alone without knowing how things would turn out. Although I still do not know what the future holds, I do know that I am no longer on this arduous journey alone and that the support of the Venture Accelerator team will continue beyond the program. Thank you, UCLA Anderson, for equipping me with the tools to succeed and the opportunity to better myself. I have no doubt that attending UCLA Anderson is one of the best investments I have made. – Tori Brodsky ’23, June 2021

To hear more about Tori’s experience, enjoy this “Voice of FEMBA” perspective from her directly.