“No one goes hungry in Los Angeles county.” – Los Angeles Regional Food Bank vision statement
Meet Will Tran ’23 (right in foto) a new member of the FEMBA family, along with Staff Sergeant Minter, California Army National Guard (left) who was instrumental in getting the troops rolling
Will Tran ’23 has been involved with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (LARFB) in some capacity for the last five years. For three years, he has been at the Commerce location where dry food kits are produced – primarily for seniors and children (these photos give you a sense of the contents of each box including what the boxes themselves look like). During this time, he has done plenty of offsite distributions where these kits are handed out to locals in the community (Lincoln Heights senior center and Barnes Park in Monterey Park are two of his favorite sites). He works both sides of the operation: production and distribution.
What a food box includes.Helping ease hunger in Los Angeles County, one box at a time
Covid-19 entirely changed the way they do things.
Nearly overnight, demand increased by 60%. Demand reached such a level that 60+ soldiers of the Army National Guard were stationed here from mid-April until late-September to meet quotas. Currently, they have a squadron of Air Force National Guard airmen with a volunteer work force from All Hands and Hearts to help alleviate the pressure. The number of volunteers they are receiving is not enough to meet demands.
We get by with a little help from our friends…
This week, quota increased by 25% due to the Thanksgiving holiday plus the heightened Covid situation. Panic mode has again set in. Residents are anticipating the second Covid wave.
LARFB ran a food distribution today near the Commerce warehouse to get a measure on how dire the situation is. The surveyor noted that cars stretched a length of 1.8 miles in wait. The average wait time to get a week’s supply of food was roughly 45 minutes. Pre-Covid the wait at most distribution centers never exceeded 15 minutes. All cars could fit into an average sized grocery store parking lot.
So what does Will do?
Written on his work shirt are the words “Fighting Hunger. Giving Hope.” That’s what he does. Never in his life has he worked with greater passion, more clarity, or definitive purpose than now.
Will spent his entire adult life working in hospitality. Doing so trained him for this exact moment. While the setting is different, he is still surrounded by food and people. His purpose is still to feed people.
“In my industry, we have a term called “push”. Push means working with a sense of urgency and purpose. Every shift I take, I push. I push to the end of the line. I push to the end of the shift. I push to the end of the day. Because I believe that now more than ever, we need to take care of each other. I also believe that we can.” -Will Tran ’23
This Thanksgiving, count the blessings of your family and friends. And also be grateful that FEMBA has a person like Will Tran ’23, making the world better, one food box at a time.
In honor of Veterans Day, we interview four current FEMBA students, each from a different branch of the military: Stacey Mercado (’22), U.S. Navy; Bob DeLullo (’22), U.S. Coast Guard; Jamie Long (’22), U.S. Air Force; Austin Carroll Keeley (’22), U.S. Marine Corps.
In a hurry? Below is a trailer from the above full-length interview, that captures the Veterans Day Thank You.
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Brittany Blackamore (FEMBA ’16) discusses her successful career transition to Boston Consulting Group and her nonprofit organization, Suitcase of Joy.
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Recent graduate of the class of 2020 Tina Pham, Category Manager at Amazon Go Grocery talks about her experience going through the Fully-Employed MBA (FEMBA) program as a career enhancer in the retail industry before becoming a career switcher and getting a new job at Amazon.
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Recent graduate of the class of 2020 Rob Busalacchi, Investment Banking Associate at Barclays talks about his experience going through the Fully-Employed MBA (FEMBA) program as a former Marine.
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Recent graduate of the class of 2020 Dominique Kagele, Global Product Strategy— Heme/Onc, Integrated Insights Leader talks about her experience going through the Fully-Employed MBA (FEMBA) program as a working mother.
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Growing up in China, Sophie Gao dreamed of an American experience. Her father made sacrifices to pursue becoming a medical doctor, and Sophie followed his work-hard example to get herself to the U.S. for college and career. She completed her Anderson MBA while living and working in Arizona and, distance notwithstanding, served as a FEMBA Council member and tutor. She was an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion student representative and, in 2020, she co-founded the nonprofit Humans of Wuhan to educate people and diminish racism. Through on-campus recruiting, she landed a new job at Amazon she’ll start right after graduation. Her advice for incoming FEMBA students? “Be ready to have fun. Be ready to be open-minded.”
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A decade after earning her Anderson MBA, double Bruin Kate Greenberg (B.A. ’04, ’10) has led a remarkable career. When she was an undergraduate, the communications job she does now for the Washington Nationals’ charitable arm didn’t exist. She’s gone from managing PR for high-profile companies like Disney to shaping the communication strategies of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, and she is now immersed in the #NATS4GOOD community response fund. Perks along the way have included seeing her name inscribed on a Nationals 2019 World Series championship ring and meeting President Barack Obama.
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Ashley Merrill (’15) launched her sleepwear business, Lunya, one month after starting business school in Anderson’s FEMBA Flex program — and a few weeks after finding out she was pregnant. She initially couldn’t picture how she’d manage all of it at once. “Confidence was one of the gifts of business school,” she says. “It wasn’t like I went to accounting class and that was the gift, it was feeling like I could wrap my head around business terminology, basic structures of business and leadership.” Now she is “reinventing sleepwear for the modern woman,” including some very recognizable figures.
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Get to know Brent Pressentin and, 30 minutes later, you might be managing your money better than you were before. Despite the peripatetic nature of his early career, the self-described Cheese Head says, “Planning is a consistent theme in my life,” something he learned to value at 23 working for E&J Gallo. Post-college, he test-drove the carbon-fiber Trek bike Lance Armstrong rode in his fifth Tour de France, got his feet wet in internet security and chased the girl of his dreams to Washington, D.C. But He found his “why” in wealth management when he earned his MBA from UCLA Anderson — which he is not above rubbing in his siblings’ faces.
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Anika Sharin (’20) has commuted from the Bay Area to L.A. for three years because she chose UCLA Anderson over UC Berkeley. She keeps her base up north because she was hired by fellow alumnus Paul Badawi (’00), who founded the Silicon Valley-based company Sight Sciences. “The way we talk about sharing success at Anderson,” says Sharin, “he is really doing that.” Now, as she prepares to graduate, Sharin reflects on her Anderson SuperSaturday admission interview experience, launching her own health care startup, being a powerful woman in tech and FEMBA puppies (of course).
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Even the assistant dean and CFO of the UCLA School of Law had to overcome his fear of public speaking. Double Bruin and alumni board member Steve Yu is an active mentor and tireless advocate of higher education, yet he says doing the dishes is crucial to staying productive. The winner of the UCLA alumni network’s 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award proves he’s just like us.
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Located in San Diego and a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in rowing, Susan now works for a medical research company that is working on a coronavirus vaccine.
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In my first-ever, “COVID-19 home-edition”, I video interview Joel Searls ’17, on March 19, 2020.
Before UCLA Anderson, Joel was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. What can Joel teach us about dealing with COVID-19? Joel and I talk about the life-and-death training he received in the United States Marine Corps and what that might teach us all about how to deal with living through this unique chapter.
Joel generously explores how he has been able to re-create his career four times so far, from being a theater major producing a full play, to being a military officer, to associate producing a full-length Hollywood movie the year after earning his MBA, to now becoming an investment banker. He tells about his perspective on networking and we reminisce about the time he brought the Back to the Future DeLorean to FEMBApalooza!
Currently 51 current UCLA Anderson FEMBAs are Veterans or Active Duty members of the U.S. Military. Our hats are off to you today, Veterans Day, as we pause to reflect and honor your service.
Austin Carroll Keeley ’22, U.S. Marine Corps and FEMBA Council VP of Hybrid Affairs, organized a panel of military FEMBAs for a special Veterans Day Drive Time, below. Stacey Mercado ’22, U.S. Navy, Bob DeLullo ’22, U.S. Coast Guard veteran, and Jamie Long ’22 U.S. Air Force, join Austin for this special Drive Time.
Earlier this year, UCLA was ranked the No. 1 public institution in U.S. News & World Report‘s ranking of best colleges for veterans. UCLA is firmly rooted in its land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service. Thank you to all our Veterans and Active Duty members of the U.S. Military today, for reminding us today what selfless public service looks like.
With appreciation,
Please enjoy and also forward to military friends in your life.
Dylan and Drive Time team: Samantha Hollon ’20, Darcy Hitt ’20, Drew Mandinach and Raymond Morada
In a hurry? Below is a trailer from the above full-length interview, that captures the Veterans Day Thank You.
Dylan Stafford, Assistant Dean 