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

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!

Covid-19: day-by-day leadership and an alumni podcast

Like everyone around the world, we are adjusting day-by-day to the changes imposed by this global virus. UCLA leadership provides our students, faculty and staff daily updates about changes to exams, student life, spring quarter scheduling, and general overall hygiene and civic decorum. We all digest the new realities daily and make the adjustments to student goals, professional responsibilities, and personal realities at home, like children, parents, neighbors and friends; everyone is impacted.

This is a time for perspective, patience, and prudence. If ever the world needed you to exercise your personal leadership, this is it. Please give your best self to colleagues and family in these upcoming weeks–people need your steady presence. And we can all wash our hands!

As you may have more time now, here is an interesting podcast of two FEMBA alumni discussing their perspective of Covid-19. Friends since FEMBA, Ryan Hughes ’14 is the Founder of Bull Oak Capital (he has spoken at FEMBApalooza before), and on his new podcast he interviews fellow alum Jim Best ’14, Founder and CEO of Serenity Cancer Patient Advocates. Enjoy!

(The views on the podcast above are those of Ryan and Jim alone. This link is for awareness only, and does not imply accuracy of their conversation.)

The real Jerry Maguire and the $5,000 1st Place Prize: Meet the winners of the Game Day Sports Case Competition

Last weekend, three FEMBAs won the 4th annual Game Day Sports Case Competition at Villanova University. Congratulations to Thomas Crutchley ’19, Keenan Long ’19 and Doug Paulus 19.  And special thanks to Thomas for this interview.

Dylan: So first, Thomas, thanks for bringing me the good news. And second, tell me all about the Game Day Sports Case Competition.

Thomas: My pleasure Dylan. Well we all flew to Pennsylvania last weekend. A cool thing was that MEMES paid for our plane tickets to go compete. We won from a field of nine teams including Penn, U Connecticut, another UCLA team, USC and Villanova.

Dylan: Congratulations! Tell me more.

Thomas: Well, this was the 4th annual for this case competition. It goes back and forth between UCLA Anderson and Villanova. UCLA hosted 1 and 3, and Villanova hosted 2 and 4. It comes back to UCLA next year I believe.

Dylan: That’s great. So our new FEMBA 2020 students reading this, pay attention, maybe you can participate next year. And you won’t have to fly to Pennsylvania.

Thomas: Yeah, they’ll save a flight, but they’ll miss out on the Philly cheesesteaks!

Dylan: Life is full of difficult choices for sure. How did you hear about the competition?

Thomas: Keenan got an email from the SBA [the Sports Business Association] and we looked into it. The hardest part honestly was that this competition requires both MBA and Law School students be on every team.

Dylan: Cool. So how’d you get a law student on your team?

Thomas: All internal networking. We reached out to Dean Freixes. We just started asking around. We ultimately connected with Ilan Issacs, a 3L here at UCLA Law. He crushed the legal part. He’s going into entertainment law after graduation.

Dylan: And how about Doug and Keenan, your fellow FEMBAs? How all do you know each other.

Thomas: Well first we’re all in Section 3. Go section 3! And second, we’re all just a bunch of sports lovers.

Dylan: And was this your first case competition?

Thomas: For sure. First case competition for all of us. Turns out all four of us have a sports connection. Ilan walked on to the soccer team at Brown. Keenan played semi-professional Major League baseball. I played college baseball at UCSD. And Doug self-describes as the “ultimate intermural athlete.”

Above: 2017 Game Day Sports Case Competition (L-R) Ilan Isaacs 3L UCLA Law School, host and professor Jeffrey Moorad, Keenan Long 19, Doug Paulus 19 and Thomas Crutchley 19.

Dylan: Nice. And how about Jeffrey Moorad, professor and founder of the Game Day Sports Case Competition?  [Shown in the photo above.]

Thomas: That’s one of the coolest parts. So he’s amazing. He’s a former sports agent, as well as the former CEO and former minority owner of both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).

And, he’s part of the inspiration of the Jerry Maguire character in the movie.

Dylan: No way. That’s awesome. I didn’t know that?

Thomas: When he teaches sports business at UCLA, he brings in all kinds of big names, A-Rod, like that. He represented Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Manny Ramirez. That’s where they got all the perspective that became the Jerry Maguire character.

Dylan: Oh yeah. That’s right. In my Drive Time podcast interview with our FEMBA Olympic Gold medal winner Ed Moses last year, Ed mentioned being in that class.

Thomas: Professor Moorad is amazing. He created this case competition. He put up the prize money.

Dylan: I’m looking him up online right now. Looks like he’s an alum of both UCLA and also Villanova, and that in 2012 he donated $5 million to the Villanova Law School for the creation of a new Center for the Study of Sports Law.

Thomas: Exactly. And when we met him at first we didn’t recognize him. We were all mingling around and one of asked, “So what’s your role here?” Later, when he went up on stage and we realized the whole thing revolves around him. You know. It was a moment.

Dylan: Love it. Well what were your other take-aways? Was it worth your time and effort?

Thomas: For sure. I think for all of us, what was really exceptional was the interaction with the judges. I mean, these were some real big names in sports management, like Joe Banner, former president of the Phildelphia Eagles. He was a judge. People like that.

And we were hanging out with them, listening to them talk about their careers.

It was eye-opening. It’s not just an old boys network. The way they described their career paths, you can see it. You can see that you can take an MBA, or a law degree, and you can really make a career in sports management.

Dylan: How great is that? We all know sports is a huge business and it’s only going to grow.

Thomas: Yes. And these guys were telling us how to get started. I mean, they all gave us their business cards. It was great.

Dylan: Oh very good. Hold on to those. And follow up. Send ’em a ping now and again to keep them posted on how your MBA is going.

Thomas: We will for sure.

Dylan: Well thanks for this. You made my week with your story. Congratulations again Thomas (and Doug, Ilan and Keenan!).

Thomas Crutchley, FEMBA 2019, with the winning check. Congrats!

Group Podcast: Making the World a Better Place – Care | Mind

Making the World a Better Place: Care | Mind

This week’s Drive Time Podcast is the first of its kind, starring a trio of three alumni stories from Oscar Rodriguez (FEMBA ’14), Hanson Chang (FEMBA ’14) and Sarah McMains (Full Time MBA ’12). You will hear how Oscar and Hanson met in their first year of the FEMBA program and continued working together, along with Sarah, through the creation of their start-up healthcare business, “Care | Mind” (an iOS application). The group discusses several themes that have stuck with them throughout their time at UCLA Anderson and beyond, including:

• Building a partnership through their time in the FEMBA program
• Discovering opportunities, broadening their perspectives, and finding their higher purpose
• Bringing medicine back in the hands of individuals and empowering people with information
• Increasing the utilization of wearable technology with the senior population
• Leveraging the UCLA Anderson Alumni Network to find a perfect match for their marketing needs
• Practical tips for getting the most out of the UCLA Anderson experience

Download our podcasts for offline listening.

Podcast Paraag Lal ’04: FEMBA (and Life) as your Playground

We are expanding our Drive Time podcasts to include alumni stories. Paraag Lal ’04 is both an inspiring alum and a personal friend. We traveled through India after a FEMBA Global Immersion course. Paraag was a keynote speaker at Leadership Foundations in 2014.

Meet Paraag Lal ’04, President at Carmen Road Entertainment, as he reflects on

• Leaving a mark as a FEMBA Council leader (launching the FEMBA Halloween Party, the Vegas trip, Anderson Affiliates, and SuperSaturday interviews)
• Making As in every course at UCLA Anderson (except former Dean Hayn’s!)
• Enjoying two Fortune 500 chapters at Intel and then Cisco
• Supporting his dad through Parkinson’s
• Launching Carmen Road Entertainment
• Relating to UCLA (and Life) as a Playground and living a life he loves!

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P.S. Victor Gebhardt ’18 Mongol Rally Update: Crossed Azerbaijan.

Follow Victor Gebhardt ’18 currently driving from London to Mongolia for charity. They arrived at Batumi after three days on a boat and crossed into Azerbaijan. Follow Victor’s team http://friskydingo.rocks

 

“I got everything I wanted from my MBA” meet Isadora Dantas ’16

“I got everything I wanted from my MBA”  Meet Isadora Dantas, UCLA Anderson FEMBA Class of 2016. Hers is a fantastic global journey from Brazil to New York City to Los Angeles, a powerful personal transformation, and incredible career results. Isadora shares generously about the impact of FEMBA:

• Discovering a passion for public speaking during Professor Firstenberg’s course
• Becoming a TEDx campfire speaker at UCLA
• Aligning her prior Master’s degree research on happiness
• Co-founding a start-up, Petsnap, with FEMBA classmates
• Switching careers, from graphic design to product management, leveraging the coaching of Susan Cowell and our FEMBA Career Services team
• Switching companies, from Disney to Sony to finally landing at UCLA-founded, Cornerstone OnDemand, all utilizing her UCLA network
• Taking a Global Immersion to Israel with Professor Gabriel to see the vibrant tech scene
• Meeting her “FEMBesties” during school
• (Short on time?? Start at 38:00 to hear Isadora’s summary of her FEMBA journey, and what’s next.)

Enjoy!

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Pet-Loving FEMBAs Create PetSnap

Five Pet-Loving FEMBAs Bring Pet Health and Wellness Management to Your Smartphone

Love your pet?

Want to be the best pet-parent you can be?

In 2012, Matt Rose and his wife Kate learned that their dog, best friend and ski buddy Barlow had cancer. Barlow fought the disease for almost two years. It was an emotional time, and Matt and Kate felt overwhelmed and confused tracking all of Barlow’s medical records, appointments and medications. They were concerned that they or one of Barlow’s many vets might miss (or misplace) something critical in all of those paper records.

Matt and Kate Rose posed with Barlow for their engagement photo in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Matt formed a team of FEMBA classmates at UCLA Anderson to build an app that could combine all of Barlow’s paper records in one safe place, and allow Matt and Kate to keep that information with them in case of emergency, and easily share it with vets, dog sitters or friends.

The team talked to a lot of pet owners who needed anytime access to their pet’s health information, and PetSnap was born.

Their team of five FEMBAs is changing the way you take care of your furry friends with their free mobile website and app, PetSnap. PetSnap is a pet health management platform that allows pet owners and veterinarians to collectively manage animal health from a computer or mobile device. It helps pet owners organize, digitize, and share their pets’ health records, and also set reminders for appointments, medications, and/or treatments.

When Barlow got sick with cancer, Matt was introduced to the problem of not having all Barlow’s medical history succinctly in one place.

PetSnap empowers pet owners to manage their pets’ health as well as they manage their own. As lifelong pet parents, the team at PetSnap truly believes that their platform can help make a difference in the health and well-being of animal family members. And the community seems to agree – PetSnap had a great response at last summer’s FEMBApalooza, signing up over 300 attendees.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, during a mentoring session with PetSnap on campus, agreed that “This lowers the stress of being a pet parent. It makes them feel good and that they are taking better care of their pet.”

You can support PetSnap. Like all start-ups, PetSnap needs to gain momentum. Two actions that will support PetSnap:

1. Download their iOS app
2. Refer PetSnap to your pet-owning friends

For more information about PetSnap, you can download their iOS app, visit their website at www.petsnapapp.com, view their 1-minute demo, or engage with them on Instagram or Facebook. The team would love to talk to you more about their product and how it can be improved to help you and your pets. Email matthew.rose.2016@anderson.ucla.edu

Stop them in the hallway if you see them!

Front Row, L-R: Rich Headley FEMBA ‘16,  Isadora Dantas FEMBA ‘16,  Frankie Judy FEMBA ‘16

Back Row, L-R: Matt Bailey,  Matthew Rose FEMBA ‘16,  Rex Hatch FEMBA ‘16

In the middle, held by Matt is Eddie. About half a year after Barlow passed, Matt’s wife Kate found Eddie wandering alone and unidentified in Koreatown and rescued him.

I want to thank Rich and Matt for generating this update on PetSnap. We’ll keep more updates coming as they proceed.

Additional story-lines include (Aren’t they busy!)

• PetSnap utilizing the new UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator space for their development efforts
• Matt Rose winning the 2015 Wolfen Award
• PetSnap currently at the semi-final level in Baylor University’s New Venture Competition. Waiting to hear if they make the finals.
• PetSnap being semi-finalists in the UCLA Knapp Venture Competition
• PetSnap earning second-place at the IE (Spain) Venture Competition
• PetSnap currently prepping to enter Oregon’s competition
• PetSnap entering the UCLA Law School Lowell Milken Institute Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs
• PetSnap entering the ITA Venture Competition this Spring
  (They’re seeking an engineer to joing the team for this one, if you’re interested!)

 

 

Kari Schumaker: Thank You for your Smiling Leadership

Kari Schumaker ’15, our outgoing FEMBA Council President

May is a crazy month: while we admit the final members of the Class of 2018–all optimism and new possibilities–at the same time we prepare to graduate the 2015s–and deal with the nostalgia, and amazement, of how fast time has flown. Today I spotlight, thank and acknowledge an amazing 2015, Kari Schumaker, our outgoing FEMBA Council President. I personally want to share a quick reflection of Kari’s leadership, and also pay forward some appreciations from classmates, alumni and Dean Shih. From Dylan:

Kari, thanks for your “smiling leadership” this year. Long before you became FEMBA Council President and I got to see your leadership in action, what always struck me was your consistent smile; you always light up the room.

This year, I watched you step into the large, “Marine-sized shoes” of your predecessor Doug Longo ’14, (see his tribute below) and you made it look easy.

You led with grace and ease and you never missed a beat. Your FEMBA Council meetings ran smoothly every month. You surrounded yourself with leaders, as all great leaders do–Vibhore, Amber, Deepak, Gary, Katie and David–and you all maintained a steady, consistent pace of new ideas all year-long. FEMBA is better for having had you and your team!

From Senior Associate Dean Margaret Shih:

Thank you Kari for your leadership in FEMBA. You embody all the qualities that a strong leader should have – commitment, compassion, and competence. We will miss you. Congratulations and please come back often.

From Tracey Le ’15:

The first things that come to mind when I think of Kari are her generous spirit and contagious laughter. I first met Kari at an OC FEMBA happy hour before we had started Leadership Foundation. We bonded right away from that first meeting and have shared so many great memories of FEMBA during these past 3 years with FEMBA Council, FEMBApalooza, Anderson Halloween party, UCLA football games, and many more.

Kari, in the middle with the guitar glasses, and friends at FEMBApalooza 2, 2013.

I remember during the summer before we started the FEMBA program there was a UCLA Anderson Alumni event at the Angels stadium that I really wanted to go to. However, I had just had foot surgery and couldn’t drive myself to the event. I called Kari and asked if she was going and if she could give me a lift to the event. She agreed right away even though we had just met a few times before.

Kari and Tracey Le at a UCLA tailgate.

That’s just the kind of person Kari is. She is always willing to help anyone in need. She works tirelessly to give back to her community and to the FEMBA program. Her desire to be of service to others was what motivated her to run for Internal Rep for our first year and eventually President of FEMBA Council this past year. Kari is a great example of an authentic leader who exhibits empathy. Thank you Kari for all that you’ve done for the FEMBA program!

From Katie Kroeger-Davis ’16, (Katie is Kari’s successor as FEMBA Council President):

What I appreciate most about Kari’s leadership style is that she is always genuine. Kari’s authenticity makes it easy to work with her and trust her. Kari is always willing to be herself and this is a trait that I wish all leaders had.

UCLA tailgating!

From Gary Lai ’15:

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Kari since the first year of the FEMBA program as we are both in Section 1. What I appreciate about Kari’s leadership is how she coaches, mentors, and takes care of her team. I’ve followed her footsteps on FEMBA Council as an Internal Rep and then the VP of Internal Affairs and she’s always willing to share her experiences and best practices with me. When she was leading the Internal Rep team last year, she made sure to meet with the Internal Reps for each of the FEMBA classes to make sure all our concerns were addressed and listened to the ideas we wanted to pursue. I wish her all the best after graduating from Anderson.

From Doug Longo ’14 (last year’s FEMBA Council President):

Wow, has it been three years already? I remember, as if it were yesterday, meeting Kari during her leadership foundations week. It is almost scary how I knew from the moment that I met her how she’d be one of the extra special students that Anderson needs every year to continue to make it such a great place. Kari is one of those unique people who can be both fun to be around and a great leader at the same time. That really is such an amazing quality about her.

When it all began! The Class of 2015 during Leadership Foundations, August of 2012.

I had such a great time with Kari on FEMBA Council that it really makes me sad to think about. Everyone knows how much pride I took in being a member of the council, and there really are no words that can explain how much comfort it brought me in knowing that Kari was going to be the one leading it after I graduated. I can’t thank her enough for that.

From Dylan again:

That’s it Kari. Hope you feel the love.  🙂   We will miss you.  Every year at FEMBApalooza, we will look forward to seeing your sunny smile back on-campus! Thank you for giving everything you gave to FEMBA this year, to make this the best MBA we can offer.

Starting up and Standing up: Brian Sterz launches Accessible Capital Partners

How big do you want your life to be? How much risk are you willing to take? How many partnerships and alliances can you build? Will you be true to yourself along the way?

Brian Sterz ’14, CEO and Founder of Accessible Capital Partners

I’ve been working on this profile of Brian Sterz ’14, CEO and Founder of Accessible Capital Partners for a month now–with great anticipation–because Brian is leveraging his FEMBA degree to build a bold new chapter of his career and life.

Brian just graduated FEMBA and he’s launched his own company, Accessible Capital Partners. He was an extremely involved student leader during FEMBA, serving on the Executive Board of FEMBA Council and actively participating in ASAM (Anderson Student Asset Management).

The 2013-2014 FEMBA Council Executive Board, Brian is second from left.

Dylan: Brian, let’s start with your professional journey, then we’ll hear about the personal transformation you’re undergoing.

Brian: For sure Dylan.

I entered Anderson armed with my professional experience and my Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation ready to learn how to start and run an effective asset management company.  During FEMBA, I further honed my financial skill set, augmented with a summer internship in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles.

I challenged myself, I really got out of my wheelhouse, with marketing, operations, and negotiations courses, and others, such as Data Analytics with R with Professor Rossi and Strategy with Professor Rummelt, that rounded out my capabilities.  These courses, along with daily interactions with my entrepreneurial FEMBA classmates, are what emboldened me to venture out to launch on my own firm.  Investing has always been my passion and I needed the education and experience that I gained at UCLA Anderson to make this entrepreneurial leap.

I learned to better manage an organization with my two years on FEMBA Council.

FEMBApalooza, hanging out. Brian Sterz ’14, Gonzalo Freixes (Faculty), and Mike Walden ’14.

Dylan: Love it! Now tells them what happened after FEMBA.

Brian: After completing my UCLA Anderson FEMBA education, and having effectively completed a career transition, I decided to take the entrepreneurial leap in starting Accessible Capital Partners, a bridge lending fund based in Los Angeles.  Having seen the investment management industry from several perspectives during my career prior to Anderson, including experience on the derivatives trading floor in San Francisco, at Callan Associates where I was part of a team that advised public pension funds on their fixed income investments, and later as a member of the investment committee at a local Registered Investment Advisor called EP Wealth Advisors, I knew that I wanted to open my own fund after business school.

Stephen Shar 14, Brian Sterz, Brandon Flora 14, Jennifer Chiang 14, and Freddy Wolfe 14, Brian’s  Global Access Program teammates, Team ‘Drink Cup,” December 2013.

Dylan: What components of FEMBA supported you to take the leap?

Brian: My experience with the Ziman Center for Real Estate, and particularly the passionate instruction of Eric Sussman and Paul Habibi, led me to combine my prior experience in fixed income with real estate to create Accessible Capital Partners.

My interest in real estate began during the heart of the global financial crisis in 2008, when real estate prices experienced their nearly unprecedented decline.  During that year, I began the process of getting my real estate broker’s license in an attempt to take advantage of these prices that would undoubtedly prove to be bargains in future years.  As Southern California has recovered from the crisis, though lessons-learned remain squarely in mind, conservatively-underwritten bridge financing appears to be an attractive route to pursue.

Looks pretty calm after taking the leap to create his own company. Brian Sterz ’14.

Dylan: Great Brian. Now, let’s shift a little bit to the personal. One of the things that’s impressed me about you is the friendships you’ve cultivated here, and your student involvement. (For my readers, it was Brian who collected all the testimonials that comprised the Doug Longo ’14 tribute blog post back in March.)

Brian: For sure. I was friends with Doug Longo through classes, ASAM and FEMBA Council. Also in ASAM with us was Ryan Hughes, who has also created his own company since FEMBA.

Ryan and I, during school and before we each created our own companies, we actually sent a lot of business each others’ way. Another example of FEMBA helping your career immediately, during school.

Brian on-stage at the Hollywood Improv on September 21, 2014. “I wanted to put myself out there,” says Brian Sterz. His third show will be November 5, 2014.

Dylan: And what’s this about Improv? Tell them about that.

Brian: Well this is a big deal for me, taking the leap and starting my own company. I knew that it was going to take a lot of persistence and boldness on my part.

I wanted to put myself out there. I love public speaking, but wanted to get better at it. I signed up for an improv class because I knew it would force me to grow. We met four times and at the end we each got a 5 minute slot in front of a real audience at the Hollywood Improv.

I did that set at the Improv. There’s this whole comedy community in LA, and a guy in the crowd came up to me afterwards and he then got me booked The Comedy Store. I’ve already done the second show, and my next performance is November 5th! I’m doing it again! I post invitations on my Facebook page.

Dylan: Which was scarier, Improv or your GAP Final Presentation?

Brian:  Ha! No comment!

Tell you what. Really what’s scariest is starting my own company. I’ve gone from having safe, comfortable, high-paying jobs to starting from scratch. While I’m getting started, I’m doing things like driving for LYFT and renting my apartment on airbnb to bride the gap. This isn’t all roses. I’m pretty sure it’s a very small percentage of b-school grads who are driving for LYFT. But I’m OK with that. The point is I’m doing what it takes to get my business profitable and successful.

Dylan: I love it. Thanks for the reality check. Anything else?

Brian: Well I’m a start-up, so I just have to put in one more pitch for my firm.

Accessible Capital Partners seeks to provide debt capital to real estate entrepreneurs and developers who require timely and flexible capital which traditional banks simply cannot provide in today’s environment.  The fund seeks to conservatively underwrite loans and partner with borrowers to create mutually beneficial long-term relationships.  In this way, the fund can provide sustainable, risk-adjusted returns for its investors.  As technology changes the face of real estate investing, the fund will seek to leverage crowd sourcing platforms to both raise and deploy capital efficiently and effectively.  Currently, we’re seeking investment partners.

The Anderson Alumni community has already been so supportive of this effort and I look forward to partnering with our esteemed colleagues for many years to come! Interested persons, please reach out to me via LinkedIn.

Sunday Breakfast with the Flexers

Sunday morning I joined the FLEX breakfast (along with my seven-year-old who happily ate bagels and watched the iPad) to witness the launch-weekend atmosphere of FLEX. I also gathered a few great perspectives from FLEXers to share with you.

Karen Shang ’17.  Karen a brand new FEMBA and the mother of a three-year-old and a one-year-old. Karen works in accounting/finance and was actually admitted last year, but postponed to be with her second child.

Regarding adding UCLA to her already full life, she told me, “While everyday life with work and kids could be exhausting and even draining at times, being a part of such a dynamic learning environment re-energizes me… this is my space where I feel replenished and stimulated intellectually…Believe it or not, I’m working on starting a LinkedIn profile. I’ve always been so wrapped up in my jobs that I never really invested any time in networking, but I definitely plan to take on the opportunity to network extensively here at UCLA, especially with the intent of transitioning into the education consulting sector within the area of finance/accounting.”

Ola Dokun ’17 is an IT Process Delivery Specialist at The Walt Disney Company. UCLA Anderson will be her second master’s degree. We talked about the crazy ramp-up that the first quarter of FEMBA requires.

Ola told me, “I would say if you are going to do the Femba program you probably will have a lot of constraints with time and structure around work and personal life. Flex gives you that added Femba bonus to pick and choose what time and pace to learn anywhere you want with deadlines of course that prevents procrastinating and creates discipline. There is an assumption that the Flex section is for people who don’t live in the LA area but a handful of us live only a couple of miles from UCLA so we still get to benefit from attending the extra curricular events weekly. I love the schedule!”

Rebecca Stolz ’16 is Assistant to the President of Occidental College. She was in all-day Saturday for her first year of FEMBA, but has moved into the FLEX section because her five-year-old daughter Grete has begun school and it works better for her family and work to use the FLEX format for classes. Later Rebecca sent me these photos of Grete. Look how many FEMBA events Grete’s attended with Mommy!

Grete, Rebecca’s daughter, with Katie Kroeger-Davis ’16 at FEMBApalooza 2014, with matching butterfly face paintings.

Grete with Mommy’s friend Nancy Yao ’16, in the bounce house at FEMBA Section Wars

Grete, running in the light blue outfit, inspecting Mommy and her FEMBA classmates at Section Wars, 2014

Anthony Patterson ’16 is a Senior Associate at Revel Consulting. Anthony commutes from Seattle and he explained the value to me, “FEMBA FLEX has been a great experience that I didn’t discover during my initial search for an MBA program. Not being sure if I wanted to stay in Seattle long-term, I wanted an MBA with a more global brand, but wasn’t ready to move my life across the country. FLEX offers the same experience and instruction as other programs, but allows for flexibility to maintain consistency in my life week-to-week. I find myself looking forward to flying to So-Cal once a month to get some sun and learn with my classmates.

It’s a great way to immerse yourself in an MBA, but on focused weekends instead of each week. Many of us look forward to our sunny weekends in Westwood!”

Vinay Kondapi ’16 is a Product Manager at Impinj. Vinay, along with Anthony, is also commuting from Seattle down to UCLA and for him joining FEMBA turned out to be great accelerator for his career.

“Dylan, it’s already happened for me!” Vinay told me Sunday. “I wanted to switch out of engineering and into product management and it’s already happened, within 3 months of joining FEMBA. Immediately after getting admitted to UCLA Anderson, I attended a career seminar for FEMBA students and quickly learnt that I don’t need to wait until I complete my MBA to switch into product management.

UCLA Anderson’s brand name is well recognized in the industry and the fact that I am admitted into business school served as a proof that I am serious about my career switch and got me interviews for product management positions. FEMBA Career coaches -Gordon Hill & Susan Cowell– helped me understand my career choices, position and switch into product management career. In hindsight, joining FEMBA turned out to be a key decision which accelerated my career.”

I felt like a proud father, hearing about Vinay’s success. He also emailed me a photo he prizes, from the Ropes Course of Leadership Foundations.

Vinaky Kondapi ’16 during Leadership Foundations last year. Vinay’s already made a successful career leap, during FEMBA, with support from Gordon Hill and Susan Cowell in Career Services.

Rachel Fang Fang ’16 is Owner and CEO of CN Winners, Inc.

Bonus interview! Rachel isn’t in Flex, but she happened to be on-campus to study and I got to speak to her too. Rachel is a successful entrepreneur already and she’s got several “what’s next” ideas percolating. I love talking to serial entrepreneurs. It’s always inspiring and stimulating, the way they’re always focused on the future, and making things happen. She also told me about a classmate who just got married: Congratulations Jordan!

My final breakfast conversation was with the one-and-only George Ingersoll ’09, Director of Hybrid Learning Initiatives at UCLA Anderson School of Management.  George earned his UCLA Anderson MBA back in 2009, and now is in our PhD program while he simultaneously works as the Director of Hybrid Learning. George has been instrumental in launching FLEX and improving it. FLEX wouldn’t be half as great as it is without George.

George Ingersoll ’09 and Rebecca Stolz ’16, at the FLEX breakfast on Sunday.

That’s it for me from Sunday morning with the FLEXers. My son Jackson loved his yummy breakfast at Daddy’s work, plus his iPad time. We scooted out of there and were able to catch up to Mommy at church. Life at the speed of FEMBA!