Michelle Paratore

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• Preparing for my TALK

• Factory simulation during Operations class: it lasted a week (each hour represented one day) and you had to keep checking in and tweak the variables to maximize profits
• Weekend trips to the Sundance Film Festival, the Coachella music festival, and the Kentucky Derby are all tied - hard to pick a favorite!
• Learning how to prioritize and focus on activities that align with why I want to be here - it's easy to get excited about every speaker and event and opportunity but you get more from focusing and staying true to yourself and your own interests

• Pushing the boundaries around giving feedback and disclosing my own feelings in Touchy Feely (aka Interpersonal Dynamics)
• 400-person boat party on the SF Bay watching the Blue Angels air show, in costume of course
• Learning to be newly married, and continuing to strive towards balance: between school and relationship, social and academic, relevant to my career and just interesting...

Today's  biggest accomplishment: Consistently hitting golf balls straight!
Today's biggest challenge: Getting in all my reading in between meetings
Most fun: Preparing for my TALK with one of the TALK coaches in my class

Today's biggest accomplishment: Fitting in the gym and a yoga class
Today's biggest challenge: Finding time for quality conversation with my husband - but we managed to squeeze it in over dinner
Most fun: Listening to Adam Nelson's talk: super authentic and hilarious!

Today's biggest accomplishment: Hosting a "Meet the FARM Club" event for MBA1s and meeting an exciting group of people passionate about food and agriculture
Today's biggest challenge: Fitting it all in on such a packed day, especially getting dinner to campus in time for our 6pm meeting
Most fun: Running around the Stanford Farm taking soil samples and trying to pick up the chickens

Today's biggest accomplishment: Occasionally hitting the golf ball straight, and only losing three balls!
Today's biggest challenge: Making it through 11 holes of golf with my limited skills
Most fun: Catching up with all my friends at the Halloween party

7:45 AM Wake up

8:00 AM Breakfast: oatmeal and tea.

8:30 AM Biking to school from my home in downtown Palo Alto.

9:00-10:00 AM Beginning Golf class at the Stanford driving range.

10:00 AM-12:30 PM Splitting up into our T-Group during Interpersonal Dynamics class. In T-Group, everything is confidential and top secret!

1:00 PM Lunch with MBA2s Jimmy Crain, Phil Zeigler, and Betsy Bradford.

1:30 PM Read cases in Arbuckle for Tuesday classes.

3:00 PM Practicing my November 16th TALK with Clare Hunt, one of the five MBA2 TALK coaches.

4:30 PM Meet with GSB alum who is starting a company that pertains to food

5:00 PM Preparing with MBA2 Gwen Van de Pas for Tuesday morning's Managing Growing Enterprises taught by Irv Grousbeck.

From right, Gwen, Jackie Rocca and me.

6:00 PM Eat dinner at Arbuckle.

7:00 PM T-Group meeting for Interpersonal Dynamics.

10:00 PM Picking up my bike for the 10 PM ride home after wrapping up a three hour T-Group for Interpersonal Dynamics.

10:30 PM Tie up loose ends for tomorrow, respond to emails from my dining room table.

11:00 PM Bedtime

7:45 AM Wake up

8:00 AM Breakfast: oatmeal and tea.

8:30 AM Bike to school.

9:00-10:00 AM Beginning Golf at the Stanford Driving Range.

10:00 AM Watering seedlings as part of my homework for an undergraduate class I'm taking: Practices and Principles of Sustainable Agriculture.

10:30 AM Catching up with my friend and fellow MBA2 Ari Friedland in Arbuckle.

12:00 Noon Lunch with MBA2 friends in Arbuckle.

1:00 PM Working on an extracurricular marketing project for a local yoga studio (in exchange for free yoga!) with MBA2s Maria Sodini, Sunita Mohanty, and Amanda Lubin.

2:30 PM 45 minutes of elliptical at the Stanford fitness center while reading The Economist special report on business in India.

3:30 PM Bike home

4:00 PM At home: read cases for tomorrow, book flights to Kenya for the winter Service Learning Trip I'm going on, catch up with emails

6:00 PM Heated vinyasa flow yoga at a studio in downtown Palo Alto.

7:30 PM Dinner with my husband Michael at Mayfield Cafe in Palo Alto

9:00 PM The crowd gathering for TALK given by Adam Nelson in the MBA Lounge.

Adam Nelson gives his talk to a packed room of GSBers.

10:00 PM Bike home

10:30 PM Bedtime

7:30 AM Wake up and breakfast.

8:00 AM Prepare answers to study questions for today's classes.

My living room in downtown Palo Alto.

9:00 AM Bike to school

10:00 AM Sitting in legendary Irv Grousbeck's Managing Growing Enterprises class.

12:00 Noon Lunchtime MBA student panel on being LGBT at the GSB.

1:00 PM CLASS: Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures with Professors Jim Ellis, Mike Child, and Jeff Chambers.

Jim Ellis leading a case discussion.

3:00 PM Bike to Stanford farm.

3:30 PM CLASS: Practices and Principles of Sustainable Agriculture (an undergraduate Earth Systems class) taught by Stanford Farm Educator Patrick Archie.

Learning about soil erosion on the Stanford Educational Farm for the undergraduate class I'm taking.

MBA2 Austin Kiessig holding a Chicken.

5:00 PM Pick up dinner for 30 people at LYFE Kitchen in downtown Palo Alto.

6:00 PM Hosting a Meet the FARM (Food and Agriculture Resource Management) Club dinner event to introduce MBA1s to our club, of which I'm Co-President.

7:30 PM Bike home.

8:00 PM Catch up on emails, look at winter flights to Brazil for a pre-xmas trip.

9:00 PM Weekly Beer Pong League with MBA2s Jesse Lane and Michael Bridge.

Weekly beer pong league at Illusions in Palo Alto.

12:30 AM Bedtime

10:30 AM Wake up

11:00 AM Lazy weekend morning trip to Philz Coffee for delicious drip coffee and a pastry.

Philz Coffee has some of the best coffee in Palo Alto.

12:00 Noon Drive over to the Stanford golf course to check-in for 1pm shotgun start. My husband Michael on the left, MBA2 Maria Sodini on the right.

1:00 PM Play 11 holes of golf with husband Michael and MBA2s Dave Sherry and Maria Sodini.

4:30 PM Grab a late lunch at Whole Foods in downtown Palo Alto.

5:00 PM Zip over to the Stanford shopping center for some last minute costume additions.

6:30 PM Take care of some emails, clean up the house, and do a few arts + crafts for last minute halloween costume additions.

My husband Michael constructing a lollipop at home for his "little boy at Disneyland" costume.

9:00 PM Halloween party at the "Thunderdome," a house in Atherton that houses 11 MBA2 boys.

Michael and I at the halloween party dressed up as Minnie Mouse and "little boy at Disneyland."

MBA2 friends at the Halloween party: Austing Kiessig, Adam Boutin, Amanda Lubin, and Tom Hayes.

Michael and MBA2 friend Dave Sherry.

Halloween party with two of my best friends, MBA2s Gwen Van de Pas and Amanda Lubin.

1:00 AM Bedtime

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