Carrie Wang
MBA 2017
- Hometown: Guangzhou, China
- Pre-MBA: KKR Capstone and Bain & Company
Carrie Wang
Post Graduation Goals:
Bring world-class technology and creative resources to media content creation in China, and help make more Chinese stories heard on a global scale
Favorite GSB Memory So Far:
It’s almost impossible to pick one - I loved Small Group Dinners, Interpersonal Dynamics (Touchy Feely) and GSB trips to Guatemala and Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina!
Tuesday
08:00am
I try to go to the gym at Schwab whenever I can as schedules can easily get crazy at the GSB (and gym time becomes a luxury!). Feeling energized walking to the Knight Management Center for my first class.
10:00am
Today’s case in Organizational Strategy class was on Bain’s performance management and promotion system. Together with other ex-Bain consultants, I facilitated a class discussion of the pros/cons of Bain’s processes; I learned a ton re-examining these once-familiar systems with a new lens and different perspectives from classmates!
12:00pm
Grabbed lunch at Arbuckle Dining Hall and while waiting for my sushi I bumped into Conrad, a good friend who was in my squad (part of the Leadership Laboratory class where we coached each other on leadership, influencing and communication skills). I couldn’t stick around for lunch today - had to run for an informational call with a tech-media startup regarding potential summer roles.
03:00pm
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are class-heavy for me. Today I had Economics of Organizations (where we discussed the double marginalization problem in distribution channels) and Data and Decisions (where we learned to run linear regressions on R Studio).
06:00pm
Met with Kudzi (a second year student who is also passionate about media) at Coupa Cafe, to run through final details of Hulu’s information session tomorrow. Kudzi has been super helpful in sharing his internship experiences and connecting me with contacts in the media industry.
07:00pm
A quick errand off campus to meet the landlord of my house next year to sign the lease. I’ll be living with 3 other classmates about a 15 minute drive away from campus.
08:00pm
Hosted a Small Group Dinner - one of my favorite GSB traditions! We served Chinese Hotpot with authentic (read, really spicy) broth from Szechuan, Our guests seemed to be tearful yet satisfied!
Wednesday
07:00am
Finally, the Future of Media Conference 2016 happens today, a GSB Featured Event that we’ve been planning for over 3 months! I started the day early to check in on all aspects of operations (e.g. catering, audio/visual set-up, parking, presentations).
08:00am
We welcomed over 300 participants at the registration table, including current GSB and Stanford students, alumni, faculty and staff, as well media industry professionals and executives.
09:00am
The conference kicked off with Jason Kilar, founder of Hulu and now CEO of Vessel (both subscription video-on-demand platforms). I found Jason’s views on future video consumption trends and lessons from starting two successful ventures very inspiring.
10:30am
Given my personal interest in the TV/video side of media, I joined the future of video session, where a thought-provoking discussion between executives from a traditional cable tv player, digital streaming platform and talent/creative agency unfolded.
03:00pm
David Anderman of Jaunt (a virtual reality content platform) delivered the conference’s closing keynote, discussing near-term and future VR media use-cases. I was both intrigued by his presentation and also relieved that the conference went smoothly!
04:00pm
Met with Laura Hobson of the Student Life Office to return a few conference-related items and thank her for all the support she’s provided throughout the planning process. We couldn’t have done it without her!
09:30pm
Ubered to San Francisco to celebrate a good friend's birthday! It’s been a long day but I felt incredibly energized seeing some of my favorite people from the GSB and outside of school as well.
Sunday
10:00am
Slept in today. I grabbed coffee from Coupa and took a quick walk around campus - it’s a gorgeous day and I’m reminded again of how beautiful this campus is!
11:00am
Another highlight of my week - Chris, a classmate, taught us how to make bagels, from scratch! What I loved more than fresh-out-of-the-oven bagels was catching up with Danielle, Colton and Stephanie - they were in my section from the first quarter but we haven’t seen each other much this quarter!
01:00pm
After (a somewhat heavy) breakfast, I joined my friends Hongtao, Amy and Lily for dim-sum lunch...I’ve been craving this so much since moving away from home!
03:00pm
I had a 30-minute informational call with an alumni who worked at Netflix, a company that I find interesting and would like to learn more about. After that, I spent some time to get ready for a few summer internship interviews I lined up for next week - I’ve been surprised by and truly grateful for how much the broader Stanford network has helped me as I explore a different industry for the summer (media)!
06:00pm
Lunar New Year celebration dinner with both first- and second-years from Southeast Asia! I feel incredibly lucky to have met this amazing, supportive community at the GSB.
09:00pm
Completed pre-course reading and assignments for Interpersonal Dynamics (one of my favorite classes at the GSB, better known as “Touchy Feely”), which I’m taking in the Spring.
I did laundry for the week and headed to bed around midnight.