Student Spotlights: Olivia Ramos and Uchenna Ogbejesi

When Full-Time MBA students begin their degree journey at Kelley, they can connect with two second-year students who share the experience of being an underrepresented minority.

Uchenna Ogbejesi and Olivia Ramos serve as liaisons for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, or The Consortium. Having both experienced the support and camaraderie from Consortium liaisons in their first year in the program, they want to continue the generational leadership.

“The Consortium was like a family for me during my first year. Whenever I need someone socially, academically, or professionally, they’re my go-to people,” Uchenna said. “I wanted to give back, and I’ve loved just connecting with students, planning events, and building out a family to make sure everyone has everything they need to be successful, even beyond Kelley.”

In addition to helping students network and find their way around Kelley, Uchenna and Olivia have begun working with the program office to improve DEIB efforts and ensure Consortium values are reflected throughout the MBA experience.

“One of the most welcoming things about Kelley is that our program office actually listens to us. We’ve discussed how to improve diversity education at Kelley and how to help people understand why The Consortium and other DEIB programs at Kelley exist and why they’re beneficial,” said Olivia. “We suggested making sure every Kelley applicant is exposed to a variety of students, especially those in these groups, to be very up front about those values. We’re also talking about how to introduce those programs earlier into the student experience.”

Uchenna is originally from Connecticut, where he worked in IT at Yale University before deciding to go back to school to pursue a broader career in tech. Olivia is originally from Michigan, but has also lived in Monterrey, Mexico. She left a career in retail management to better understand the business of the cosmetics industry. Both say one of their favorite moments at Kelley was discovering they’d earned their dream internships.

“Not very many people go to business school for the cosmetics industry, but I was fortunate to connect with an alum who’s become my mentor and worked at Abbvie, the parent company of Allergan, which makes Botox, Juvéderm, and other skincare lines. Allergan hadn’t opened an aesthetics internship yet, so instead, I was offered an internship in pharmaceuticals. But I knew that’s not where my heart was, so I made a very hard decision to turn it down,” Olivia said. The day her ideal aesthetics internship became available, the recruiter called her to offer an interview. She accepted the position a little over a week later.

“For a long time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted or what I was interested in professionally. It was a very validating moment to realize I can accomplish these things and that taking a big, bold jump like that can absolutely pay off.”

During his first year in the program, Uchenna’s Me, Inc. instructor had him write a letter to his future self, outlining what he hoped to achieve and what an ideal internship would look like. He wanted to work at one of the best tech companies. He went through a difficult interview process with various companies, without luck. Finally, after two interviews, six weeks, and a company-wide hiring freeze, Amazon extended an offer.

“It goes to show that things work out like they’re supposed to,” he said. “If those other interviews had worked out, I may not have been at Amazon or I may not have realized my business school dream of being at a tech firm.”

Uchenna is still considering his options after he completes his MBA. Olivia will begin at Allergan in July. Both students hope their efforts in improving the DEIB experience at Kelley continue long after they graduate.

“We come into this role knowing that we won’t see a lot of the changes we hope for or implement. I think that can be very frustrating for people working in DEIB—you make a change, and you don’t get to see immediate results,” Olivia said. “Part of the responsibility we take on is knowing that some changes will be fast, but a good amount of change will be a gradual process.”

“Fortunately, we have the right leadership in place to help make change move forward,” added Uchenna. “We have Associate Dean Robert Thomas and (Executive Director of DEIB) Carmund White. There’s a good support system to help implement these changes and make sure that we’re being heard, and they’re translating that into action.”