OneHaas – Détails, épisodes et analyse

On this episode of OneHaas, hear from alumna Sahar Kleinman – a global strategy and operational excellence executive at Amazon Advertising. 

Sahar, a first generation American, grew up in New York after her parents emigrated from Iran to further their education. The time she spent watching her mom work in finance on Wall Street and help run her uncle’s photo business had a significant impact on Sahar’s career path. 

She and host Sean Li chat about Sahar’s experience moving from brick and mortar to the e-commerce world, the importance of taking risks, and how Haas provided her with her own personal board of directors. 

*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

How her family’s photo business shaped her early on

“That was the first of my hard lessons to be learned as a child, to really learn what it takes to drive a business. And I'm talking about all the tasks that you can think of and having to earn my way to that spot where I could actually start working on developing photos for customers…and it started with grabbing that Windex bottle and wiping the windows outside of the studio.  And really learning really early on that it takes hard work to get to where you want to go.”

Why it feels like she gained a personal board of directors from Haas

“There's something about putting yourself in a room with a bunch of strangers who all of a sudden over time become family… And you get to know people and you share your stories, and you have this unbiased group of people who are just looking to help you unblock yourself oftentimes. And so maybe during the program things would come up that were work related and then you find yourself just having these go-to individuals that really help you think things through and hold you accountable to the things that you think of doing for yourself and the things that you haven't even thought of doing for yourself and for others.”

What keeps her engaged and motivated to stay connected to the Haas network

“I want to be able to create that same feeling of being in school and back in the program, even though we're not in the program anymore. I always want to feel that optimism that I felt in the classroom, that not only can I do anything and lead through anything and be anything, but I want others to feel the same thing. And so I want to create these opportunities in the forum for people to stay connected and be able to share what they've been thinking about that's inspiring to them and, you know, have a sandbox of network members to collaborate with to nurture and debate those kinds of thoughts.”

On what’s next for Sahar

“I'm just always out there thirsting for the next big challenge. Ideally, I want to share my knowledge and help lead the next generation to solve big problems and make a big impact. And even better if those next generation leaders come from Haas.”

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The OneHaas alumni podcast is honored to have Allan Spivack, philanthropist, community builder, and business leader, share his career path insights on today’s episode. 

Allan spent much of his childhood fascinated by how his dad ran their family home furnishings business. But he was also curious about how businesses could be used for social good. After getting his JD MBA from Haas, he combined his two passions into RGI Home which he led for more than 30 years. 

He and host Sean Li chat about Allan’s upbringing in New York, his unique business approach to RGI Home, and how a passion for community and social impact led him to study Middle Eastern politics and how that experience still influences his social entrepreneurship today. 

*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

On his relationship with his father

“I remember pretty vividly spending a lot of time with my dad when I was quite young…My dad was not just an engineer, but he was also an inventor. So I would sit in his work room with him and marvel at the mystery of the inventions that he was coming up with. Then he fought for a couple of patents and I didn't really know the content of what he was doing, but it looked so interesting and innovative. And that was my introduction to bringing a different point of view to product and his point of view as well.”

On his decision to get his JD MBA

“I've always been somebody who attempted to be a student always and this was a chance for me to catch up to what I missed when I was in undergrad.You know, having taken the kinds of classes that I thought would matter once I got into business the quantitative side of things. So, law was gonna teach me how to think one way, but I felt business school would teach me how to think a different way. And together, it would provide me with the best, most well-rounded education.”

Some of the challenges he faced running RGI Home

“How to run a business with no money. That was my first challenge. Along with that, running an international business by fax, no email. So you're faxing overseas or whatever, and you know, people who don't even speak your language and trying to figure out how to be able to integrate, you know, the various offices with the U.S. based offices.”

On his lasting legacy

“Since I was young, you know, I've always thought about transforming societies. I can never quite understand why people couldn't figure out how to connect with each other. And also I thought that somebody like myself who had a fortunate upbringing and also had the fortune to be really educated, to go to places like Haas, build the business, had a responsibility to do more. So when I went to build a business, it was not just about industry. It was also about the ability to be able to give back to the communities that I was working in.” 

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• RGI Home | History
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins

It’s Veterans Month, and this episode of OneHaas welcomes a special guest and a special guest host. Last month’s guest, Cassandra Salcedo, MBA ‘21, speaks with her former classmate and military veteran Joseph Choi, an account executive at Amazon Ads.  

As the son of a Korean military vet, Joseph grew up always wanting to go into the service. After attending the Naval Academy, he landed one of the few and coveted spots with the Navy Seals and spent nine years in the service before enrolling at the Haas School of Business. 

He and Cassandra discuss his parents’ journey to America from Korea, the intensive training he went through with the Seals, lessons he brought from the military to business school, and his current role at Amazon. 

*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

Common misconceptions people have about military service members 

“One big misconception is that those who decide to join the military are very close minded, narrow minded, and not very intelligent people…Or sometimes that it’s troublemakers who decided to join the military.”

What inspired him to go to business school

“I'm going to be real honest here. A lot of military folks when they get out of the military have no idea what they want to do. And I was one of them. I had no idea what I wanted to do. However, thankfully, because of a lot of those ahead of me who got out were great mentors in this sense where a lot of them do go to business school. So it's not uncommon to see a lot of military folks go to business school.”

His advice to prospective business school students

“I think what's more important is, you know, instead of taking that depth and trying to dive into academics, use that time to get to know your classmates, to try new things, expand your reach, do things that you wouldn't have done normally because I think it's also a safe time to take risks.”

Insights he’s taken from the military and business school into his current job at Amazon Ads

“The job in itself is usually quite simple in comparison to people. People are the hardest. Human relations are the hardest thing to work with, to navigate around and deal with. And I think that is something across the board that I've seen consistent.  In the military, with my last role, with the current role, is that in anything and everything, humans are the most complicated, and hence that's why communication is so important, having empathy is so important.”

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Paul Rice, the CEO and founder of Fair Trade USA, has spent his career making a huge difference in the lives of farmers and growers. In this episode, he sits down with Bree Jenkins to share his learning journey dedicated to social change, which includes buying a one-way ticket to Nicaragua, where he started and led the country’s first fair trade co-op and ended up staying for 11 years. He discusses how sustainability and social responsibility are the real drivers of success, and he calls us to find any and all creative ways to bring purpose into business, what some call conscious capitalism.

On Fair Trade:

“And here's the secret sauce of fair trade. We require that brands and retailers pay more money back to the farm owner or the factory owner. We're not saying be more sustainable y'all, and the cost of that is your problem. That's not what we're saying. We're saying more sustainable. Treat your workers right. And take care of your environment, and the consumer is going to help pay for that through the retailers.”

On his experience with projects funded by international aid:

“I worked on a lot of really well-intentioned projects that were funded by international aid. And I'll tell you, I got really disillusioned with it. It wasn't really very effective, in my experience, in helping farmers develop their own capacity to solve their own problems and helping them to think about markets.”

On Social Change:

“I think about social change, not in terms of years, but in terms of decades. We're definitely playing the long game.”

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• Fair Trade Certified

Scott Kucirek has, hands down, the best job on Earth. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Ocho Candy, an organic (and seriously delicious) candy company based in Northern California. But Scott’s path to Ocho was a circuitous one. In this episode of the Crossroads Series, Scott sits down with Sophie Hoyt to discuss his journey from the Navy to Haas and beyond. He shares insights on how to stay the course when the going gets tough, how to know when it’s time to walk away, why consulting is just not his thing, and why Ocho is his sweetest job to date.

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• Buy Ocho Candy

On why building a company culture that prizes its people is important:

If they believed in the leadership and the vision, it didn't matter what they got paid. They were going to do it. I always felt that compensation, to a point, was not the main driver of that. Believing that you made a difference and that you had an impact was very valuable. Creating a culture that celebrated the people was important.

On his work commitment to OCHO Candy:

I'm not worried about failure. That's just going to happen. That's learning. You still learn, you still experience, and your life is about experiences, not stuff you get. It is more about doing something that looks interesting and has value, and there's a calling to it. There's no regret. I'm just moving forward.

If four years from now, I can go into any store and see people have a choice for better-tasting cleaner candy that's focused on what's inside counts, sustainability for workers and the planet, that's important to me like my values and purpose in life. That makes it worth doing.

In this episode, we chat with our special guest, Chase Roberts. Chase is an EWMBA class of 2019 and currently Principal at a venture capital firm, Vertex Ventures US.

Chase shares his journey from studying at Oklahoma University and starting his career in finance to his pivot to Sales in the Bay area at a company called Box. He then shares his decision to go to business school at Berkeley Haas and land a job at Segment, where he was involved in Business Development and launching a startup program. 

Throughout the course of his career, he has built a network of venture capitalists. He tells us how that network led him to pursue an earmarked career in venture capital at Vertex Ventures.

He also shares the investment focus of Vertex Ventures and his time spent on the data space, which led the conversation to the evolution of software tools and website development. Finally, Chase invites listeners to join his network and potentially build a partnership in the future.

On venturing into Sales - "At the time, I wasn't that excited about a job in sales because, for me, sales just carried a different connotation. I was like, I'm just going to use this as my way into the company and then see what happens from there. And so they took a bet on me, and I joined the company in an entry-level sales job. And it ended up being one of the most, the best, learning experiences of my life. You learn a lot about yourself when you're told no all the time."

Why he loves his job in Silicon Valley - "Part of the thing that gives me a lot of satisfaction in my job is I get to meet people who are the ultimate form of entrepreneurship in the software-based world. They have the opportunity to build these massive companies and not do so over 50 years but do it over five. And I'm amazed by the process of zero to one because it is incredibly hard to build something from nothing. I think it takes a lot of courage to do that. To meet with these people and, in some sense, subscribe to the belief system that motivates them to take a risk and take the hard path and try to build something great, I think it's remarkable."

How to succeed in Venture Capital - "I think that people who tend to thrive are the ones who are just curious about everything. It's not so much about going incredibly deep on a specific area, but it's getting through the surface and learning enough to be dangerous in a lot of areas."

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• The Innovator's Dillema

From her early days at Accenture to her current position at Amazon, Caroline Lee has centered her career around people. In this premiere episode of The Crossroads Series, she sits down with Sophie Hoyt to guide us through her life and imparts lessons we can all learn from. With a background in recruiting, Caroline shares with us the mantra that helped her unlock her own strengths, tells us how to ensure everyone knows about our own “superpowers,” and teaches us about the importance of setting up clear boundaries between professional and personal life. She even takes us through her journey to become *drum roll please* an American Ninja Warrior.

On Recruitment: "When you get the hire in, you're changing a life. I don't know if recruiters realize it or not because sometimes, you're just turning numbers. You've got requisitions, and it's not ever fast enough for the poor hiring manager, but at the end of the day, you're changing the life of someone. And I think that's very important and special."

One of Caroline's strengths: "I've come up with my list of three to four strengths, and one of them is creating order out of chaos. Taking the large complex problems, listening to all those, bringing it in, understanding it, and then breaking it down to what guiding principles are we going to follow. And then breaking it into manageable shades of tasks that just become defined deliverables."

What's next for Caroline: "I want to continue to inspire other people to be their best. So, if someone hears my story and says, ‘Hey, that motivated me to work out’, I'm happy. If I inspired someone to switch their jobs and gain confidence to negotiate a salary, I'm happy."

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• How to Shape What People Say About You When You’re Not in the Room

In celebration of International Women's Month, Sean Li, together with special co-host Keitha Pansy, welcomes Emilie Cortes, a full-time MBA class of 2002. She is the Treasurer at Compton Foundation and the Chief Financial Officer at Toniic.

Emilie shares how being a "secret genius" paved the way for a finance career and how her love for mountaineering helped launch her entrepreneurial path.

She also talks about how she got into the global impact investing ecosystem when she joined Toniic, a nonprofit organization with a powerful mission aligned with her passion.

Emilie also explains the articles she co-wrote with fellow Haas alum Tracy Gray, which focused on community foundations and five action items that people can apply in their organizations, especially those focusing on gender equity or racial justice.

"Somebody calls me the secret genius because I don't look the stereotypical image of what a smart person looks like. I like that triple threat because people have low expectations, and then I get a chance to blow them away."

"The first issue we wanted to dismantle was the misconception that women and people of color as funded managers are more risky. I have not yet seen a single study that says less diversity is better, not one. And I've never seen or heard of a study that said polished presentations equals higher returns. So, this is really in the bias land because all the data is that women and people of color are less risky and perform better."

"If your goal is to help women and people of color and you're not helping your managers who are women and people of color, it's quite hypocritical."

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• How Foundations Fail Diverse Fund Managers and How to Fix It 

• Goldman Sachs on Women and Mixed Gender

Today, Sean Li and guest co-host Kellie McElhaney, a popular Haas lecturer and founding Director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership (EGAL), chat with our special guest, Monica Stevens. Monica is a full-time MBA class of 1996 and currently the Senior Vice President of Wells Fargo Merchant Services. She is the first black woman on the Haas board and the Chair and Founder of the Haas Alumni Diversity Council.

Monica takes us back to her early years growing up in a middle-class family, her exposure to many different cultures and mindsets, and her involvement in many international activities and government, particularly in school.

She also narrates her time at the Navy, her early career path, and why she joined and quit Haas the first time before coming back years later. She then became the first African-American to win the Raymond E. Miles Alumni Service Award for her community service to Haas.

Monica shares her thoughts on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and the community and across different cultures.

"When you're younger, go with what you need or what you want and not create this large, unwieldy construct of the why the how, or I'm not worthy. Just do it."

"Sometimes, women who get into the role of power opportunity forget that there are others around, behind, next, that are just like them and deserve the same opportunity."

"If we just let ourselves have that curiosity and ask from our hearts, you know, with good intentions and some education, but God, don't feel like you got to read a thousand books before you can be equity fluent."

"Do one thing different tomorrow and see how it feels. If it's uncomfortable, I would say push into that discomfort. But then, if it's comfortable and pleasing, do more of that. Either way, do more and then talk about it and see how it feels and try it on. If it doesn't feel right to you, that's okay. Decide whether you want to adopt it, but do something different, and that's outside and beyond yourself. That's what we're really asking people to do; go beyond."

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• Haas Alumni Diversity Council

We welcomed Keitha Pansy from the full-time MBA class of 2002. She is currently the Managing Director at the Women of the World Endowment. WoWE provides institutional financial support to accelerate gender lens investing and promote impact for women and girls.

Keitha takes us back to her background from studying accounting at Howard University to finance at Haas and why she decided to get her MBA. She also walks us through her 15 years of blended experience within financial services working with different big companies like JPMorgan and BlackRock.

Keitha also talks about the year she traveled to different places to reflect and enjoy life for a moment. Finally, she shares how she got into impact investing and co-founding WoWE.

Why she chose Haas - "When I stepped foot on the campus, it just felt right. I'm finding my tribe. It's just that easy for me. I had paired up with a first-year who took me up into the Berkeley Hills, and there was this beautiful view. And it's so vibrant in my mind, still to this day. You can see the Bay, and you can see the mountains, which was so beautiful to me. And I was like, this is my home. It just felt right."

On finding her true purpose and making an impact - "I believe those who know that they are called for a purpose while they exist here on earth were not meant to just be consumers. We are called to do something greater. I know there's more. I want to wake up knowing that I'm having an impact. I want to wake up knowing that what I do everyday matters."

On being part of the impact investing space - "I feel like this is a full circle and what I'm supposed to do with the second half of my life. The first half was a setup. It was the training ground for my purpose-driven life."

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• Women of the World Endowment