Canfield BHP Alumni Kevin Curry Discusses His Entrepreneurial Journey

From management consulting to social media marketing to entrepreneurship, Canfield Business Honors Alumni Kevin Curry has a host of experiences under his belt. After graduating from UT Austin in 2004 with degrees in Canfield BHP, Management Information Systems, and Hispanic Studies, Kevin led a career that resulted in the creation of a fitness and nutrition blog unlike any other: Fit Men Cook

While Curry works solely for Fit Men Cook now, it was not always his main gig. The blog began as a side hustle– a way for Curry to document his eating habits and crowdsource ideas on how to live a healthy lifestyle. 

“I was at a point in my life where I really wanted to lose weight and I was tired of spending all this money on personal trainers. I realized that I was tripping up a lot more in the kitchen, so I went to Half Priced Books and bought every single book they had about nutrition and fitness and I just started to just consume the content,” he said. “The stuff that I learned from BHP kicked in– the hustle– and I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to pay for personal training, so maybe I can find a way to crowdsource my diet.’ The idea was to start up a blog and post every single meal I eat and to talk about my whole life transformation. It seemed like the perfect way to get the internet to tell me what to eat for free, but then the reverse happened.”  Continue reading

Student Spotlight: Jada Davis

Jada Davis poses for a professional headshot

Jada Davis

Jada Davis

Class: Junior

Internship: Launch Intern at EY

Topics of Interest: iMPA, Accounting

Houston native, Jada Davis is a junior at UT and Canfield BHP. She is currently in her 3rd year as an iMPA student pursuing her master’s degree in accounting. Jada is a member of the Black Business Student Association and a member of the Master in Professional Accounting Council. Her motivations for becoming part of UT and Canfield BHP centered on Jada’s passion for business, math, and working with numbers. Ultimately, her interactions with upperclassmen at Discover Canfield BHP helped her make the final decision to be part of our program.

Jada’s passion for business and numbers doesn’t end there. Her interest in mentoring and helping her peers along their academic journey developed during her time as a camp counselor at the annual McCombs DYNAMC program. The week-long program features world-renowned faculty and keynote speakers, networking opportunities, a case competition, and much more. It’s made possible thanks to the support provided by fellow partners at EY, formerly known as Ernst and Young. The acronym stands for ‘Discover Yourself iN Accounting Majors and Careers’ and helps introduce students to the opportunities offered with a degree in accounting. Jada recalls when she participated in the program as a high school student.

“I was a part of the program when I was in high school, and I enjoyed being able to return and give back to those students. I remember how much of an impact it had on me in deciding what I wanted to do after I graduated from high school. I gained more exposure to all of the possibilities available.” Continue reading

Canfield BHP Alum Cybil Zhang Discusses Her Career in Social Impact

For students who are passionate about social impact, Canfield BHP alum Cybil Zhang is a living example that it’s possible to turn your passion into a career. After graduating from UT in 2014 with degrees in Canfield Business Honors and Supply Chain Management, Cybil has had a host of experiences in her career.

Currently, Cybil works as the Social Impact and Strategy Senior Manager at Bumble, but she didn’t start working at Bumble right after earning her undergraduate degree. In fact, she started her post-UT journey working as a consultant.

“I started at Oliver Wyman and was in management consulting,” she said. “At the time, I think I was one of two people from UT who were hired there because they previously mainly recruited at Ivy League schools.”

Although she started her career in consulting, social impact work had always had a place in Cybil’s heart. Part of the allure of Oliver Wyman was that it provided her the opportunity to pursue a social impact fellowship in Zambia. Continue reading

Professor Spotlight: Jared Murray

As a statistician, Dr. Jared Murray is no stranger to uncertainty. In fact, he teaches STA 371H, which focuses on using probability, statistics, and data science to learn about the world and make decisions in the presence of uncertainty. In today’s climate, in which uncertainty seems to be a major theme, Dr. Murray emphasizes that he and his students must look for solutions, rather than problems, in the classroom and beyond. 

“The biggest thing, given everything that’s going on, is trying to have the attitude that we’re going to look for solutions, not problems, in this new format,” he said. “There are some things that I want to do that are just not going to be possible. There are some sort of modes of instruction that just don’t work anymore.”

For the past three years, Dr. Murray has been an assistant professor in the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management. Prior to teaching at UT, he worked in the Department of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University and earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Statistical Science at Duke University. Continue reading

Student Spotlight: Jarod Tolbert

Jarod Tolbert posing for a picture
Jarod Tolbert

Class: Junior

Major: Canfield BHP

Topics of Interest: Multinational Corporations, Neurology, Paleontology, Healthcare

You’ve heard the phrase, “not all heroes wear capes”. This couldn’t be truer today given the facts on COVID-19. Healthcare workers are on the frontlines defending the rest of us from an invisible enemy and we need them now more than ever. As a top educational institution in the country, we must continue to produce the nurses and doctors that we need to keep the good fight going.

We’re interested to hear from some of our Canfield BHPeers who are gearing themselves up to be the future of our healthcare workforce – our lab coat heroes if you will. We caught up with Canfield BHPeer Jarod Tolbert, whose path in the program will soon lead him to medical school after graduating next May. Although he has many interests in science, his mind is laser-focused on the study of the human nervous system, neurology.

Jarod’s time here at UT and Canfield BHP has been spent prepping him for the moment he’s ready to take the MCAT. During his sophomore year, Jarod began taking pre-med classes that he felt would help him gain further understanding of the topics he’ll need to know eventually. Though, he admits there were times when he felt overwhelmed with classes like Organic Chemistry. Continue reading