Katherine Chen
Katherine Chen is a Senior Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, currently on secondment at One Acre Fund in Nairobi, Kenya. Katherine is from Plano, TX and graduated from UT Austin in 2021. Katherine has lived and studied across the world ranging from Latin America, Europe, and Africa. In her free time, you can find her hiking, taking photos, learning a new language, practicing yoga, or curating Spotify playlists.
Katherine has been working in Nairobi, Kenya for the past seven months through One Acre Fund. One Acre Fund is an NGO (non-governmental organization) that supports over 4 million smallholder farmers in Africa with asset-based financing and climate-smart agricultural training services. Katherine has admired this organization since she watched the CEO of the organization, Andrew Youn, speak in his Ted Talk titled “3 reasons why we can win the fight against poverty.” In her current role, Katherine designs and implements large-scale change management projects to strengthen the organization’s performance. She is currently leading a goals campaign alongside the incoming CEO to help staff connect their work to the organization’s 2030 Impact Vision of serving 10 million farmers annually. In October and November of last year, she traveled to rural western Kenya and spent time in the field visiting the farmer families. She recalled this trip as an eye-opening and humbling experience, being able to talk with the farmers and learn about their aspirations for the future.
During her time at UT, she majored in Finance and Iberian and Latin American Languages and Cultures (Spanish), with a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofits. Katherine says that she has always been interested in how businesses can be forces for good and was drawn to Canfield BHP because of the freedom it gave her to explore this path.
Katherine reminisces on her time as a student in Canfield BHP and says that she most cherishes the lifelong friends she made through the program. “It’s rare to find a community in which everyone is so bright and ambitious, yet incredibly caring and supportive of one another. Whether it be causing mayhem in our freshman dorms, watching the World Cup while abroad in Buenos Aires, bracing our first “winter storm” together, or graduating in a global pandemic, I’m grateful to have had these people beside me through it all.”.
Katherine says her academic journey at UT helped her conceptualize the type of career path she wanted to take after graduating. Her business classes helped her discover her passion for strategic problem-solving and innovative thinking. Through her classes in the School of Social Work, she realized she wanted to use these skills for the purpose of impact. She was pleasantly surprised to find how much intersectionality exists between the private, public, and social sectors. Outside of the classroom, Katherine was involved in leading the university’s student philanthropy organization, the Student Foundation. As President, she spoke across lecture halls and meetings to rally support for students affected by food insecurity, mental health crises, family emergencies, and natural disasters. Through this work, she learned the importance of human empathy combined with storytelling to inspire others.
Katherine recalls one of her favorite experiences from college, NOLS: “Besides sleeping next to (our favorable CBHP advisor) Steph in a tent and getting caught in an unexpected snowstorm, one thing I did not expect to learn from the trip was the concept of Type 1 vs. Type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is pure fun in the moment. Type 2 fun is challenging in the moment, but rewarding in retrospect. NOLS was both, but I realized I found much more fulfillment in the latter. It’s hard to describe the feeling of accomplishment after spending eight days in the mountains – it shattered my perspective of what I was truly capable of. Because of NOLS, I now actively seek opportunities to push myself outside of my comfort zone, including my career decisions.” She continues telling us how NOLS has impacted her interests: “Since NOLS, I can admit that I’ve developed an addiction to multi-day treks. The summer after graduating, I flew to Europe to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc, a 105-mile loop that crosses through France, Italy, and Switzerland. Now that I’m in East Africa, I’m lucky to be surrounded by the most beautiful treks. I hiked Mount Kenya in October of last year, and summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, on Christmas Day.”
When asked what advice Katherine has for students interested in pursuing a career in consulting, she answered, “Think about why you want to pursue a career in consulting. Though rewarding, it’s not an easy job, and it helps to have a sense of purpose behind what you’re doing. Personally, I saw consulting as the best way to hone my problem-solving and stakeholder management skills that would be critical to a career in the development space. And more importantly, be kind to yourself during the recruiting process. In a program like Canfield BHP where you’re constantly surrounded by other high achievers, it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race. Continue to prioritize your hobbies, your relationships, and your mental health. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received that I remind myself to this day is, ‘Chill out and enjoy the ride. Life has a way of pushing you to the brightest, shiniest next thing. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.’”