Divina Ceniceros Dominguez – Texas McCombs MBA Insider

Author: Divina Ceniceros Dominguez (page 1 of 3)

Student Spotlight: Shams
Mammadli, MBA at Houston Class of 2021

Shams Mammadli
MBA ’21

Shams Mammadli was born on the coast of Baku, Azerbaijan. She grew up there for most of her childhood and later, her education would take her all over the world.

As MBA graduation approaches, Shams is reflecting on her time at McCombs and how her upbringing shaped the worldview she brings to the MBA program.

An International Perspective

Multiculturalism is embedded into the very roots of Azerbaijan. Its culture is a fusion of two factors: the Soviet Union’s 70-year influence on the country and its Eastern European geography. It’s the combination of these two factors that provided Shams with fluency in four languages.

Shams Mammadli (left) and her mother (right) during her childhood.

“Imagine growing up in a family where you speak Azeri to your grandma but Russian to your mom; a childhood where your school classes are held in Russian, but you only watch Turkish cartoons; you grow up in a city with mosques, synagogues, and churches.”

The omnipresent immersion of different cultures molded Shams’ perspective of the world to this day. “It becomes a part of you,” she says. “I feel truly fortunate for having experienced such a level of multiculturalism this early and having seen the benefits it poses to society.”

Shams graduated from Azerbaijan State University of Economics with a bachelor’s degree in International Economic Relations in 2014. Aside from Baku, Shams has lived in Moscow, London, and Kansas in pursuit of her education.

“I learned very early on how to feel at home anywhere in the world.”

If There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Regardless of location, there is one common link that has driven Shams all her life: entrepreneurship.

“It’s what gets me excited: To hear others build something and turn their ideas into reality.”

Shams with a bouquet from her flower entrepreneurial business

Shams Mammadli holding a bouquet of flowers from her entrepreneurial venture, Precious Flowers Houston.

A few years ago, Shams took a leap of faith and started Precious Flowers Houston, an online boutique specializing in floral arrangements packaged in customized boxes. Here, she became familiar with the startup process from start to finish, namely, “designing the website, marketing, networking and building relationships with vendors, communicating with customers, and creating the arrangements.”

This startup allowed her entrepreneurial drive to blossom, but she attributes her biggest lesson learned as something more personal:

“Following your dreams is always worth it, and if there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Currently, Shams is a financial analyst at Leschaco, a transportation and logistics company based out of Germany. Although corporate finance is different from individual entrepreneurship, Shams says her entrepreneurial experience is a “useful foundation” to set her up for future success.

Shams’ Why McCombs

In 2015, through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, Shams and her husband moved to the United States.

“As someone who has been traveling quite frequently and is always ready for a new challenge, I didn’t think twice before leaving everything behind and moving to the other side of the world.”

Shams in front of a University of Texas crest mounted on the wall

Shams at The University of Texas at Austin

However, Shams’ #WhyMcCombs moment almost happened back in 2014, when she was still living in Baku, Azerbaijan. She had started an application for her MBA degree at Texas McCombs, but never got around to submitting it because the prospect of it seemed, “so far and unattainable.” Nevertheless, be it a coincidence or destiny, Shams finally submitted and got admitted to the Texas McCombs MBA at Houston program in 2019, after she moved to the city.

Some of the key factors that played a role in Shams’ decision to apply to Texas McCombs were the university’s prestige and the Longhorn network:

“Apart from being a top-ranked program, it’s really the people that make it an amazing place to be — the admissions office, professors, classmates, and the great alumni network that is always willing to help and support.”

Shams attended information sessions held by other universities, but says that she quickly knew McCombs stood out and would be her home.

“Right from the start, I could tell Texas McCombs is a community of people that genuinely value diversity and are passionate about doing incredible things for the world.”

The Road Ahead

While at McCombs, Shams has worked on multiple projects that have accelerated her knowledge of the type of work she’d like to do after graduation.

Shams (middle) with her McCombs classmates

Shams (middle) along with her Texas McCombs at Houston classmates.

Shams says that MBA+ projects have allowed her to, “try on different hats,” and decide whether a specific venture would be something she’d want to pursue full-time. This past summer, she completed a mergers & acquisitions MBA+ Project in the healthcare industry, and currently she is working on a sustainability project for United Airlines — an experience that’s completely new to her.

“I believe McCombs provides all the resources for those who want to make most out of their experience.”

With graduation just around the corner, Shams is planning to pursue a corporate finance opportunity with a tech company focusing on product development and strategy. However, true to her first true passion, she’s hoping to pursue another entrepreneurial venture sometime down the road.

Visit Texas McCombs MBA to find out more about all our programs, events, and community, or take a peek into student life on Instagram.

Hook ’em!

Student Spotlight:
Jennifer Boone, MBA at
Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2021

March 11, 2021 / Divina Ceniceros Dominguez / Comments Off

Jennifer Boone, Texas McCombs MBA Class of 2021

Jennifer Boone has dedicated her life to changing the world. She works for Brighter Bites, a nonprofit that provides healthy meals to underprivileged students in cities across the country. Through her Texas McCombs MBA degree, she’s learning leadership skills to better serve those communities — one meal at a time.

New Beginnings

After graduating from Texas A&M University with an Ecosystem Management undergraduate degree, Jennifer pursued a career focused on agriculture, the environment, and their intersection within society.

In 2013, Jennifer was appointed lead Agriculture and National Resource Policy Intern for Congressman Pete Sessions, TX 32, with the U.S. House of Representatives. Afterward, she stayed with environmental work at Oncor Electric Delivery in their waste management department where she got a better understanding of the issues of waste in both natural and business ecosystems.

In 2017, Jennifer moved to the produce industry and became a Regional Sustainability Coordinator for PRO*ACT where she implemented “Greener Fields Together,” a program with the mission of cultivating a transparent seed-to-fork supply chain of responsibly-sourced produce in 13 states with 10 wholesale produce purveyors.

She is now working at Brighter Bites – a nonprofit organization that provides healthy meals, fresh produce, and nutrition information to low-income elementary school students and their families in cities in the U.S. She was recently promoted to Director of Sourcing where she directs all of the organization’s procurement and supply chain activities.

Jennifer’s background in agriculture has provided her with valuable skills in her new role and industry, but her passion to learn new things hasn’t ceased. She says getting her MBA gives her the tools she needs to do her job better.

“Understanding the business levers to pull and being able to apply the concepts I learn in class to the fresh food and produce world has allowed me to more effectively solve problems, develop higher-level strategies for future growth, and move more food to people who need it. “

Why McCombs

Jennifer’s interest in McCombs started when she was introduced to the power of the alumni network at Texas A&M. When determining what would be the best business school for her, she was surprised to experience firsthand that the “McCombs network is even stronger than the Aggie network.”

“I chose McCombs for a lot of reasons: the rankings, the faculty, the students I met at the open houses, the weekend format. But the number one reason I chose McCombs was so that I could join the world-class network of alumni doing amazing things across the world.”

Photo of Jennifer Boone in a balcony in front of the UT tower. She has shoulder length blonde hair and is wearing a black shirt with a grey blazer.

Jennifer Boone at the McCombs School of Business, Rowling Hall, in front of the UT Tower.

With her May graduation date quickly approaching, Jennifer’s workload hasn’t slowed down — especially with the transition to Zoom classes. She says that figuring out how to juggle a heavier professional workload while still handling rigorous MBA coursework has been a challenge.

“Learning to navigate the combination of these things while still setting aside some time to be with my family is a great exercise in time management and prioritizing — valuable skills that will serve me well in future leadership roles.”

Jennifer Boone (center) surrounded by classmates. They're all in front of a business named "Stoneleigh"

Jennifer Boone (left center) with her by classmates and the Sr. Assistant Dean and Director of Working Professional & Executive MBA Programs, Joe Stephens (bottom left)

McCombs has also strengthened Jennifer’s leadership skills. Outside of her schoolwork, Jennifer is the Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion for the Graduate Business Council (GBC) and an officer with the Graduate Women in Business (GWiB).

“I’m learning a lot about leading people in the classroom (thank you Dr. Harrison!) and being involved in these groups allows me to put those lessons into real-world practice, guide how our class engages with the program, and shape the program for future years.”

The Road Ahead

Jennifer Boone is wearing a red Brighter Bites T-shirt and black pants. She's holding up two bags full of produce from Brighter Bites.

Jennifer Boone with bags of produce from Brighter Bites.

Jennifer’s role at Brighter Bites allows her to lead procurement efforts across all of their partner cities and work with their farmers, freight companies, and food banks to ensure they get healthy, good quality products for consumers.

“Healthy food is a right, but fresh food is not available to everyone equally. Even if it is available, the lack of education around what to do with fresh produce can keep people from incorporating it into their diets.”

Because of the pandemic, Jennifer says that food insecurity has disproportionately impacted Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people — making her job all the more urgent.

“It has been critical for me and my organization to focus on how we can get more fresh food to these communities specifically. Our operating model had to pivot to safely continue reaching families in need of food, and my procurement strategy had to adapt with the quickly changing food system.”

Jennifer Boone holding a box with produce from Brighter Bites

Jennifer Boone surrounded by boxes full of produce from her work at Brighter Bites.

Since the second week of May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer and her team at Brighter Bites have almost quadrupled their reach: They’re now serving 50,000 families each week with fresh produce and nutrition education across all six of their partner cities and have distributed over two million pounds of fruits and vegetables.

Jennifer’s not new to problem-solving. In addition to her job as Director of Sourcing, she recently designed and found funding for a project at Brighter Bites that works with growers to fight food insecurity by redirecting food waste. This grant would allow her to rescue half a million pounds of produce over the course of two-and-a-half months. After a month into the project, Jennifer had already rescued more than 215,000 pounds of cabbage, romaine, green leaf, kale, and broccoli from farms in California! In the final leg of the project, Jennifer hopes to move some of those greens into the Navajo Nation, which has also been severely affected by the pandemic.

“It’s definitely something I’m very proud of, as it’s a pilot program that would allow a more sustainable flow of produce and would unlock a whole side of the produce supply chain that is not currently accessible through straight donations. Supporting our farmers is incredibly important for the continued health of our domestic and global food system.”

Her role in the senior leadership for Brighter Bites is more involved than before. “Guiding strategic decisions about empowering families with good nutrition and how we can build a robust, resilient supply chain has been the highlight of my career,” she says.

“My MBA has given me new problem solving skills, equipped me with more analytical chops and has given me the ability to contribute more meaningfully in my role. More importantly, I know my MBA from McCombs will help me lead with impact for the rest of my career.”

Visit Texas McCombs MBA to find out more about all our programs, events, and community, or take a peek into student life on Instagram.

Hook ’em!

Tower lit up in orange with number 1 on it with text reading "national case competition win"

Texas McCombs Wins National Black MBA Association Case Competition

February 10, 2021 / Divina Ceniceros Dominguez / Comments Off

Every year MBA students have the opportunity to participate in case competitions and challenges. Student teams are given a business problem to analyze, and they present their recommendations to a panel of experts who offer industry-specific feedback and select winners.

The 2020-2021 case competition season kicked off in September 2020 when Texas McCombs MBA students Christopher Williams, Sean Stallings, Tyrone Smith, and Ingrid Zagzebski competed in the annual National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Graduate Case Competition and took home the first place prize.

The Team

Christopher Williams, MBA ’21

Sean Stallings, MBA ’21

Tyrone Smith, MBA ’21

Ingrid Zagzebski, MBA ’22

McCombs teams have had strong showings at the NBMBAA competition in the past, but this was the first time the Texas McCombs MBA team won first place.

In 2019, Christopher Williams and Sean Stallings competed with another MBA team. They persevered to come back this year and win it all. Chris is a former transportation engineer, and Sean was a tech consultant, so they formed a strong foundation and were looking for a well-rounded team. They recruited Tyrone Smith, who had experience in automotive sales, and Ingrid Zagzebski, who had worked in marketing, to join their team.

We felt like we could do better a second time around and decided to compete this year. We recruited two other team members — Tyrone, another second year student, and Ingrid, a first year student. They brought energy, creativity and a wealth of automotive and marketing experience to the team.

— Christopher Williams, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

It was the perfect blend of talent: sales, marketing, tech, consulting and engineering!

— Tyrone Smith, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

The Competition

For over 25 years, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has partnered with the National Black MBA Association to provide a challenging case for students from top business schools to compete for $50,000 in cash prizes and employment opportunities. The competition challenges MBA teams to dissect complex, real-world business problems, come up with a thorough solution and present their findings to a panel of Fortune 500 executives.

The McCombs MBA team, along with over 30 other teams from universities around the country, were faced with the need to problem-solve innovative digital retailing solutions and car delivery options. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 competition was hosted virtually, which added another challenge for students.

What was the key to the McCombs team’s success? Sean thinks it was their team’s diversity and experience.

I think our diverse backgrounds were a strong differentiator for the judges.

A big reason McCombs did so well that was Chris and I competed last year. Having made some mistakes, we internalized a lot of the judge’s feedback. We also learned from other top-tier MBA school presentations, and felt we could outdo them. It didn’t hurt to have completed coursework in Corporate Strategy, Tech Strategy and Operations — those frameworks definitely set us apart from other first year heavy teams.

— Sean Stallings, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

Even with having a strong team and prior case competition experience, the group had to overcome a set of challenges. For one, there was the issue of time management: How can four Full-Time MBA students juggle their coursework, extracurriculars, and personal life on top of this competition? Tyrone, who is also a professional Olympic athlete, was still training and competing while the team was in the beginning weeks of planning and strategizing. Because of that, he correlates his team’s overall success to their synergy in those crucial early stages.

It feels absolutely incredible to be a part of this team. We worked our butts off with all of us having exceptionally full plates. We started meeting before school started and myself, being a professional Olympic athlete, I was still training and competing during the first few weeks. This team covered for one another excellently and we pulled together in perfect harmony

— Tyrone Smith, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

A First Place Victory

The team worked hard and made sacrifices. Their efforts paid off abundantly — in addition to new employment and networking opportunities, the team was awarded a $25,000 scholarship. Here’s how they felt when they got the news:

I literally screamed when we won although, if I’m being completely honest, I very much expected us to win. Chris and Sean competed last year and had a solid idea of the quality of presentation they would take. I was confident that knowledge — combined with the insider info, recommendations and our expertise in tech —would be difficult to beat.

For me, as far as new doors, the finalists were all invited to speak with McKinsey&Co., and I had an excellent one-on-one info session with them. I was encouraged to apply and they genuinely seem interested in my experience and story, something they would not have been exposed to without the competition.

— Tyrone Smith, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

I felt AMAZING. Our team put in a lot of effort to prepare for the case and bring data-backed, well researched and feasible recommendations to address the case challenge.

The scholarship from NBMBAA & FCA has had an immediate impact on my financial health, helping to reduce my student loan liabilities. More broadly, the case allowed me to meet and network with other minority MBA students and continue building my network.

— Christopher Williams, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

I was speechless! It felt like I was inside of a dream. After the shock wore off, I wanted to scream and shout, but I was sitting at my gate at the ATX airport and didn’t feel like it was the place to make a scene.

The scholarship money was a big reason why we signed up to compete last year; however, as we got further along in the process, it was less about the money and more about proving ourselves on the national stage. The $25,000 will be split up evenly amongst the four teammates and will be used to pay down some loans upon graduation.

— Sean Stallings, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

Advice For Future MBAs

If you’re a current or future MBA student interested in participating in next year’s National Black MBA Association Graduate Case Competition, here are some final words of advice curated by the team.

Get ready early.

The case is typically released in mid-August. I attribute a large part of our success to preparation and giving ourselves enough time to fully flesh out our ideas.

From the start, we came to a consensus on expectations. We knew we wanted to position ourselves for a win and decided to dedicate several hours each week to prepare. Even so, we stretched ourselves to make things work. We had a great team dynamic and trusted each other to get the work done. That made it easy to prioritize and focus on specific aspects of the project, rather than having to worry about doing everything individually.

— Christopher Williams, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

Be meticulous and say on task.

My advice is to have someone on the team who is meticulous about planning and have them take charge. Chris did an amazing job getting us started early to plan, so we were always a head of the curve. When the inevitable, unforeseeable things came up and we had to miss a meeting or change a time, it was okay because we were one-to-two weeks ahead of schedule.

Everyone is going to have to sacrifice at some point, and when it’s your turn, don’t hesitate. Show the team that you are in this to WIN — not just to make the final, or hopefully top 3, but to WIN.

— Tyrone Smith, Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA, Class of 2021.

Visit Texas McCombs MBA to find out more about all our programs, events, and community, or take a peek into student life on Instagram. Hook ’em!

Student Spotlight: Jonathan Razack, MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth Class of 2021

November 5, 2020 / Divina Ceniceros Dominguez / Comments Off

As a 17-year-old high school graduate, Jonathan (Jon) Razack was faced with the universal life decision of what to do next. He had a goal of joining the military; however, his parents encouraged him to take a different direction. Below, he tells the compelling story of how he was able to make both paths work for his future, eventually landing at Texas McCombs.

Jon Razack, MBA 2021

The American Dream

Jon was born in Fort Worth to immigrant parents who came to Texas hoping to find new opportunities. Eventually they became naturalized U.S. citizens and started a business where Jon worked as a teenager. Upon graduating high school, he was at a crossroads: should he follow the route of heading to a traditional college, as his parents always wanted, or follow his dream to go into military service?

I learned the meaning of a strong work ethic from my parents who bootstrapped capital to start their own business. I gained a big appreciation for how much work it takes to own your own business. My parents are my heroes, and while I always wanted to be in the U.S. Army, college was really important to them, especially as immigrants.

Jon eventually chose to attend college at the Virginia Military Institute, where he studied economics and business. He didn’t give up on his military dream, but instead put it on hold just a little while, deciding to prepare himself for business success with a degree before enlisting in the military. After graduation he became an infantry officer, fulfilling his dream and starting a new chapter of his life in the U.S. Army.

Military Life

In 2011 Jon became a Ranger qualified Infantry Officer, leading specialized teams of Paratroopers, from groups of less than 10 up to 200.

Jon Razack’s team during his time in the military.

After spending five years in this role, Jon retooled his skill set and spent his last two years in the Army as a Battalion Senior Intelligence Officer at Fort Lewis, Washington. From there he began to look at industry options outside of the military where his problem-solving and leadership skills would transfer. This eventually led to his career transition back in Dallas.

Transition was surprisingly easier and harder in some respects. I was away from home for 12 years doing a lot of traveling, so I was ready to come back home.

As soon as he got out of the military, he was recruited for the Leadership Development Program at CoreLogic, where he worked in Product Management and did internal consulting for company process optimization. Eventually, he was leading his own sales team.

I liked sales because it was similar to the leadership skills I used in the infantry for over five years. I had the right mentorship, and it made my industry transition so much easier.

To Jon, one of the biggest reasons why he enjoyed his time at CoreLogic was because of the mentorship. He says his mentors took time to help him apply his military skills towards both the training program and his current job as Director of Operations for CoreLogic’s mortgage business. After two years of working there, however, Jon knew that his transition still needed an extra push.

I’ve always known that I’d be needing an MBA to bridge the seven year gap I didn’t spend in an industry. I had developed leadership and problem solving skills from my time in the Army, but I needed to learn how to apply that conceptually in the business world and accelerate my learning curve.

Jon’s MBA Journey

Hispanic Heritage Month with LAHMBA at McCombs

September 25, 2020 / Divina Ceniceros Dominguez / Comments Off

Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated from September 15 – October 15, is a national celebration of the accomplishments and cultural history of Hispanic and Latinx individuals and organizations in the United States. At Texas McCombs, our students are a constant reminder of the positive impact that diverse backgrounds and perspectives bring to our communities. We are proud to highlight some of our Latin American & Hispanic MBA Association (LAHMBA) students’ stories, their “Why McCombs?” and LAHMBA initiatives this year.

Texas McCombs MBA Insider

Author: Divina Ceniceros Dominguez (page 1 of 3)