Dear younger self: The ‘thespian turned tech nerd’

Reflecting on life’s lessons is one of the most valuable things we can do for personal growth, and the MBA experience can be an opportune time for self-discovery. Hear what three pieces of advice Katie Pimentel ’24 MMM would give her younger self.
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Kellogg
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Katie Pimentel ’24 a student in the MMM Program reflects on advice she'd give to her younger self to prepare her for business school
Don't be afraid to take the stage — little did a young Pimentel (R) know that she would do this in more than one way.


By Katie Pimentel ’24 MMM Program 

Little baby Katie,

Yes, despite being a 30-year-old woman, you will always be “Little baby Katie,” the boisterous, youngest of four, to the family that loves you. After taking the GMAT five times and scream crying tears of joy when you received your final result in front of 15 strangers on a snorkel boat in Costa Rica, you’re here.

After being waitlisted for four months by Kellogg — no hard feelings — and using your scrappy sales tactics to secure your spot, you’re here. After two years of a long-distance relationship with the love of your life, you’re here.

Coming from a non-traditional background — thespian turned tech nerd, trademark pending — and being from Silicon Valley, most people told you an MBA wasn’t worth it. Why would you leave a burgeoning sales career to go back to school? While many might wonder what an MBA can do for them,  for you, it’ll be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

There are three key pieces of advice — the new consultant in me couldn’t resist — that will make this experience worthwhile: 

1) Know your North Star — and continuously revise it.

Many people will tell you the slightly melodramatic MBA adage of imagining a triangle — academics, social and recruiting — and to pick two. It’s true. Every quarter different things will demand your attention. Set intentions for what you want to accomplish not just each year but each quarter.

Don’t let your impatience fool you into thinking you can accomplish all these goals at once. Good things take time and iteration, despite your own stubborn belief that Rome could be built in a day.

Recognize that knowing your North Star is not just about setting tactical goals, it’s also refining the type of person you want to become. Over these two years, reflect on the kind of person you want to be. This reflection will be prompted by the incredibly diverse, thoughtful and genuinely curious people here. You will realize you still have a lot of growing to do.

Don’t forget that your biggest fear in life is feeling like you have nothing left to learn. Remember that you will never be a fully formed person — lean into that growth mindset here.


“Surround yourself with people at Kellogg who will give you radically candid feedback, and who think differently than you — who challenge you and what you stand for.”
Katie Pimentel ’24
MMM Program


2) Embrace feedback.

You will enter this experience with feedback fatigue. In theater, all the rejection you faced felt personal. It’s made you afraid to hear the truth. In tandem, you were told by a previous boss not to give feedback because it’s better for everyone to “keep the peace.”

Four female professors will be responsible for etching away at your feedback dread. Professor Brooke Vuckovic will encourage you to build a foundation of trust to deliver feedback. Professor Sonali Lamba will emphasize the importance of establishing mutual emotional safety for feedback. Adjunct lecturer Elle Ericson will push you to give feedback to those closest to you and to ask for it in return. Professor Gina Fong will provide a framework for thinking about feedback in an imaginative, constructive way.

You will learn feedback is not something to be feared or postponed, but it should be a regular practice built on genuine care. Surround yourself with people at Kellogg who will give you radically candid feedback, and who think differently than you — who challenge you and what you stand for. If you are immersed in an echo chamber of people who look and think like you in this experience, then you’ll never grow. 

3) Get out of the bubble.

MBA programs can be a bubble. You put on the consulting firm-branded glasses and start to view things through a myopic lens that makes you forget about the world that doesn’t know what consulting is. If you don’t take time to escape this, you will become insufferable to yourself and others.

Make time for the people outside of this bubble that matter to you. Make time for Alex every day. Listen to him and be present. He is your “toe-holder” (take Professor Vuckovic’s class to learn what this means). Yes, many straight men claim to want a “strong woman” who chases her ambitions, but a lot of men lie about this. You wouldn’t be here without his support and belief in you.

In my final words to you, little baby Katie, don’t forget what Amanda, your best friend since the age of six, told you in your first month of school: “Katie, don’t forget to be vulnerable.” Yes, you’re scrappy, you’re tough, you’re a go-getter, but what makes you “Pims” to the people you care about is your sincere desire to connect with people. In this journey, show that authenticity to people. 

Show them more than just the IBS-ridden, bed bug-fearing, musical theater gal. Show them the woman who doesn’t have all the answers, who wants to grow, and who can recognize and work on her shortcomings. Yes, you were waitlisted. Yes, you were a saleswoman and observed countless people at Kellogg grimace at “cold call,” but those things will make you stand out.

In many ways, you are privileged. For how much imposter syndrome you feel, know that there are people sitting next to you who may feel it even more. Take the bids others extend to you, be kind and be you. 

Still,
Little baby Katie 


Read next: Charting your MBA path: Helpful tips from the Class of 2024