before b-school I was living the
corporate life I was in management
consulting and private equity and I was
a marketer doing all the right things
following the path the way I thought I
had to and I thought I should to be
successful and then I found b-school and
my world opened up in a way that I
didn't even expect possible I am Nicki
innocent and I am a humanity activist
that believes in the power of shared
humanity I went to an undergraduate
school that was focused on business I
would say about 90% of the people their
focus was business finance accounting
all the analytical stuff and I went as a
creative as somebody that was thinking
about writing and psychology and so to
me marketing made that happen and I have
an amazing background in business and
the analytical side of things but I had
found that the path that I took made a
lot of the creative the warmth the
spread your wings kind of stuff become
very process-oriented
and B school gave me the opportunity to
really translate the business knowledge
that I had into the fact that creativity
and the entrepreneurial space can really
embrace both of those two worlds
together I had seen a very specific path
and I was following it and it didn't
feel like it fit me and B school gave me
the opportunity to witness the stories
and experiences of others that were
breaking the mold and doing things
outside of the lane that I thought was
the right path and the right way forward
and so b-school specifically gave me the
confidence that I belonged as me that to
embrace my creativity still was just as
viable as being really good at an Excel
spreadsheet when I was in b-school I was
still working a full-time job and I had
no vision specifically of what I would
do next and it really gave me the
opportunity to take a pause breathe and
really take off kind of the whole
business casual vibe and be just me and
really explore what else is out there
for me to express myself and my gifts in
the way that I I could do it best
I am so proud of the work I've done
personally internally that has allowed
me to show up as fully myself every day
in b-school but also in just this
process of getting to know myself I
understand that sales if it's done
authentically or you're speaking about
something you really believe in there is
none of that icky feeling so to be able
to truly embrace who you are and
understand that like you are here
because you are meant to live the life
that you were put here to be and not to
be someone else and not to be someone
else's palatable version of a human you
are meant to find yourself embrace
yourself and really learn where you can
shine b-school helped me create a
business and a life that I love thank
you
[Music]