The phrase ‘it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon’ is something that I hold near and dear. Since my early teens, I’ve been a competitive endurance athlete. To this day, mornings and weekends are often filled with athletics. While not directly tied to academia, I have found that it is a critical outlet to gain fresh perspective and reflect.
Much like running a marathon, how to pursue the challenging agenda of global supply chain management is quite the opposite of a box-checking exercise. Solution development in today’s increasingly complex global stage requires consistent effort, innovation, and multi-disciplinary collaboration, which is why I ultimately decided on MIT’s Supply Chain Management blended Master program.
Following my undergraduate career across various natural science disciplines from biomedical research at UNC Chapel Hill, to drinking water quality research in the Galápagos Islands, I knew I didn’t want to simply ‘check any boxes’ for my next career move. As a challenge to the status quo and the inexorable rise of my parents’ blood pressure, I did, ironically, check a box on an admittance computer screen that determined my next two years. One suitcase and a hiking backpack later, I headed to Ethiopia to serve as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching English to high school students.
I often reflect on my time in the Peace Corps and note that these were some of the hardest times I will likely endure, but the two most precious. While the experiences provided significant challenges, they also brought a unique understanding of what I was, and continue to be, most passionate about – partnering with others, no matter the geographical location, to create a more sustainable and equitable environment for today, and many generations to come.
A couple of years ago, following the completion of a Master of Environmental Management, I stepped, rather blindly, into a new challenge. Leaning into a mentor’s guidance, I made a career pivot that was uncharted territory, and not directly aligned with my previous academic or professional training. Despite contributing to several organizations’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs, I hadn’t had the opportunity to collaborate directly with value chain partners. Innovating within the foodservice industry to drive a more sustainable packaging supply chain has resulted in incredibly challenging, yet rewarding, years.
Simultaneously, to support my understanding of supply chain management and related functions, MIT’s MicroMasters program far exceeded my expectations. What started as a strategy to build on my environmental management background to bridge my knowledge to supply chain management, analysis, and systems thinking, evolved into so much more. Ultimately, the blended Master program was the right fit following completion of the MicroMasters, as it allowed me to continue to focus on sustainable sourcing initiatives, before moving this past January. After tackling an 18-hour car trip and digging myself out of several inches of snow in the frozen tundra, otherwise known as Cambridge, I couldn’t be surer in the choice of the program!
