No, of course I’m not still mad about it.

I think I can speak for everyone who applied to Harvard Business School (HBS) last year that we were all thrown off by the radical changes made to the application last year. The new HBS Admissions Director introduced a new set of admission criteria and rewrote the essay questions to reflect they were looking for students who are business-minded, leadership-focused and growth-oriented. Personally, I was already overwhelmed by being the first to write the new GMAT and now I would also be in the pilot group for a new set of essays at a school where the acceptance rate is only 13%.

Having spent countless hours over a 3 month period churning out these essays, it was beyond disheartening to receive the rejection email. Whilst I can’t speak for what the Admissions Committee is looking for, hopefully this gives a sense of what they’re not looking for. Fortunately the odds were in my favour at Wharton, where I was luckily admitted to the Lauder MBA/MA program, you can read those essays here.

Business-Minded: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you strive to make on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve.

“We will make a plan” – the traditional Zimbabwean response to adversity.

Growing up in Zimbabwe was a lesson in tenacity. An unreliable electricity supply? Get the diesel generator running so the lights stay on all night. Taps running dry? Sink boreholes into the ground to get access to water. My childhood is littered with lessons in perseverance, the most memorable being a masterclass in digital innovation that opened my eyes to the power of technology in solving societal problems.

On the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar after the 2008 hyperinflation crisis, there was a severe shortage of cash. Never deterred, crafty Zimbabweans did what we always do – came up with a plan. If we couldn’t exchange money physically, why not exchange money digitally? In a matter of weeks, a rapid transformation swept across the country: the adoption of mobile money payments.

Throughout my career, I’ve sought opportunities to use technology to enhance people’s daily lives. As we know, social media has exposed young people to new dangers. At Meta I worked to identify cyber-bullying patterns to ensure Instagram could be a safer space for teens. JPMorgan Chase offers multiple tools to empower customers to reach their financial goals. I’ve been leading a project to personalise the digital experience in order to deliver customers the best solution for their specific financial need.

As the world becomes increasingly digitised, I aspire to continue building technological solutions to societal problems. I envision myself at the forefront of product development in the Tech industry, building digital products that will level the playing field by closing the educational gap in the developing world. As technological development surges ahead, I want to ensure the developing world is not left behind and has the same access to the tools that are shaping the future of our world.

Leadership-Focused: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become?

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Arriving on Penn’s campus as a freshman is daunting but leaving the safety of the dorms to go hiking on the Appalachian trail is downright unnerving. Asked to leave cell-phones and watches behind, forgo showering for 4 days and carry a trowel on hand for whenever nature calls, the freshmen were bound to be nervous. One of the greatest joys of serving as a PennQuest leader is ensuring those timid freshmen emerge from the woods ready to take on the next 4 years. On trail, I strived to boost the group’s spirits through lightning storms, nose bleeds and bear sightings. Back on campus, I was there for them as they navigated tough breakups, failed internship applications and dealt with homesickness.

I take pride in enabling people to be their best selves – their success is my success. As an iXperience teaching assistant, I invested personally in my students’ success: referring students for jobs within my personal network, simulating interviews and mentoring them through their internships.

This style of empathetic leadership will allow me to gain a deep understanding of the needs of the communities I hope to serve. I aim to continue developing this leadership style and become a Technology leader who builds empowered teams that can innovate together. I desire to be the kind of leader who inspires teams to succeed but can also support them through failure.

Growth-Oriented: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth.

“Ich bin ein Berliner”

I have always considered myself a Francophile. Packing up to spend a semester in Lyon, I looked forward to quietly assimilating into life in France. A blistering heatwave hit Lyon and my new friend Kathy was clad in a long-sleeved black dress with 6-inch platform boots. Over the next few weeks as our friendship blossomed and she regaled tales of her hometown, Berlin, I became painfully aware of my ignorance of post-Cold War Berlin.

Curious, I ventured to the heart of Europe. It was whilst being escorted out of the Deutsches Historisches Museum for lingering past closing time that I realised I had been converted to a Berlinophile. I became enamoured with a city that was bold enough to have reinvented itself time and time again. Berliners, especially Kathy, fearlessly expressed themselves. They truly didn’t care what others thought of them. Eager to learn more, I enrolled in a course on the history, politics and culture of Berlin upon returning to Penn.

Berlin taught me to embrace eccentricity: I felt so emboldened that I scandalised the more conservative Munich by wearing the men’s traditional lederhosen to Oktoberfest, in lieu of the dirndl which women are expected to wear. Berlin taught me to be bold in stating my opinion: I don’t hesitate to speak up at work, even when mine is the only dissenting voice in the room.

I have only Kathy to thank for sparking this curiosity, danke schön, meine Berliner Freundin.