Drive Time Podcast: Sophie Gao (’20), Amazon, Finance Leadership Development Program

About this episode

Sophie Gao shares her journey from China to the U.S., her experiences at UCLA Anderson, and her new role at Amazon.

Growing up in China, Sophie Gao dreamed of an American experience. Her father made sacrifices to pursue becoming a medical doctor, and Sophie followed his work-hard example to get herself to the U.S. for college and career. She completed her Anderson MBA while living and working in Arizona and, distance notwithstanding, served as a FEMBA Council member and tutor. She was an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion student representative and, in 2020, she co-founded the nonprofit Humans of Wuhan to educate people and diminish racism. Through on-campus recruiting, she landed a new job at Amazon she’ll start right after graduation. Her advice for incoming FEMBA students? “Be ready to have fun. Be ready to be open-minded.” 0:00​ – Intro 7:55​ – My American Dream 13:53​ – Network, Chris Thompson, Director of Admissions Operations, UCLA Anderson culture 18:51​ – My OG Flex (Hybrid) section (commute from AZ) 20:21​ – Anderson Halloween 21:53​ – Dodgers game and Global Access Program Company Launch 25:55​ – FEMBA takes over Las Vegas 41:42​ – Career: two new companies, Shutterfly and Amazon; Support from FEMBA Career Services (Pam, Susan, Jackee and the team) 51:32​ – Final thoughts for entering…

People in this episode

Host: Dylan Stafford

Guest: Sophie Gao

Topics covered

• Career Development
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Networking
• Education
• Personal Growth

Keywords

• MBA
• FEMBA
• Amazon
• Diversity
• Career Services
• Networking
• Nonprofit
• Education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Amazon, UCLA Anderson, Humans of Wuhan, FEMBA, Shutterfly

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