United States - Publications - Faculty & Research

Portrait Project

Lily Hayes Kaufman

It is the first punch of the night, and it is an absolute knockout. "7-8-9-10." I am a champion. My arm is raised above my six-foot body. Well, not exactly. I am 5'2½" at the time of this event, I am 17, and I am a girl. When I showed up to boxing the... View Details

Portrait Project

Liz Delozier

My grandpa jumped out of his school’s window in eighth grade and never went back. His diploma is a plaque that hangs in the back of his cluttered workshop. It reads, “Special Services to General Motors, Fisher Plant, 1959.” He saved them $100,000 dollars that year with... View Details

Portrait Project

Laurent Chenot

When I was a child, I wanted to be an actor, a secret agent, a novelist, a mathematician, a psychoanalyst, a magician and maybe, live in the jungle with gorillas. I soon had to face one of life's saddest truths: so much freedom, so many desires, and yet, so little... View Details

Portrait Project

Lisa Bourne

I want to "dream out loud." Bono said it best at U2's now famous New Year's Night concert in 1989 Dublin. Because every fiber of my soul dances to music at all times, I can respond to this question only by referring to music. I want to surround myself with... View Details

Portrait Project

Kathy Yuh

“So, where are you from?” is my most dreaded question. Given how many times I’ve been asked this – at hair salons making small talk, on first dates breaking awkward silence, at HBS Admit Weekend exchanging practiced intros – I should have the answer down cold. But I... View Details

Profile

Kimball Thomas

In the third grade, Kimball Thomas sold chocolate-chip cookies door-to-door to save money for the bicycle he wanted. In college, his logistical and travel-arrangement skills were put to a higher test: as a White House intern for the Office of Scheduling and Advance.... View Details

Portrait Project

Kathleen Schlaff

You never ever know what is around the corner. No matter how well planned I thought my life was, it really threw me a few curve balls this year. When my aunt called me last summer to tell me that my father, who I adore, had unexpectedly fallen into a coma, I'd never... View Details

Profile

Kwame Owusu-Kesse

By his own description, Kwame grew up within challenging circumstances: "a single-parent household, the child of immigrants from Ghana trying to find their way in America." But he also found drive and purpose at an early age. In high school, he sold T-shirts... View Details

Portrait Project

Katy Lankester

I spent most of my childhood in a place that cared a lot about appearances. The 'pretty' girls were thin and went to extraordinary lengths to stay that way. I didn't want to go on 'celery diets' – I wanted to be an athlete; I wanted to be strong. So I was a contrarian.... View Details

Portrait Project

Kasia Biezychudek

My parents would not allow the weight of the iron curtain to hide my stage. Suitcase in hand, they uprooted their lives in Poland and started over to give my brother Piotr and me opportunities they never had. With each experience I appreciate more the choices and... View Details

Portrait Project

Joshua Wyatt

One day, I will welcome people as they check-in to my hotels. OK, my hotel empire is but a single apartment now, but one day I will be able to take care of people; people who come from all over the world with many different views, hopes, dreams and desires. It is this... View Details

Portrait Project

Jamie Wilkie

When I was 10, my dad and I bought a run-down 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with the hopes of restoring the forgotten antique. Every Saturday, we’d work for hours on the engine and body while we listened to Van Morrison and my dad smoked cigars. We tore through moldy seating,... View Details

Portrait Project

Jialei Tian

Live in fear of failure – unable to wholeheartedly realize my potentials and relentlessly pursue my dream. My first experience of failure took place when I was in the third grade. Two weeks after winning a spot in a school show, I was asked, in front of the entire... View Details

Profile

Joe Stenger

Why did you choose this path at this point in time? The U.S. Air Force requires pilots to stay on active duty for 10 years after training, so I ended up serving for 13 years. I’m already the oldest student in the MBA program and, honestly, it was now or never. I had... View Details

Profile

Jon Schechter

As an engineer at Amazon Robotics (formerly Kiva Systems), Jon Schechter viewed the future, almost literally, from the ground floor. “We worked on fleets of orange robots that move warehouse inventory,” he explains. “They drive underneath the shelves to find and lift... View Details

Keywords: Tech

Profile

Jason Sanders

At Oxford University, Jason took advantage of his Rhodes Scholarship to supplement his previous education in bioscience with an entirely new discipline: English literature. As a subject area for someone intending to become a physician, the choice might have seemed odd,... View Details

Profile

John Rogers

Portrait Project

Jessica Reid

I'd like to hold many titles throughout my life, MBA, CEO, daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and mother -- but if I had to pick only one, I would choose "Teacher of the Year." Every year in elementary school, we would vote for the teacher of the year. It wouldn't... View Details

Portrait Project

Jaynie Randall

Throw out the three- and five- and ten-year plans. All of them. Wild and precious life happens in the moments that build on each other and take us on a different route than the one we had planned, sometimes better than the plan, sometimes worse. My father lived his... View Details

Portrait Project

Janice Lin

I have an insatiable need for speed. There's never enough time to do everything I'd like, but I aspire to be inhuman and accomplish the maximum within the short time I know is left. I may be entering the finance world again, but I will break free of the achievement... View Details

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