WiLPower at UC Davis

Excited to quench my insatiable appetite for getting involved with the UC Davis MBA community, I couldn't help but commit to attending the 2009 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Sacramento with the Women in Leadership (WiL) team at Davis. I met the president of WiL at the campus' Preview Day event months earlier prior to my acceptance and she was super cool. As such, I was invited to join their Team WiLPower on the day before Mother's Day to walk/run for a great cause. Of course, how could I refuse such an invitation, right?

Here's a picture of those of us who bravely woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning to join thousands of others in the fight for a cure against breast cancer. Many thanks to Jackie (WiL's co-pres) for bringing her camera along to document our smiley faces.
It was such an awesome event! I had a great time and it was quite touching to witness all the honorees and survivors walking/running alongside me. Surprisingly, there were plenty of men amidst the massive sea of pink and they couldn't be more proud. Afterwards, I wandered through the race expo and even got a chance to get my free body fat testing completed. I'm also happy to report I'm in the normal range, so whoo hoo! for that.

It's pretty neat to be immersed in a team environment again. Since all of Team WiLPower were finishing up the 1st year of their MBA, they were more than happy to shower me with really helpful advice on making the most of my experience and still maintaining my academic rigor. I guess it all boils down to finding a balance--much like everything else in life.

I was also excited to speak with one of the students who had attended the Net Impact Conference at Wharton last year and he encouraged me to put that on my calendar for 2009 since it's happening at Cornell's Johnson School (little does he know I've already beat him to the punch!). I've got a meeting lined up tomorrow with the president of the working professional Net Impact chapter at UCD to strategize our community involvement plans for next year. I'm thrilled she's given me the opportunity to really help build this fledgling chapter of NI since this kind of thing is right up my alley. Earlier in the week, I saw Wicked in San Francisco and conveniently used the night to also network with some non-profit gurus in the bay..how's that for efficiency?! (BTW: If you are in the bay, go see Wicked...it's just wickedly addictive!)

Right before drafting this post, I also stumbled upon Andrew Choi's top 10 advice for incoming MBA students. I'm happy to note that I'll probably be checking off 4 of those from my own list. So, thanks Andrew for thinking of us who are still on the brink of embarking on our MBA goals. I know you can expect plenty more from my side, so stay tuned:)