Who would’ve thought, attending Marketing and Management Information Systems classes in term 2 of my SFU MBA Program would be so intrinsically rewarding? It was February 2013, and two elite professors in our MBA program assigned the students a social media project worth 50% of our overall mark. We were asked to design a social media strategy for a local nonprofit. Our group chose the Marpole Place Neighborhood House- a local nonprofit neighborhood house that helps at- risk individuals, seniors and families by providing food, community programs and ultimately a safe environment. Our group was determined to create a plan that reduced the isolation of seniors living alone in Marpole, a neighborhood in Vancouver. It was a typical rainy, cold, grey Vancouver day, when the 4 members of my group stood outside the Marpole library and designed a “web” of coloured yarn to symbolize both the physical community connections and the Internet’s interconnected web. We asked passerby’s to write their names on papers to hang onto the yarn. We, in return, explained the purpose of Forever Connected (a plan to reduce the isolation of seniors in the area) and passed out recipe cards with our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe as well as Marpole’s social media contact information. We were determined to find a way to reach out to seniors who wouldn’t necessarily be online and to reach their influencers- friends, family, anyone walking in the area that could share information about the Marpole Neighborhood Place House. The project quickly surpassed the objectives on the syllabus and became something personal to each one of us. We had media coverage, the support of the SFU faculty, as well as our entire SFU cohort. This was just one example of how courses in this program go beyond learning theories in a classroom or from a textbook. The SFU MBA program is about application in the real world and how we as individuals can impact the community we live in through our learnings at the SFU Beedie School of Business.
Negar Hadavi is an MBA candidate with experience as a Buyer and a Product Manager in Retail in the Fashion, Beauty and Consumer Products Industries, specifically with L’Oreal Canada and the Aldo Group out East. She has a reputation in buying a profitable collection for Aldo stores and successfully launching cosmetic products in the Canadian market. While at SFU, Negar is part of the SFU Graduate Business Student Council as an MBA Class representative, as well as one of five members selected to represent SFU at the International Business Ethics Case Competition. An avid traveller, while completing her undergraduate degree at UBC Commerce, Negar was fortunate enough to spend a semester studying abroad at the Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy. Follow her on Twitter @negarhadavi