2018 Best & Brightest: Gyda Sumadi, Babson College

Gyda Sumadi

Babson College

“A traveler who loves to stay at home.”

Fun fact about yourself: During the summer following my sophomore year, Babson funded me to explore the flourishing entrepreneurial spirit of Morocco. The Glavin Global Fellows program facilitated this opportunity through their grant that funds Fellows to pursue experiences that will enhance their critical thinking on global and multicultural issues. I ate tagine and drank Moroccan tea every night, as I met with professors and entrepreneurs, learning about the challenges and successes of their startups. I learned that the biggest struggle in Morocco is finding incubators and proper mentorship. I traveled to areas spanning from the major cities to the desert to hear these stories and provided my own insight about entrepreneurship and my Babson experience.

Hometown: Canton, MA

High School: Canton High School

Major: Business Administration

Minor: Finance

Favorite Business Course: One of my favorite business courses at Babson was Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE). This was a great opportunity to work with the graduate school, as well as industry professionals. During this opportunity, I was able to consult for Fidelity Investments to help them create a digital strategy that would make their brand resonate more with millennials. I enjoyed this class so much that I became a client! I enticed Dunkin Brands, my post-grad employer, to take a group of student consultants and expose them to the difficulty of rebranding a company. Each and every company that participates in MCFE gives so much responsibility to the students and that speaks volumes to how rigorous yet impactful the course is.

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College: Formerly, I was a MoneyThink mentor, where I travelled to lower income after-school programs to foster passion for personal finance and pioneer leading approaches for providing an equitable future for all students. I explored my passion for professional development formerly as Peer Career Ambassador for Babson’s Undergraduate Center for Career Development, where I communicated career related resources and conducted peer to peer advising. Currently, I am a Diversity Scholar where I help set the stage for a multicultural and diverse atmosphere, while championing the differences at Babson as learning opportunities. Most recently, I am a co-president of the Muslim Student Association, where I provide a safe and open environment that allows any Babson community member to participate in learning about Islam, regardless of race, religion or culture.

Where have you interned during your college career? During the summer after my freshman year, I interned at Dunkin Brands on the Development and Operations team within the finance department, and I stayed part-time with them throughout my sophomore year. In the summer following my sophomore year, I was with Boston Scientific in Global Operations Finance. I then explored a tech consulting internship part-time during my junior year. This introduction to tech led me into implementation consulting with Clarkston Consulting, for a life sciences client. Lastly, I explored human resources management with Carbon Black. All of these experiences were Boston-based, except for Clarkston which had me travelling between Boston and North Carolina. My goal throughout college has been to gain experiences in where I have a weakness, and these internships were the best challenge.

Where will you be working after graduation? I will be working with Dunkin Brands as a Financial Management Analyst in a hybrid role in development, operations, and strategy. I am working part-time with them until I graduate in May.

Who is your favorite professor? I am fortunate to have many favorite professors at Babson. Professor Cheryl Kirschner peaked my interest in pursuing law in the future, Professor Dana Greenberg fostered my passion to be a leader and entrepreneur, and Professor Jason Mohaghegh inspired me to not take everything I see at face value. Babson has a dynamic faculty, especially considering that we take liberal arts classes along with our business education.

What did you enjoy most about your business school? I have most enjoyed all of the opportunities to gain hands on experience and working with a diverse team. Babson funds freshmen to start their own business through the Foundation of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course, and offers students the chance to solve current business problems through classes such as the Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE) program. Engaging in these two opportunities has put me steps ahead in the competitive business world.

“If I didn’t major in business, I would be majoring in or studying…medicine to work in psychiatry.”

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? What surprised me most is how you can turn any idea into a business. I was surprised to learn that you don’t always have to recreate the wheel, sometimes you just need to make the wheel stronger or larger.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My family was the biggest influence for me. I come from a long line of entrepreneurs. My father’s family had many businesses around the Middle East. In fact, my two other siblings also studied business! The environment around me encouraged me to think about solutions and strategic differentiation. I used to keep a notebook of “inventions” that popped into my mind!

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I am most proud of my Diversity Leadership Scholarship and my Glavin Global Fellow Award. Both of these programs have supported me in the last four years as I have learned, traveled, failed, succeeded, smiled, and achieved.

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the business school? If I were dean for a day, I would create a special program that would allow budding entrepreneurs to receive credit for working on their entrepreneurial ventures. This course would be structured by giving entrepreneurs the space and the mentorship they need. In order to add more of a classroom setting, each business would have a mentor or “professor” who meets with the businesses during a reoccurring time block and creates deliverables/goals for the teams to meet. I think the hybrid structure would contribute to reducing the number of students who drop out of college because they can’t spend time on their startups.

Which classmate do you most admire? During my time at Babson I have befriended every type of student I could find, the: entrepreneur, traveler, investment banker, global scholar, diversity leader, resident assistant, and the list can go on. Each and every one of these personalities has positively affected me and the individuals who have influenced me greatly know how much I admire them. There are too many great leaders at Babson to list them all!

Who would you most want to thank for your success? I want to thank my parents. They are the inspiration behind everything- they taught me to “put myself in service of others” and they instilled my meticulous mindset. These core components of my upbringing very much shaped my approach to life.

What would your theme song be? “Good Life” by Kanye because the song centers around his desire to work hard to achieve success and happiness, what he says is the “Good Life”. It is an upbeat song that reminds me that the purpose behind all of my involvement on and off campus is because “I got to shine”, and that shine stems from staying productive, contributing to my community, and building relationships.

What are the top two items on your bucket list?

Experience dog sledding

Travel to Jerez, Spain, and perform in a flamenco show

Favorite book: The Essential Rumi

Favorite movie:  Jungle Book

Favorite vacation spot: South of Spain: Sevilla and Granada

What are your hobbies? Badminton, shopping, cooking, bowling, travelling

What made Gyda such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2018?

“Gyda Sumadi has been an exemplary student and valued employee at Babson College since arriving on campus her first year. Gyda is mature, entrepreneurial, and has clearly excelled in her academic, experiential, and paraprofessional pursuits.

Gyda has served as one of the Undergraduate Center for Career Development Peer Career Ambassadors, a frontline student staff member and peer advisor on topics including resume writing, internship search resources, interviewing, and the career development process.  Gyda has actively contributed in marketing and promoting the Center’s services, and delivering advice to underclassmen from her own collegiate experiences and insight as a student leader.  Her welcoming demeanor and gracious personality has been a welcome asset both in and outside of the classroom.

Gyda offers her services when a project is complete, has the proven ability to work with all campus constituents, serves on student panels, and often volunteers to lead presentations on leadership and multitasking to her peers. Gyda’s work and outgoing nature reflect her maturity and sense of commitment and responsibility in all of her endeavors.

Gyda also exhibits intercultural abilities and real-world skills well beyond those of a typical college student. In addition to her work in the Undergraduate Center for Career Development, Gyda has often traveled abroad, completed internships in strategy, technology research, and global operations consulting, and obtained a selective Diversity Leader scholarship. She also served as part of many student organizations, all while maintaining an impressive GPA with a finance concentration.

As Gyda begins her full-time position as a Financial Management Analyst for Dunkin Brands, I am certain she will continue to uphold the values of Babson College and implement her passion for professional development in all of her future undertakings.”

Lee Goldstein
Associate Director, Counseling
Babson College, Undergraduate Center for Career Development

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