2018 Best & Brightest: Micky Wolf, University of Texas (McCombs)

Micky Wolf

University of Texas (McCombs)

Intellectually curious social entrepreneur and the ultimate people’s person who believes in every person’s potential.”

Fun fact about yourself: I have researched in a positive psychology lab to better understand happiness and how people find meaning in their jobs

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

High School: Winston Churchill High School

Major: Business Honors Program, Plan II Honors, and Psychology

Favorite Business Course: Management 337H

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

Student Government Student Body Vice President (17-Present), University-Wide Representative (16-17)    Social Entrepreneurship Learning LabCo-Founder; sellfellowship.org (17-Present)

Texas for Expanding Opportunity 501(c)(3) Co-Founder, Co-President (15-17)

Student Consulting Initiative Client Relations/Publicity Chair (16-17); Pro-bono Consultant (15-16)

Texas Leaders Co-Director (16-17), Co-Founder, Founding Speakers Coordinator (15-16)     

Jagriti Yatra Business Plan Team CEO – Participant; 12 locations, India       Winter 2016 – Winter 2017

8000 km train journey with 400+ Indians to meet social and business entrepreneurs to build India through enterprise; only American

Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity Philanthropy Chair (Fall 15), IFC Rep (Spring 16), Social & Rush Assistant (14-15)

Well-Being in Context Positive Psychology LabResearch Assistant; Austin, Texas

Camp KesemCounselor for youth whose parents have cancer                                                                                      

Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation1 of 10 Inaugural Fellows, Case Studies Chair                    Spring 2015 – Spring 2017

UT Austin Forty Acres Scholar – Merit-Based Scholarship; 17 selected from 30,000+ applicants              Spring 2014 – Present

Texas Exes President’s Leadership Award – Recognizes 3 seniors for outstanding leadership at UT        Fall 2017

Undergraduate Research Fellowship – Grant to study happiness and social entrepreneurship                Fall 2016 – Fall 2017

Where have you interned during your college career?

TrendKiteBusiness & Financial Analytics Intern; Austin, Texas

The Purpose Institute Analyst Intern; Austin, Texas

Verb Marketing & Research Intern; Austin, Texas

Community First! Village – Library Fundraiser; Austin, Texas

Where will you be working after graduation? Undecided; generally working in startups or social entrepreneurship either through Venture for America Fellowship, Venture Capital, Impact Investing etc.

Who is your favorite professor? My favorite professor is Sekou Bermiss. He was my management professor, and someone I have gone to for life advice along the way. Furthermore, he kept his class extremely engaging throughout its entirety.

What did you enjoy most about your business school? I loved the people I met there. Everyone was driven and ambitious, yet collaborative and possessing a heart for service. I definitely have made some of my closest friends in McCombs.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? I’ve learned that business gives you a grasp of the networking, communication skills, and relationship building that can be so key to your career.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Explore which hard skills match your personality. If you can stomach something more technical, go for it. I think you can add a lot of value immediately out of school with an especially technical business major such as MIS or Finance. That said, I think people should be looking for entrepreneurial majors where they exist.

“If I didn’t major in business, I would be majoring in or studying…Psychology and Plan II. Plan II because I love the honors program’s mantra of “an education for life, not a living” and focus on providing you a well-rounded knowledge base. Psychology because of my passion for positive psychology and search to understand people. If I had to do it over again, I would major in engineering to gain hard skills that would be valuable in a tech startup from day 1.”

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I think I have been surprised by what it doesn’t cover. For example, some companies are looking for people with more technical backgrounds right out of school. Even though business has taught me so much, I am surprised that it is not every job’s perfect major.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? This is an interesting question, and one that I think has a few key answers. First, the Business Honors Program and McCombs at the University of Texas is one of the best business programs in the country. I wasn’t set on coming to Texas or studying business at other schools, but I knew studying BHP at UT was a difficult program to beat. Second, both of my parents have business backgrounds and that inevitably served as a huge influence on my thinking. Third, my natural skillsets fit the business world best.

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I am most proud of being able to serve as Student Body Vice President of my University. The University of Texas is a place I have loved for as long as I can remember. To be able to give back to it in this way and serve it so thoroughly has meant the world. I have been driven by my love for UT and hope of leaving it a better place for Longhorns in the future.

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the business school? I would increase students’ exposure to Corporate Social Responsibility and especially to social entrepreneurship. I think it is really important that students begin to see business as an avenue to solve social problems.

Which classmate do you most admire? I really admire Juan Saez because he has worked extremely hard to excel at UT, and use business as an avenue to improving the world. We initially served together as representatives in Student Government, and he is the only person I have ever heard of who transferred from our School of Undergraduate Studies to the Business Honors Program. He also brought a ton of passion to Texas for expanding opportunity, and I was proud to pass the baton to him as our President. He set his mind on working for a top consulting firm, and is going to McKinsey next year with a vision for moving into the social impact space in the future.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? My mom. She has worked absolutely tirelessly to ensure that my brothers and I were fully supported in whatever we wanted to do. She always instilled the confidence in me that I could take on the world, and then worked hard to ensure my dreams and goals could be achieved. Without her support and help on many of the projects I took on growing up, I know that I would not be as prepared or confident to set the highest of ambitions at UT and in the real world.

What would your theme song be? I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts because I aspire to be a loyal friend, and love the friends around me. Oh Mickey You’re So Fine is a close second.

What are the top two items on your bucket list? To write a book and go to outer space at some point in my lifetime.

Favorite book: Give & Take by Adam Grant

Favorite movie: Kicking and Screaming

Favorite vacation spot: Generally historic cities as opposed to the beach or mountain

What are your hobbies? Sports, freestyle rapping, and student government

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

“Micky devotes time and energy to projects for which he will receive absolutely no credit.  He does things because he hopes they will improve the world, not to add a line to his resume. Micky is a special young man who does the right things for the right reasons.”

Robert Prentice
Chair of Business, Government and Society Department
Director of the Business Honors Program (BHP)

DON’T MISS: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST BUSINESS MAJORS OF 2018 — THE COMPLETE LIST

 

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