2021 Best & Brightest Business Major: Chloe Jenkins, Purdue University (Krannert)

Chloe Jenkins

Purdue University, Krannert School of Management

“I enjoy being “on the go,” because I find it hard to say “no.”

Fun fact about yourself: I really dislike texting! I prefer phone calls any day.

Hometown:  Zionsville, Indiana

High School: Zionsville Community High School

Major: General Management

Minor: Data Analytics

Favorite Business Course: Introduction to Python, MGMT 288

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

  1. FEMbassador for Purdue’s Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management (Senior)
  2. Purdue’s Women in Business Organization
  3. President (Junior)
  4. Vice President of Professional Development (Sophomore)
  5. Professional Development Associate (Freshman)
  6. Indianapolis Leadership Program Bible Study Leader, Campus Outreach Organization
  7. Purdue’s Rising Professionals Club Host
  8. Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority
  9. Philanthropy Committee
  10. By-Laws Committee
  11. Family-weekend Coordinator
  12. Recruitment Committee
  13. Best Buddies club member
  14. City of God Church member
  15. Hospitality team
  16. Children’s day-care volunteer
  17. Class of 1937 Scholarship
  18. Barbara Cook Chapter of Mortar Board Class of 2021 Nomination

Where have you interned during your college career?

  1. Amazon, Remote (Southern California), Area Manager Intern
  2. John Deere, Moline IL (Headquarters), North American Metal Fabrication Supply Chain Intern
  3. Presence Academy consulting, Southern California, Project Management Intern

Where will you be working after graduation? Amazon Logistics, Area Manager

What company do you admire most? I am biased – I admire Amazon because of the long-term goal Jeff Bezos had in order to be successful. Patience is something I must work on. Amazon’s ability to endure years of profit loss before being the powerhouse they are today is the best example of patience. Other than being the most customer-centric company you will come across, their initiatives to serve our world in the pandemic, constantly invest in the development of communities, and support small businesses makes them hard to dislike!

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? Trust. I have learned that trust is the foundation of all success. Teams cannot even begin to dive into finding solutions unless they trust one another first. Each member must believe that his or her role is vital to the success of the team; their teammates’ roles are also essential, and lastly, each must trust one another with the responsibility assigned.

Teams that do not trust one another will spend more energy defending themselves from one another, rather than defending themselves from outside threats.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Business skills will be used far more than in the workplace! This major is beneficial because you learn what motivates people – which can transform the way you lead, think, and interact with others!

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? Business is a common major, making competition for club memberships, leadership positions, and jobs grow year-by-year. But when I entered my business courses, got involved in organizations, and connected with business leaders, I found that collaboration is far more valuable than competition. I found that looking at my student peers as partners rather competitors would give me the opportunity to learn from them, create new ideas, build new networks, and solve problems faster. You can thrive in business by not being the best at everything, but recognizing where you are weak and finding that as a strength in others.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why?

My freshman year, I was very performance-focused. I studied night-and-day, Monday-Friday, with the belief that my calculus grade would prove my worthiness for an internship. But instead, it left me constantly anxious about grades and fixated on myself. I lost opportunities early on in my college career to connect with professors, learn from other students, and network with business professionals. I found that your leadership experiences are far more valuable than your test scores. It was a learning moment for sure, but having not gone through it, I wouldn’t have learned the importance of relationships today!

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I enjoyed being the President of Purdue’s Women in Business Organization the most because it is where our WIB team was able to implement the biggest change AND see the results of our work within other’s lives. After having attended the BIG Ten WIB conference at Penn State, I was inspired to take the most successful strategies I learned from the other BIG Ten schools and implement them back at Purdue.

Our 2019-2020 WIB Executive team gave Purdue’s WIB a makeover by creating the following: a four-tier organizational structure with roles to every member; a new point system awarding credit to members participating in Krannert’s development opportunities; internal mentorship programs, onboarding committees, new recruiting techniques resulting in 75% increase in membership; transition to digital application processes and marketing methods that resulted in company sponsorships, event collaborations with other Krannert organizations to reach audiences outside of WIB, and partnerships with academic departments and diversity and inclusion initiatives…. and much more! Referring to the “trust” I mentioned earlier, it was trust that allowed our team to complete each of these projects. We wanted to see one another succeed. Most importantly, we wanted to empower the women in our organization with confidence to reach their full potential. Furthermore, our organization has helped Krannert recruit and retain female business students! It will take these small steps at the collegiate level to create students that will lead gender-equal workplaces.

Which classmate do you most admire? Yana Petrova. Yana is business student from Russia who joined WIB last year. I had the honor of being her “mentor” when she joined WIB (even though her life experiences are far beyond mine). Yana has a unique and genuine curiosity about her. She is always wanting to “learn more” and “understand why.” As soon as she joined WIB, she volunteered constantly for projects and was always a reliable teammate. She never uses her differing culture as an excuse to not adapt to American environments, but has an admirable humility to always ask questions to overcome cultural barriers. As involved as she is, she willingly took hours of her week to tutor me in Python – this shows her selflessness and service attitude. She is model student at Purdue whom I have been blessed to meet.

Who would you most want to thank for your success?

My mom. Not because she is a businesswoman with whom I could talk strategy. No, she has modeled how to love others. It was my mom who taught me what love was – serving others even when it is least convenient for you. My default is to treat others well who have treated me well, serve those who will serve me, and invest time in those who will help me to get ahead – I am human. But not my mom—she humbly and quietly serves her family, patients, and strangers because she understands what love is. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. This model has made me successful in business because it has taught me to identify the needs of others and given me passion to help them.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

  1. Return to academia as a teacher – I love college campuses too much!
  2. Retire (ha!)

What are your hobbies? My favorite time each week is with my Bible study group. I love to try new food and cook – my roommates are no longer phased by the burning smells at our apartment. Since having moved to California, I have tried surfing (unsuccessfully) and grown a love for hot yoga!

What made Chloe such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“I give my strongest support for Chloe and believe you could not find a better student or leader on campus. She is motivated to succeed, has the unique ability to work well with everyone she meets, has strong critical thinking skills, and is able to solve any problem she encounters.

My knowledge of Chloe began in the fall semester of 2019 at Purdue University. Chloe was serving as the president of our Women in Business undergraduate student organization and asked to set up a meeting to discuss the possibility that I would serve as the organization’s advisor. We set up a brief phone meeting to discuss her vision for the organization, and the role the next advisor would play. One phone call is all it took. I quickly saw a passion unrivaled by any other student I had ever encountered (and I have taught thousands). She had a clear plan on how to move the organization forward, to be more active on campus, and become more inclusive with its membership. She knew exactly what she needed from an advisor and the role that individual would play. And she had an answer to every single question I asked. She was prepared for every possible discussion, and if she wasn’t prepared, then she had an amazing ability to think on her feet without skipping a beat. But this was just the beginning to the Chloe I would get to know over the next year. She would continue to wow me in every interaction and conversation we would have (and still have).

My most notable interaction and “wow-est” (if you allow me to use that word) moment with Chloe came about in the spring semester of this past year. I had recently become the new director of the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management at Purdue and was tasked with realigning the center to become more student-focused in its purpose. Our administration wanted a center that had more interaction with students and focused more on preparing them for the workforce. But this had to be done while also undergoing a reduction in staff and funding. This was not an easy problem to solve.

I was meeting with Chloe to discuss the role that the Women in Business (WIB) group could play in the center, whether we could plan some initiatives that would create overlap in our programming, fulfilling both the administration’s wishes, and my desire to incorporate more women into the center. Chloe, without hesitation, provided an eloquent and simple solution to my problem. She proposed the creation of a branch of WIB that would be dedicated to the center. This branch would be responsible for helping with our marketing and social media accounts, programming and staffing center events, and requiring 70+ WIB members to attend all events. It was a solution that satisfied all the stakeholders – more interaction with students, increased programming for the center, and all at a reduced financial cost. It was genius.

But that is who Chloe is. There is no problem too big for her to solve. There is no hurdle that she cannot overcome. And I know that she will outperform any expectations you set for her, because she truly is a superstar.

Chloe’s presence on campus is energizing. She has held multiple leadership roles in our community and is involved in almost every event or program at Krannert. She empowers those around her to do their best, and both the Brock-Wilson Center and Krannert have gained so much through her leadership and energy.

To date, I have supervised over a hundred college students in various assistantship and leadership roles, and taught thousands in a variety of courses at colleges and universities of all sizes. I can definitely say without a doubt that I believe Chloe is, hands down, one of the best students I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Additionally, I believe that no other student deserves the title of best and brightest more than Chloe Jenkins.”

Meara Habashi
Director
Purdue University’s Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management

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