Anjali Bobba

Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

“Live and die by my planner

Color-coded by the hour

Shrug, smile, reschedule.”

Fun fact about yourself: During an internship with Congresswoman Jackie Speier, I drafted an original bill to be presented to Congress.

Hometown: Hillsborough, CA

High School: Crystal Springs Uplands School

Major: Marketing, Management

Minor: Sociology

Favorite Business Course: Luxury Marketing. This class was insightful in helping me understand consumer behavior and the power consumers have to either enhance or dilute brand image. Luxury marketing, in particular, follows several ‘anti-laws’ of marketing, and this course explored the concept of how the rules of marketing can vastly change depending on the product or idea being sold to the consumer.

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College: I have been involved with a multitude of organizations and programs throughout my collegiate career, but three, in particular, had the greatest impact on my learning and development.

During my sophomore year, I was selected for the McDonough School of Business DEI Baker Trust Fellowship. As one of three students chosen, I was given the opportunity to work with faculty to review core undergraduate courses with the purpose of identifying creative ways to include more diverse material, create opportunities for discussions on DEI, and support faculty who are committed to enhancing the ways in which they address these topics. I specifically focused on the accounting and marketing departments and was able to suggest specific materials to the faculty that would aid in the migration of diverse course tools. Now as a senior, it is wonderful to experience Georgetown professors integrating DEI topics into their coursework as I truly believe diversity is an integral part of learning.

I am also heavily involved with a startup founded by my fellow classmate, Stanford Maison. Stan approached me in January of my junior year to spearhead the marketing for his new dating app, Blyss. Most of my work experience had previously been with large companies that operate on a global scale, so I jumped at this opportunity. In this role, I had full autonomy to create a complete marketing plan. I created digital content, analyzed engagement, and implemented strategies based on real, time-sensitive data. Through a plethora of pitch competitions and investor meetings, I was able to gain a holistic understanding of how businesses build a successful foundation. As the company grew, so did my role. I currently manage a marketing team composed of 10 people which has allowed me to develop and fine-tune my own leadership style. Blyss successfully launched in February and was featured on Yahoo Finance as an up-and-coming revolutionary app. I am enthusiastic about the future of Blyss and am grateful to have gained so many skills through this hands-on experience.

As a value-driven and community-oriented individual, I was drawn to Georgetown’s Jesuit commitment to the education of the whole person. The University Honor Council is the principal administrative body tasked with upholding Georgetown’s values. I was appointed to the University Honor Council as a freshman and now sit on the Executive Committee. It has been an honor to have inducted the classes of ‘24, ‘25, and ‘26 into the university by leading the honor pledge at these freshman convocations. It has been a privilege to uphold our Jesuit values and aid my community to strive for excellence in scholarship and in character.

Extracurricular Activities:  

• McDonough Women in Business
• Georgetown Opportunities for Leadership Development
• Hindu Student Association
• McDonough DEI Baker Trust Fellowship
• Honors Senior Thesis

Community Work:

• Georgetown University Student Association, Religious Policy Chair
• McDonough Peer Ambassador
• McDonough Undergraduate Admissions Committee (one of two students appointed)

 Leadership Roles:

Georgetown Marketing Association

• Account Manager, August 2020 – August 2021
• Head of Strategy Department, August 2021 – August 2022
• Chief Financial and Operations Officer, August 2022 – Present

University Honor Council

• Executive Committee, August 2019-August 2022
• President, August 2022-Present

Blyss Dating (student start-up)

• Chief Marketing Officer, January 2021- Present

Where have you interned during your college career?

• Janssen BioPharma; San Francisco, CA; Business Strategy and Operations Intern (Summer 2020)
• Anthony’s Tuxedos; Washington D.C.; Marketing and Data Analytics Intern (2021-2022)
• Janssen BioPharma; San Francisco, CA; Marketing Intern (Summer 2021)
• Cartier; Washington D.C.; Cartier Global Marketing Challenge (2021-2022)
• Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ; Strategic Enablement Intern (Summer 2022)

Where will you be working after graduation? I will be joining Johnson & Johnson’s Human Resources Leadership Development Program. This program consists of three eight-month rotations in various functions within Johnson & Johnson. I was drawn to Johnson & Johnson for both their impact on healthcare and their people-centered culture. I am elated to be joining such a value-driven organization and look forward to contributing to improving health for humanity.

Who is your favorite business professor? My favorite business professor is Rebecca Hamilton. Professor Hamilton is my Honors Senior Thesis advisor and has single-handedly taught me how to write a peer-reviewed academic marketing paper. An advisory position is a voluntary role. In spite of the large time commitment required in addition to her full-time job, Professor Hamilton has dedicated significant time to meet with me on a regular basis. She also has shown great interest in aiding with my extracurricular activities, including creating specialized lectures for the members of my marketing club.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? Effective communication is paramount to success. Communication builds trust and understanding and is crucial for ensuring that needs and goals are met effectively and without conflict. As a business student who often works in groups, I have learned the importance of clarifying goals, expectations, and responsibilities through consistent communication. The skill of relaying information effectively facilitates problem-solving and decision-making while increasing collaboration and productivity.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Business can be an incredibly lucrative field, attracting many who follow the money instead of their genuine passions. My advice would be to explore all aspects of business and decide which facet appeals to you to ensure that it aligns with your goals both professionally and personally.

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? The Georgetown business core requires all students to take at least one class in all five majors: marketing, management, accounting, finance, and operations. Through exploring the basics of all of these fields, I was also able to discover their intersectionality and interdependence. Companies rely on each part of the business to function well independently, but also holistically as one complete unit. Each department relies on the other. There is so much more collaboration in business than I originally believed, and I am thankful I was able to receive introductory knowledge in these multiple areas while at Georgetown.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? The COVID pandemic hit during my freshman year of college. As a result, when I started my junior year, I had spent only one full semester on Georgetown’s campus. As a business student, I would have loved to study abroad to gain hands-on experience with international businesses. Georgetown has phenomenal study-abroad opportunities, but ultimately, I did not want to forgo any additional time on campus. I look forward to pursuing opportunities in global business post-graduation.

What business leader do you admire most? I admire Tricia Griffith, the CEO of The Progressive Corporation. Griffith held prior roles as a claims representative, chief human resources officer, and Progressive’s personal lines chief operating officer. She launched the company’s first-ever diversity and inclusion program and ranks on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women lists. As someone pursuing a career in HR with a focus on DEI, her career path is particularly inspiring to me because it differs from the background of most CEOs. The importance of human resources is often overlooked, but Griffith’s ability to shape the culture at Progressive highlights the correlation between employee satisfaction and bottom-line success.

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I am most proud of the systematic changes I have successfully implemented within the Georgetown Marketing Association (GMA). When I first started in GMA as a strategy consultant during my freshman year, there was very little organization, a poorly defined job structure hierarchy, a lack of community, and a need for stronger team culture. Through various roles in the club, I was able to gain many experiences within the organization to a point where I was able to completely transform the club into the successful organization it is today.

In my freshman year, I was an account manager and implemented sharing both minutes and an agenda highlighting roles and expectations for the upcoming meeting. This format allowed our team to run more efficiently and is now emulated and an expectation of every account manager. The following year, I took on a larger responsibility as the head of the strategy department. I brought in McDonough professors in various disciplines to guide our club members on helpful tools and concepts such as SWOT analysis and the 4 P’s, which they then directly implemented into their project teams. This year as the CFO/COO, I am able to focus mainly on operations and club structure. Through prioritizing transparency in the structure of the club and organizing opportunities for the general members to connect more frequently with the board and with each other, I have been able to witness a complete shift in the culture of the club. I am beyond proud that this organization now provides future marketing professionals opportunities to further their knowledge, experience, and community in such an impactful way.

Which classmate do you most admire? I admire the CEO of the Georgetown Marketing Association (and best friend since my first day on campus), Heidi Chu. Heidi and I worked together to transform GMA, and I could not have done it without her help. Heidi might be the only person I know who is more organized than I am! I admire her commitment to always being both on time and prepared for everything from a board meeting to a girls night out. Heidi received admission into Georgetown Law School as a junior and is not only smart but socially and ethically aware of her surroundings. Above all, she is kind. It is often hard to meet people who are so accomplished but remain humble. Heidi reflects the Jesuit values of people for the service of others, and I greatly admire her tenacity to leave Georgetown better than she found it.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? I would like to thank my mom for giving me the tools and confidence to be where I am today. When I struggled for much of my childhood (it wasn’t until my last year in high school that I was diagnosed with several learning differences), it was my mom who worked with me every night to ensure that I would not fall behind. Witnessing her balance her career and our family since I was an infant, I grew up emulating her holistic approach of having a strong work ethic, internal drive, and a balanced mind. Her unwavering support in all my endeavors is, without a doubt, a big part of my journey and my success today.

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

1. In human resources, I have the ability to touch every part of the business. My goal is to find solutions to solve global healthcare problems through strategic initiatives that will make my organization a well-run business.

2. My mission is to effectively understand, communicate, and lead to ensure that every team I work with and every project I work on is a success.

What are your hobbies? I enjoy hiking and have done so on six continents; however, I especially enjoy exploring the U.S. National Parks. I also go to the gym daily and prioritize taking time to reflect and calm my mind at the end of each day.

What made Anjali such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2023?

“Anjali Bobba cares deeply about making the world a better place, and she is the first to volunteer for activities that have the potential to make it better. I first met Anjali when she served as a Baker Trust DEI Fellow for the McDonough School of Business during the summer of 2021. We would have our weekly meetings with a team of fellows that included both faculty and students passionate about inclusive pedagogy. Anjali shared good ideas with the group, collected relevant teaching materials to share and post on our website, and eloquently communicated her perspective as a student about team formation and class participation. Anjali also served as a student leader in the Georgetown Marketing Association and planned activities to connect students with faculty, such as a workshop I gave on “How to Create Value for Customers.” In addition to connecting students with faculty, the group also played an important role in welcoming students from across campus who wanted to learn more about marketing. Anjali has made Georgetown and the McDonough School of Business better by strengthening our community.

Now that Anjali is a senior, she is busier than ever, juggling her work with a startup, her research for an honors thesis, and, of course, her classes. She already has an amazing job lined up after graduation, so it is clear that she is doing all of these activities for the joy and learning opportunities they bring rather than to add lines to her resume. I have been delighted to work with her on her honors thesis: her eyes light up when we talk about research methods that we can use to test her hypotheses and how managers might learn from our results. Anjali brought her curiosity, openness to learning, and a desire to help others to Georgetown, and she has made McDonough better by being part of our community.”

Rebecca Hamilton
Michael G. and Robin Psaros Chair in Business Administration and Vice Dean of Faculty

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