Jonathan Lee
University of California-Berkeley, Haas School of Business
“Aspiring Übermensch, systems-thinking creative scientist, lover of people, bridging medicine, entrepreneurship, and culture with joy.”
Fun fact about yourself: I got an advanced scuba certification so I could dive with thresher sharks.
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
High School: Loyola High School of Los Angeles
Major: Molecular & Cell Biology (Medical Biology & Physiology) + Business Administration
In the Robinson Life Science, Business, and Entrepreneurship (LSBE) Program
Minor: n/a
Favorite Business Course: UGBA 100: Business Communications
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work, and Leadership Roles During College:
* SEED Scholars Honors Program scholarship recipient (2022): Selected as 1 of 50 students for a four-year comprehensive STEM honors program supporting historically excluded and equity-seeking scholars with demonstrated passion for science, research, and leadership.
* Publicity Officer, Pre-Medical Honor Society (2023): Led branding and outreach for a 150+ member organization, implemented an event calendar system, increased event visibility through Instagram growth, and facilitated professional development initiatives.
* Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Officer, Healthcare Business Association (2023): Contributed to initiatives promoting inclusive practices within academic and professional student spaces.
* Research Assistant, Keltner Lab (2023): Supported behavioral research examining emotion and social perception through data collection and analysis.
* Volunteer, ReCares Oakland (2023): Distributed medical equipment and supplies to underserved individuals to improve access and quality of life.
* Healthcare Consultant & Business Analyst, Atlas Strategy Group (2024): Advised a medical institution and early-stage biotech startups on strategy, operations, and healthcare innovation.
* Director of Mental Health, Pride Business Association at Haas (2024): Developed peer-support and wellness programming for this queer-focused organization at Haas.
* Mentor, SEED Scholars Honors Program (2024): Mentored six underclassmen from underrepresented backgrounds, providing academic and professional guidance.
* Co-Director of Social Affairs, Life Sciences Business & Entrepreneurship Program (2024): Coordinated large-scale cohort programming and retreats to strengthen community and professional development.
* Founder & Host, Lee Gala Fundraiser for R.E.S.T.O.R.E Worldwide (2024): Raised $3,000 to support reconstructive surgical initiatives in Ghana.
* Gender & Sexual Orientation Officer, Pre-Medical Honor Society (2024): Brought awareness to gender-affirming care by leading the organization’s first workshop, educating 40+ students, and inviting a UCSF urologist to share clinical insights and experience.
* Founder & Head, Inclusive Health Awareness Committee, Pre-Medical Honor Society (2024): Led a team of nine to develop programming on health disparities and inclusive care within a 150+ member pre-health organization.
* Thomas Tusher Scholarship Award Recipient (2025): Awarded competitive funding supporting international academic engagement and global leadership development in South Korea.
* Published author, Boston Congress of Public Health Review (formerly Harvard Public Health Review) (2025): Authored a peer-reviewed analysis of the U.S. pharmaceutical pricing system.
Where have you interned during your college career?
* Medical Assistant & Social Media Assistant, MiKO Plastic Surgery (2023-25): Supported outpatient care, partially assisted in reconstructive procedures, gained exposure to surgical workflows and patient-centered recovery, and contributed to clinic communications and digital outreach.
* Phlebotomist, Mission Community Hospital (2023-24): Performed venipuncture and specimen collection on a diverse patient population in a fast-paced hospital setting.
Where will you be working after graduation? Co-Founder, CraveX. I co-founded a CPG startup that’s developing science-backed tools that help people reduce sugar cravings and make healthier everyday decisions. Our first product is a functional gum designed to temporarily reduce sweet-taste perception, making sugar cravings easier to manage. We’ve recently launched and I’m excited to continue building CraveX into a scalable health and behavior platform.
Who is your favorite business professor? Krystal Thomas is my favorite business professor because she pushed me out of my comfort zone in a way that fundamentally changed how I show up in the world. In her class, I felt like I underwent a character arc. She challenged me to refine not just my ideas, but my presence. She taught me that communication shapes the relationships that drive business and that how you present yourself can matter as much as what you present.
Her standards are high, and I trust her judgment deeply. Through constant pitching, memorization, and real-time feedback, she taught me that in business you must know how to speak with clarity and conviction. I carried those lessons beyond the classroom, pitching biotech concepts to industry leaders, marketing my startup on Sproul Plaza, and learning to articulate a founder story that people can understand and believe in. She helped me realize that you are your word, and being able to refine it is pivotal.
Beyond her rigor, she is deeply kind and perceptive. She notices when you are capable of more and refuses to let you settle. That combination of high expectations and genuine care is rare, and it is what makes her influence lasting.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? Business ultimately taught me that success is integration: the ability to align many moving parts into something real and sustainable. I experienced this while building my company as progress depended on doing the unglamorous work every day. But I fell in love with that process—the daily discipline of building something piece-by-piece is what makes the act of creation fulfilling. I sourced ingredients, coordinated production timelines, assembled packaging, shaped brand messaging, tracked customer feedback, and refined how the product meets the market. Small decisions compounded: a label, a shipment date, a customer interaction. Each one determines whether something survives beyond the idea stage.
I learned the same lesson while organizing my fundraising gala. I had to manage outreach, marketing, transportation, logistics, and community engagement at once. Impact did not come from one moment. It came from aligning dozens of small systems so they moved together.
Just like life, growth is not one dimensional. It is the accumulation of decisions, relationships, risks, and discipline over time. If biology explains how life functions, business explains how lives function.
The ALOE equation (Assets Equal Liabilities Plus Owners’ Equity) that every business student learns became real through experience. What you build must be supported by what you owe and what you are willing to invest. Building a company with my cofounder has felt like raising a child. It demands constant communication, shared responsibility, and the patience to nurture something through uncertainty while protecting its long-term future.
Business showed me that creating opportunity is only the beginning. Sustaining it requires structure, ownership, and the willingness to meet the cost of what you choose to build.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field?
Be a human first. Business is about people before it is about models or spreadsheets. Learn how to connect, listen, and place yourself in situations that make you grow. Choose experiences that stretch you rather than protect your comfort. The opportunities that shaped me most came from conversations, collaborations, and moments where I was willing to step forward rather than wait to be invited.
Pursue your uniqueness. Ask yourself what genuinely fascinates you, what you dislike, and what you want to understand more deeply, then act on it. Introduce yourself to your professors. They see hundreds of students, but they remember curiosity and initiative. Many of my most meaningful opportunities began with a simple introduction or question.
Build friendships outside of business. Become friends with artists and creators. They notice patterns others miss and push you to think more expansively. I learned quickly that art is everywhere in business, from design and storytelling to branding and the way you communicate ideas. Those cross-disciplinary relationships later shaped how I built my startup, leading me to collaborate with designers and researchers who influenced both the product itself and how it reached people.
Most importantly, be intentional about your circle. The people around you will become your chosen family in college. Surround yourself with people who challenge you, support you, and genuinely want to see you succeed. They will shape not only what you accomplish, but who you become.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? Amor Fati. I would not change anything about my experience. Berkeley gave me the opportunity to explore every corner of campus life, from research and rigorous academics to sorority formals to friendships to studying abroad.
I walked alongside so many different kinds of students, from models and athletes to tech founders and chemists—even a dorm mate who might become the next Diplo.
I loved my time at Berkeley and will forever be a Bear.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI? One way my business school integrated AI into the curriculum was through our business analytics course, particularly the machine learning component, where we studied how predictive models identify patterns in data, inform decision making, and forecast outcomes. AI also became a practical study tool, generating flashcards, practice problems, and simulations that reinforced concepts more dynamically than traditional problem sets.
Beyond the classroom, I applied AI directly to my startup. I use it to automate email workflows, analyze customer behavior, and track key metrics such as customer acquisition cost and retention patterns. These tools helped me refine outreach, understand which messages resonated most with customers, and make faster adjustments to how we position the product. Instead of relying on instinct alone, I can observe real behavioral trends and respond with greater precision.
The biggest insight I gained is that AI excels at revealing patterns and optimizing processes, but it cannot replace judgment. It sharpens clarity only when guided by thoughtful human decision making.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? The achievement I am most proud of was pushing myself to earn a place in the Life Sciences Business and Entrepreneurship program. As a pre-med student, pursuing LSBE was a risk. People warned me about the GPA pressure, the workload, and how demanding the curriculum would be alongside science courses. But I knew the knowledge, experience, worldview, and community I would gain would be transformational.
Getting into LSBE became a pivotal moment in my journey. It required me to pursue something I was not guaranteed to achieve, and to bet on my ability to rise to the standard. When I was accepted as the only African American student in my cohort, it meant more than academic validation. It gave me the foundation and the responsibility to grow into the person I once needed to see, and to become proof of what is possible for others. That experience still guides me, reminding me that the path I am on is not about choosing between science and impact, but about bringing them together.
Which classmate do you most admire? There are many classmates I admire, but I would like to highlight my friend Aileen Xia from the LSBE Class of 2026. Aileen sets an incredibly high standard for herself. She is adaptable, intellectually sharp, and able to understand complex concepts with impressive clarity. If there is a difficult question in the room, chances are Aileen knows the answer. What I admire most is her consistency. She works extremely hard and genuinely strives to do well in everything she commits to.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? It may sound cliché, but I would thank my mother without hesitation. Mothers deserve their due credit, and mine especially. She never stopped believing in me and consistently worked to give me the foundation I needed to become a well-rounded and happy person. Through watching her, I learned how to balance life with ambition. As a single mother, she showed me what real leadership, discipline, and empathy look like in practice. I was not only guided, but deeply loved, and that love gave me the confidence and stability to become the person I am today.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? The top two items on my professional bucket list are to see CraveX on the shelves of Whole Foods and to earn admission to medical school to pursue stem cell research and reconstructive surgery. Growing CraveX would allow me to continue translating scientific ideas into tools people can actually use in their daily lives, while medical training would deepen my ability to apply regenerative science directly to patient care. Together, they represent the path I hope to build, one where innovation, entrepreneurship, and medicine work together to expand what healing can look like.
What made Jonathan such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026? (Please include name and title)
“What makes Jonathan an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026 is his ability to challenge the status quo with curiosity and creativity. Jonathan is an authentic, enthusiastic learner, grounded in a commitment to self-betterment in order to serve people. His infectious charm and charisma are equally yoked to his intelligence and work ethic. Jonathan is the essence of what manifests when intention meets impact. I couldn’t be more excited for his future.”
Krystal Jalene Thomas,
Haas Professional Faculty
“Jonathan embodies what it means to Question the Status Quo. From early on, he articulated an ambitious and unconventional vision: combining plastic surgery, stem-cell biology, and regenerative science to address real clinical challenges, including the disproportionate burden of keloids in communities of color. Deeply attuned to issues of health equity, he brings both personal insight and scientific rigor to his work. In the LSBE capstone, I watched him engage industry leaders with clarity, confidence, and intellectual curiosity — always prepared, always thoughtful, and never afraid to offer an original perspective. Jonathan reflects Confidence Without Attitude: creative, articulate, and purpose driven. He has been an invaluable member of the Class of 2026, and I am confident he will lead at the intersection of medicine, science, and business with both excellence and impact.”
David Chan, MD, PhD
Faculty Co-Director, LSBE Program
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