Originally published by Poets&Quants for Undergrads as part of their 2024 Best and Brightest Business Major series. By Jeff Schmidt.
Fun fact about yourself: Considering the idea of getting a private pilot license, I helped fly a plane around Miami’s coast.
Hometown: Naperville, IL
High school: Waubonsie Valley High School
Major: Business and English & Creative Writing
Minor: n/a
Favorite business course: Business Law – Possibly the most challenging, but definitely the most rewarding
Extracurricular activities, community work, and leadership roles during college:
Extracurricular
- Blackstar* Magazine, Contributor
- Career Management Center, Coach
- Consult Your Community, VP Internal Affairs
- Conversations with Eggs, Writer
- Emory Impact Investing Group, Team Lead
- Goizueta Black Student Association, VP Communications
- Goizueta Business & Society Institute, Social Enterprise Fellow
- OAM 331: Strategic Management, TA
- Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Marketing & Communications Fellow
- Pre-BBA Advising Office, Coach
- Pre-BBA Peer Mentor Program, Founder and Peer Mentor
Honors & Awards
- Dean’s List
- Editor’s List, The Nassau Literary Review
- Emory University 100 Senior Honorary
- Goizueta Scholar
Where have you interned during your college career?
- Google, Associate Product Marketing Manager (San Francisco, CA)
- McKinsey & Company, Sophomore Summer Business Analyst (New York, NY)
Where will you be working after graduation? I’m excited to return both to NYC and McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst.
Who is your favorite business professor? Professor John Kim’s use of the case method made classes engaging and course concepts easy to understand, so it’s one of the courses I most strongly remember afterwards. Plus, he was genuinely excited to be teaching every day, even bringing us pencils imprinted with strategy quotes.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? When I came to Emory University and Goizueta Business School, I was pleased to learn how impactful businesses can be in solving systemic problems. They are already doing so much to create positive change.
I have worked in organizations like Emory Impact Investing Group and Consult Your Community. This has allowed me to collaborate with small business owners in Atlanta to help address some of their business challenges and work towards closing the small business gap. There are also a lot of faculty in the business school dedicated to social impact and case studies that demonstrate that social impact and profitability aren’t mutually exclusive, which isn’t how I’d always thought about it.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Business courses are fundamental, but I’d also encourage students to explore other fields as well. Emory’s liberal arts education exposed me to a variety of areas of study, which resulted in some surprising intersections with business. I presented on marketing trends in fertility clinics in a biology seminar, learned about equitable hiring practices in sociology, and discussed a business law case in my creative writing workshop. It’s all enhanced my understanding of the business world, especially in niche areas of interest that might not be explored in traditional business classes. So, I hope other students have the opportunity to do the same.
What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I was initially drawn to the business major because of marketing, especially its creative aspect, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed business’ other aspects. Though I’m still most interested in marketing, I added a concentration in organization and management, and Business Law was my favorite class.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? Reflecting on my college and business school experience, I’m happy with the opportunities I’ve taken advantage of so I wouldn’t change much! Still, I would’ve loved to take part in one of Emory’s global internship experiences, especially the summer after my freshman year. I spent a semester studying abroad at a business school in Madrid, and it was an amazing opportunity for both personal and professional development, so I’d be equally eager to gain professional experience abroad.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I wanted to support students with backgrounds underrepresented in business. So, this year I started a peer-mentor program for Black, Hispanic, and Latinx pre-BBA students at Emory. I think I’m most proud of the way I took initiative to solve a problem I recognized. It’s been really gratifying to hear about the impact the program has had, even so far.
Which classmate do you most admire? I really look up to my friend Kara Swain 24BBA. She’s been able to combine her interest in politics and business in a number of ways to make an impact both inside and outside of Emory. Governmental work is such a powerful way to create change, so her Senate internships are admirable. She’s also been a leader in several business organizations and in Model UN, helping the team rise in rankings from #75 to #17. That’s no small feat, so I’m really excited to see what she does in the future.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? I would have to thank my dad for all the support and advice he’s provided on navigating the business world and just for listening as I talked through some of my big decisions. He’s also known when to provide feedback and when to let me learn from my own mistakes, which I’ve especially appreciated after the fact.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? I’d love to do the following:
1) Be the CMO at a F500 company.
2) Put my creative writing major to use and publish a novel.
What made Nyah such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?
“One of the things that is so mind-blowing about Nyah is how many things she has managed to do since coming to Emory. One day she casually mentioned taking a creative writing class. The next thing I know she’s double majoring in Creative Writing and Business. I find out from a colleague in admissions that she is one of their marketing fellows. I am meeting with one my direct reports and find out that Nyah is spearheading a program to recruit more students of color to consider the BBA Program.”
She coaches her peers, mentors younger students, and strategically thinks about ways to make our program, our school, and our entire Emory community better.
Libby Egnor, associate dean of the BBA program
“Her ability to do all of this so well, with so little fanfare, is what makes Nyah such an incredible student. We are so lucky she chose Goizueta!”
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