From Ludhiana to Wharton: Sana’s Journey of Impact and Entrepreneurship
Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in Ludhiana, Sana was profoundly impacted by her father, grandfather, and mother. From listening to business strategy discussions on the dining table to absorbing her family member’s goal-oriented mindset, the seeds of entrepreneurship were sown into Sana very early on in life. Intending to enter the field of business, Sana went to Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, to study Economics.
During her undergrad, Sana joined Enactus and drove social entrepreneurial projects in the space of women empowerment, environmental conservation through vertical gardening, and mental health. While guiding a group of underprivileged women to make and market dishwashing liquid and owning the project end-to-end, she observed how overwhelmed and empowered those women felt because they earned money independently for the first time in their lives. Seeing how these independent women could exercise their right of choice for the first time in their lives, Sana felt deeply impacted. She realized how entrepreneurship had the power to truly change the world if you chose the right problems.
Post-undergrad, Sana began her career at BCG, where she majorly worked across strategy and implementation on tech, media, and financial services. During her time at BCG, Sana applied to the United Nations through the BCG mobility marketplace and shifted base to Rome. One of the projects she worked on was for UN Women, where she worked on optimizing the organization’s aid delivery and strategy. This experience helped her understand the kind of initiatives that social organizations take to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality on a global level.
Once Sana realized that she had developed a strong foundation both in terms of her professional skillset as well as social impact initiatives, she realized that it was now time to pursue an MBA. Reflecting on the MBA application process, Sana credits her consultant, Nisha, for pushing her beyond her limits. “When you write something by yourself, you are not able to push yourself beyond a point. But with Nisha, I think she consistently pushed me in the right direction to ensure that my essays were detailed and effectively conveyed the points I truly wanted to make,” Sana shared.
Owing to her compelling drive to work towards social impact after her MBA, Sana received offers from Booth School of Business, Columbia Business School, and Wharton with a combined $190,000 scholarship. After carefully assessing her options, Sana decided to pursue her MBA at Wharton.
To read more such stories of folks who got into their dream business schools to pursue their lifelong passion, check out our success stories.
