The biggest most important update: Yes, I graduated and have a kick ass job. But, let me explain why I have been absentee and ground you in where I’m at.
New York, NY.
It’s 9 am on a very crisp beginning of fall Sunday morning. I’m currently overlooking Flatiron and the southern tip of the city from my balcony, trying to enjoy just a brief moment of pause. For months I have tried to garner enough peace and focus to write. I just finished my coffee and a chapter from AI 2041 and believe that I have finally reached a place where I can sit, think, reflect and actually write something.
I never thought that I would end up here. I always said that I would do a summer in the city. I don’t know when exactly I thought I would do that, but when the opportunity finally arrived – Ms.Rona had other ideas. But, now New York City is home.
The last 6 months have been a blur stretched incredibly thin between trying to salvage the last quarter of my MBA experience, graduation, moving to New York and starting my post-MBA full time job at Anheuser Busch InBev.
It’s hard to believe that my MBA experience came and went as quickly as it did. Quite frankly, my two years in Chicago almost feel as though they never happened. With 3/4 of my MBA experience spent in virtual school, I am officially a member of the Corona MBA Class who will go down in history as having the worst luck ever. The only plus is that everyone got jobs compared to those that graduated during the financial crisis.
I left the smaller world of sports advertising in hopes that I would find a place where I would be celebrated, challenged and able to seize opportunity after being severely underpaid and crippled by poor micro-management – so much so that I was refused a laptop out of fear that I would “never be at my desk”. Fast forward 2 years to my new work world that is global and relatively remote, where my opinions and knowledge matters, where I am actually paid commiserate with my skillset. It’s a very surreal place to be. Your job is to come into school and come out with a great job. As an MBA applicant 3 years ago I got the dream job that I didn’t even know I wanted. In fact, I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
So much of the past two years of my life were made special because of this platform. When I started writing at the beginning of my Booth experience, I assumed this would be a space where I could hold myself accountable to why I chose to go to school in the first place, a space where I could reflect, a space where I could share some memories with maybe a few readers. I did not expect over 50K reads from 25K people around the world. Nor did I expect this to become a vehicle that has in many ways guided my life journey.
There is a lot to unpack that I have not recorded or shared from my internship experience at ZX ventures, to receiving my full-time offer at ABI, to making the most of the MBA experience albeit the circumstances and what it was really like to be quarantined the majority of it, to what is next for me and MBA: The Blog! From my vantage point – completing my MBA was just the very beginning of this journey – the preface and maybe the first chapter or two. There is so much left to write.
With that being said, I made a commitment to myself to keep writing, keep telling my amazing friends and peers stories, keep shining a light on Booth and to use this space as a vehicle for greatness.
Although the name of this blog may change in the coming months (don’t worry the original mbatheblog url will always bring you home), you can still expect features on Boothies, book reviews (maybe a book club), life stories, and hopefully a few new standing series that you will enjoy and gain something from.
If you are a Booth alum or a current Class of 2022/2023 student and are interested in being the writer for your classes’ Boothies of Booth features please email me at morganfranklin@chicagobooth.edu. I could use your help in telling more of our stories.
If you are a current Booth student or prospective student I would love to meet you! Feel free to reach out to me at morganfranklin@chicagobooth.edu to set up some time.
I’m sorry for the wait – but I’m back now.
MBA: The Blog 