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When bringing the 2022 MIT Sloan Women’s Conference to a close, Associate Dean Kathryn Hawkes remarked, “The network is a living thing today. That energy—we can feel it.”
The energy at the long-awaited October gathering was palpable, but so too was the energy of the entire year. From MIT Sloan Reunion 2022 to MIT delta v Demo Day , Institute events big and small were rife with the power and the presence of the MIT Sloan alumnae community.
They spoke with expertise on many subjects—including the need for using artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly in business and society, the desire to think and act systemically, and the importance of mentoring future generations of women leaders.
Here are 13 notable quotes from MIT Sloan alumnae who spoke to us in 2022:
“When you only put culture on paper, it doesn’t really make a difference. It has to be lived by everyone.” – Carla F. Avila, MBA ’97
“Entrepreneurship is a career path that, if you choose it, grants you significant agency over your actions and decisions. It’s also a craft that benefits from practice and community. And if you choose to take this mindset to the corporate structure, it facilitates opportunities for internal innovation.” – Jenny Larios Berlin, MCP ’14, MBA ’15
“Carve out meaningful room for responsible AI practices, not as a feel-good function but as a core business value.” – Rumman Chowdhury, SB ’02
“We have a lot to learn, and a lot of adjustments need to be made along the way. We need to continue building that flexible mindset muscle.” – Liliana Castillo Dearth, MBA ’96
“I have seen firsthand how challenging it can be to realize a founder’s dream. Although you have left campus, there are programs at MIT to help you in your founder’s journey.” – Annely Guzman, EMBA ’16
“I had the idea that impact had to be this grand, global, massive thing in order for it to really be meaningful. What I've learned over the last five years is that actually where my impact feels the most meaningful is in one-to-one interactions. It can be very local and focused on the individual.” – Gabrielle A. Haddad, SF ’17
“As a founder, you always love the company because it feels like your baby but finding others who feel the same way about it is very special.” – Emma Kaye, MBA ’22
“We are the means to enable a system of energy that fuels leaders in every sector, in every country, on every continent of the world.” – Monica Lee, EMBA ’19
“We have to choose who we can actually trust and not be cynical. This balance between skepticism and cynicism would serve everybody well.” – Natalia Levina, PhD ’01
“One of the characteristics of the students who go to MIT Sloan, and in particular women, is the desire to make an impact.” – Aliza Blachman O’Keeffe, SM ’90
“What seems like a small action could really help reveal the bigger picture, help you understand connections, and give you a way to work with others.” – Anjali Sastry, SB ’86, PhD ’95
“The onus is on all of us to help each other. And it might not be a quick path, but I think long term it's a more sustainable path to bringing a great community together.” – Jaclyn Selby, EMBA ’21
“What’s really important to me is being able to mentor other founders. Whenever we talk, they’re making me think of something differently. It sets off a light bulb in my mind.” – Heidi Zak, MBA ’07
