Before business school, Leah Nakaima had already worked with the United Nations, local government, Eli Lilly, McKinsey, and Keurig. Her work spanned city revitalization, strategy, supply chain and operations, pricing and cold chains, and business development. She loved every part of it.
Then one day she opened a P&L and found herself in a rabbit hole, searching for the meaning of every term she did not recognize. That moment pointed her to an entire world of finance she had barely touched, and she wanted to learn it.
Finding the Right Place to Learn Finance
Leah first tried to move laterally into a finance role. She soon realized she would gain far more by learning from experts in a structured setting, and she set her sights on an MBA.
The application process was hard. Leah says the pre-application sessions in Forté MBALaunch On Demand carried her through it. The application fee waivers mattered too, because campus visits were already adding up fast.
Hitting the Ground Running
Once she was in, the Forté MBA Financial Services FAST Track Conference gave Leah a head start when recruiting began. She heard from current MBA students and Forté alumni, along with people working in the industry she wanted to enter.
“I walked into recruiting prepared, with a village already rallying behind me,” Leah says.
No goal is too far out of reach. If you really want this, it is yours to have, as long as you are willing to do the work, ask the right questions and seek mentorship.”
Where She Is Now
That path led to healthcare investment banking in New York City, where Leah spent the summer. “I love it,” she says.
Today, Leah is an MBA candidate in the Class of 2027 at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. She says the friendships she built along the way feel like a long-term family.
Her advice to the women who follow her: “No goal is too far out of reach. If you really want this, it is yours to have, as long as you are willing to do the work, ask the right questions and seek mentorship.”
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