By Arial Starks
Nora Sultan
Vanderbilt Business is known across the globe for its high caliber of students, faculty, and staff. In this edition of People of Vanderbilt, we spotlight 2nd-year MBA student Nora Sultan, who shares a little about herself.
What’s your secret talent?
My secret talent is making cappuccinos.
Who or what empowers you at Owen?
I am empowered by my classmates and how resilient they are. Life at Owen has been wonderful but has also had many unexpected turns. Being able to walk through each difficult moment with my peers by my side has made it a very special experience.
What are 1 or 2 experiences that have really shaped your time here at Vanderbilt?
One experience that has really impacted me at Owen was having the chance to start the first Vanderbilt Business internal Healthcare case competition in November 2021 at Owen. I worked with my Vanderbilt Business Healthcare board to initiate the on campus case competition in partnership with the career management center and Humana. During my first year at Owen I had a difficult time finding a case competition to participate in both on campus as well as externally. I worked with current healthcare students as well as Humana recruiters to create a case competition on campus that allowed students to grow and learn in a psychologically safe space with their peers. I hope this past year was the start of more annual healthcare case competitions on campus for years to come.
Another experience that has been rewarding and shaped my experience at Owen was through the creation of the WBA Ambassador role. I am currently the VP of Prospective Students in the Women’s Business Association. As the Vice President I have worked closely with Owen’s recruiting and admissions team to increase the number of women planning to attend in the future. The incoming MBA class in 2023 increased by 3% and we hope to continue to increase that number until we reach gender parity. To help reach our goals, I created the WBA Ambassador role to increase the number of touch points prospective students have with current female MBA students. Last year we had seven women serve as WBA Ambassadors and this year we have nine women serving as WBA Ambassadors. The WBA Ambassadors have their headshots on the Owen website and prospective students can easily email ambassadors and connect with them online. We hope to continue to expand the WBA Ambassador role and further grow our prospective student touch points through coffee chats and webinars.
What’s your favorite way to connect with the Vanderbilt community?
My favorite way to connect with my Owen community is through the podcast I co-founded, MBA Ladies, with Emily Brennan. We have been using the platform to share our experience as women at Owen. Emily and I both realized that as women we are outnumbered by our male counterparts, and we wanted an opportunity to share the positive but also frustrating experiences we’ve had. Our initial motivator for the podcast was to shine a light on gender inequities. However, with the creation of our podcast, we have also had the chance to use the platform to interview and highlight some of our professors as well connect with many of our classmates.
What’s something you’ve learned about yourself during your time at Vanderbilt?
I previously worked as a pediatric nurse for several years prior to attending Owen. As a nurse a lot of your work is individualistic and specialized, though collaboration does occur, it is often not constant. I learned that I love working collaboratively with others regardless of what the project topic might be. It has been exciting to work with people from a variety of different backgrounds and continuously learn from my classmates.
Are you in a leadership role associated with Vanderbilt? If so, name the organization and title.
President of Vanderbilt Business Healthcare Association (VBHA), Vice President of Women’s Business Association (WBA) of Prospective Students, Vice President of Community Affairs in Owen Student Government Association (OSGA).
