Ivey Expands MBA LGBTQ Resources, and More – Toronto News
Toronto business schools have been making waves worldwide in recent weeks. Let’s take a look at some of the week’s highlights.
An Alternative to Word-of-Mouth Advertising for Small Businesses – The Globe and Mail
Jared Lenover, digital marketing strategist at McMaster University’s Degroote School of Business, was featured in The Globe and Mail, weighing in on the effectiveness of geo-targeting to promote a local business. Geo-targeting is a form of advertising being offered by little-known platforms like Facebook, wherein a business can use location targeting and demographic data to reach specific social media users who might be interested in or have easier access to the product in question. Julie and Sheldon Harrish, a Toronto couple and owners of the 6ix Cycle spin studio in Toronto, tried geo-targeting and found it to be more effective than word-of-mouth alone. In fact, the small business saw a two percent growth in usage.
According to Lenover, geo-targeting “helps you make your audience more relevant.” Lenover emphasized the benefits of the advertising strategy, asserting that it “does allow the advertiser to be more efficient with their budget.”
Read more about 6ix Cycle and geo-targeting here.
Ivey’s MBA LGBTQ Student Club Connects With Global Organization – News@Ivey
Out & Allied @ Ivey, the LGBTQ MBA student club at Western University Canada’s Ivey School of Business, has joined forces with a global network of LGBTQ MBA students and alumni. The global network, Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) seeks to inspire LGBTQ MBAs to be leaders in their communities. This connection will give Ivey MBA LGBTQ students the opportunity to participate in networking events, such as the annual ROMBA Conference, wherein they can mingle with industry leaders from around the globe.
“We want applicants considering Ivey’s MBA program to see the environment as safe, supportive, and open. ROMBA is a great organization to give our students access to an important and diverse network.” – Jay Kiew, outgoing President of the Ivey MBA Association (MBAA)
Read more about Ivey’s affiliation with ROMBA here.
DECA Ryerson’s TRSM Students Win Big at ICDC Competition in Washington DC – TRSM News
Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) is currently celebrating last month’s victory at the (International Career Development) ICDC Competition. The DECA TRSM team traveled to Washington DC from April 10-15 in order to showcase their knowledge and work. DECA is an international network with over 200,000 members, whose aim is to prepare aspiring leaders in high school and college in finance, management, hospitality, and marketing.
The students who went to DC had to place in the top three for their category (Fashion Merchandising and Marketing, Travel and Tourism, Restaurant and Food Service Management, Human Resource Management, and International Marketing) at DECA U Ontario’s Provincials. The students selected competed against upwards of 1,500 students from around the world, and went home with 24 medals and six plaques.
You can read more about DECA Ryerson’s big win here.
Cornell Johnson LGBT Community Helping Students Succeed
Cornell’s Johnson School of Management recently highlighted several of its LGBT student organizations and fellowships that actively challenge attitudes in the workplace and help LGBT MBAs feel more supported.
The article cites a 2013 Deloitte and Kenji Yoshino study entitled Uncovering Talent, which finds that 83 percent of LGBT employees covered their identities at work, a practice that “decreases employees’ loyalty and commitment to their organization.” Compare this figure to “79 percent of blacks, 66 percent of women, 63 percent of Hispanics, and 45 percent of white heterosexual men.”
“LGBT employees may feel conflicted if they have to lead double lives in fear of being passed over for a job promotion or fired for being who they are. Today, employers in 28 states can terminate workers for self-identifying as LGBT,” explained Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Fellow Brian Tsui, MBA ’18.
“People on the outside wonder about your status, and the LGBT person, whether out or not, can be constantly managing their image and behaviors,” adds Ryan Armstrong, MBA ’17.
Photo via Cornell Johnson
In addition to the Out for Business student group, Johnson offers two fellowships in conjunction with ROMBA, a 20-year-old organization that helps students “find sincerely welcoming communities.”
“ROMBA was originally meant to build a stronger network of LGBT peers who would go into well-paid, high-powered jobs, and be able to look after each other as a network,” says ROMBA executive director Matt Kidd.
ROMBA promotes LGBT business school leadership and “provides information about the LGBT status of business schools worldwide, application and job prep and guidance, and conferences and treks to help students find environments that are right for them.”
”I’ve had many doors open because I had an introduction from someone within the LGBT community,” said ROMBA Fellow Sara Johnson, MBA ’18.
Tsui adds, “I found the courage to be proud and vocal after finding support at the annual ROMBA conference. LGBT alumni from MBA programs proved to me that I could be successful in my career and authentic at the same time.”
You can read more about the student organizations at Cornell’s SC Johnson Graduate School of Management here.
NYU Stern MBA Scholarship Spotlight
Finding a way to afford your MBA degree shouldn’t be as challenging as the application process, but often it can be. With acceptance to a top MBA program can often come a top cost, which can often be a deterrent for someone pursuing their graduate degree. Through funding and scholarship opportunities, however, students may have the opportunity to reduce the cost of their degree, helping more up-and-coming business professionals have a shot at the quality education they deserve.
