OneHaas
Haas School of Business (Produced by University FM)
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This is One Haas, a Student-Run Podcast for the Berkeley Haas Community. Our aim is to help foster Interprogram Relationships and bring the Haas community closer together by sharing stories of current MBA students in all three MBA programs (FT, EW, EMBA).
*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*
Episode results
OneHaas
May 25, 2023
Celeste Fa’ai’uaso, FTMBA 20 - Having Confidence Without Attitude
Our celebration of AAPI month continues with a conversation with Celeste Fa’ai’uaso. Celeste is a senior program manager at Google and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She attributes her academic drive to her parents’ passion for education.
Celeste’s father grew up in American Samoa before moving to the mainland for college, and her mother, who is Mexican American, was raised by a single mom in Compton, CA. Her parents and older brother were instrumental in shaping her into the determined individual she is today.
She and host Sean Li discuss her upbringing, her father’s Samoan roots, how Pacific Islanders are a separate demographic group than Asian, and how companies can do better to support their AAPI employees.
*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:
How she discovered her passion for mechanical engineering
My dad had a lot of tools and I found out how to use a screwdriver maybe when I was like six or something. And once I found that out, I was really curious on how things worked. And so I started to take things apart in my house.
I’d get a phone and take it apart or get a radio and take it apart. And I think at first it was cute, but then my mom was like, if you're gonna take something apart, put it back together.
Why she chose Berkeley over other schools
Haas is the perfect school for me because of the community. It's such a small group and such amazing, caring people … You are with people who believe in you. They're not sizing you up. They're actually interested in who you are as a person and what are your goals, and they want you to achieve your goals.
On the Pacific Islander erasure that can happen during AAPI month
Oftentimes when I see commercials or initiatives, I don't see Pacific Islanders, and that really makes me sad, makes me angry because I'm thinking this month is supposed to highlight us and even in this month, I don't see me or my people, and I just don't want people to forget the PI whenever they say AAPI or Asian and Pacific Islander.
A piece of Pacific Islander history she’s especially proud of
My Polynesian ancestors were the best mariners in the world, in human history of sailing the Pacific Islands way before Europe or Vikings were doing what they were doing. Like I've heard the distance they've sailed is equivalent to traveling from south of Mexico to Alaska. They traveled by using the stars, the currents, looking where birds were landing, and they were covering the Pacific Ocean way before people from Europe and covering a lot more space in the ocean than Vikings. Show Links:
* LinkedIn Profile
* Polynesian Wayfinders And The Cosmos
* Polynesian Culture Center in Oahu, Hawaii
* Map of Pacific Islands: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations
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OneHaas
May 1, 2023
Adriana Penuela-Useche, EWMBA 22 – Activating Entrepreneurship for Sustainability and Climate Action
Our conversations celebrating Earth Day continue with Adriana Penuela-Useche, a chemical engineer, startup consultant, and future investor who’s passionate about the intersection between entrepreneurship and VC as a way to create Climate Action and protect the planet for future generations.
Adriana grew up literally hugging trees in Bogota, Colombia, and wanted to find a way to combine her love of nature with her passion for engineering. With her 11 years in the chemical engineering field, her passion to go beyond herself volunteering for Engineers Without Borders and creating her new path supporting deeptech startups in the Climate tech sector.
In this episode, Adriana discusses how her family’s upbringing, immigration story, and experience at Haas shaped her, what she thinks are the biggest climate change challenges today, and the exciting technological innovations that could help with some of those challenges.
*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:
On how she has developed her love for nature and community
You can describe me as a tree hugger, backpacker, camper, because I love all of those. What I love the most is that my parents developed me in a sense of holistic sustainability viewing it as:”we don't have to only care about nature, but also care about the community that surrounds us.” And to explore that through economics. So with my dad being a mechanical engineer, tinkering of many things and my mom being an economist drove those two components in our lives and created these building blocks that I have lived throughout my life, which are “community, not competition and a continuous love for nature and those in need.”
On creating a better ecosystem for entrepreneurs
There has to be a better way to create an economic system. And then from there, knowing that, for example, in Colombia or other places like what I saw in Ethiopia with Engineers Without Borders, there is so much innovation happening in the day to day that triggers and aligns with good capital to build astrong entrepreneurial ecosystem globally, like a real ecosystem of entrepreneurs, but also develop economies as a path.Show Links:
* LinkedIn Profile
* Berkeley Haas Sustainability Alumni Group
* The Sustainable Development Goals Wedding Cake
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations
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OneHaas
Apr 21, 2023
Martin Szczepanik, EWMBA 18 - Accelerating the Clean Energy Future
In celebration of Earth Day, we invited Martin Szczepanik, NYC alumni chapter president, to talk about renewable energy and sustainability, topics that he is extremely passionate about. Martin currently works at PA Consulting as a Principal Consultant, where he supports their Clean & Smart Mobility offering, helping companies and cities transition to de-carbonized transportation. He also supports utilities and other entities with their purchase and acquisition of renewable energy.
Martin is a first-generation American. His parents escaped communism in Poland in the 80s. He and his family faced adversity as they were assimilating in the United States. Martin faced some challenges that shaped where he is today. However, underneath all of it is his passion for clean energy.
In this episode, Martin shares his early beginnings as a first-generation American, his career pivot and how his experience at Haas helped him with the transition, and what he does at PA Consulting as a Principal Consultant.
Martin also talks about the future of clean and renewable energy and the new technologies people should be excited about.Episode Quotes:
On choosing accounting and finance as his college degree
At the time, it was essentially a safety decision because I knew no matter what was going on with the economy, no matter what happens, you're going get paid in a career in accounting. Accountants are always needed, whether the economy's doing well or not. And I also thought about it as understanding the language of business, and it opens potential new opportunities for me in the future.
His passion for clean energy
I don't really have one of those interesting origin stories, necessarily. I didn't see my house get swept away by a rainstorm. I didn't see, you know, anything crazy happen with being in a drought. But I do remember my junior year of high school, I was in an AP environmental science class, and at this point in time, it was pretty much peak emissions for the entire globe. And I think at the time, the United States was getting 70 to 80% of their power from coal, and the big Hummer came out. Everything was bragging about that, and I just had this feeling of desperation. What are we doing to our planet? Things are getting worse, and we were still burning so much coal and driving Hummers. There's not really a clear, viable path for us to get off of fossil fuels as a society.Show Links:
* Martin Szczepanik on LinkedIn
* BHAN-NYC LinkedIn Group
* Berkeley Haas Alumni Network NYC
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/onehaas/donations
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Here at Haas
Apr 16, 2020
Sean Li, EWMBA ’20 – Launching the OneHaas Podcast, Entrepreneurship, and The Future of The Podcast
H@H: Ep 1 – In this first episode of Here@Haas and last episode of the OneHaas current student podcast, we’re joined by our Here@Haas host, Paulina Lee interviewing OneHaas host, Sean Li. This episode will mark the transition of the OneHaas podcast into the Alumni Podcast.
Here@Haas will continue on as the on-campus podcast covering current students, faculty, and everyone else on campus. So please subscribe and be on the lookout for future Berkeley Haas Alumni Podcast programming!
Episode Highlights:
- Why Sean launched the OneHaas Podcast
- How he built multiple businesses as a serial entrepreneur from an e-commerce company to a coworking space in Downtown Los Angeles
- His proudest moments being an entrepreneur
-Sean’s multiple pivots during his time at Haas, from investment banking, to venture capital, back to entrepreneurship
3 Key Takeaways:
- The more you put into your Haas experience, the more you get out of it.
- There’s an entrepreneur in every one of us, you…
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MBA Insider
Dec 16, 2020
#72: Getting to Know the Haas MBA Program
This episode features Sean Li and Paulina Lee, Hosts of the Haas Podcast Network, and MBA students from the UC-Berkeley Haas MBA Program. In this episode, Sean spoke about creating his first podcast (OneHaas) in 2018. and the journey to creating the Haas Podcast Network. Paulina shared her experience as a Co-Host of Here at Haas, and both spoke why they chose Haas, what makes Haas unique, and some of the lessons and stories they’ve learned from speaking to Haas students and alum through the podcast.
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