#in my masters science writing paper we had to pick a scientist to study throughout the semester

[pierog]

after a bath, a play with her trainer’s child, and a kiss on the nose, laika was sent up to orbit in sputnik 2.

"Laika was quiet and charming ... I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live." -Vladimir Yazdovsky, medical scientist

her satellite transmitted for 7 days on the frequencies 20.005 MHz and 40.010 MHz. enclosed is the recording of Laika’s heartbeat before passing away from overheating. 

did she die for her country, for the progress of humanity and space exploration? some say she did. it made no difference to little Laika, floating in the great expanse of space above, peering down through the satellite’s single window, built just for her; the shaggiest, lonesomest, goodest girl in the world.

“Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We shouldn't have done it ... We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.”  -Oleg Gazenko, leading scientist, and Laika’s trainer

[fullmetalscullyy]

soulmate

read on ao3 and ffnet

soulmate

Legend says that when two soulmates meet they instantly know who the other is. Many search for years without ever finding theirs. Others are brought together by chance. Some know who their soulmate is, but have yet to find them once again, having only passed each other by briefly in a single moment.

Before they find each other, the feeling each half experiences is a strong yearning. Until their soulmate is found that feeling never goes away. Two people only become aware of each other because once they meet, that deep rooted need dissipates in an instant. It is so intense that it is immediately noticeable.

That’s what happened to Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye.

When the girl opened the door for him it felt like all the air had been knocked out of his lungs. He panicked, the teenager not particularly enjoying the feeling of being unable to breathe. Riza gasped quietly across from him, eyes wide, but fearful. Before either could utter a word her father joined her at the door.

“Who is it Riza?” he asked gruffly, pushing the door apart further. Riza had relinquished her hold on it after realising her soulmate was before her.

Tearing his eyes away from the girl, Roy met his potential new master’s expectant gaze. The longer he took to reply, the deeper Berthold Hawkeye’s frown appeared to be.

“Roy Mustang,” he replied finally. “My Aunt Chris has been writing to you from Central? I’m here for the apprenticeship.”

Berthold studied him for a moment and Roy desperately wanted to return to meet Riza’s gaze, but he stood firm. He couldn’t stare at the man’s daughter while Berthold was sizing him up. That would not leave a good first impression.

“Come in.” He turned and left the two teenagers at the door.

“I –” Roy began, turning his attention to Riza.

“Come in, Mr. Mustang.” She beckoned him inside with an air of formality. He swallowed and picked up his suitcase, entering their home. “I’ll show you to your room.” She passed him and started up the worn staircase, eyes cast down.

“Shouldn’t we –”

“Please, Mr. Mustang. This way.”

Snapping his mouth shut he followed her to his room.

For the first couple of weeks they didn’t discuss the fact their two souls were tied together. In fact, Riza appeared to want to forget about it all together. Roy didn’t have much time to contemplate that fact while in her presence. His studies were so intense and exhausting that it left no room for discussion. At night he wanted to seek her out but as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

Berthold gave him one day off a week and that was a Sunday. The first Sunday he worked to catch up with assignments he had missed during the week. He would sit at the kitchen table working furiously throughout the day while Riza pottered about the house. Again, there was no chance to talk properly.

On the third week when he fell asleep with his head on the table, drooling on his paperwork, Riza spoke to him properly for the first time.

“Mr. Mustang?” she called cautiously.

Roy grunted quietly in response but didn’t wake.

“Mr. Mustang?” she tried again, inching closer and giving his shoulder a poke. After getting no response again, she raised her voice, bringing her head close to his face. “Mr. Mustang!”

Roy’s head snapped up, piece of paper stuck to his face. Snatching it off his face, he felt heat creep up into his face as he looked into her eyes.

“You were asleep.”

“Uh… I guess I was,” he replied sheepishly. He gathered his pages together once more and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He expected a lot of work but this workload blew those expectations out of the water. This was literally eating, sleeping, and breathing alchemy.

“My father likes to push his apprentices hard in the beginning,” she informs him quietly, stepping up to the sink to wash the dishes from lunch. Roy turned to look at her back, surprised. This was the most she had spoken to him since his arrival. He sure as hell wasn’t going to waste it. “He likes to overload them to see if they have what it takes.”

Roy snapped his mouth shut, which had been hanging open. He clenched his fist in determination. “I do have what it takes. I’ll prove it to him, no problem.”

Riza paused in her washing for a moment before continuing once more. Roy might have been dreaming, but he could have sworn he saw her shoulders relax slightly. Her voice softened. “Don’t let him catch you sleeping, then.”

Roy grinned at her back, swivelling back around in his chair. “Right!” Picking up his pen to write, he paused once more. “Thank you.”

Not much else was said on the matter, but the silence that hung between them didn’t appear to be as awkward as before.

Not much is known about soulmates. Scientists have studied it for years, but no real progress can be made because it is something that simply cannot be measured accurately. It just is. It’s the way of the universe and no one really questions it. The same goes for alchemy.

Since both souls are tied together, whether it is through love or through platonic friendship, feelings become shared. Love is intensified. Their friendship becomes strong companionship.

The worst part, though, is the pain.

Religious leaders theorise it is their God’s way of reminding the couple that they are tied together indefinitely and that they must love and protect each other always. Those who do not believe in religious reasoning insist it is a way for people to live in harmony. If everyone is tied to someone in that way then fighting between humans would stop. To put it simply, nobody would want to get hurt because it would hurt their soulmate.

In theory.

In an ideal world.

Of course, the human race always has that burning need for war, so that reasoning was ruled out years ago. Ever since Xerxes disappeared overnight. Science has yet to determine another solid reasoning since then, having just accepted the concept as it is, just two souls tied together. It had been replaced by alchemy, no longer holding the interest of the majority of the scientific community.

In order to maintain efficiency of the military, only those who have yet to discover their soulmate can enlist. If they have, only one half can join, leaving the other sitting at home, wondering if their significant other would die that day, and they would feel it happening, but not be able to do a damn thing about it. It wouldn’t do if both halves of the soul were fighting in the same war, only to have one soldier die, leaving another unable to function. After all, why lose two soldiers when you could only lose one?

So when Roy joined, it wasn’t an issue. He loathed to leave Riza, but he had great ambitions and she told him to go. He never dreamed he would see her in Ishval. How had she even gotten in the military? She had to have lied. But… why? She knew what could happen if they were caught. She knew the penalty. The threat of Riza Hawkeye being court martialled almost made him vomit every day. Since she was the second to join – a couple of years after him – she would be the one who was punished because she already knew the consequences but did it anyway. Then where would he be? If she was killed he would be useless. Of course, he discovered in Ishval that he loved her so much that, regardless of being soulmates, he would be useless without her anyway.

He had first discovered it after she made her first kill. As kids they never spoke about the bond they shared. The only time it had been brought up was at her father’s funeral. In all the years they had been together, that was the first time they had a serious conversation regarding their soulmate status. So when he had found her looking dazed and wandering through the camp, he pulled her aside to talk. He could see her emotional pain no mater how much Riza tried to hide it. He could see how much she was struggling with taking another life. Of course he needed to talk to her.

The legend says that once you accept your love for the other person – whether it is romantic or platonic – that is when you begin to experience what the other is feeling. The only thing Roy Mustang needed to do was not fall in love with Riza Hawkeye and everything would be fine. But he had ruined it. How could he not fall in love with her when she was crying in his sandy tent in that warzone, clinging to him so tightly? How could he not, when all he wanted to do was take away all her pain and suffering and protect her from it all. She was here because of his dream. Roy had caused this.

That was when he fell in love with Riza Hawkeye.

It was a love so intense and so extreme that it took his breath away once more. Riza stilled upon realising it, looking up from Roy’s hold and into his eyes. Nothing needed to be said. They both knew the gravity of their situation. So Roy placed her head back on his shoulder and held her until it was dark. He didn’t miss the way she curled in on herself, pressing her body against his to draw them even closer together.

They didn’t discuss that moment ever again. He didn’t see her much in Ishval, but there was always the constant worry, the constant anticipation, in the back of his mind that she might be killed. The same ran through her mind. She had berated him hard enough when he had been shot by the Ishvallan, but it was only because Riza had been scared. She didn’t know how to properly react to the thought of him dying, so she lashed out at him.

When he burned her back that was the first time they realised they shared the same pain.

In Ishval they were both so dejected and traumatised they didn’t really notice that they were sharing the same feelings. Those two feelings were both prevalent for the two souls already.

But burning her back…

“Are you ready?” Roy asked, swallowing hard. He looked at her back, marvelling at its smoothness and ignoring the tattoo marring her skin. When he saw it the first time he felt ill. Then he felt anger. Riza had soothed him, understanding his anger while neglecting to inform Roy that she felt it also.

“I wanted to make him proud,” she had told him, eyes cast down as they had done so often when her father was alive.

“Yes,” Riza breathed shivering against the cool air in the room. Roy felt his own skin prickle as a draught blew into the room, despite the fact he was wearing his military blues. He chalked it up to what he was about to do, rather than the room temperature.

“Please,” Riza whispered, throwing Roy off. “Please free me from this burden.”

“Right,” Roy replied, shifting his stance and readying himself once more. “I love you, Riza,” he whispered. She nodded, repeating the sentiment back to him.

Riza clutched the pillow she was holding tightly a second before he snapped. Roy watched her do it and it tore at his chest. However all thought of that flew out of his mind a second later. It took him a bit to register it but then his own screams mixed in with hers as his entire back erupted in pain. He gasped and fell to his knees on the floor. Pain seared his back. His left shoulder felt like it was on fire.

Just like Riza’s… The thought was brief and through the fog of pain Roy couldn’t cling on to it.

Roy’s body convulsed on the floor as pain wracked his body. What was this? Why was he in so much pain? His flesh burned as his vision turned a blinding white. He was struggling to breathe. His throat closed off and no air entered his lungs.

He blacked out.

“Roy…” Riza croaked, inching over to him while still on the bed. He heard it briefly through his consciousness.

His eyes popped open and he gasped. The pain on his back had lessened, but only slightly. It stung with such a ferocity it still felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Roy, are you okay?” she gasped from above him.

He groaned, rolling over onto his right side in an attempt to stand.

“What happened?” he panted, propping himself up onto his knees. Riza remained on the bed, face contorted in pain. Despite everything she was still trying to make sure he was okay.

“You –” Riza grit her teeth as another wave of pain washed over her. Roy fell back to his knees, one hand on the bed to catch himself. He experienced his own pain rushing through him… But why? “You passed out.”

Pushing through the pain he rose to his feet and sat heavily on the bed. One look at Riza’s back caused bile to rise in his throat. On her left shoulder blade the skin was puckered and blistered already. The angry red colour of her freshly burnt skin jumped out at him, the sight shooting pain right into his heart.

“Roy.” His eyes snapped up to hers. Sweat covered her skin and her expression was still pained, breathing heavy as she tried to control it. “What happened?”

“I – I don’t know,” he replied. He winced at the pain on his left. “As soon as I snapped I felt this pain on my back –” He cut himself off, his eyes widening in a perfect mirror of Riza’s.

When researching it before Roy left for the military – they didn’t find much in the town library – they discovered that after admitting their love for the other person soulmates begin to share feelings with one another. A little fact both of them had overlooked leading up to this event. After all, they both shared the exact same feelings in Ishval that they never had cause to remember it. Riza had never mentioned feeling any pain when he had been shot. Perhaps she had been too scared to admit it.

“You could feel it?” Riza gasped, body shaking.

“I still can.” He fell forward slightly, bracing his hands on the mattress to catch himself while Riza groaned in pain. “I’m so sorry,” he gasped.

“Roy,” she whispered.

“I’m so sorry.”

Her hand gripped his tightly. “I wanted this.”

“But I’ve hurt you so much.” They both knew he wasn’t just referring to burning her back. He had betrayed the trust she had put in him when revealing her back. He had preached about using for alchemy for good, promising he would do so, but he had only used it to murder.

“You made a promise to me. In Ishval.” Her breath caught and they both experienced another wave of pain as a draught blew through the room, caressing Riza’s exposed and burnt skin torturously. Roy stood shakily, swaying on his feet. He grit his teeth but moved to draw the curtains then slam the door shut. He was breathing heavily after completing his task. It was an effort even to remain upright in this amount of pain.

“Roy, you made a promise,” Riza mumbled, the exhaustion of the situation taking its toll her. “Do you remember it?”

“I’d make it to the top.” He grit his teeth, returning to the bed. “I would put a stop to Bradley’s rule to stop this from happening again.” His teeth ground together even harder. “We would make this world a better place together.”

“Do it, please.” Her hand latched onto his again. “Forget this. I wanted you to do this to me, remember that.”

“How can I forget?” he whispered, desolate. “I burned you,” he choked.

“Because you’ll promise me that you will.”

“Riza…”

“Do it. Now. Otherwise I can’t follow you.”

That thought terrified him most of all.

“I promise.”

Riza relaxed, her body sagging. “Thank you.” Her eyes closed, shielding the true pain she felt from him. Not that it hid anything, he could feel her own pain as clear as day.

When she lost consciousness Roy gasped in relief, the pain on his back disappearing as quickly as it had come to him. He looked down at her face, partly in grief, partly in wonder. So, it seemed that if one of them was to fall unconscious then the pain disappeared.

Well, that was one blessing of this whole mess.

His body was an extension of hers, and vice versa. That was the true meaning of soulmates. They were tied together in every way shape and form. It was more of a blessing than a curse for normal people. For them, it was a curse.

In their current situation, of course, they pretended they weren’t soulmates. It put to rest any rumours about them because not even a straight laced soldier like Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye would join the military and work under her soulmate. She was too by the book to do that. Roy Mustang was a womanizer, proclaiming frequently he was simply searching for his soulmate with that smirk that made all those woman swoon.

It made him feel nauseous.

Being so close to Riza at all times and being unable to do anything about it plagued him daily. She had always been very good at hiding her feelings. Roy, on the other hand, had not, but he had done it for her. That reminder that she would be court martialled for even working with him hung over his head every day.

When the homunculi appeared their cover was almost blown.

Roy choked as he ascended the stairs to the bell tower, a hand flying to his throat as he crashed heavily into the wall. Whatever was attacking Riza was killing her. His throat burned but he pushed onwards and upwards.

The pressure on his neck loosened suddenly and he gaped loudly, sucking in oxygen. Barking then childlike shouts echoed down the stairwell. Hayate. He would make that dog a General if he could. Good boy, Hayate. As soon as he laid eyes on the homunculus he didn’t hesitate, Roy sent that thing out of the window so fast it was gone in the blink of an eye.

He had been lucky no other members of the team had been around as he made his way up to her position otherwise his secret would have been given away. His team were loyal to them both and there was no doubt in his mind that they wouldn’t breathe a word. Hell, they probably already knew, but Roy knew they weren’t stupid enough to ever bring it up. There was no telling who would be listening.

Again, his main worry was for Riza. After Ishval they wouldn’t harm the famous Flame Alchemist. It would upset the public too much so they would punish the Hawk’s Eye instead, as sickening as that sounded. They wouldn’t kill the Hero of Ishval, a national symbol.

So, Roy’s only thoughts after being stabbed by Lust was how it would affect Riza. His side was in agony as he closed the wound. He almost passed out and if Lust was heading towards Riza now he needed her to be at her full strength until he arrived. Plus, the last thing he needed was for them to discover they were soulmates. That would make things ten times more difficult and they would be used against each other.

As he lay on that white floor, eyes finding Riza’s wet ones, he smiled. The threat was gone for the moment and she was unharmed. Roy, on the other hand, felt his pain flare up as blood seeped for his wound. It had opened up after he had fallen.

“Does he know?” Roy whispered quietly after Alphonse left the room to run for help for Havoc. His face contorted in pain and Riza’s grip on his hand tightened in response. From the pained look in her face, Roy knew she was feeling it too. Subconsciously a hand rose to her side, gripping the same spot he had been stabbed.

“Yes.”

Roy stiffened but sighed. He would need to have a discussion with Alphonse about this. It couldn’t get out.

“He won’t tell anyone,” Riza replied softly.

“Why?” he asked, wincing in pain.

“Because he knows just how much is at stake.” Her cryptic message was too much for him to figure out right now. He would just trust Riza would fill him in later.

“I won’t kill her,” Bradley added conversationally, as if discussing the weather. “If I did you would become useless.”

Roy felt his stomach drop. He had become complacent with Riza as his soulmate. They played their game so well that no one even had an inkling they were connected to one another. Rumours had stopped and moved onto something else, taking the attention away from them both. Once this had happened, Roy relaxed and that was the biggest mistake of them all. It was only once Bradley revealed he knew all about their little secret did Roy feel that fresh terror return.

He had researched soulmates in more recent years, using Central Library to his full advantage. If Riza was to die it would feel like he had truly lost a part of himself, like losing a limb. He would cease to function anywhere from a short to a long period of time. Some went insane after losing their loved ones, others simply shut down. That feeling of grief and hopelessness never truly went away.

“And we need you to be useful, Mustang,” the Fuhrer warned, his one eye training on Roy. “Make no mistake, though. If you step a foot out of line then we will kill her, whether we need you functioning or not. At least then we won’t need to worry about you sneaking around if you’re incapacitated.”

They would kill Riza just to keep him in line. If he lost her… He would be a shell of his former self, there was no doubt in his mind about that. No will to live, no drive to fight them…

This truly was a curse for them both.

It should be happy, it should be wonderful… But after what they had done in Ishval, Roy and Riza knew they didn’t deserve it. This soulmates curse was just another punishment for their sins.

“Lieutenant!” he screamed. His own neck burned with pain but he could hardly care. The only thought was that she was dying and he needed to do something to stop it. He could feel what she was feeling, he knew how much it hurt. Her eyes met his and he could see the determination in hers, he could even feel a sliver of it residing in his chest, but she could also feel the desperation in him.

That’s why they never really communicated what they were feeling. They always knew what the other was experiencing. It did, however, mean that no matter how much she downplayed her injuries to her fellow officers in order for them not to worry about her, Roy knew exactly how she was feeling. Riza used that to her advantage, downplaying it to him. They couldn’t reveal the fact they were soulmates so whenever she assured him she was fine, and Roy knew she really wasn’t, he just had to accept it and move on.

He wouldn’t do that now.

“I won’t die,” she breathed into the room. “I’m under strict orders not to die.”

He wanted to believe her but he could feel the pain in his neck lessening. She was fading from consciousness and didn’t have much time left. Panic seized him and he heard Riza gasp in response. He strained forward as far as he could, needing to be as close to her as possible. He needed to hold her. He needed to help her.

“We knew she was the one,” the doctor replied gleefully. “Now, all you need to do is open the portal and she will be fine. You can save both her life and yours because once she’s gone…” he laughed maniacally before his voice turned deadly. “You will be useless.”

Her eyes slid up towards the ceiling before blinking closed for longer than usual. Roy’s heart leapt into his throat as he thought she had passed out.

“Lieutenant, open your eyes!” he commanded desperately. “No,” Roy whispered. He was transported back to years ago when he burned Riza’ back. When she passed out his pain disappeared. Now, watching her eyes flutter closed despite her bravado about being ordered not to die, he no longer felt the pain in his neck.

She was almost gone.

“Lieutenant!” he screamed. The grip on his right arm loosened. Eyes snapping up he saw one of the Xingese girl’s knives embedded in the arm of his captor. Wrenching his arm free he grabbed the sword, stabbing the other in the leg. In a burst of energy he was on his feet. The pain that had disappeared from his neck was all that fuelled him. Despite how awful it felt, despite the fact it would hurt Riza, he would do anything to bring that pain back right now. If he brought it back that meant she was still conscious and one step further away from death than she was now.

Gathering her up into his arms Roy begged her to open her eyes. There was an impending feeling of finality creeping up on him.

“Lieutenant, please, open your eyes!” he called, giving her body a squeeze. “You have to wake up. We promised we would fight this together.” Roy swallowed past the lump in his throat. “You promised you would stay by my side. You can’t leave now.”

Nothing.

“I’m nothing without you.”

“Let me help!” Mei Chang commanded. She threw her knifes down and within a couple of seconds she had performed a transmutation. Roy gasped as pain flared in his neck, but it was duller than before. He winced, a hand automatically flying up to the affected area, but the relief he felt overcame it all.

He scooped Riza into his arms, burying his face in her hair. He breathed in her scent, feeling her chest rise and fall with her breaths. She was alive.

The worst of it was over for the moment.

Or that was what he thought.

As if fate or god or whoever didn’t think it was hilarious enough already to pin them as soulmates, they didn’t even get a chance to rest. Bradley pounced on him without a moment’s hesitation and Roy’s fear intensified both from his own and from Riza’s. This was the first time he had felt such a raw emotion coming from her. She rarely showed it, even to him. Emotions were easy to bury when it mattered. He had only ever been privy to her pain.

One thing he didn’t count on was what would happen after he opened the gate. When the swords pierced his hands he heard her gasp, the sound echoing his own strangled yell. Their screams mixed once more as it felt like his body was being torn apart to go through the gate.

“Colonel!” Riza screamed for him as pain enveloped his entire body.

Then it was gone.

“Colonel,” he heard Riza whisper to his right. “Your eyes…”

“Are you all right, Lieutenant?”

The battle with Father was over. They had been taken to a military hospital nearby and patched up. That hadn’t been pleasant as Roy felt every time the needle pierced Riza’s skin as she got the stitches on her neck. He simply lay in bed, staring up at a ceiling he couldn’t see while his hands were clenched by his side.

Silence. His heart beat wildly in his chest in anticipation. His hands reached out for her, needing to feel she was there and that she was all right. The pain was still present in his neck, so he knew she was alive, but he needed to confirm it.

“I’m all right.”

He breathed in response, relief flooding his body. Riza grabbed his hand tightly, giving it a squeeze to reassure him that she understood his concern. They were soulmates, after all. She could feel the relief he was experiencing right now and the panic that had swelled within him when she didn’t reply right away.

“My wound will heal nicely, they said. All thanks to Mei.”

“Good.” Silence fell once more as Roy formulated his next question. He had so many he needed answered so he decided to get the most important ones out of the way first. “Did you feel it?”

“Sir?”

“Did you feel any pain… when I lost my eyesight?” Riza remained quiet, the silence eating at him. “Riza…”

“I did.”

Roy stiffened. “How bad was it?”

God, he wanted to look at her face to see her eyes. Emotions were shared between soulmates but they were easy to hide. Riza had been doing it for years. Pain, however, was not easy to hide, that was why it was so prevalent in every soulmate bond. In a time when he needed to see just how much it had affected her, he couldn’t.

That was what he had been focussed on for so long, after all, just how much his pain would affect her without any real concern for himself.

“It stung. My head…” Roy squeezed her hand, prompting her to continue. They always knew how the other was feeling so never needed to relay it back out loud. This was something new for Riza but Roy was extremely grateful that she was doing this for him, especially now when he couldn’t pick up on her cues. “It felt like a headache. Like a stabbing pain behind my eyes.”

“I’m sorry.”

Riza sighed in frustration. “There is nothing to apologise for. What happened to me… Well, that was much worse.”

“I thought you’d died.” Roy swallowed. When the feeling of grief threatened to overwhelm him he felt both Riza’s hands grasp him and she exhaled. Roy followed suit, letting it all out in a breath. “Well, you can probably tell already how much that affected me.”

“You were so scared.”

“I thought I was going to lose you.”

“I felt you straining. I felt their grip on you tighten.”

“I couldn’t let you die alone.”

“You fought for me,” she added simply, as if only now realising it.

“Of course. Where would I be without you?”

Roy felt her tears build in her chest. He lifted a hand to her face, fingers becoming wet as he confirmed what he felt through their bond.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I would be lost without you too,” she whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my soulmate.”

[your-dietician]

2021 MBAs To Watch: Christina Gohl, IE Business School

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/business/2021-mbas-to-watch-christina-gohl-ie-business-school/

2021 MBAs To Watch: Christina Gohl, IE Business School

“I’m a results-oriented, people-oriented, ex-scientist turned business development professional who loves skiing in the Rockies.”

Hometown: Vancouver, BC

Fun fact about yourself: I met my husband on an airplane!

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Alberta, Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Santevia Water Systems, Role: Director of Sales

Where did you intern during the summer of 2020? There’s no summer break in a one-year MBA – we go 11 months straight – so nowhere!

Where will you be working after graduation? Great question! One-year MBAs are a unique breed, so given that I don’t graduate until the end of July I haven’t accepted an offer yet.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Awards:

Forte Fellowship

Community Work and Leadership Roles

IE Consulting Club Leadership Team. Role: Vice President

The club had slipped in the IE club rankings (a measure of value and effectiveness). I identified the need for a turnaround. I led and implemented a strategy and vision building process with the leadership team which included setting simple but powerful key metrics to measure success. In four weeks, we increased the club’s score by over 100 points, moving from 4th to 1st place.

IE Ambassador – Women4Women Program

Women continue to be underrepresented in MBA programs and through IE’s Women4Women program I aim to change that. Once paired with a prospective female student, I developed a connection and then we explored their needs and goals. My aim is to reduce anxiety by answering their questions but also to act as an advisor. Together we find the right fit, both for them and for IE.

Mentor

Junior profiles in my network have asked for mentorship from me in three areas: sales/business development, team management, and networking. I am currently working with a Masters in Management student to advance his networking skills with a goal to increase his chance of success in consulting applications.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Being published in IE’s Finance Talks. I’m a sales and marketing profile with a Bachelor in Science, so while I’m right at home in data analysis, all the finance I know I learned in a boardroom. As a result, when I came to business school I expected to struggle amongst peers with significantly more experience. I had been following the Game Stop short squeeze in the news, so when it came time to pick a topic for my Financial Markets final paper, GME seemed both interesting and relevant. I’m a good writer, but by no means a financial expert. As a result, I was shocked when my professor reached out saying that not only had I gotten 100% on the paper, but that he wanted to publish it. Since then, it has been reprinted in IE’s student newspaper at the request of the IE Investment Club and I got a 4.0 in Financial Markets to boot.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I always hit sales targets. This started in my first role as a Management Trainee at Enterprise, where I was in the top 1% of sales people province-wide every month I worked there. When I moved to Santevia, I repeated the same pattern. The business was young when I joined, so we had aggressive growth targets: double digits every year. I never missed an annual target. As the business grew, so did my level of responsibility and the size of my team. This meant hitting sales targets was now a function of my ability to lead and motivate 75 others instead of a result of my own direct work. This was a learning curve for me, but a challenge where I excelled. My team never missed an annual sales target in my 7-year tenure at the company.

Why did you choose this business school? I had progressed to the senior leadership team at Santevia and I remember sitting at the boardroom table realizing that while I understood the sales vertical very well, I couldn’t always predict with accuracy the impact my sales strategies would have on other areas of the business. I was a highly competent middle manager, but I needed to up-skill to become an executive. I came to IE Business School to improve my business strategy skills. For me, IE was the right choice because the institution is very forward looking.

The world had just undergone the quickest technical adoption I’ve seen in my lifetime as a result of COVID. Businesses are thus demanding technology savvy, entrepreneurial thinkers now more than ever before. This is IE’s specialty. At this school, I’m building an exam automation start-up called Examind and in two weeks I start a business challenge helping SMEs implement technology accelerators with Microsoft. Without the support and guidance of the professors and administrators at IE, I would never have dreamed of these accomplishments and opportunities.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school?

COVID has affected almost every event or tradition this year. However, one thing that it did not change was the value of diversity at IE. IE ensures that every MBA class hails from all over the globe (our class has 70 different nationalities). While this prompts truly interesting class discussions, it also challenges us to question norms. Sometimes it’s simple things: yesterday, I learned that Italians break a candle from their birthday cake to make a wish instead of doing it when they blow out the candles. And sometimes it’s big, such as how working with multicultural teams presents both challenges and opportunities. Learning to do this well is a skill that I will take with me and I sincerely believe will set me up for success in a world that becomes more diverse by the day. The fact that IE not only understands the value of diverse teams but also has implemented recruiting practices that make it a reality is a testament to their belief in the power of diversity.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have focused less on the job hunt in my first semester. The one-year MBA is short, so there is pressure throughout to consider what’s next. While there is a definite benefit in being clear on your next steps and strategy to get there, I struggled with the transition from a career in Canada to academia in Spain. I think I could have been a little easier on myself in those first months and allowed myself more space to make the transition.

What is the biggest myth about your school? You’ll learn a ton of Spanish while you’re here. While it is possible to learn Spanish (and IE provides us ample opportunity), the reality is that you spend most of your time immersed in English. In addition, the demands of a one-year MBA mean that it’s difficult to find time to practice. As such, I’ve found my language skills progressing more slowly than I’d like.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose? I focused my time on what I was world-class at. I had to make a choice mid-application: spend more time devoted to studying and re-writing the GMAT to score in the upper ranks of the quant section or focus on my strengths (strong interpersonal skills that allow me to interview well and strong writing skills to write great entrance essays). I decided to do the latter and it paid off: I got into every school I applied to, with generous scholarships.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Luis Fernando Marcos Yepes. Luis is a part of my workgroup (an assigned group with which we do all our group projects for core academic classes). The people in your workgroup are always a bit of a gamble. Will we have similar goals? How do our workstyles differ? Coming together as a team is an art and it can be incredibly difficult. Specifically, at the end of a semester, when a mountain of projects are due, the stress increases and groups tend to struggle, our group included. However, Luis never backed away from hard work or difficult conversations. Not only was he a high performer — excelling at and taking the lead in finance projects as a result of his background as an auditor at EY — he also never shied away from the difficult times. His consistency and dependability was something I really counted on in the midst of some stressful days in the MBA. On top of that, he has been very conscious about growing his team leadership skills. He had natural people skills that he has refined in just a few months into persuasion and motivation abilities. He is constantly seeking out advice and feedback to improve as a leader and I truly admire his growth mindset.

How disruptive was it to shift to an online or hybrid environment after COVID hit? Very smooth. A key reason I chose IE Business School was because of the thought they had put into the post-COVID class experience. IE is the only top business school (to my knowledge) that maintained an in-class experience throughout the entirety of my degree (September 2020 start). This came with some restrictions (mask wearing, class size reductions, COVID tests) but the limitations were far outweighed by the benefit of an in-class experience. My classmates and I frequently discuss how fortunate we are to have benefitted from IE’s planning and dedication to preserving our in-class experience.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? I didn’t pursue business in college (my undergrad), but pursuing my MBA has been a dream of mine since 25. However the push to do it, at 30, came from my mother. She came from a blue collar family in Ontario and was the only one of her four siblings who graduated from university. She pursued her Master’s degree as a single mother when I was young and now she is a successful business owner. She always instilled in me the power of hard work and perseverance. She also taught me that unlike material things, education is something that always stays with you. She showed me the value of investing in yourself.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

I want to be in a position to significantly impact the availability of senior leadership roles for women.

I want to own my own business.

What made Christina such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“My subject is sometimes completely new for the students. In addition, it is very quantitative and full of very specific terms typical of the financial world. So, it is very easy that, at some point in class, communication is “lost”. The truth is that the lack of interaction with the students, causes a certain feeling of helplessness in myself as a teacher. Precisely when I was having the worst time, Christina began her interventions in class, summarizing difficult topics out loud, giving them her own interpretation, obviously much more within the reach of the rest of the classmates. Through her words, concepts were clarified for the rest. And so, it was throughout the course. I found in Christina a total, unique support that made me feel more comfortable when teaching. That’s because I knew that in a natural way, her intervention would allow us to adequately complete the topic, “round it up”. After more than thirty years teaching, on very few occasions I have had such special students and Christina has undoubtedly been one of them.

In the evaluation process of my subject, it is necessary to present an individual work on a topic associated. I suggest some and the students are free to choose another as long as it has to do with the subject. Christina surprised me again by choosing a current issue, related to the behavior of the GameStop stock. She brilliantly described the functioning of “securities lending” and the establishment of short positions in the market, posing unavoidable questions about the concept of market efficiency and the possible gaps in regulation in a world where the importance of social networks is increasing. I think it has been one of the best-written articles I have read on a current topic. When I finished reading it, I felt that I had something very special on my hands. For this reason, and with the approval of the IMBA management, her article was published on a blog of the Institute. The person in charge defined it as a Top Tier item.

In conclusion, Christina has been an exemplary contributor to the course, she has shown passion towards a subject that was completely new to her and not only has she obtained the highest possible grade with an incredible final work but has left an indelible mark on an old professor who is no longer used to seeing so much talent and humanity.”

Rodrigo Manero IE Business School Professor

DON’T MISS: THE FULL LIST OF MBAS TO WATCH IN 2021

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments); if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '256112445196302'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); fbq('track', 'ViewContent');!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link