As the first person in his family to go to college, Damon Wiley, MBA 25, arrived at Haas knowing he’d meet other students who shared a similar background. But as the months passed, he began to wonder how first-gens, who comprise 20% of his class, could support each other better.
“I wanted to build a space that was just strictly for folks that are first-gen to be able to be in community together,” said Wiley, who also serves as co-president of the Black Business Student Association and as a board member of EGAL, the Center for Gender, Equity, and Leadership.
Last spring, Wiley got to talking with Viridiana Santacruz and Yvonne Mondragón, both MBA 25, about everything their shared experiences being first-gen. “We started having conversations around topics like, ‘What does it mean to be first generation at an MBA program?’” Santacruz said. “What does it mean to come from a different socioeconomic background, given that socioeconomic status is so taboo in business school?”
The trio went on to found and co-lead the first First-Gen Club at Haas, or 1G@Haas.
Quick growth
Since launching last spring, 1G@Haas has grown to 50 members and held several social events. In April, they held a kickoff First-Gen/Low Income Club Student and Alumni Mixer, followed by another mixer in partnership with the the Black Business Student Association (BBSA) at Haas, ALMA, Berkeley’s Hispanic serving organization, and Stanford’s first-gen organization, BBSA and Hispanic Student Association.
This year, the club will continue working to develop its two missions: helping first-gen Berkeley Haas applicants during the admissions process and building a community of first-gen students and allies.
“We want to be a safe space for first-generation and low-income students to have vulnerable conversations around struggles or things that they may be facing, while at the same time also creating awareness across the university and providing ways for allies to be part of the community,” Santacruz said.
Some students in the first-gen group are members of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which supports underrepresented students, and groups that support students who belong to specific ethnic affinity groups at Haas. But there are commonalities among first-gen MBA students that transcend those categories, Wiley said.
Some of those commonalities include first in the family to have a white collar or professional job, said Kiana Rahni, MBA/MPH 25, who is the club’s VP for admissions. “We might be navigating things like how to network, how to build resumes or cover letters, and how to present yourself in formal interviews,” she said.
Fear of being judged or of standing out from the “norm” can lead to people hiding their identity, Wiley added.
“There’s a lot of belittling that happens with telling folks that you are first-gen,” said Wiley, who also earned his undergrad degree at UC Berkeley, where he was a three-time All-American rugby player. “People think, ‘Oh my god, you don’t have parents. You have one parent. You’re low income. None of your family went to college. You don’t know how to navigate the colleges system or how to get a job.’”
Creating something special
First-generation is typically defined as a child of a parent or parents who have not completed a bachelor’s degree. But the first-gen club expanded that definition to include people who are the first in their family to go to college in the United States, considering that these students may also lack the kind of support many other students take for granted.
Wiley said he expects the club to thrive in the coming years.
“I want folks to know that we’re here to not only support the current students on campus, but our future students and our alumni,” he said. “We’re trying to create something very special here, where we have an almost generational pipeline of support—this is a family first community.”
The club’s officers include Rishabh Gupta, Hector Alamillo, Lucas Costa Machado, Rodolfo Rodrigues da Costa, and Ritika Rastogi, all MBA 25.