For Vaneshia Reed, MBA 26, the road from the culinary world to business school aligned with her mission to help build more sustainable and equitable food systems.
“Working in the industry and realizing how broken our food system is, and also thinking about who has access to capital, got me excited about private market investing and being able to democratize access to capital and fund a more resilient future of food,” said Reed, one of 12 Berkeley Haas Finance Fellows.
“Working in the industry and realizing how broken our food system was, and also thinking about who has access to capital, got me excited about private market investing and being able to democratize access to capital,” Reed, one of 12 Berkeley Haas Finance Fellows, said.
Fellows are chosen based on their career experience, clarity of their goals, and their career plans. As fellows, the students receive a scholarship award and are assigned mentors—Haas alumni working in finance, including recent graduates and senior executives.
The 2024-25 Finance Fellows include:
Investment Banking: Rachael Abayomi, Tianie Scott, Vincent Ding, and Tyler Lawrence, all MBA 26.
Entrepreneurial Finance: Dominik Gorecki, MBA/MPH 26; Vaneshia Reed, MBA 26; Toby Levy, MBA/MCS 26; and Maria Marino Parada, MBA 26.
Private Equity and Investment Management: Shivi Lakhtakia and Thiago Mascarenh, both MBA 26.
C&J White Fellows: Vrinda Bansal and Jacob Channell, both MBA 26.
This year was one of the most competitive rounds for the fellowship, according to William Rindfuss, managing director for strategic programs for the Haas Finance Group.
“There was a big increase in applications, especially for our longest-running fellowship, the investment banking fellowship, now in its 19th year,” he said. “The number of our MBAs in investment banking recruiting right now is 30% greater than the past two years. That gives us more of the scale that brings bankers to campus to recruit, particularly for our key Bay Area IB market, where we consistently hold the top market share for IB Summer Associates launching their careers.” This year’s fellows hail from around the United States and the world.
Tyler Lawrence, MBA 26, who worked in client and account management at companies ranging from Meta to Salesforce, moved from New York to pursue a career in West Coast technology investment banking at Haas.
“Given I’m making a pretty significant career pivot, the fellowship really helps me get priority access to courses in finance that will help prepare me not only for an internship, but also in developing a long-term career in the industry,” Lawrence said.
Vrinda Bansal, MBA 26, who was awarded a C&J White Fellowship, believed that engineering was her calling, but changed her mind as an undergraduate.
“When I came across an economics and finance club in my undergrad college, I was just so fascinated,” said Bansal, who established SheBlooms, a nonprofit in India that has helped more than 100 women without educational access to gain financial literacy.
“SheBlooms is a part of my career that I feel extremely positive about, and I would love to continue with it in the longer term,” she said.