The Rochester MBA candidate led initiatives around career development, mental health and wellness, and racial equity as a student at the Simon Business School.
Andrea Bell is driven by her desire to solve problems and have a positive impact on people’s lives. After years of working for the federal government, Bell, who holds a master’s in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, wanted to transition to a career in consulting. “And I knew I needed to go to business school to do that,” she says.
Bell, who is from Baldwin, New York, graduates this spring from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester with a STEM MBA in consulting, focused on strategy, with a minor in marketing.
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She describes her Simon experience as “challenging yet rewarding.” In addition to her work in the classroom, Bell was involved with Simon’s student-led clubs and organizations, leading initiatives around career development, mental health and wellness, and racial equity.
Actively involved in Simon’s Graduate Business Council, she was elected to serve as the vice president of the Benet Career Management Center and Alumni Relations. For Black History Month, she helped moderate a virtual discussion with James Fripp, chief equity and inclusion officer with Yum! Brands, for a candid conversation with students and staff about his professional experiences in the field today. Additionally, she formed and helped lead with classmates a Racial Equity Task Force, which focused on advocating for systemic change and informed the equity, diversity, and inclusion action plan and forthcoming strategic plan for Simon.
Bell was also a coach for a team of first-year MBA students and served as a mentor for a Rochester undergraduate student through the Forte program.
“The opportunities I have had are because of the support I have received along my professional journey,” she says, noting that her goal was to serve as a resource for students as they navigated the hybrid school environment.
Additionally, during her first year in business school Bell served as project manager for Simon Vision Consulting and was a member of the board for Simon’s Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Board, a nonprofit that works to ensure equal representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in management careers in the US business community. Bell is also a Forté Fellow and an MBA Professional Development Program Fellow through Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a national nonprofit that aims to build a leadership pipeline from underrepresented communities.
This fall, Bell will begin a senior consultant position at Kalypso, an innovation consulting firm.
In the future, Bell hopes to empower people to achieve their career goals by opening her own career counseling practice with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion issues that are encountered by marginalized populations in work environments. She says she would also like to apply the knowledge she has learned about corporate governance by serving on a corporate board.
“Attending business school has allowed me to develop a foundational business acumen, expand my leadership experiences, and hopefully leave a legacy that ties in with the motto of the University of Rochester: Meliora,” Bell says.
