Haleta grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Columbia University in New York City. She is pursuing a career in healthcare management, with a long-term interest in the intersections of healthcare, education, and social enterprise. Haleta previously worked at Achievement First, an exceptional organization that manages a network of over 20 high-performing public charter schools in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Prior to this, Haleta co-founded a successful non-profit skill-training program for commercial sex workers in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Both experiences highlighted the complexities in addressing issues of access and the many ways in which business tools and frameworks can be applied to more effectively support social impact work. Haleta looks forward to spending her time at (and after) Marshall building and leveraging her experience to support this work.

Sarah is pursuing a joint MBA at Marshall and Masters in Jewish Nonprofit Management at Hebrew Union College. Prior to graduate school, Sarah worked in the financial services sector as a Junior Financial Associate at Oppenheimer and Co., Inc. She spent a summer at ESAN Graduate School of Business in Lima, Peru and obtained a business/ Spanish certification. Recently, Sarah has pursued her passion for social justice by serving as a mentor to young women. Sarah graduated cum laude from UCLA in 2007 with a degree in political science.

Two percent of the food eaten in the six-county Sacramento region is grown locally. This is what drove Gina toward an MBA - the hopes of developing a food system in which everyone has access to fresh food, even those living in inner cities where grocery stores are sometimes as scarce as convenience stores are abundant.

Gina grew up in Cupertino, Calif., and earned a bachelor's degree in political science and mass communications at the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in print journalism at Boston University. She worked as a staff reporter for the Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and the Sacramento Bee, covering stories about crime, business and local news.

But it was the articles about Central Valley farmers juxtaposed against the rising users of Sacramento food banks that made Gina realize there is a disconnect in food distribution plaguing even the cities located within the nation's most fertile farmland. In 2012, Gina studied sourcing issues while compiling a sustainability report at an organic and natural foods manufacturer.

A San Diego native, Tim moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he received a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design. Beginning a career in architecture and construction, Tim realized the great potential cities have to curb greenhouse gas emissions and serve as inspiring places to live and work. Tim came to USC focus on how sustainable development, human centered design, and entrepreneurship can rebuild our environment to better serve society.

Paul is a Program Officer for the Los Angeles-based David Bohnett Foundation, where he has worked for over a decade. Every aspect of the Foundation's grant-making process comes under Moore's purview, including monitoring grant requests and grantee reports, conducting site visits, and representing the David Bohnett Foundation at community and industry events. Among Moore's chief responsibilities is supervising the Foundation's entire David Bohnett CyberCenters program, which currently numbers over 60 centers nationwide. The CyberCenters offer free Internet access and technology support to the LGBT community, and provide educational and job-search resources for seniors and youth. A native of Orange County, California, Paul Moore holds a B.S. in Finance, cum laude, from California State University, Northridge. Paul serves as a Board Member of CenterLink, the national association of LGBT Community Centers and is the Vice President of Community of the USC Marshall Gay and Lesbian Association.

A California native, Dara received her B.A. in Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley. She then returned to her hometown of Los Angeles, to work as a linguist for a software startup. After a switch to the non-profit sector, Dara gained important experience building greater social capital in low-income communities in the Los Angeles area. As an MBA candidate at the Marshall School of Business, Dara is focusing on social enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Over the course of her career, Stephanie has been an advocate for counter-terrorism policies, a leader of non-profit programs dedicated to women's and human rights, and a strategy consultant for some of the nation's largest non-profit, academic, and federal organizations. Stephanie has a solid foundation upon which to build a career committed to social enterprise, combining two years of strategy consulting and four years managing the start-up of an international non-profit organization. As Program Manager at The Center for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME) and Taavana.org, Stephanie developed project concepts leading to more than $3 million in federal grants, and oversaw management of grant programs, leading a team of 20+ located throughout the U.S., Europe, and Middle East. Her work on CLIME's Online Activism Institute contributed to the program's receipt of the "Top 10 who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics Award" in 2009 by PoliticsOnline magazine. As a Senior Consultant with PwC, Stephanie developed strategic plans for industry leading clients in defense, healthcare, and academia. She contributed to proposals leading to new work and served as Captain of the PwC Health Industries Advisory Academy. Stephanie graduated, Cum Laude, from USC in 2006, with a B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Policy, Planning and Development.

Patti is a southern California native and the first in her family to graduate from college, receiving a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to business school, she spent more than six years working as Nutrition Program Director for a local non-profit. In that capacity she oversaw about 50 employees, 100 volunteers, and a $2 million annual budget. Her desire to affect social change at a larger level drove her to pursue her MBA at USC Marshall. She holds leadership positions on the boards of Net Impact, MarshallWear, and the Wine Club, and is a Fellow for Consortium and Forté Foundation. In the summer of 2012, she interned with Education Pioneers, a nationwide organization that places select graduate students in roles outside of the classroom, to work towards education reform. After graduation Patti plans to continue her career in social impact, either at a nonprofit or social enterprise, and is looking forward to building upon the momentum that is fostered here at Marshall.

Lauren comes to USC Marshall with a deep curiosity for exploring the connection between business and social good. This interest builds on a lifetime of community involvement and nearly 10 years of professional experience in various facets of the nonprofit sector. Lauren's commitment to social change has led to work with agencies as a volunteer, board member, staff member and consultant. Most recently, Lauren consulted with nonprofit organizations, providing leadership for fundraising, strategic planning and board recruitment efforts. Lauren also served as a member of the board of directors for Girls on the Run of Los Angeles County, an organization dedicated to educating and preparing girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. Lauren has a BA in communication studies, political science and Spanish from Vanderbilt University, where she was an Ingram Scholar.

Christian was born and raised in the Pacific island of Guam. He moved to Los Angeles to earn a degree in Biomedical Engineering at USC. Christian worked in product development for several years before pursuing a career in operational excellence. His experience stretches from small, privately-funded research labs to Fortune 500 companies in the medical device and biopharmaceutical industries. Currently Christian works for a large, non-profit healthcare organization as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, leading organizational transformations that improve hospital operations and patient care. He is also pursuing his MBA at USC with emphasis on Finance and Healthcare. Christian wants to lead a career dedicated to lowering the barriers to high-quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare to those in need. In the last eleven years, Christian has worked with HOPE Worldwide in various projects including HOPE Youth Corps, Day-On HOPE, and most recently, Hoops for HOPE which raised funds for a free hospital in Cambodia.

Jonathan comes to Marshall by way of San Francisco, where he spent four years managing film production and post-production. He worked on projects ranging from documentaries to advertising for Fortune 500 companies. He is eager to apply background in managing creative, socially-aware projects in a career managing the development of socially innovative products and technology. Jonathan received his B.A from Oberlin College with a major in Environmental Studies and a Minor in Studio Art.

After graduating from Cornell University with a B.A. in Biology, Veronica Chen was drawn to the world of education after discovering her love and talent for teaching children. As a result, she went back to school and completed her California mathematics high school teaching credential and Master in Education at UCLA. Since then, Veronica has been teaching 10th and 11th grade mathematics in low-income, urban schools in Los Angeles. Confronted with the struggles of inner-city students on a daily basis, Veronica became more impassioned to change the field of education. What started as a simple desire to help children became the driving force behind her interest in social entrepreneurship. Accordingly, Veronica applied to Marshall to develop her entrepreneur skills in hopes of one day changing the lives of inner-city, low-income students through education reform inside and outside the classroom. In her spare time, Veronica enjoys ballroom dancing, karaoking and MC-ing for fundraising events in the Asian American Community. She is very honored to be selected as a member of the SBL Fellowship, Class of 2013.

Stephen grew up in Southern California and during that time was exposed to international social work through the service organization Tzu-Chi. He has undergraduate degrees in business and political economy from UC Berkeley. He began his career in Taiwan with a focus on equity sales, afterwards, he moved to Singapore were he joined a startup company that sought to commercialize energy-efficient technology. It is there that he had the opportunity to explore his interest in carbon credits, and worked to structure financing agreements between corporations, governments, and external investors. The intersection between finance and sustainable/social goals continues to be an area of strong interest for Stephen and has given a seminar on the subject at Lawrence Berkeley Labs. He is very excited to be at USC and looks forward to exploring new opportunities and social entrepreneurship.

Cristian grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and received his BSE in Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in North Carolina. Before pursuing his MBA at the Marshall School of Business, he served as a healthcare technologist/strategic business analyst with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Innovation Team led by the Chief Technology Officer. His main focus was on innovation and open government efforts, ensuring that public health information is easily accessible and usable by entrepreneurs and innovators. Cristian has also served as chairman of the board of directors for both the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit focusing on Asian American leadership development, and Lambda Phi Epsilon National Fraternity, Inc, a fraternal organization. His goal is to continue in the field of healthcare technology, positively transforming it through business and technology.

Prior to joining Marshall, Sean worked at the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula serving as the Director of the Center for a New Generation and leading the organization's College Bound Initiative with the goal of increasing the 35% high school graduation rate in the communities he served. He was also a founding partner of GetConnects, a social enterprise that linked minority college students with internship and entry level job opportunities. Sean has always had the desire to transform low-income communities. He has developed a solid understanding the complexity and connectedness of issues facing these communities, and was attracted to the Society and Business Lab as its focus is strongly aligned with his own mission and beliefs. SBL nurtures leaders who desire to use business models as a means of tackling the difficult issues facing our world, something Sean hopes to continue doing as he seeks to create significant, sustainable, and systemic change in low income communities through community organization, educational reform, and economic development.

A Santa Monica native, Jessica spent the year prior to Marshall in Thailand working with a local non-governmental organization that assists migrant and refugee populations from Burma settle in Thailand. Prior to her work there, Jessica spent two years in Washington, DC, where she managed The Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation, a philanthropic foundation, and served as the director of programs and operations at DC Action for Children, Washington's oldest children's advocacy organization. During her free time, Jessica started a non-profit organization dedicated to combatting sex trafficking to Israel and served as a director for the Board of Young Trustees of ThinkImpact, a non-profit organization that catalyzes social businesses in Africa. Jessica graduated in 2007 from the University of Michigan where she studied Political Science.

After graduating with a degree in Law from the University of Tokyo, Takuya began work at the Ministry of Finance of Japan. Through various policy projects, Takuya became interested in the ways in which public finance policy can enhance private capital flow to the social sector. He came to Marshall to study finance, and hopes that through the Society and Business Lab, he will gain a deep understanding of the relationship between the nonprofit and private sectors in relation to social change. After graduation, Takuya will return to Japan and hopes to use his knowledge to contribute to a more innovative policy at the Ministry of Finance.

Sharmin received her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Boston University. Soon after graduating, she moved back to her hometown of Southern California to pursue her passion for brand marketing at various consumer product companies. Prior to starting the USC Marshall MBA.PM program, she joined her family business, which manufactures and markets vitamin products. With the help of Marshall's Society and Business Lab, Sharmin hopes to break into the non-profit consulting industry, working with organizations focused on children's right and healthcare issues. Sharmin's long-term goal is to develop her family business into a socially responsible global brand in the nutritional health industry.

Arjun is a professional Audiologist and Speech Pathologist and has worked in healthcare and education industries for over eight years. Having been raised in India, he is acutely aware of the issues people face when they cannot access affordable and quality education or healthcare. In the past, Arjun has worked with Rotary Club International and GN Resound Inc. to bring hearing diagnostics and rehabilitative services to the marginal sections of the Indian society. Through the Marshall School and the Society and Business Lab, he hopes to bring about a positive change in people lives by formulating newer channels of service delivery and improving access to such services. In 2011, Arjun interned with USC University Hospital/USC Norris Cancer Hospital.

Jessica earned her undergraduate degree from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. After graduation, she worked for Deloitte Consulting in the strategy and operations service area and for Oakwood Worldwide as an operations analyst. Jessica pursued her passion to serve her community outside of the workplace. She has committed her time to AmeriCorps, and America Reads and volunteering for Education First. Jessica aspires to couple her professional experience in strategy and operations with her passion for serving the community. As a fellow of Marshall's Society and Business Lab, Jessica aims to gain a greater understanding of ways in which business principles can be used, for underserved communities, to increase access to education, healthcare and economic mobility. She is seeking career opportunities in the fields of non-profit management, education, and healthcare. In 2011, Jessica interned with LAUSD as an Education Pioneers Fellow.

Cohort 1

Angeli Agrawal is a Business Administration and International Relations Major from Saratoga, CA. She first discovered her interest in social issues after volunteering for the Teaching International Relations Project (TIRP) and Joint Educational Project (JEP) at USC. After interning for Teach For America and recruiting other social-minded Marshall students for the program, she decided to delve into the social enterprise world by interning with Participant Media, a company that seeks to change society through film and social action campaigns. Besides the intern experiences Angeli has had here at USC, she also serves on the Panhellenic Council as the Vice President of Membership, is a Dean's Scholar, and has enjoyed traveling with USC programs to Spain and Cuba. Angeli is excited to learn more from this year's Scholars and Senior Fellows about the impact of businesses on social issues.

Annaliese (Anna) Birrer is majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Global Management and minoring in International Relations. Anna grew up in Huntington Beach, California and has lived in Zurich, Switzerland, Zanzibar, Tanzania and South Africa. Anna worked with ThinkImpact during Summer 2012, partnering with rural communities to start sustainable businesses using asset based community development. She has also worked with One Heart Source and interned with the Society & Business Lab. On campus, she is the President of USC's One Heart Source, Director of Projects for Los Angeles Community Impact (LACI), Vice President of Operations for Global Business Brigades and is involved with Delta Sigma Pi. Her interests lie in education, design to improve life, strategy consulting, and sustainable development of rural communities. She enjoys scuba diving, blogging, hiking, Swiss Cards, and learning new languages. Anna has studied French, German, Kiswahili, Fante and Xitsonga.

Abby Chao, from Naperville, Illinois, is studying Business Administration with a minor in Web Applications & Technologies. Deeply interested in the intersection between business, technology, and social impact, Abby has spent the past year starting Conquest Capital Ventures, a USC student-run venture capital fund for social enterprise. She is also actively involved in the Marshall Case Team, Los Angeles Community Impact (LACI) Consulting, and USC's premier business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in startups and venture capital, using business to change the world.

Sarah Choi is from Orange County, California and is a Business Administration and Cinematic Arts major in the Marshall School of Business. Having passion for the arts and entertainment, she hopes to learn more about the ways in which she can utilize the entertainment industry for social causes and philanthropies. Sarah learned that the medium of arts has potential power to bring about change while working on a project known as the Drop Box Documentary Film in Seoul, South Korea; a film bringing awareness on child abandonment issues. Having work experience at companies like Universal Music Group and CAA (Creative Arts Agency), she hopes to gain as much professional experience to be able to work in a field where she can use the medium of arts for a greater good. Sarah studied abroad in Hong Kong during the Spring 2012 semester.

Faye Espiritu is from Castaic, California pursuing a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in Communication Design. Faye realized that her passion was in marketing for nonprofit organizations after several experiences at USC. After three semesters of involvement with USC Spirits in Action, she is now the 2012-2013 Co-Director of the nonprofit organization that plans and hosts USC's version of the Special Olympics. This year, Faye is also the President of the Fisher Museum of Art's new student organization, Students with Fisher@USC. In the future, Faye hopes to use her combination of business, marketing, and design skills to create successful marketing campaigns for nonprofit organizations.

Scott Fairbanks is a global learner, entrepreneur, and adventurer. Over the past three years at USC he lived, worked, or volunteered on four continents. As Co-President of Global Business Brigades, he led two trips of 21 students to rural Panama and Ghana for small business and micro-finance consulting. Last summer, he was off the grid in rural South Africa employing human-centered design practices to help develop sustainable, asset-based businesses. In between, he co-founded a social enterprise apparel company to aid the water crisis in Africa. Moving forward, his ambitions are to constantly gain knowledge, continue to better understand other cultures, enjoy the work he engages in, and have an overall positive impact. Scott is a senior from Arcadia, California majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Photography.

Jenny Ham, from Los Angeles, California, is studying Public Relations and Social Sciences with an emphasis in Psychology. Jenny has always had a passion for creating positive social impact in the greater community and through her volunteer activities at USC, she learned how she could help close the achievement gap faced by low-income students. Jenny has been actively involved in Troy Camp since her freshman year. In addition, she created and streamlined the annual philanthropy project of USC's premier leadership fraternity, Delta Omicron Zeta, to better serve local middle and high school students interested in leadership. Her love of philanthropy can also be seen through her involvement in the Undergraduate Student Government, where she serves as the Director of Philanthropy Funds. Ultimately, Jenny hopes to pursue a career that aligns a business model with a philanthropic purpose.

Originally from the Bay Area, Claire Marsh is earning her bachelor's degree in International Relations Global Business and Economics. Claire developed her passion for social entrepreneurship as Co-President of USC Global Business Brigades, a chapter of the largest student-led development organization in the world. As Co-President, she has led two business development trips to Panama and Ghana. During Summer 2012, Claire further increased her involvement with the organization and served as the Microfinance Intern for Global Brigades in Ghana. While there, she focused on the development of Global Brigades Ghana, along with her own research regarding the creation of a collaboration network for like-minded development organizations. Upon graduation, Claire seeks to start her own social enterprise dealing with the coordination of international development. Claire has previously interned as a USC Global Fellow in Hong Kong, and studied abroad in Sao Paulo, Brazil during her Spring 2012 semester.

Meghan Murphy, from Southern California, is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. She is interested in social enterprise and has also interned with Rocketdyne in their renewable energy division. While studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa she volunteered with Engineers Without Borders to develop small stoves, which reduced CCA emissions in the Nyanga Township. Meghan also worked with a jewelry start-up in Los Angeles that sold jewelry handcrafted by women in the village of Kamboo in Kenya, whose proceeds helped fund the building of a school and health center.

Ankit Patel, from Chicago, Illinois, is studying Chemical Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship. His passion for social entrepreneurship began after teaching English in rural Thailand. The power of education inspired him to think about giving back to the education sector of social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, traveling outside the United States gave Ankit a new perspective on how to give back to humanity. He plans on fusing his background in chemical engineering with an entrepreneurial mindset to create a social business venture.

Ian Ritchey is studying Business Administration at the Marshall School of Business. Ian is from the San Francisco Bay Area and initially gained interest in social entrepreneurship after embarking on a microfinance trip with Marshall Global Brigades to a small community in Ghana. Following the success on this trip, he found socially conscious models such as micro-lending to be truly successful in alleviating poverty. One of the things that he enjoys most about this approach is that it offers long lasting, sustainable solutions to many world issues. Ian also has a strong passion and respect for the environment and is a part of the outdoor community here at USC as a guide for the student organization SC Outfitters. Ian would like to see more businesses adopt both environmentally and socially sustainable models that focus on employee happiness, low-turnover, reduced emissions, and employment of materials produced locally and in a sustainable manner.

Upon coming to USC, Brillante Wang quickly fell in love with the surrounding community and its rich culture. As a business major, he realized the potential of business to positively impact the lives of the underserved, and embarked upon a life-changing trip to Panama with USC's Global Business Brigades. Since then, he has spent two months in rural Ecuador teaching English, and has worked in Honduras as a leader with the USC Global Microfinance Brigades. He is also actively involved in USC's surrounding community by preparing resumes for low-income individuals as a Chrysalis volunteer, guiding high school students to start their own social businesses through Breakaway Education, and being a Troy Camp counselor. Brillante is proud to be the first Asian student to ever volunteer at a nearby Mexican meat market, which allows him to practice his Spanish and directly immerse himself in the community.

A Southern California native raised in the Trojan family, Jessica comes to USC with a love for the surrounding area and Trojan community. In high school, she founded and led Club A.S.A.P (Allied Students Against Persecution) in effort to raise funds and awareness to combat various types of injustice around the world. Also, she spearheaded the development of Club STRIVE, a community mentorship program for teens with developmental disabilities. Upon arriving to USC, Jessica became involved with SBL and grew fascinated with the field of social entrepreneurship because it offered a way to combine her philanthropic background with her goals for international development. Jessica studies Economics with minors in International Relations and Social Entrepreneurship. She valued her time in the SBL Scholars Mentoring Program as it provided her with exposure to the social entrepreneurship industry and a supportive community of like-minded students. Jessica remains involved at SBL as an intern and the leader of the Impact Organization Council. Outside of SBL, Jessica is active in Thematic Option, Joint Educational Project (JEP), Global Income Convergence Group, Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and the Christian Challenge fellowship group.