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MBA Student Strengthens Community as GWIB President

MBA Student Strengthens Community as GWIB President

Fernanda Salas MBA ’25, president of Graduate Women in Business, is empowering students at USC Marshall.

by: Alexander Bernard
02.26.25
Fernanda Salas

Fernanda Salas is expanding communities at USC Marshall. 

[Photo courtesy of Salas]

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Before attending USC Marshall School of Business, Fernanda Salas MBA ’25 assumed the Trojan Network might merely be a clever advertising campaign. However, when she arrived on campus from Chile, the Full-Time MBA (FTMBA) student soon learned how genuinely USC views its community.

“I thought it was a marketing tactic at first, but it’s real — this sentiment of helping each other,” Salas said. “From the beginning — going to the recruiting events and even in my internship, I could feel the difference when I was meeting a Trojan.”

Now, in her second year in the MBA program, Salas is a major part of that network. Most notably, she is president of the Graduate Women in Business (GWIB), a student-run organization devoted to the professional success of its members.

“The goal is to create a community and support women,” Salas said. “It’s difficult out there in the workplace. We want to empower each other and support each other so that we can reach the best version of ourselves.”

Salas didn’t initially expect to attend USC Marshall. After graduating with a business degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, Salas spent several years working in marketing and product management. Yet, the young professional wanted to create an international career and believed an MBA would drive this growth.

After researching several graduate schools in the United States, Salas discovered USC Marshall. The fit was perfect.

“The program that USC offers — it’s quite global,” Salas said. “[The program] has people from all over the world, and that is what has made me grow so much. That is what I was looking for in an MBA [program while] living abroad.”

To strengthen her leadership skills at Marshall. Salas has immersed herself in various activities and organizations. She joined the Marshall Leadership Fellows Program (MLFP), a one-year program dedicated to leadership development, connection, and community building. She also enrolled in MOR 598: Leadership and Improvisation, taught by Scott Wiltermuth, professor of management and organization, and Kristin Eggers, assistant professor of theatre practice in comedy performance in USC School of Dramatic Arts.

“I never thought I would take an improv class and relate it to leadership,” Salas said. “But those kinds of classes are what I’m looking for to grow professionally and personally.”

The program that USC offers — it’s quite global. [The program] has people from all over the world, and that is what has made me grow so much. That is what I was looking for in an MBA [program while] living abroad. -

— Fernanda Salas

MBA ’25, GWIB President

Salas is using these learned strategies to empower GWIB members. Through information sessions, mixers, networking events, and panels with various industry insiders, Salas has sought to fortify social and professional development pillars for the 270-plus members in the club, setting them up for success both at school and beyond graduation.

GWIB has invited and welcomed back alumni from multiple industries — finance, consulting, entertainment, and marketing — to provide leadership and mentorship to its members.

“It was amazing to listen to these VP-level women who were having some of the same struggles that I have experienced in my career,” Salas said of one panel. “Coming from them, it was very powerful to see and to feel understood.”

That work continues for the organization. On March 8, International Women’s Day, GWIB will host its inaugural Graduate Women in Business Conference, centered around the theme “elevateHER: Breaking Barriers, Building Futures.”

Salas’ community building extends beyond the USC campus, however. She also works for a nonprofit called Women MBA Chile, an organization dedicated to empowering Chilean women to pursue MBA degrees abroad. Through her position there, Salas partnered with USC for an event in Chile centered around USC Marshall’s MBA programs. Describing her experience at USC Marshall, Salas encouraged her compatriots to follow in her footsteps.

She passes along similar encouragement to women considering USC Marshall and the MBA program.

“This is a school where [women] will feel very respected, supported, and they will find their place. They should join GWIB, but even if they don’t join GWIB, they will find a place,” Salas said. “To me, it’s about having your community, feeling like you belong, and being supported. That is the most important thing, and that’s going to make the difference in my future.”

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