Wellesley on the Case

When Janina Shivdasani ’26, Julia Kuang ’26, Lily Deutscher ’27, and Ella Kim ’26 entered the Wellesley College Business Case Competition last fall, they didn’t expect it would lead to presenting in a room packed with alumnae business leaders. “We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” says Deutscher—let alone that their team, number 12 out of 18, would win.

Deutscher learned about the competition from Casey Hurley, Lois D. Juliber ’71 Director for Business, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Empowerment (BEAM). Students were invited to form teams of four and tackle a real-world business challenge created by BEAM and Priya Paul ’88, chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, and her team. Then they’d present at the inaugural Wellesley in Business Symposium, designed in partnership with the Wellesley Business Leadership Council (BLC).

The students were tasked with creating a strategy for revitalizing the iconic Indian brand for the current market, with an eye toward attracting the Gen Z demographic. Each team was assigned one or two alumnae mentors from the BLC; The members of Team 12 were mentored by Marilyn Twomey Smith ’70, who has served as chief information officer at MIT and George Mason University.

The members of Team 12 were not to be messed with: They are all economics majors, upperclassmen, and have previous experiences in the business world. But presenting work they had completed only the day before, without practicing it all the way through, made them a little nervous. 
 

The pressure increased during the symposium when they noticed that they were seated next to Lulu Chow Wang ’66—the namesake of the building they were in. They had planned to go through their presentation during lunch and not worry about networking. But then they spotted panelist Mia Mends ’97, CEO of C&W Services.

They invited her to sit with them. Mends told them that nerves never go away, and she always feels it in her system before she gives a big presentation. It’s about “learning to trust that the work you did is enough, even if you don’t feel ready,” she advised them.

The group spent their time talking with Mends rather than practicing, and it paid off. They gave a confident and direct presentation, Deutscher says.
 

After the shock of winning the competition—and $3,000 in prize money from the BLC—wore off, they reflected on being a part of this inaugural event. They hope that in future years, more underclass students will apply, as well as those from a wider range of majors. This would generate a broader array of ideas and help students realize “that we’re actually capable of doing these real-world things, not just classroom things,” says Deutscher.

“It showed us what Wellesley women can do when we put our ideas together,” Kim says. “It made us feel capable in a way we hadn’t before.”