La’Terria Taylor

As a captain of Northwestern’s women’s basketball team, La’Terria Taylor ’15 was heavily involved in the team’s mentorship program, which paired students with alumni from across Northwestern who wanted to give back to current students. One thing that stood out to her was the level of involvement and energy she saw from the Kellogg alumni in the program.

Taylor remembered that pay-it-forward attitude when she decided to enroll in Kellogg’s MS in Management Studies (MSMS) Russell Fellows program.

“I knew I would be joining a great school with alumni who clearly want to give back and help you succeed,” Taylor said. “The fact that I would be a Kellogg student, extend my network and possibly get a better job offer is what appealed to me.”

Taylor entered the program knowing she wanted to ultimately have a career in consulting. She felt comfortable with her research skills and wanted to supplement them with quantitative skills in order to succeed in the industry.

Thanks to courses in finance, accounting, marketing and analytics, she developed a proficiency she felt would help her stand out. She also appreciated the variety of casework and group work found in each class.

“I really took a lot of practical and useful information out of my courses,” Taylor said. “I still have conversations about some of those cases today.”

Today Taylor is a business analytics and strategy consultant at IBM, where she has been able to work on a diverse set of projects in a variety of roles. She doesn’t think she would be in that position without the MSMS program.

“The program really helped show me my strengths and gave me a more well-rounded perspective of what I could do,” Taylor said. “It put me in a great position.”

So, too, did the alumni network. As Taylor was exploring job opportunities, she reached out to a variety of alumni who worked at companies where she was applying. She was surprised with how open they were with their time and willingness to help out.

Ultimately it was Christina Alexander ’14, a fellow MSMS alumna who helped steer Taylor to IBM. Alexander was involved with on-campus recruiting for IBM and served as a great source of knowledge.

Now an alumna herself, Taylor is looking forward to giving back to future Kellogg students.

“I'd love to get more involved in the networking and give back opportunities that Kellogg often offers,” Taylor said.