UPDATE: Since publishing this article Tahia has taken on a new role as Senior Manager, Commercial Strategy at FanDuel.

When Tahia Afroze, MBA ’23, decided to begin the Accelerated MBA, she was hoping it would help her transition into a more strategic role – and that’s exactly what she was able to achieve just months into the program.

“I wanted to pivot into strategy, but coming from finance, I felt I needed a bridge to transition into that broader role and the MBA seemed like that perfect bridge,” said Tahia, Manager of Interconnected Strategy at Home Depot Canada.

“Going through the MBA process was a big driving factor for that change, because in addition to everything I’ve learned, it gave my organization the opportunity to see other areas I could excel in.”

Tahia was quickly promoted from finance to corporate strategy, and then to a manager for interconnected strategy.

And while going through the program while working full-time (and through two promotions) would be a lot for anyone to handle, Tahia found it helped her be more efficient and gave her the confidence to know she could handle new challenges.

“A year ago, I wouldn't have even imagined taking on a new role and going through school,” she said.

“But what it really did for me was activate my productivity levels, as well as how I time manage and how I prioritize. It gave me the confidence to believe I could take on a new role, even if it was going to a little bit more challenging, because it was the right time to do it.”

Throughout her Ivey journey, Tahia had the support of her bosses, who she says understood the value of employees with an Ivey MBA because her mentor had graduated from the program two years earlier.

In fact, she says, her move into corporate strategy is proof of how much her company believed she had learned at Ivey, since that’s a role it typically hires outside organization for.

“An outside candidate brings in that outside perspective and they have a different view of the organization, but what helped me was being with classmates from multiple organizations and industries and such varied experiences and different cultural backgrounds,” she said.

“The cases we are solving every single day, from different industries and companies, broadened my perspective on how things work or could work in the future. So, while an outsider incoming has an outside perspective for sure, an insider going through the MBA program is just such as valuable.”

Overall, Tahia says she’s happy with her decision to join the MBA not only because it helped her career, but also allowed her to grow as a person and a leader and pushed her to think outside the box.

“It has completely changed my mindset. I have learned new ways to be a leader, to approach a situation and to talk to individuals. The program changes you as a person and really pushes you to really drive to your full potential.”