Meet Mal!
Hi, I’m Mallory Laabs and I’m going into my last year of the Flex MBA program. I was born and raised in Arizona and went to Arizona State University for my Bachelor’s degree. I learned Japanese and Korean due to my interest in both. I studied abroad in Nagoya, Japan my entire junior year as an undergrad, went back to finish my degree, then studied in Seoul the following fall semester. After being home for awhile, I went back to Korea to teach English for 2 years. I have experience in quite a number of industries but currently work at a marketing agency. I hope to pursue a career in entertainment, even though I’m unsure how to go about doing so. I would also love to learn more about social media marketing. Any advice on either would be greatly appreciated! I would like to have my own business one day too! (I don’t want to work for somebody else the rest of my life)
Besides living in Japan and Korea, I’ve visited Rocky Point, Mexico with family (it’s only a 4 hour drive from Phoenix). This will be my first time going to Europe and I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to travel more but it’s just too expensive, even traveling within the U.S. is costly (plus the difficulty of getting time off of work!)
I’m looking forward to learning about business in Scandinavia and hope I can use the knowledge I receive to make a positive impact on others.
– Mallory
Meet Jam!
Hej! I’m Jamie Williams, and I’m ready for Scandinavia.
Okay, maybe I’ve been here a couple days already, but life gets in the way sometimes- but I’ll come back to the in a moment.
Some quick facts about me: I’m heading into my final year of the MBA/MFA program at Chapman University- a joint venture between the Argyros and Dodge schools. I needed one last elective to go towards the MBA portion of my degree so I thought, why not? I haven’t traveled as much as I wanted to throughout my life, and why not get credit for it while I’m at it. I’m originally from Columbus, GA, and when I was 24 I joined the USAF. 10 years later, I decided I needed a change of pace and chose Chapman as my first stop to a new career and life.
I’m excited to visit various companies across Scandinavia and learn about how the Swedes and Danes do business. Sustainability and environmentalism are important to me and I’m eager to see how large businesses integrate these concepts into their larger strategies. I’m also eager to learn more about this work-life balance thing I keep hearing about. I’d say the last year has been quite difficult for me. I tend to put too much on my plate, and by the time I realize I’m drowning it’s too late.
Possibly a side effect of the military, and possibly the side effect of being an American, the concept of separating my life and career is challenging for me. Whether subconsciously or not, I operate under the “what I do is who I am” style of thinking. It’s almost impossible for me not to think about work or to keep working once I get home for the day. For a person who supports sustainability practices, the way I live my life certainly doesn’t seem sustainable. So, my goal for this trip is to take things slowly. Breathe deep, enjoy my days, and learn how to integrate a bit of peace and separation into my work/life balance.
To start, I got to Sweden a couple of days early and made a short video of my time in Stockholm. I hope you enjoy!
