MBA 2021, United States
“In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2013 for seven years and since then I have been a Global Anti-Modern Slavery Research Project Lead, Employability Specialist, and Human Rights Advocate. Most recently, I have been the Project Advisor for the world’s first 10-year longitudinal study on the rehabilitation and reintegration of human trafficking survivors.
On a personal note, I enjoy urban sketching, theatre, cooking, hiking, traveling (Nepal being an absolute favourite) and reading adventure novels (Tolkien, Gaiman, Sanderson).
Achievements
- Awarded the Kent MBA Leaders in Sustainability Scholarship
- Directed and authored a total of 15 technical reports and academic journal publications on modern slavery, survivor rehabilitation, and employability
- Seven years of immersive socio-cultural experience resulting in deep on-the-ground labour force knowledge across Asia and fluency of the Khmer (Cambodian) language
What attracted you to the Kent MBA programme and why?
My professional values of innovation, sustainability and inclusivity align with the mission and vision of the Kent MBA, and I see it being transformational for me to grow my expertise as a leader in responsible business.
As a part-time student this course attracted me specifically because it relies on classroom-based learning and research-led tutoring, as these will allow me to further develop relationships with my professors and MBA peers from across the globe.
What were your motivations for undertaking an MBA?
Pursuing the Kent MBA will overlay my practical experience among international supplier labour forces with technical business acumen. This will position me as an ideal leader in responsible business; one who is equipped with holistic knowledge to make informed, human-centred, and socially-grounded business decisions.
My mission is to address injustice within international labour forces by overlaying my current knowledge and experiences with technical business skills garnered through The Kent MBA. Doing so would elevate my ability to lead the adoption of socially responsible labour practices within an international business strategy and supply chain network.
Aspirations
I aspire to not only innovate, strategise, and implement responsible strategies within corporate structures but also expand the research and understanding that CSR and ethical business are profitable. It is my vision that with concerted effort, the private sector shifts its perspective of a CSR strategy away from being a heart-warming perk to instead, being foundational in business; making corporate responsibility the norm rather than the exception.
The skills garnered through the Kent MBA positions me as an ideal leader in the CSR space; one who is equipped with holistic knowledge to make informed, human-centred, and socially-grounded business decisions.
Advice
In developing its eighth Sustainable Development Goal, the United Nations (UN) inextricably linked economic growth with decent work; understanding, fundamentally, that the sustained success of one cannot happen without the other. This is shown through the direct positive impact sustainable practices has on a business’ labour force and the substantial rise in consumer knowledge on the sustainable practices of the goods they purchase, through the development of smartphone technology over the past two decades. These have insisted that all future leaders in business centralise socially responsible and environmentally sustainable practices.