About Safia: Prior to Anderson, Safia Mirabella (‘22) worked in marketing and social impact, most recently managing the corporate social responsibility program at ZipRecruiter. Safia is a first year student at Anderson and in her free time, she likes trying new recipes, attending UCLA football games and hiking with friends.

---

At Anderson, shared success is so much more than a tagline or marketing tool. It’s truly at the heart of Anderson’s culture and has been embedded within every aspect of my MBA journey. 

As a prospective student, when I would attend various Anderson events and speak to current students, I would consistently hear about the “shared success” value and hear stories about how this played out in each person’s experience at Anderson. I remember one story in particular about students interviewing for the same role or summer internship. A current student shared that if there were multiple students interviewing for a particular position, the person who had the first interview would actually share the questions they were asked with the other Anderson candidates so that they could be better prepared. It sounded a little too good to be true but as a 1st year Anderson student, I can now say that I seen this happen first-hand for many roles that my classmates and I have interviewed for. 

Then, as a current student, shared success became a part of my experience in ways that I wasn’t expecting. As I began my summer internship recruiting process, I was blown away by the amount of support and insight from both current students and Anderson alumni. 2nd years were offering to help with my prep, do mock interviews and even shared their notes from the previous interview cycle to ensure I was ready to interview at my best. After a quick introductory call, an Anderson alum I had never met before even offered to provide support and insights regarding the team I would be interviewing with and shared particular skills sets that would be important for me to highlight throughout my interview process with their company. 

Even within academics, my classmates have really gone above and beyond to ensure everyone is able to do well. For example, one classmate has shared their study guide and final notes with the entire class before every midterm and final, students have put together study groups for those who need additional support and Anderson even provides students the opportunity to meet regularly with tutors for each of the core classes if needed. From my own personal experience, coming from a non-Finance background, I was concerned about being able to get through the material, but I had so many classmates that offered to spend additional time or guidance in concepts that were going way over my head that I never felt like I had to figure something out on my own. 

Anderson is truly special in that it offers a highly collaborative environment for students to learn, grow and thrive in. It’s one of the things I appreciate the most about Anderson, as I know there’s always someone within the larger Anderson community who is there to see me succeed and do well.

---

Student Blogger: Safia Mirabella ‘22

Undergrad: UCLA, ‘14

Pre-MBA: Field Marketing at KIND Snacks, Corporate Social Responsibility at ZipRecruiter 

Leadership@Anderson: Director of Velocity Programming, Women’s Business Connection; Director of Impact Week, Net Impact; Director, Casino Night, Challenge for Charity; Director, Admissions Ambassador Corps, Riordan MBA Scholar Mentor

Activities@Anderson: Outdoor Adventure Club, Wine Club, Yoga and Wellness Club, AnderTech, Entrepreneurship Association, Retail Business Association, Marketing Association, Ally of Black Business Students Association