Trudy Lei

Could you share a fun fact about yourself? What’s something unexpected about you?

I spent four months studying abroad in Ghana during university and later worked in Comoros and Malawi evaluating health development aid projects, where I was invited to dine with Comoros' Vice President to share our research outcomes!

Tell us why you decided to pursue the MBA, and in particular, the INSEAD MBA?

When I first started considering an MBA, I wanted to do so because of the access to an incredible new group of ambitious people with diverse experiences across industries, sectors, and functions. I was also only interested in programmes that had a clear focus on global perspectives within their student class, academic programme, and experiences. Lastly, taking two years out of my career at this point seemed too long.

INSEAD was simply the best programme for my needs and wants.

The global and professional diversity in this programme is incomparable and I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Can you share your thoughts about the class experience, professors, the curriculum so far? Have you joined any clubs, taken ownership of or participated in any interesting initiatives?

The class experience has been above and beyond my expectations. INSEAD puts in a lot of effort to make classes engaging and visual, leveraging our sections to model market effects and biases. The professors themselves also clearly love to teach. In Business Foundations before P1, our professors actually dropped by our breakout rooms every day to check in and see if they could help clarify anything.

Outside of class, I've been exploring entrepreneurship and investing more. Startup Bootcamp was such a worthwhile experience, and my team placed second and even submitted our idea to the INSEAD Venture Competition (IVC)! I've also been accepted into INSEAD's Student Impact Fund (ISIF) and will be working with the deal sourcing team to invest in early-stage social impact startups.

What are you most looking forward to during your time on the programme?

I'm looking forward to this being a year of exploration.

I'm excited to get to know people and perspectives from around the world, test my interest in various career opportunities, and have a blast adventuring through the world with new friends!

Any tips for those who are considering an INSEAD MBA?

INSEAD moves very quickly. While many people come into MBA programmes confused and with a desire to explore, I highly recommend spending time before your programme to narrow down your top priorities both with the experience overall, as well as for specific career opportunities.

You can eliminate and try new things as you go, but there definitely isn't time to try everything upfront.

Parting words of wisdom?

Don't get comfortable too quickly! INSEAD is such a unique opportunity and community, so definitely use it to continue to meet new people and try new things.