Nona Black (MBA 2020), a design-minded innovator whose dream is to spoil all the dogs in the world, worked right down the street from the Scheller College of Business for a year and a half before applying to the Full-time MBA program. Now, two years later, Black has graduated from Scheller with her Full-time MBA, will be joining Capgemini Invent as a Senior Consultant, and has been named a 2020 MBA to Watch by Poets&Quants.
Prior to pursuing her MBA at Georgia Tech, Black worked for a small startup in Tech Square, SandboxATL, as the General Manager of The Garage, an innovation-focused event venue and community space. Black’ greatest professional success to date is building The Garage.
“When I took on the role at The Garage, I was hesitant to put myself in a position to fail because my prior experience in building businesses had been fraught with all the struggles you might expect a fledgling leader to encounter. I was so fortunate in the new role to have colleagues and owners who believed in me and gave me the tools I needed to successfully execute our vision. I don’t think I would be the person I am today without experiencing both failure and success. Failure taught me to be more cautious and strategic in my actions, but success taught me that I could both overcome failure and build something that I could be proud,” Black said.
Black was involved in many student organizations in the Scheller community, serving as President of the Women in Business Club and Vice President of the Strategy & Innovation Club. She was also a Forté Fellow, MBA Ambassador, Startup Mentor with Goodie Nation, Peer Leadership Committee Member and Graduate Research Assistant for Venture Lab.
“Achieving sustainable equity for all our students, faculty, and staff at Scheller is something I have been working on through my leadership role in Women in Business, but I felt there was more we could do as a Scheller community,” Black said. “As club leaders, we haven’t always coordinated on issues, activities, and agendas as much as we could. To address this concern, I began working with fellow Diversity and Inclusion Club leadership, our student government, and the Dean’s office to create the college-wide Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Thanks to the amazing input of my fellow leaders, we are building something better together.”
Now a Full-time MBA graduate, Black still aims to give back and lead in her spare time, one of her hobbies being mentoring fledgling entrepreneurs, along with playing with her three dogs and lifting weights.
“We are grateful for the impact Nona has made during her time at Scheller and extremely excited to see the impact she will have in her bright future,” said Katie Lloyd, Assistant Dean of MBA Programs.
Learn more about the Scheller Full-time MBA program.