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Servant Networking

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Kelley School

Ray Luther

By Ray Luther, Executive Director, Kelley MBA Program

We must give to receive – advice fundamental to human nature. Giving is good for us mentally, physically and spiritually. Giving also provides a foundation so our relationships can flourish. We all give in our own unique way, and most of us find happiness in the practice of giving. Our investment in others is an investment in us.

But when the subject of networking comes up, all bets are off. Suddenly words like fake, inauthentic and sales-y come top of mind. This is interesting because networking, at its core, is about give and take within a relationship. As this relationship develops mutual benefit might be found. This relationship exchange is a wonderful way to educate yourself on any number of subjects while delivering value for others at the same time.

Servant leadership is a philosophy which might be well applied to networking. The core principle is serve first, then lead. Leadership emerges from the act of serving others, and is discovered to be another way to serve. And the best test of servant leadership – do others grow as a result of your service to them? An amazingly simple yet powerful statement of leadership impact.

What if we applied the principles of servant leadership to networking – servant networking? If we served first, then networked. What if in the act of giving of ourselves we discovered a way to serve someone is make a network connection for them? Or provide suggestions to help them grow which they might have missed? Could this mental reframe of networking allow us to recognize it for all of the benefits we bring to others, and ourselves, vs. the constant negative perception that so many have?

Personally I think it can. I believe if we consider all the good we can deliver through the practice of servant networking more of us would actively engage. How can I be so confident? Because I see plenty of examples around me. Here are just a few of the great ones in my network:

Monique Valcour – As I watch Monique’s engagement on LinkedIn I see professional curation as a result of her personal expertise. Through this active curation she builds her network’s competency in a very specific way. Monique takes the time to share relevant content that I learn something from every day. Monique actively gives through this process and serves others as a result.

Dustin McKissen – An avid storyteller and blogger, Dustin shares his experiences to motivate and inspire others. Dustin leans into any relationship to give more than he can ever expect to get right up front. He did this with me and others in my network. He’s built an amazing community of followers on LinkedIn in a very short amount of time through service networking.

Eric Johnson – A close friend that I’ve worked with for years, I see Eric servant network every day. His passion is helping young leaders succeed and he gives his time and energy accordingly. Eric wants to know what drives those he works with on an individual level, based on their purpose and values. As he learns this he finds unique ways to give which can only be accomplished from a foundation of trust.

Glenn Leibowitz – I’ve only known Glenn a short time, via LinkedIn, but I’m blown away by how much he gives in a relationship right up front. His passion for writing has spilled over into a very well produced podcast – Write with Impact – educating so many with a similar interest. The personal time, money and investment to make this happen has an immediate service-based impact.

My point is there are many great examples of servant networking all around us. The trick is noticing these acts of giving and appreciating them in the moment. The practice of giving is also the practice of networking – through service to others. The more you build comfort with this concept the better network you can build – one based on a foundation you can feel good about.

“Servant Networking” was originally published on Linkedin Pulse on September 16, 2015.

Your Unique Creativity

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Kelley School

Ray Luther

By Ray Luther, Executive Director, Kelley MBA Program

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss

I work with a number of young leaders who aren’t creative – or at least that’s what they tell me. They equate creativity with a high level of artistic talent, or design capability, rather than the ability to transcend a norm and move towards a new way of thinking. So, I gently challenge their claim and suggest they find a way to notice their own form of creativity. This often leads to a good coaching conversation. I push them because I believe we all are creative, and it’s simply a matter of noticing how. In fact, when we lack the ability to notice our unique form of creativity, how we naturally express it, we hold ourselves back from personal growth and renewal.

My own creativity lies in finding new ways to think about strategic challenges, especially as I work with leaders responsible for organizational choices. That’s why I’m drawn to the fields of executive coaching and leadership development. That’s also why I love working with young MBA students, or in fact anyone at any level that works on strategic issues. I’ve practiced this form of creativity my entire life, obviously in different contexts through various life stages, and I’ve been rewarded for it. I consider my form of creativity a key personal strength. And while I find myself creative in this way, it clearly doesn’t carry over to artistic talent. In fact, here’s a picture similar to my best artwork….capturing the flex was particularly hard:

Are there any downsides to practicing creativity when you believe you’re not creative? Honestly I don’t think so. Maybe you become more vulnerable to potential criticism, maybe it leads you down an unintended path or two. But for me practicing creativity is about thinking differently and attempting to solve problems in new ways – which are good things. I’ve certainly had my share of bad decisions coming from my own creative process, but each of those decisions have also enabled me to learn more – and become better at my creative practice.

What are some ways you can notice your own moments of creativity? First, make sure you do indeed recognize that everyone, including you, has moments of creativity. Maybe your creativity doesn’t show up at the start of an activity as a big idea, but rather in the middle of a process when efficiency is lost. Or, maybe your creativity shows up as you collaborate on a team and find a unique way to get along leading to a better outcome. Again, it’s about noticing those moments when you help produce something outside of the norm or a slightly new way of thinking. Even small moments can have a big impact.

In noticing your own unique form of creativity, I’d suggest allowing yourself to be more vs. do more. Creativity isn’t driven by sheer will alone. Many of our most creative moments happen when we least expect it. Our brains are working to make connections that we don’t see on the surface. Moments of inspiration, times of challenge, purposeful pauses and moments of rest can help us be creative as the best versions of ourselves. Maybe this is the soul of creativity? Whatever it is it’s important that we take the time to notice when a creative moment happens for us. Sheer will rarely leads to better creativity, but noticing when we’re creative might just help us practice even better on a daily basis.

I love seeing the creative output of artists and designers and I’m amazed by how their minds work. When I’ve had the opportunity to work with artistic creatives I’ve always walked away with a new way to look at the world. True genius in many cases. But, if we look carefully, we all have the power to notice our own creative expressions a bit more. Be, create, notice and learn.

“Your Unique Creativity” was originally published on Linkedin Pulse on September 6, 2015.

Become the Person You Were Meant to Be

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Kelley School

Eric Johnson

by Eric Johnson, Executive Director of Kelley School’s Graduate Career Services

George Eliot* has been credited with saying, “It’s never too late to become the person you were always meant to be.”

This is good news to people like me, who aspire one day to be Matthew McConaughey.

I reflect on this quote every morning, without fail. It’s part of my daily practice of morning meditation and mental preparation. I feel inspired afterwards because it keeps my value of continuous improvement alive and it reminds me that today presents a new opportunity to evolve towards the best possible version of myself.

I have also found that Eliot’s quote helps me give hope to others. In my job as a career and leadership coach I assist young leaders in their pursuit of their best selves, particularly as it relates to navigating personal transition. Remembering that our past does not forever define who we are is an extremely important step in that process.

As I coach myself and young leaders on this journey towards our best selves we work through three big questions. The first is, “who are you today?” Being honest with ourselves about who we are today heightens our self-awareness and allows for a deep understanding of what we don’t want change, where we hope to evolve, and why. In exploring who we are today, we focus on five main areas:

Personality: While there are a number of personality assessments available the one we use at the Kelley School of Business is the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. Personality does not define us, but it does help us understand our natural default settings with regards to how we like to give and receive information and how we prefer to relate to others.
Skills: Knowing our strengths and weaknesses, and how these make us both unique and relevant, helps us begin to recognize the situations in which we provide the most impact to others. Gallup has a good tool for this, Strengthsfinder, though often we’ll just spend an hour using contextual examples to develop a personal SWOT.
Interests: If we’re not interested in what we’re doing then we’ll lack the motivation to do it well. Questions like, “What do other people find interesting about you?” and “What’s one of the first things you bring up about yourselves when meeting people for the first time?” are useful conversation starters as we dig into this area.
Values: There may be no more important part of the discussion than when we talk about values. Values are our guardrails – I believe they provide us with our greatest motivation, and greatest amount of personal insight. I also notice that when we are at our happiest our values are being honored, and when we are angry, sad, or frustrated our values are being compromised. My favorite tool to start this conversation is the Via Character Strengths free assessment.
Demeanor: Who you are is, at least in small part, shaped by how you present yourself. I love the questions, “How would your closest friends describe your general outlook on life?” and “What 3-5 words do you want people to say about you when you leave a room?”

Synthesizing these five areas into a personal inventory sheet provides an enormous amount of insight. We can see who we are, where we’re happy, what we hope to change, and why. This sets us up for our second big question, “Who do I want to be?” I share Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha’s view that we were not born with a single purpose for our life, but that our purpose constantly evolves over time. The key is to have a great short term (i.e. 1-3 years, not 10) personal vision that makes you happy, and helps you see where you can provide unique value to your community (as you define it). This vision should also inspire you to take action.

Again, there are any number of resources to develop a personal vision and I often use The Personal Compass from The Grove. Whatever the tool we choose, the output should provide a clear, concise, and motivating statement about who we want to become – our personal vision statement. It should highlight the things we hope to accomplish, the relationships we wish to build/maintain, the environment we hope to exist within, and the ways in which we will experience joy. I have mine hanging in my office, and I ask my coachees to keep theirs visible as well, such that we don’t lose focus of who we’re trying to be.

Finally, the third big question is, “How are you going to get there?” With a clear and concise vision – and a heightened sense of self – we can begin to make choices about what we will do (and what we will not do) to consciously and deliberately improve ourselves. The key is deliberate – focused effort and attention on the experiences which will provide us with the greatest momentum towards our personal vision. (Check out one of my favorite blogger’s take on deliberate practice.) This is not easy, but what I’ve learned is two things: we must focus on a single issue at a time and we have to practice daily.

Focusing on a single issue at a time might be the most important step towards attaining our best selves. Data shows that between 80 and 90% of New Year’s resolutions fail and the primary reason is because people try to change too many things at once. I like James Clear’s advice to focus on one area for improvement and stick with it until it becomes a habit. I have been implementing this strategy personally over the last year and have been more consistent about working out, reading, improving my skills through training, and being positive all by focusing on one aspect of my personal vision at a time.

Finally, I believe the only way to “become the person we were meant to be” is to move forward one day at a time, deriving as much out of the present as possible. I mentioned that I meditate each morning – I take time to notice how I feel and what I think, and to make a commitment to the one thing I want to focus on that day. I will stay conscious of that one thing throughout the day and journal about what I notice. Each night I’ll take 10 minutes to reflect on how I did and to make notes for tomorrow. This practice worked for Benjamin Franklin – he tracked his progress across 13 virtues by focusing on one each day and journaling about his progress, too.

Which brings me back to Eliot’s quote – I close out my morning mental session by reminding myself that it really is never too late to become the person we were always meant to be. I personally find that an inspiring thing to remember as I start each new day.

[*The irony of the fact that George was not George at all is not lost on me. George Eliot was a pen name used by author Mary Ann Evans to ensure that her works were taken seriously. I will also acknowledge that there is some debate about Eliot’s exact phrasing about the quote, but the essence is the same across the board.]

“Become the Person You Were Meant to Be” was originally published on Linkedin Pulse on September 3, 2015.

GLOBASE Partner Wins Global Development Award

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Kelley School


A global Kelley partner, the Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development (CORD) facilitates integrated and sustainable development in rural India through self empowerment.

Congratulations to the Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD), one of our Global Business and Social Enterprise Program (GLOBASE) partners, on winning a Global Development Award. The nonprofit organization won first prize (and $30,000) in the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development category for “institutionalizing and empowering small and marginal women farmers in hill agriculture through systematic investment in district Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.”

Some of our MBAs have experienced the incredible impact of CORD during their GLOBASE projects. After preparing for seven weeks—developing a deep understanding of CORD’s culture, focused project management, and how to find solutions while working in an unfamiliar environment—the students head out for a two-week post in India. They get an in-depth understanding of CORD’s mission and impact, meeting staff and local villagers, then present business solutions.

Two of our three GLOBASE projects for CORD this year were connected to the women farmers program that earned the Global Development Award. We are proud to be part of this inspiring, life changing work.

“This is a great honor and huge opportunity for CORD to globally share its work and innovation in integrated rural development,” says Dr. Didi Kshama Metre, CORD National Director and Trustee, of the award. “The Kelley School of Business, its various project leadership and project teams have played a great role in making this all possible.”

About Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD)

CORD’s mission in India is to help the rural poor tap into their own potential, learn skills and think differently—allowing them to transform their lives and gain self-reliance. They’ve helped more than 600 rural villages and 60,000 individuals.

To the Class of 2017: Enjoy Your Journey

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Kelley School

By Nate Buyon, MBA’16

I’ve never liked biking in the rain, but especially never liked waking up at 5 a.m.

Early mornings and soggy jerseys were common during my cycling career, but I accepted it as it made me stronger, tougher and faster. These were the attributes I needed in order to achieve my goal of ascending to the highest level of the sport. To be fair, the days weren’t all gray; there were sunny days, too. In fact, most days were sunny, but of course I most vividly remember the tough ones. And that is probably because my perception of those more difficult rides correlates directly to my success.

Looking back, perhaps I should have enjoyed those sunny days more.

When I came to business school, I believed that my only objective was to get a job. As I have often found out in school, I was wrong. My objectives are to make lifelong friends, develop industry connections, get an outstanding education, make an impact, AND get a job.

I have often heard my 2016 classmates saying that they thought they would have more free time after locking down an internship. I thought this, too, but failed to comprehend the time commitments associated with working on GLOBASE, participating in the MBAA, involvement with several clubs and attending events every single week. The burden of being a future business leader is that sleep becomes a luxury of sorts.

After we bid adieu to the class of 2015 and now span across the globe for our internships, I am reminiscent about the past 10 months. I have stumbled a lot here at Kelley and, at times, fallen flat on my face. There have been interviews in which I should have just excused myself after the first five minutes, presentations in which I literally forget how to speak, and classes in which I was so lost, I didn’t even know what chapter we were on.

At the same time, there have been amazing moments as well. I developed strong relationships with my core team members, made it to both first semester case comp finals, spent New Year’s in Colombia with three of my classmates, and got the internship I wanted.

This combination of these successes and failures has gotten me to where I am today. However, if I had allowed myself to enjoy the happy moments more, I would still be where I am today. I should have simply enjoyed the spicy and amazing Indian dinner with my teammates rather than incessantly worrying about all the deliverables I had to do the following week. Or instead of rushing to do as many practice case interviews as possible, I should have focused on doing one interview really well and getting to know my interview partner as more than just a peer resource.

My advice to the class of 2017 is to enjoy your moments, for better or worse. When you are stuck on a quant problem and have just stared at your computer screen for an hour straight (well, besides checking Facebook seven times), just take a break. When you present in front of class and catch yourself rambling on for four minutes and have no idea what you said, just laugh it off. Enjoy the time you have with your classmates and the Kelley community because it will fly by.

Challenge yourself to really get to know classmates who are completely different from you. Take a class at the SRSC, go see a performance at the Jacobs School of Music, or just sit in the school greenhouse and breathe. Celebrate your successes, learn from your mistakes, plan and prepare for the future, but live your lives in the moment.

Welcome Class of 2017. I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

IGOE-sponsored Event Receives IU’s Latino Faculty and Staff Award

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Kelley School

IGOE fellows and partners, from left: Rene Lopezvictoria, Sofia Nuñez, Joaquin Pereyra, Cesar Sanchez, Claudia Tavera, Jesus Salinas, Juan Ramirez, Giordana Mesquita, Henrique Koch, Santiago Hope, Aurora Fuentes, Daniel Medina and Maite Rivero

By Sofia Nuñez, MBA’15

The Latino Faculty and Staff Council (LFASC) hosted an awards reception on April 24 at Oliver Winery. I am proud to say the Latin MBAA, the Soccer Club and the Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness (IGOE) were recognized with the award for Distinguished Group or Event for Semana Latina 2014. Semana Latina took place in October 2014 at the Kelley School of Business and included a week-long set of activities aimed at increasing awareness of Latin cultures. The two main events included panels on “Building bridges between Latin America and the U.S.” in which distinguished speakers shared their experience working with Latin American markets and the Mini World Cup tournament in which more than 30 MBA students from different countries participated.

We were fortunate to have IU President Michael McRobbie deliver a presentation at the ceremony. During his speech, President McRobbie talked about the great value a diverse community brings to Indiana University as well as the importance of supporting the Latino and Latin American community. After President McRobbie’s address, the awards were given followed by a brief acceptance speech from each of the recipients. The award recipients this year were:

Semana Latina (Kelley School of Business), Distinguished Group or Event
Dr. John McDowell, Distinguished Faculty
Cristian Medina, Distinguished Staff
Olivia Rios, Distinguished Graduate Student
Alfredo Rangel, Distinguished Undergraduate Student
Dean Gerardo Gonzalez, Special Achievement

Being recognized with this award was a big honor for those of us who were involved in planning and executing the events. As the former president of the Latin MBAA and one of the organizers of Semana Latina 2014, I had the privilege of addressing the reception attendees. On behalf of the Latin MBAA and the Soccer Club, I thanked the Latino Faculty and Staff Council (LFASC) for the award and expressed how thankful we were to the IGOE who sponsored Semana Latina, and in particular to Professor Herman Aguinis, founding and managing director of IGOE, for his support. Without the support of IGOE and Professor Aguinis, this wonderful set of events would not have been possible.

I am convinced that organizing Semana Latina every year is positive not only because it increases the awareness of Latin cultures, but also because it exposes MBA students to the importance of understanding how business is done in Latin America regardless of what part of the world you are from.

I want to thank again IGOE for sponsoring this week of wonderful events as well as the rest of the Latin MBAA, Cesar Borrero, Andrea Arguello, Nicolas Rebay and the Soccer Club, Juan Ramirez, Michael Jones and Eduardo Padilla, for working so hard in planning and executing Semana Latina 2014.

Mexican Kelley Students Attend MBA Conference in Chicago

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Kelley School

Rene Lopezvictoria, Sofia Nuñez, Santiago Hope, Miguel Cruz, Luis Contreras, Daniel Medina, Aurora Fuentes, and Claudia Tavera

By Jesus R. Salinas, MBA’16, IGOE Global Fellow

The fifth MBA Mexico event took place at the Kellogg School of Management on April 17 and at the Chicago Booth School of Business on April 18. For this event, current Mexican MBA students from top US universities get together to network and enjoy sessions from very distinguished Mexican executives, politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, and other successful business people.

In this year’s event 150 MBA students had the opportunity to hear from 9 different speakers. On Friday, Claudio X. Gonzalez, President and Board Member of Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, kicked off the session with his speech about Mexico and its future potential. Then, Carlos Loret de Mola, anchorman of Televisa’s news program Primero Noticias, provided an assessment of Mexico’s current political situation as well as a detailed panorama of challenges faced by journalists throughout the country. The day ended with a networking event with some cocktails and appetizers.

On Saturday, Adrian G. Sada, Chief Executive Director of Vitro, started the day with a speech about Vitro’s main challenges and how he has managed to turn things around after rough years the company was facing.

Afterwards, there was a panel discussion where Pilar Aguirre (Chief Executive Director of Endeavor), Claudio del Conde (Founder and Chief Executive Director of Kichink), Alberto Saracho (Partner and Director of Fundación IDEA), and Enrique Jacob (President of Instituto Nacional del Emprendedor) shared their experiences regarding the entrepreneurship realm and opportunities available in Mexico. After the panel discussion, Margarita Zavala, lawyer and active member of Partido Acción Nacional, talked about education in Mexico and the different metrics that show how the country is improving in several areas.

The last speaker was José Antonio Fernández, Chief Executive President of FEMSA’s Management Council, who spoke about the things that must be done to keep improving the country as well as to focus on such actions that would contribute to the well-being of the society as a whole rather than on one’s own well-being.

After the last session, the audience split into several groups for a networking get-together in several restaurants of Chicago. The closing event took place at Hubbard’s Inn where all the students mingled together for the farewell party.

These types of events are very important because they contribute to a collective sense of awareness of the different challenges that Mexico is currently facing. They also contribute in the sense that they urge the potential future leaders of the country in taking actions to improve the current problems of the country in order to foster growth.

I want to thank Kellogg and Booth MBA students for organizing this event, as well as to thank the Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness (IGOE) for sponsoring Kelley students to participate. It was a great experience and I look forward for next year’s event.

How the Business Marketing Academy project prepared me for my summer internship

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Kelley School

By Rama Srithara Ramanujam,
MBA ‘15

The Business Marketing Academy has a tradition of announcing the academy project teams during the BMA annual holiday party, and I was excited to have been assigned to a project for an American multinational conglomerate. As I reflect on my academy project experience, I realize its importance in preparing me for my summer internship. It was a great opportunity to learn about effective storyboarding and client engagement.

Structured approach

Over winter break, our team kicked off the project with initial research on our client and their industry. As this was a 12-week project, we knew it was critical to map out the project timeline with checkpoints and intermediate reviews with the client to ensure we were aligned with the executive sponsors and the project goals and deliverables.

Right after the planning phase, we set out to understand the current business situation. The team interviewed several corporate managers across business units to understand the process bottlenecks and challenges the organization was facing. A good balance between internal and external research was essential to gain substantial insights that would help design our strategy.

Behavioral Psychology in Business

The academic curriculum and case-based learning in the Kelley MBA program taught me the key frameworks to use in assessing a business challenge and allowed me to develop my analytical thinking skills by discussing complex, real-life scenarios. My experience working on the academy project gave me the opportunity to see how theory can really differ from practice.

As future managers, while we would be involved in designing the strategy for any business unit or an organization as a whole, the academy project exposed me to the challenges organizations face in the implementation of a strategy. For our team specifically, the biggest challenge was managing perceptions of the strategic plan within (employees) and outside (customers and channels) the organization. And this is where organizational behavior, organizational culture and marketing communication come into play. The BMA project was a great experience that prepared me to take on my summer internship with more confidence and a clear roadmap to guide me.

Best of luck, BMA!

Kelley Team Wins Latin Business Case Competition (Again!)

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Kelley School

By Cesar Sanchez, MBA’16

Last month, the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted the second Latin Business Challenge.

The case competition provided a scenario in which a nonprofit organization (Nutri-Plus) developed a nutritional peanut based product (Mani+) to help reduce malnutrition in Guatemala. Currently, Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition in Latin America, where 50 percent of the children between 0-5 years old have some level of malnourishment.

Nutri-Plus is having issues making its operation sustainable, as they are currently selling their product at a loss and they are facing strong competition from cheaper products that are targeting the same customers as Nutri-Plus (mainly NGO’s). Students were asked to provide possible solutions to increase sales and make its operation more sustainable.

With the support of the Institute of Global Organizational Effectiveness (IGOE), the Kelley School of Business was able to send an MBA team to compete against several other business schools. As the only 100% Latin team, Alejandra De Caso, Miguel Florez, Santiago Hope, Sulay Alvarenga, and I used all the hard and soft skills learned at the Kelley School of Business to make our presentation both strong in content and structure.

Judges included representatives from Deloitte, AT&T, and the CEO of Nutri-Plus.

By making bold recommendations supported with extensive data, including increasing the price, changing the target market to partner with major corporations, and changing the sourcing of raw materials from organic peanuts to conventional peanuts which offered the same nutritional value at a much lower cost, the Kelley team brought home the gold (and the $5,000 prize) for the second straight year.

This case competition was a great opportunity for us to get our hands on real work experience while doing our MBA, and it was even more rewarding to work on a project that had a social impact in Latin America.

This competition showed once again the quality of the Kelley students and brought attention to the social issues in Latin America that should be part of the discussion in every business school.

Bloomington Audit: Sulay Alvarenga, MBA’15

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Kelley School

Sulay Alvarenga, MBA’15, and her favorite things.

Kelley Experience Weekend is this Thursday through Saturday at Indiana University. More than 100 prospective MBA students will visit the Kelley campus and see what our program—and our thriving city—has to offer them. We asked Sulay Alvarenga, MBA’15, to recap some of her favorite things about Bloomington. Browse her list, and try a few while you’re in town this weekend.

Fresh cookies from Baked!

As someone with a serious sweet tooth, I was thrilled to discover a place in Bloomington that makes fresh baked cookies on-site with whatever crazy toppings you want. Only Baked! can give me chocolate chip, Oreo cookies with macadamia nuts!

Coffee ice cream from The Chocolate Moose

I love ice cream in general, but there’s something special about The Chocolate Moose. It’s a place that’s iconic to Bloomington and the IU community. I have to say, it’s also the only place where I see people line up for ice cream regardless of how cold or warm it is outside.

Trying to get through HITT class at the SRSC

The Student Recreational Sports Center has a ton of great group exercise classes, but my favorite one is High Intensity Interval Training. I first experienced the class with my good friend Aaron and it became a fun activity we would suffer through together.

Hazelnut coffee from Bloomington Bagel Company

There really is nothing like getting that fresh cup of hazelnut coffee from Bloomington Bagel Company right before class. It’s nothing fancy but always tastes so good!

The Sample Gates with the perfect fall backdrop

While the Sample Gates are iconic to Indiana University, it’s seeing them with that picture perfect backdrop in the fall that makes you stop and really appreciate our beautiful campus.

Walking down Kirkwood early Sunday when no one’s really around

Kirkwood is known for its high traffic, especially during Parents Weekend. I love walking around downtown when no one is around and seeing all the great local restaurants and shops we have.

Fancy Sunday brunch at Scholars Inn

As a grad student, I try to be mindful of my budget, but there are certain things you just have to indulge in. Sunday brunch at Scholars Inn is definitely something you can’t pass up. I love their blueberry pancakes and mimosas!

Crème Brûlée french toast at Uptown Café

I was definitely late discovering the crème brûlée at Uptown Café, but I’m so glad I did! The dish is just amazing; combining a great dessert with an iconic breakfast option. What could be better?

Lion King Roll at Japonee

I only started eating sushi a few years ago, easing into it with avocado and California rolls, and then upgrading to spicy shrimp and eel rolls. The Lion King roll was probably the first specialty roll I ever had and I loved it! I’ve ordered it at other sushi restaurants, but it’s never the same. The one at Japonee is just special.

Tailgating in the fall

Tailgating at IU is all about grilling on the lawn, having a few drinks and enjoying the fall weather with friends. I love seeing everyone in their IU and Kelley gear!

Basketball games at Assembly Hall

Having gone to Georgetown for undergrad, I was excited to be at a Big Ten school where the basketball games would be on another level. The excitement at Assembly Hall is crazy!