Sanjana Kumbhani graduated from the College of Wooster in 2017 with a double major in Business Economics and Mathematics. A defining moment of her Wooster experience was picking an Independent Study (IS) topic in her junior year. Since she was eager to pursue a career in Finance, she wanted to select a topic that would give her the opportunity to learn more about the industry. Her IS advisor suggested exploring option pricing and stock market efficiency – a neat intersection of both her majors and her interests. At first, Sanjana was extremely intimidated by the complexity of this research area. However, after several discussions with her advisor, she felt more encouraged – she knew her mentor was on her side. Her advisor had always believed in her and encouraged her to take on challenges outside her comfort zone. “The topic really pushed me to stretch myself, my thinking, and my abilities. That confidence he instilled in me continues to play a big role in my life, even today in the workforce”, Sanjana explained.
For Sanjana, Strategic Management and Portfolio Theory & Analysis were classes that she particularly enjoyed in her major. Through the former, she learned to tackle complex business problems through a case study format while the latter equipped her with valuable knowledge about investments. She really liked how she was constantly encouraged to go deeper into the material and apply it to real world settings – whether it was making sense of financial news or making her own investments. These courses reinforced her career choice and also prepared her to make informed decisions about business school.
The summer before her senior year, Sanjana interned at Citigroup in New York, and eventually joined the firm full time post-graduation. For the first two years at Citi, she was part of the Capital Markets division, where she enjoyed the fast-paced nature of the client services business and working with incredibly smart people. However, she gradually realized she wanted to explore a more strategic role – one where she could help grow a business. As a result, in 2019, she moved internally to the Strategy and Business Development team within Citi’s consumer bank. Here she worked on re-defining Citi’s growth strategy through partnerships in the FinTech industry.
Although Sanjana enjoyed her time at Citi, she now wanted to leverage her experience in finance to have an impact in fast-moving industries like technology. So, she decided to pursue an MBA and was accepted into The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2021. The MBA complemented her liberal arts education with a solid business foundation and helped her develop critical leadership skills. After graduating from Wharton in 2023, she joined the Growth Initiatives team within Walmart’s e-commerce division. She is now responsible for launching new products and enhancing Walmart’s digital capabilities as the firm expands its omni-channel presence.
One of the biggest obstacles Sanjana encountered in her professional life was the lack of self-confidence. She didn’t always trust that she could successfully take on a role that was outside of her comfort zone. “It is very easy to shy away from opportunities, especially as women, because you tend to not advocate for yourself or believe in yourself. Having mentors – who believe in you, fight for you and stand up for you, is very important”. Sanjana reflected on how this was true since she was at Wooster, and how she overcame the challenge of a complex senior thesis with the help of her advisors.
The one piece of advice Sanjana would give to her younger self in college is to be more present in the relationship building with peers and professors. “While during college, I was very focused on my academics, extracurriculars and professional pursuits, I now only recall all the time I spent with my friends and the meaningful conversations I had with my professors. I think a big piece of college is developing these relationships and there are a lot of intangible benefits from that that you see later in life”, Sanjana expressed.