Ketsia Saint-Armand (Class of 2026) attributes much of the community she has found and nurtured as an incoming dual degree student at UVA Darden and UVA School of Law to the Forté Foundation. We caught up with her after this year’s Forté Conference in Chicago, a space for women in business to come together to learn, share and network.
Our very own career advisor Christy Gunville moderated a panel on building a future in real estate, and we heard from keynote speakers about best practices in leadership and how to leverage your vulnerability and resilience. Read on to learn about how Forté has supported Ketsia during her MBA journey.
Ketsia Saint-Armand’s MBA Journey, In Her Own Words
Since the beginning of my MBA journey, the Forté Foundation has been a source of community and connection. In 2021, I joined their prep program MBA Launch to prepare for applying to schools. Through that program, I had a chance to build deeply supportive relationships with other women from across the country (shout out to the 6:30 a.m. study crew!) and clarify why I wanted to pursue an MBA.
For me, Forté has always been about building relationships with others committed to creating space for women to lead and achieve their highest potential. When I decided to attend Darden, I knew that I wanted to spend some time before matriculation in Forté-curated spaces to ground my career exploration after my prior roles in nonprofit finance and investment management.
In May I had an opportunity to attend the MBA Financial Services Fast Track conference in New York City. During the two-day conference, we reviewed the fundamentals of financial statement analysis and valuations, learned how to refine our pitches, and heard firsthand from women working in myriad roles in finance. We also spoke at length with recruiters to learn more about MBA roles. Throughout the conference, I was struck by the willingness of panelists and recruiters to answer our questions, especially some of the more challenging ones. This conference was a great way to begin building relationships with prospective employers and a peer network in financial services.
A few weeks later, I attended the MBA Leadership Conference in Chicago. Thanks to guidance from Darden’s Career Center and the Admissions team,
I felt prepared to lean in to the learning opportunities at the conference. In both the large plenary sessions and the smaller workshops, I had a chance to hear advice from leaders about learning to see opportunities within challenges, building relationships with sponsors and mentors, and expanding career horizons by working globally. I also reconnected with other Darden students and had a chance to meet one of my MBA Launch study group members in person for the first time! I left the conference deeply grateful for all the relationships Forté has made possible in my MBA journey so far and excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Forté community in new ways.
Advice for Prospective Students
The two conferences have given me three points of reflection on as I get ready to start my MBA in a few weeks:
- Your sources of leadership and authority will shift throughout your career. At FSFT, we had an opportunity to hear about Geneviève Piché’s leadership journey at Wells Fargo, where she worked across several areas within the bank before leading Sustainable Finance and Advisory. She shared how her skillset needed to evolve as she transitioned from individual contributor to leadership roles, highlighting the ways she had to draw on different areas of experience to find her ‘why’ in each role so she could authentically lead.
- Strive to be resilient and adaptable when there are only tough choices ahead. Our opening keynote speaker at the MBA Leadership Conference, Chakilla Robinson-White, spoke about making several unexpected career transitions on her way to C-Suite leadership at DaVita. Each time she had to pivot in her career, she revisited her core values and looked for ways to live out her commitment to faith, family, and service in new ways.
- Embrace the lessons your challenges offer you. At FSFT, recruiters spent 15 minutes rotating among tables of attendees to share more information about their internship programs and recommendations for navigating the recruitment process. A key piece of advice was facing down our fear of failure during the recruitment process by taking a strengths-based approach to exploring new opportunities and taking the time to learn from mistakes.
I’m excited to begin the next phase of my professional and personal journey at Darden in a few weeks!
Darden + Forté
We are proud to be a 20-year partner of Forté and to help advance the mission of launching women into successful and significant careers. Forté’s community of 100,000+ motivated and inspiring women is changing the balance of power in the workplace, and this year’s conference helped incoming Darden women develop an authentic leadership style while building a powerful network of impressive colleagues and mentors. Learn more about our resources for women here.
I was thrilled to attend the sold-out Forté MBA Leadership Conference in Chicago last month and to network with so many inspiring women leaders while attending workshops and panels about different career paths.
