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Alexandra K

- Research Program Mentor

MBA at Northwestern University

Expertise

Marketing, Product design, Innovation/Entrepreneurship, Educational technology; French

Bio

I love learning what makes businesses successful, and specifically, how to develop and market products that customers love. I spent my MBA diving into the intersection of technology, innovation, and marketing. In addition to learning how to design new products through product management and marketing research & analytics, I have also enjoyed learning how to develop innovative teams and companies. My two favorite pastimes are health & fitness and learning languages. I frequently find myself scrolling through nutrition articles and coming up with new fitness plans (my favorite workouts are HIIT). I've also had the chance to live in France and China, and plan to continue studying French and Mandarin for many years to come! If you have any interest in business, tech, or marketing, or are passionate about language learning, I'd love to meet you!

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Develop a Marketing Plan

Collaborate with a local business to develop a marketing plan that will help the company grow. This could involve developing customer personas, creating a presentation, or even brainstorming new products that would appeal to customers. Possible final product: PowerPoint presentation. This is especially relevant for students interested in growing a business and marketing.

Begin a Product Portfolio

Identify a problem in your school, home or community that you would like to solve. We will collaborate using design thinking frameworks to create a proposal for a solution. If interested, we can post your solution to a personal product portfolio page. Possible final product: PowerPoint Presentation; portfolio website page. This is especially relevant for students interested in technology and product design.

Write a Business Case

Identify a company that you would love to learn more about. Then, we can work together to get in touch with people working at the company and developing interview questions for them. After your interviews, you can put together a business case identifying a way in which you think the business was successful or unsuccessful at approaching a challenge. Possible final product: business case (a style of academic paper used in business schools). This is especially relevant for students interested in general management, or who are excited about a particular company or industry.

Business-focused research plan (open-ended)

If there is an area of business you are interested in exploring, we can work together to create a list articles, businesses, and experts that you could use as resources. Together, we could identify for a specific topic or question that you can explore in a paper. Possible final product: research paper; PowerPoint presentation; podcast. This is especially relevant for students who are interested in business, but are not sure what part of business or which industry they are most excited about yet.

Languages I know

French, intermediate. Mandarin, conversational.

Teaching experience

I taught at a high school in China for one year. I was responsible for developing and teaching curricula for English and Health classes.

Credentials

Work experience

Pluralsight (2021 - 2023)
Product Marketing Manager
Pluralsight (2023 - Current)
Product Manager

Education

University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
BA Bachelor of Arts (2015)
Philosophy, Politics, Economics; French
Northwestern University
MBA Master of Business Administration
Marketing

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