From Michoacán to MBA: Intentionally Redefining Entrepreneurship
Inside the MBA Residential: Where community fuels innovation, networks and real-world strategy
With his vibrant personality, Joe DiNunzio, executive director of the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and assistant adjunct professor, kicked off our three-day MBA Residential, “Career Pathways in Innovation & Entrepreneurship,” by connecting Joseph Campbell’s transformative narrative framework, “The Hero’s Journey” with a powerful reminder: Small family businesses are the original startups.
And that hit home.
As a proud daughter of immigrants, my story has always been connected to my family’s Mexican migration to California. The more I’ve grown through the UC Davis Sacramento Part-Time MBA program, the more I’ve realized something: We don’t always take the time to honor the generations that came before us, the ones who built, created and sacrificed in ways that often go unrecognized.
That immediately took me back to my family’s small town of El Llano in Michoacán, Mexico where my papá Rubén Gallegos Rodríguez, sold handcrafted artisan goods; where my tío Isaac “Chayo” Gallegos Rodriguez mastered the craft of making water and milk-based fruit popsicles; and the convenience store that was started by my abuela Teresa Oseguera Gonzalez and still run by my tía Maria Martinez Osegueda as one of the first and only woman-owned business in town.
I reflected on that.
If they had never taken the leap, never found joy in traditional artisan goods, making the sweetest paletas de fresa, or selling pan dulce for everyone’s morning hot chocolate, our town would have missed out on so much unrealized potential.
What I see now is that my ancestors weren’t just working. They were innovating opportunities and reinvesting in their small community long before anyone ever called it “entrepreneurship”.
In many ways, their own hero’s journey of challenges, leadership and local innovation reminds me what it really means to invest in yourself and your community. That matters.
Want to Create Something Meaningful? Jump In and Do It
As a Sacramento Part-Time MBA student, I have access to MBA residentials and learning experiences alongside students from every UC Davis Graduate School of Management program.
During the weekend MBA Residential at Gallagher Hall, I wasn’t just learning with my cohort. I was collaborating with other graduate business students, sharing perspectives across industries, backgrounds and career stages.
My MBA program may be part-time, but the community and access are not.
We started with a case study on Origin Materials, a technology company in the pursuit of improving recycling and circularity with all-PET caps and closures and low-carbon material solutions. The real impact came from having UC Davis alumni and startup founders John Bissell and Ryan Smith sitting in front of us. With lightness and humor, they shared what it looks like to disrupt the PET market—a $40 billion global industry—and made entrepreneurship feel real and human.
As recent graduates, they didn’t choose the PET industry because it was easy, but because it was huge, entrenched and needed change. What stood out most was their honesty about leadership: being okay with uncertainty, a commitment to long-term learning, trusting people and returning often to your north star. They also shared how heavily Origins relied on networks early on to make up for limited early credibility and resources.
Having founders in the room in discussion with MBA candidates instilled the meaningful reality that it isn’t just about having the right idea, it’s about building the relationships that help you move from vision to action.
Networks Don’t Just Happen, They’re Built Around Values and Intention
DiNunzio proposed a clear task in front of us for the weekend: If you want to turn your ideas into something real, you need the right people around you. He gave us practical tools like the Netstorming exercise to analyze our networks and the CliftonStrengths development test to see how we are uniquely showing up in our lives and careers.
To start strengthening our connections, he then brought in over 25 innovative entrepreneurs and leaders to help us put those skills to the test. Every conversation became a chance to practice telling our story, leaning in with curiosity and walking away with real advice.
One of the most meaningful connections I made that weekend was with Foodom Founder and CEO, Reneta Jenik. Speaking with her was an opportunity to connect over shared values and a passion for improving the well-being of individuals and families.
As the leader of a successful immigrant-owned startup, Jenik is revolutionizing public health by making wholesome, home-cooked meals more accessible and affordable for all. Foodom’s recent approval to serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries with medically tailored meals and cooking lessons inspired me to see the possibilities of entrepreneurship at the intersection of innovation and community-driven leadership.
Conversing with entrepreneurs made networking feel less like “career-building” and more like finding people who inspire you to think bigger about the impact you want to make.
Invest in Yourself, Now and Always
Joining the Sacramento Part-Time MBA program in Fall 2023 was a journey that required more than self-determination. It took a gentle nudge from my supervisor that snowballed into a supportive team that has been walking alongside me. It was ongoing conversations and advice from my guides and career champions. It was my classmates, family and friends checking in on me when my resiliency was being tested. It was never a hero’s journey that was meant to be taken alone.
So as this journey of mine comes to a close, here’s what I’ve realized:
- The program will require grit and dedication to stay the course, but you will leave with the ability to stay grounded in a world that keeps changing, adapt quickly and take initiative.
- AI will optimize your time and skills, but AI isn’t replacing empathy, humility or leadership.
- You will become a different you and investing in yourself will become an ongoing personal strategy.
So why not say yes to a journey that supports your growth now and prepares you to navigate whatever comes next?
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