Women in Leadership Bay Area (WiLBA)
Women in Leadership, Bay Area (WiLBA) is an independent student club at UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Bay Area MBA Program.
Our Mission
WiLBA is a sister club of the UC Davis main campus (WiL) that promotes similar interests and carries out projects in the Bay Area.
Our mission is to convene, connect, support and develop the GSM’s future women leaders and equip them with the tools to succeed through professional, educational and social activities.
WiLBA values diversity and inclusion, therefore membership is open to all GSM Bay Area students who want to participate and support the club.
WiLBA will execute the following programs:
- “Leading Ladies” is a group mentoring program designed to foster professional development among women leaders. Mentor/mentee groups will be formed to help empower women to greater competency through information, advices, coaching and counseling.
- “Women Warriors” speaker events are held quarterly (virtually or in person). These activities are designed so women can learn and engage in discussions with women in leadership positions about personal change, management, work/life balance, networking and other relevant topics.
- “Neighborhood Love” are fundraising and charity events that cater to the needs of women and children. We also consider environmental and animal charity programs.
- “Happy Hour Handshakes” are held quarterly to bring together WiLBA members for networking and fun. This program may include sports, cooking, motherhood, wine events, etc.
- “Manager Makers” are quarterly one-hour workshops designed to cultivate women leaders by providing the information and tools needed for career advancement. Topics include interviewing, public speaking and management.
- "Man Up!" is an ironically named program to get men involved in our gender-inclusion efforts. This program will create a partnership between women and men so they can learn and support each other in the workplace.
Meet Our Board
Jessica Cheng
President
Jessica Cheng is a 2024 MBA candidate who is currently the senior industry marketing manager at Rakuten, a global e-commerce company. She is a former graphic designer turned marketer with experience in a myriad of industries including tech, real estate, and beauty. Her passion for women empowerment, small business growth, and leadership development has been the driving force throughout her career.
As the President of WiLBA, she is dedicated to supporting the continued efforts of the overall Women in Leadership (WiL) community by identifying opportunities to increase engagement, expand the network, and ultimately drive sustainable progress for women. She is also the Vice President of External Affairs of the GSM Student Association Bay Area.
Outside of school and work, she enjoys planning memorable events, video editing, traveling, and salsa dancing.
Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau
Vice President
Léa is a 2024 MBA candidate focused on finance and sustainability. She is a Senior Investment Analyst at KingsCrowd, the largest data and analysis platform for equity crowdfunding. She writes every month about impact investing and interviews minority, women founders, and those innovating in sustainability to highlight them to investors. She previously worked for Stanford's accelerator, StartX, helping to select the most promising entrepreneurs.
She is passionate about impact investing and led the first award-winning study on the Malawian startup ecosystem. Léa is an advisor to Afriq-M, a startup in Cameroon transmitting ancient culture and tales to younger generations.
She volunteers regularly at ECAP, a non-profit fighting against food waste and providing free food to those in need.
Shreya Pandey
Director of Diversity and Inclusion
Shreya is a 2023 MBA Candidate focused on Strategy and Finance. She is currently a Financial Analyst at Allstate. In her free time, she enjoys playing several instruments, as well as spending time in nature.
As the Director of Diversity & Inclusion for the WiL Club Bay Area, she is dedicated to ensuring the club creates and maintains a standard of diversity and inclusion and ensuring events incorporate D&I consistently. She is looking excited to be able to cultivate and promote a community for all in the GSM in addition to upholding the club’s reputation and efforts for an inclusive culture.
Samhitha Upadhya
Director of Outreach and Engagement
Samhitha is a 2024 MBA Candidate focused on Technology Management. Samhitha received her Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Information Technology. She is currently a Vice President, Feature Lead at Bank of America. She is in charge of the team working on translating Banking Rules and Regulations into software rules used by various departments in the bank.
As the Director of Outreach and Engagement for the WiL Bay Area Club, she would be working on promoting, hosting, and coordinating various events for the WiL Bay Area Club in order to increase awareness about our club and attract people from diverse backgrounds to our club. She is also responsible for recruiting capable members to all the open positions in our board.
In her free time, she likes to garden, practice and perform Indian classical music, dance, travel, and hike around the Bay Area.
Brittany Sagaro
Director of Internal Affairs
Brittany Sagaro is a 2024 MBA Candidate with a focus on Business Analytics. Brittany works in the Hospitality Industry as an Operations Manager who takes special interest in those that are underrepresented. Her commitment to achieving representation in all areas of business is a reflection of the environment she grew up in, Miami, FL. In her spare time, Brittany enjoys exploring new places, crafting, and taking pictures of her dogs.
Prachi Mishra
Director of Marketing and Communications
Prachi is a 2023 MBA candidate with a focus on Marketing and Product Management. She is a marketing professional with six years of experience in building strong social media fan bases from scratch, driving traffic and sales with data-driven marketing strategies, and developing branding collaterals.
She is passionate about empowering women and making education accessible to all. As the first hire in the India marketing team at Generation, Inc. (a non-profit initiative by McKinsey & Co.), she was solely responsible for setting up a marketing team and marketing infrastructure. Before that, she worked as a Brand Marketing and Communications Manager for Udacity, where she led branding campaigns including radio, digital, print, and OOH campaigns. She was also responsible for content creation, student success, and public relations.
In her free time, she loves cooking, binge-watching OTT shows, traveling, and hiking.
