1 - Wellness within MBA Programs w/ Frank Avino

Humans of Tepper

Welcome to the Humans of Tepper Podcast, a show about the MBA experience at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. Today, our hosts Cynthia and Rohit are sitting down with Frank Avino, a 2nd year MBA student and Chair of the Graduate Business Association Wellness committee. He’s here to share his journey to Tepper, and his experience so far.

Tepper is a school at the intersection of business and technology, which fit perfectly into Frank’s passion areas. Coming out of Northwestern, Frank helped Pepsico save huge amounts of money from IT outages. When he wanted to shift from the operations side to the strategic side, he found a home at Tepper.

But, Frank’s involvement at Tepper goes beyond that, as he sits as the Chair of the GBA Wellness Committee, where organizes and hosts wellness events, such as snacks during reading periods and therapy dogs during exam weeks. From his perspective, supporting student's wellbeing is paramount. His passion for wellness is seated in his experience as an undergrad, feeling down as his college experience wrapped up. He spoke with a counselor on campus where he discovered that you don’t need to travel to the Himalayas to experience mindfulness. Now, he shares that understanding with his peers through events and educational opportunities.

Frank’s experience this summer with his internship looked a little different because of the pandemic. He worked with, and is returning to Deloitte Consulting. This summer was fully virtual, which left him with free time which he spent getting involved with his community. He joined a group called the MBA Response. They have a program where they work with small businesses, offering consultation regarding the US Government providing funds to pay employees. This effort scaled into consultation for digital marketing and partnerships throughout the US to support these same businesses in as many ways as possible.

Frank shares with us his philosophy for his own success and his advice for current and prospective students. Be sure to tune in to listen to Frank’s personal experience throughout the pandemic and his favorite areas, moments, and conversations he has at Tepper and in the broader Pittsburgh community.