Celebrating the women of Foster’s Full-time MBA community

March is Women’s History Month, but striving for gender equality is a year-round pursuit for the Foster School’s Full-time MBA Program.

The program is led by Wendy Guild, Foster’s assistant dean of MBA programs. And its curriculum is delivered by many distinguished female faculty members, including Elizabeth Umphress, plus Crystal Farh and Masha Shunko, winners of the 2019 and 2020 PACCAR Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Christina Fong, recipient of the 2011 UW Distinguished Teaching Award.

Strong female voices are also common in current students and alumni of the program. Forty-two percent of the Full-time MBA class of 2024 are women, and the MBA Women in Business Association is a vibrant connection to the alumni community. This institution-wide commitment to elevating women in the business world has earned the Foster School the #1 ranking by the Princeton Review for Greatest Resources for Women.

Hundreds of women leaders have launched successful, impactful careers from the Foster Full-time MBA Program. Here are just a few of their stories.

Claire Herting

Herting (MBA 2021) is a senior replenishment manager at Walmart. She is also a second-generation female Foster scholar. “My mom most influenced my decision to pursue business,” she says. “My mom has been a major influence throughout my life, pushing me to always do my best and to grow from every hardship. Like me, she was also a career-switcher when she decided to enter the MBA program and she even went to Foster to earn her MBA.” See her video.

Maggie Polachek

Polachek (MBA 2020) is a special advisor for implementation at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she facilitates a $5 billion program that’s transitioning the nation’s school bus fleet to zero- and low-emission vehicles. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my experience so far,” she says, “it’s that government, the private sector, philanthropy and nonprofits all have important roles to play in moving the world forward.” Read her story.

Rosalinda Mendoza

Mendoza (MBA 2015) and her sister founded a startup introducing ultra-premium artisanal mezcal from Michoacán, Mexico. She is not afraid to work in male-dominated environments. And though the spirits industry has been largely welcoming, she doesn’t deny experiencing underlying biases as a woman entrepreneur. But she is not deterred. “I come from a line of strong women,” says Mendoza. Read her story.

Marshelle Slayton

Slayton (MBA 2019) is an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. Her coursework at Foster included a class specifically for women in leadership roles in the business world. “I am now in a position where I can command a room and have earned the right to let my voice be heard or lift the voice of others,” she says. “I do not quite know what my future holds, but the difference is that there is no cap.” Read her story.