Reflecting on the MBA Women in Leadership Scholarship

We sat down with Elizabeth Garber, our Women in Leadership scholarship 2017 winner, to hear about her experiences of applying for the competition and studying for an MBA at Henley. Read on to find out how she juggled family life with the challenges of study and how the MBA has helped her in her career, five years on from winning.

What inspired you to apply for the Women in Leadership scholarship?

I applied for the Women in Leadership scholarship because the question lit me up and got all my neurons firing. “Would more women at the top in tech create social good?”

I’d been working in tech; I’d been a part of major project teams, led major technical change. I’d also founded a community for women, partnering with one focusing specifically on tech. I’d recently written a paper about the psychology of identity and influence. And at the time I was filling my brain with podcasts about all this stuff on a really long commute.

Everything seemed to come together in that question and I could see that it was a great big “no” and a great big “yes” at the same time. I knew I wanted the puzzle of building a nuanced answer in 1000 words (and I knew I wanted an MBA within 5 years), so I sat down and did it.