As president of the Multicultural Business Student Association, Tiffany Dang knows a thing or two about professional development.
The Multicultural Business Student Association (MBSA) is a student organization in the Terry College of Business that offers students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to grow professionally, as well as promote diversity within Terry College and beyond.
Dang, a fourth-year marketing and international business major and president of MBSA, works hard to ensure the organization is serving its members and the community.
“MBSA is all about inclusion and having perspectives from people from different cultures, whether that be different ethnicities, religions, etc. We want to see underrepresented people be successful in Terry and hope that we are able to provide the resources to reach that outcome,” Dang said.
Not only does MBSA act as a community for students to share ideas and form personal and professional relationships, it offers a variety of resources for students interested in furthering professional development such as tutoring, mentoring programs and networking opportunities.
Prapul Soodini, a fourth-year finance major and member of MBSA, knows first-hand what it means to be involved in a rewarding organization committed to personal and professional development.
“MBSA has really helped me form many connections in the professional field,” Soodini said. “They have also given me more than enough help to succeed with interview tips, resume critiques and direct meetings with recruiters.”
Though MBSA emphasizes professional development for students interested in business, they service a variety of students on campus looking to further their professional growth.
“MBSA isn’t just for business students,” Dang said. “We’ve had many students from all different types of majors come to our meetings to seek professional development, such as engineering and biology.”
Through and through, MBSA works hard to provide useful resources for professional development, foster relationships and encourage collaboration, regardless of academic, professional, social or ethnic background.
“The goal of MBSA is to provide a space where people from different backgrounds can express themselves in the way they choose, not a way dictated by their ethnic or social background,” Soodini said. “We strive to provide a space in which individuality can be expressed through the sharing of ideas and where connections can be made based off unique relationships.”
This story originally appeared in the UGA Office of Institutional Diversity Fall 2019 newsletter.