Class of 2016 MBA Mamas: Wharton Edition
Class of 2016 Wharton MBA graduate, Chelsea Frehulfer grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota famous for its canoeing, fishing, and mosquitoes. She graduated from West Point in 2007 and served as a U.S. Army Engineer officer in Alaska and Iraq. After leaving the military, Chelsea spent a year volunteering in the Philippines before attending Wharton for her MBA. She has been married to her husband, Dave, for *almost* eight years. They both enjoy outdoor adventures of any sort, especially if they involve blizzards, misery, and getting lost. She is spending the summer trying to get Hadley, her six-month-old daughter to join the fun!
Chelsea is spending the summer as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), but will start a full-time role as a management consultant at McKinsey in Denver in October.
Remember Stephanie Farabaugh, the awesome MBA Mama we featured in a Spotlight Series last year? Well, she also just graduated from Wharton along with her husband, Ray. Their infant son, Christopher, looks absolutely adorable in his own cap and gown! Stephanie is also spending her summer as a full-time mommy. She begins a full-time role with Abbvie, a leading pharmaceutical company, in Chicago in September/October.
When speaking about the decision to have a baby during business school, Stephanie told us:
I’ve never been happier. These first few months as a mom have been absolutely incredible; chaotic and sleep-depriving, sure — but overwhelmingly rewarding. I have found both fulfillment and motivation through this new role and identity, and consider myself very fortunate to experience motherhood while also pursuing an MBA.
This photo of Wharton class of 2016 grad, Gil Kaminski epitomizes what it means to be an MBA mom — sometimes you just can’t get the kiddos coordinated but everyone looks beautiful and happy and full of love!
Gil gave birth to her second child just a few weeks before beginning her 1st year at Wharton. Like Stephanie, she decided to optimize the flexibility of the MBA program to have another child during b-school. Gil was a founding member of Mothers @ Wharton, a supportive community on campus for MBA moms. Her personal struggles as a nursing mom at Wharton helped to catalyze a coordinated student effort to advocate for lactation rooms in Huntsman Hall, the main building of The Wharton School. Gil was a member of Wharton’s competitive Health Care Management concentration and will begin a full-time role with DaVita HealthCare Partners in the Fall.
As more commencement ceremonies take place in the coming days, we will be publishing grad photos of MBA Mamas from schools like Columbia, Georgetown and Duke. To the women out there who do not yet have children but desire to do so, each of these graduates gave birth to a child during their MBA program. Talk about time management! To the moms out there who have MBA ambitions, we hope these images will motivate you to never give up.
Onward and upward!
