Noemi Zito, INSEAD MBA Class of December 2018
Age: 27
Hometown: Italy
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Management engineering; BSc at University of Palermo and MSc double degree at Polytechnic of Turin and Polytechnic of Milan
Pre-MBA Work Experience: 4 years, management consulting
Why business school? Why now? I decided to go for an MBA now mostly because I am at a turning point of my career at Bain and of my personal life. I realized that I really needed to take a break from the daily routine and focus on me.
I needed to take the time to reflect about what I really want for my future—to consider the next steps in my career, to explore all the industries that I hadn’t the chance to know as a consultant, and, finally, to understand which are my true passions, the ones I want to focus on for the next years of my career. In addition to that, other very important motivations for me are related to content; I wanted to develop hard and soft skills that I felt I am missing but that I strongly believe I need to develop to become a good manager in the future.
Why INSEAD? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? I only applied to INSEAD, as I was totally convinced that it was the right MBA for me. There are many reasons, but the most important ones are the following:
INSEAD is a one-year intense MBA and was the #1 ranked school. In this moment of my life, I was willing to invest no more than one year on my education but still wanted to have the best possible opportunities that business school can offer
INSEAD is the most international of all MBAs, with a great focus on diversity from all standpoints. Diversity is a key value for me, as a woman, as a professional, and as a person. I strongly believe that diversity is a huge value generator, and I really wanted to be in the position to be exposed to people completely different from me from all around the world to learn as much as possible and become more and more flexible in my life and professional life, widening my vision in a multi-cultural and global perspective.
INSEAD offers a comprehensive general management education. I wanted a school that was not known to be good at something (like a specialist school) but that could give me a holistic knowledge of the business world. I wanted a school that would enlarge my current knowledge of additional business sectors and enhance my business sense and problem-solving skill. But at the same time, I wanted a program that would make it possible for me to focus on topics that I want to explore more through electives, especially entrepreneurship.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2018D? In terms of hard skills, I think that I can contribute to the class with my consulting background, providing my perspective on the discussion and also supporting the other students who are interested and want to know more about consulting.
In terms of soft skills, I think I can add some value to th
e diversity of the class with my specific personal background in terms of personality, education, and nationality. It is very difficult to explain in this short answer, but maybe the most valuable things that differentiate me are the honesty, empathy, determination, and commitment that I put in everything I do in my life.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? I got married in December 2016 in Palermo, my home town, on a wonderful sunny morning to the man I have been together since I was 15 years old!
Post-MBA career interests? After the MBA at INSEAD, in the short- to medium-term I want to continue to work at Bain & Company because I believe that Bain will be a perfect environment to apply the new skills acquired during the MBA and to continue to improve at a fast pace.
In the longer term, my first aspiration is to leverage the knowledge and experience acquired during my work career and MBA to become a female executive in order to have a significant impact in a business environment and to help change women’s roles in the Italian managerial panorama. In addition, another ambitious aspiration is to do so as a top manager or business owner in my native land, Sicily. I truly would like to bring my high-level international experience, mindset, and skillset to the struggling Sicilian economic environment to help the development of the territory and give back at least part of what this amazing land gave, and still gives, to me.
Advice to current prospective applicants:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? Talk to and ask questions of all the INSEADers that I knew; this is crucial in terms of understanding the culture of the school, getting suggestions, etc.
–One thing you would change or do differently? Take some time off between quitting my job and starting the MBA. I worked until two weeks before leaving for Singapore, and it was definitely too short to do everything I needed before leaving.
–Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? I would have skipped the video interview if I could! My intake was the first one with this new video interview, and I was totally anxious about that. I don’t like being filmed while answering random questions. I got through it just by practicing as much as I could before doing it and trying to get used to it. I did this in order to avoid stress and anxiety while doing it live, and it worked quite well.
Greatest highlight so far at INSEAD? People! Really, INSEAD is full of great people who you can learn a lot from—they are from completely different backgrounds and cultures but are all super fun and nice. It is the best crew ever.
One thing about INSEAD that you didn’t expect before arriving? Intensity. I was told that it was intense, and that prioritization was the key, but I didn’t take it so seriously. It is crazy! So be psychologically prepared to have tons of stuff to learn, do, and think about and have a plan for combatting FOMO—otherwise you will not survive.
Thing you were/are most anxious about at INSEAD? My biggest fear is to not get from this experience what I wanted to get when I applied. But I guess that one of the key learnings is also to adapt to situations and to life as it happens and be able to deal with it. So we’ll see what happens! Maybe I won’t get what I planned to get, but I will get many other things instead!
Thing you are most excited about at INSEAD? Everything! Seriously, I can’t wait for my exchange, for continuing to travel around Asia, for meeting new people and continuing to build the friendships that are starting now. Everything is so intense, as I said, that every day is like a week of experience and you want to take the most of it!
