In celebration of Pride Month, Booth Pride Group co-chair provides perspective on how the student group helps build a stronger LGBTQ+ community at Booth.
- By
- June 21, 2024
- LGBTQ
Get to Know the Booth Pride Group
Booth Pride Group is a Part-Time MBA student group at Chicago Booth. Their mission is to foster growth in the LGBTQ+ community by providing learning and career development opportunities through holding a series of professional and social event offerings. Booth Pride Group aims to engage members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies to come together and provide support to one another during and beyond their MBA experience. Read on as current co-chair, Ben Cohen, provides perspective on what it means to be a member of Booth Pride Group.
Ben Cohen
I started my professional life as an engineer working on autonomous vehicles at General Motors, after finishing a BS and MS at Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering. When I realized that engineering wasn’t the right career path for me, I made the transition to Product Management at a small machine learning startup. I found a lot of satisfaction in the many new challenges – some technical and some not. I knew I wanted to continue learning to broaden my knowledge base and prepare myself to take on new challenges; furthermore, I had serendipitously moved to Chicago because I loved it so much, so Booth was a natural fit. I chose Booth for its rigorous focus on the fundamentals driving business, and I specifically chose the Evening MBA Program out of a desire to continue working and gaining practical experience. After completing about two thirds of the program, I’m happy to report that I made the right choice!
Ben CohenInsight on Booth Pride Group
Why did you want to co-chair Booth Pride, and what do you appreciate most about the group?
Ben: I wanted to co-chair Booth Pride to help continue building a stronger LGBTQ+ community within Booth, and connect fellow students who may have felt isolated in past experiences in similar settings. For me personally, the club has been a great way to meet other students with commonalities far removed from professional interests or career aspirations.
Interested in learning more about the Booth Pride Group at Chicago Booth? Check out their website to connect with members, browse upcoming events, and more. Happy Pride Month!
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