Park Fellows Alumni Spotlight: Amanda Archila, MBA ’18

By: Katie Donoho MBA ‘25
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Amanda Archila, MBA ’18

In a recent interview, Amanda Archila, MBA ’18, executive director at Fairtrade America, discussed the profound influence of the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellowship on her career trajectory and leadership style.

Early Passion for Fair Trade

After a trip to El Salvador during her undergraduate experience, Archila was exposed to the structural inequalities of global trade, especially of agricultural commodities. She began to question, “How can you have this system where people are working so hard and taking such great pride in the work that they’re doing and not finding a way to make it a sustainable livelihood?”

Archila’s passion for fair trade continued to burgeon through a college training by Oxfam America that focused on the long history and global dynamics of fair trade. With a sharp vision of dedicating her career to finding solutions to fair trade issues, Archila carefully chose positions to gain experience in the field.

Leadership Development Through the Park Fellowship

Eventually, Archila realized that to create a larger, more systemic impact in sustainable trade and gain a comprehensive understanding of general management principles, she should pursue an MBA. After receiving the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellowship, Archila landed at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, where she served as president of the Women’s Management Council and vice president for education in the Sustainable Global Enterprise Club, in addition to receiving various fellowships and winning a variety of case competitions. The Park Fellowship played a significant role in shaping Archila’s leadership style and approach, particularly in areas of emotional intelligence, people management, conflict resolution, and creating inclusive and safe work environments. These skills were not only foundational in her academic journey, but also instrumental in her post-MBA professional roles.

Applying Leadership Principles

To expand her experience in the retail sector and view the retail and consumer goods industry from a decision-maker’s perspective, Archila joined Amazon’s retail leadership development program as a senior vendor manager and was promoted to head of vendor management after three years. While at Amazon, Archila effectively applied the leadership skills honed through the Park Fellowship, demonstrating a transformative impact on her team and management approach. During the COVID-19 pandemic and tech layoffs, Archila maintained team cohesion by drawing on her emotional intelligence skillset to foster a psychologically safe workplace.

After a position opened at Fairtrade America, Archila jumped at the opportunity to return to her roots in sustainable and ethical trade and lead an organization aligned with her values of trade justice, sustainability, and equitable business practices. As the new executive director, Archila quickly identified the need for a clear and unifying vision. She metaphorically built a “visual mountain” to provide a clear direction—a ‘North Star’—for the team, helping them to align with a common goal. Archila actively used the materials and frameworks in conflict management and strategic leadership development from her time as a Park Fellow to build a stable and supportive work environment that she “would not have been equipped to do without the Johnson material.”

Advice for Current Park Fellows: Crafting a Career Mosaic

Upon reflecting on her career path and experience as a Park Fellow, Archila advises current students to embrace a nonlinear career path. “Your career is not a ladder to climb, but a mosaic to build,” Archila emphasized as she explained the importance of creating a grand picture of long-term goals and passions and slowly filling in the diverse pieces throughout a person’s career. Acknowledging the pressures of post-MBA career choices and the urge to find roles that seem immediately fitting or lucrative, Archila encourages fellows to remain open to various opportunities, even those that might seem like departures from their original goals. Archila also urges fellows to not be afraid to dive deep and unearth new leadership potential that can be cultivated throughout the rest of their career (i.e., keep all the slides and journal entries).

Archila’s dedicated and passionate path to advancing fair trade illustrates the value of cultivating unique experiences—each one, such as the Park Fellowship, like a tile in a vibrant mosaic—to create a lasting portrait of impact for the world.

Archila’s metaphor really resonated with me — a current Park Fellow intricately assembling my own “mosaic” with a keen focus on women’s rights and social justice.

About the Author

Image of Katie Donoho

Katie Donoho is a third year JD/MBA/LLM candidate at Cornell Law School and Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, where she is also a Park Leadership Fellow. Her experience includes internships with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, where she contributed to gender discrimination cases. This summer, she will be interning at Cohen Milstein in Washington, D.C. Prior to graduate school, Donoho worked as a program coordinator at a nonprofit in Mexico and as a financial statement auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She graduated from the University of San Diego with a dual degree in economics and accounting. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing tennis, and learning new skills such as amateur welding and crochet.