Big Red in the Big Apple

6 a.m. – Madison

Madison Gamma leaves her cozy Manhattan apartment to grab a classic city breakfast: coffee and a bagel, buying an extra for her classmate. After today, she’ll have completed her Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program. She never could have predicted how the trajectory of her life would change.

Madison used to work in operations at a healthcare technology startup. She loved the work but lacked the technical background her coworkers had, which kept her from fully participating in conversations and decision-making.

On the recommendation of her colleague, she applied to the Cornell Tech MBA to sharpen her technical and entrepreneurial skills.

“I’m partial to Cornell because I did my undergrad there in Ithaca, but that said, I was really happy with the roots that I had established in New York City,” Madison said. “I wanted to stay local to New York City because I had been here for a number of years working.”

Her day starts earlier than peers who live on Roosevelt Island, mere steps away from their classroom, but she doesn’t mind. Her commute is unusually beautiful. The Roosevelt Island Tram — an elegant red capsule gliding over the East River — carries her between Manhattan and Cornell Tech. She enjoys panoramic views of the city skyline, taking a few minutes to reflect before her day gathers speed.

Since last year, she had successfully learned coding foundations, cybersecurity principles, AI ethics, product management and business strategy. She’d intended to leverage these skills in the startup space. But somewhere between pitch competitions, late-night homework and coding experiments, she realized she wanted something completely different in her career.

7:30 a.m. – Rob

Rob Plovnick heads out of his hotel for class, keeping his eye out for the Empire State Building — it’s one of his favorite features of the New York City skyline.

Already a successful medical executive and consultant, Rob enrolled in Cornell’s Executive MBA/M.S. in Healthcare Leadership to gain the business expertise needed for future roles.

Rob has a hectic life — balancing work, family and education — but the program’s alternating-weekend schedule works well for him. Last night, he’d flown to New York from a conference in Chicago, and had enough time to meet with his siblings for dinner.

“I live in DC, so before I started this program, I didn’t see my siblings very much. I really appreciated the fact that it brought me to family,” Rob said. “It was special to be in New York, and there was a great pool of alumni who could speak in class and join us for lunch breaks.”

While boarding the F train to Roosevelt Island, he bumps into some classmates, as usual. New York City is dense and anonymous, but Roosevelt Island feels intimate: a tight-knit community nestled inside one of the world’s largest cities.

By 8 a.m., he’s seated for his final negotiations class.

“I came in with the preconceived notion that you need to be aggressive if you’re trying to win. That’s not my character, but it’s what I thought when I heard the term negotiations,” he said. “But during class, we did a lot of simulations that reinforced really helpful strategies, like embracing differences and identifying your goals up front.”

Beyond negotiating skills, he’d also learned microeconomics, accounting, finance and healthcare policy. But the most valuable thing he gained wasn’t taught in a classroom.

10 a.m. – Sneha

Sneha Rao Ganta walks to the front of the lecture hall with her team, ready to present the product she’d needed when she first arrived in New York City.

One year ago, she’d traveled from India to New York City to take the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program. She was excited about the opportunity to round out her technical knowledge with business expertise. But at first, it was overwhelming to acclimate to the new location, social group and constant academic challenges.

“I’ve never lived in a different country all by myself,” she said. “I worked for Uber until May 30 in India, and my classes started on June 1. I flew out the same day that I returned my laptop, and in 24 hours, I was on the opposite side of the world.”

Crucially, her unfamiliarity with the city was keeping her from pursuing important opportunities.

“I didn’t go to a lot of the tech week events when I first came, because I was worried about getting back,” Sneha said. “You always hear about how it’s not safe to be on the subway after 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., and as a newcomer who didn’t have any information or family in the U.S., it was something I had to handle all by myself.”

When her classmate Brianna Beshkin, MBA ’26, suggested building an app that recommends safe routes in New York City, Sneha was eager to contribute to the project. Now, with the rest of her team, Sneha presents SafePath, a platform that recommends community-verified travel routes for women and children.

Their peers and mentors applaud, and she feels closer to her ultimate goal: becoming a startup founder.

3 p.m. – Madison

By midday, the sun has warmed Roosevelt Island’s waterside paths where Madison is taking a jog. It’s bittersweet to be running through her favorite spot for the last time, but she’s excited for what comes next.

After graduation, she’ll join Deloitte as an AI strategy and technology consultant. Consulting hadn’t been her plan, but an advanced strategic analysis class changed her mind.

“The first couple of lectures, I was so lost,” she said. “Some of my peers have consulting backgrounds, and they knew exactly what questions to ask and how to think. I had to build that muscle. Eventually I realized I love how I feel when I solve problems this way.”

Her career advisor picked up on this interest and suggested she attend a coffee chat with Deloitte partners.

“I had a great experience with some gentle nudging from my career advisor,” said Madison. “I would have forgone that opportunity altogether had she not mentioned that it might be a good idea.”

One conversation led to another, and soon she’d received an interview request.

The technical part of the interview was intimidating, but she was confident in the skills she’d spent a year building. After a few practice rounds with career services and her peers in consultancy, she aced the real thing.

She finishes her run in time for an alumni founder spotlight featuring one of her mentors, Siwat Siengsanaoh, co-founder and CEO of Recoup Beverage, Inc. When she expressed interest in startup culture, he eagerly shared insights from his own entrepreneurial journey. In turn, Madison connected him with a few entrepreneurs from her own network.

She still loves the scrappy, fast-moving culture that first drew her to startups, and can imagine founding her own company someday. If she does, she knows where she can turn for advice. But for now, she’s ready to cross the commencement stage into her next chapter.

7 p.m. – Rob

As the sunset paints Cornell Tech golden, Rob joins his classmates for one last dinner together.  

“Everybody went around and shared a memory,” Rob said. “It took me back to that first day when we were sitting in a room as strangers, and now we’re a close network. It was inspiring to see how close we’ve gotten and how far we’ve come over two years.”

Rob’s classmates came from varied backgrounds: medical publishing, pharmacy, healthcare business leadership, biotech and clinical practice among others. For one memorable project, his team was tasked with finding efficiencies in assisted living communities.

He’d always understood the value of building professional relationships, but the project taught him to be intentional about bringing broad expertise to the table. Teams with diverse backgrounds can challenge each other’s assumptions and point out blind spots, coming to a more deeply-considered solution.

Rob and his classmates all share the goal of improving patient care in the United States. Considering policy, regulation and existing business models, the landscape is complex, constantly evolving and difficult to shift. But with the right team and two years of business expertise, he feels energized and ready to take it on.

The group orders dessert and final glasses of wine. The meal winds down, and people start saying their goodbyes. Even though they won’t see each other biweekly anymore, Rob knows their connections will last.

10 p.m. – Sneha

As the city’s offices fall quiet and its bars start to wake up, Sneha hits Brooklyn for a party. Two of her classmates share a birthday and have rented out a restaurant for everyone to celebrate.

After finishing dinner, the group cuts into two big birthday cakes, toasting to their classmates and their time together in the program.

“The range of experience and friendships that we make in this program is honestly astounding and so beautiful,” Sneha said. “Any problem that I have in my life, I can find an expert in that area who’s a dear friend that will sit with me and work through the problem.”

She plans to achieve her founder ambitions five to 10 years after graduating. Wielding both technical and business expertise, she’ll bring a rich perspective to her future startup, capable of overseeing both product and business development.

She’s already gained valuable experience on that front. Over the course of the program, Sneha managed several products through Cornell Tech’s startup studio — including a mentor matching tool of her own design.

“The world is my oyster at this point,” she said. “There are so many options and fields I could go into, but I’m especially passionate about optimizing manual workflows with the new technology we have.”

It’s late by the time she heads back to her apartment, but she confidently navigates the city’s dark streets.