In this episode of Here at Haas, hosts Vance and Michele welcome Claudia Viña Vazquez, a second-year full-time MBA student at Berkeley Haas and the former president of the MBA Association. Originally from Spain, Claudia shares her journey from studying in Europe to pursuing an MBA in the U.S., how she adapted to life in the Bay Area, and why she ultimately chose Haas—even though it wasn’t her first choice.
As a leader, Claudia reflects on her time as MBA Association president, emphasizing the importance of team collaboration, fostering a strong student community, and the behind-the-scenes work that makes student-led initiatives thrive. She also delves into how her MBA experience has helped her reconnect with personal passions like reading, running, and learning about diverse cultures—most recently, her deep dive into Hasidic Jewish traditions.
Beyond leadership and personal interests, Claudia discusses the classes that had the biggest impact on her—such as Conflict Lab, where she learned how to navigate high-stakes conversations, and Systems Change for a Small Planet, which challenged her to rethink her career path. She also shares why she’s choosing to return to consulting post-MBA, how she balances gratitude with ambition, and her long-term considerations about staying in the U.S. or moving back to Europe.
To wrap up, Claudia offers heartfelt advice for incoming MBA students: embrace the uncertainty, focus on personal growth as much as career success, and remember that an MBA is about more than just landing the perfect job—it’s about becoming the person you want to be.
*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*
Episode Quotes:
Why Systems Change for a Small Planet Was One of Her Most Impactful Classes
It was really impactful for me because it made me reflect a lot about my career choices. It brought me multiple career crises in one semester. It made me reflect what are my values in life. It made me reflect on who I am as a person and if my current career is aligned with that or not. And it made me reflect a lot on how that nurturing part of me or this caring part of me, this worrying about people and individuals, how can I incorporate that into my career in the future and how to incorporate that while going back to consulting.
On Leadership and Teamwork
The role of a president is, in my opinion, should be “a back-office” job. It should be someone who is there to support the team and lead the team. Maybe one or two times, have individual initiatives. What I’m most proud of is how well the team performed and how we managed to create a well-oiled machine. So, every single initiative that we wanted to do was there, but every single initiative that we’ve done, for me, is 85%, 90%, the vice presidents that were handling that initiative and 10% how we were able to manage as a team.
On Finding the Right MBA Culture
Haas was not my first option. So coming here, I was with a bittersweet feeling. As someone who is really a high achiever, not getting into your first option is never a good feeling. After two weeks at Haas, I understood why I was at Haas. I cannot be more grateful that I ended up at Haas. The culture is right for me, the people that surround me are the right people for me, the type of events that we do are right for me. All of this is right for me.
Advice to new students
This is probably really bad advice, but don’t focus too much on career. It is so easy to come into the MBA and just be like, I need to get the job. I’m going to focus on career. There is so much more growth that you can do in the MBA. There’s not only career growth. There is so much more development that we can do as humans that maybe it will end up in a changing career that we didn’t even think that we needed or that we wanted. Embrace the chaos. Embrace the trying to figure out what you want. I know it’s really scary.
Take care of yourself and focus also on the personal part of you and your mental health. Don’t let it deprive you. I don’t truly believe in what everybody says, like in the MBA, you cannot balance them all. I truly think you can. One thing that I learned in consulting that I applied to everything in my life that I think everybody should apply is the 80-20 approach. There’s like 20 percent of things that bring 80 percent of the impact. Focus on that 20%. Don’t go to every event. Go to the 20% of the events that are going to bring you the most joy. Don’t apply to 100% of the jobs. Apply to the 20% of the jobs that either you have the most chances or you will like the most. Just focus on 20%.