Blog Posts

Jillian Kemper is a third-year student from Groveport, Ohio. Jillian wanted to attend Ohio State because it was a large, in-state school that would push her outside of her comfort zone. Having attended a small high school, Jillian was ready to branch out and explore the many opportunities that Ohio State offers.

When deciding on a major, Jillian looked for something that suited her strengths and interests in efficiency and project management. She ultimately chose operations management with a minor in human nutrition. As a student, Jillian is a part of the Business Scholars Program, Dean’s Leadership Academy, and the Consulting Industry Immersion Program.

During her first year at Ohio State, Jillian quickly got involved in a variety of Fisher organizations. She attended student organization meetings within her major and discovered the Undergraduate Business Women’s Association (UBWA) from her mentor. She loved the energy that UBWA provided and was excited to get involved. In her first year, she joined the UBWA Mentorship Program and participated in the UBWA Case Competition, where she formed connections with the executive board. In addition, Jillian became a Fisher Ambassador and showed her passion for Ohio State to prospective students.

In her second year, she served in various leadership roles including vice president of professional development for UBWA. In this role, she launched Business Bootcamp, a six-week program to develop individuals personally and professionally.

Currently, Jillian serves as the president of both UBWA and the Business Scholars Leadership Council, where she reshaped it into a more collaborative environment. Outside of Fisher, Jillian is involved with Buckeye Leadership Fellows, an organization that provides exposure to a variety of different companies and individuals across campus.

This past summer, Jillian interned at General Mills on its Global Trade Team, where she was able to get experience seeing how General Mills operated during a pandemic by improving safety regulations and efficiency. This internship solidified Jillian’s interests within project management and process efficiency.

Jillian hopes to contribute to the next group of rising Fisher student leaders while also developing her personal passion for natural remedies and self-care. Her biggest advice to students is to take care of yourself first, because you can only do your best work when you are your best self.

Saarthak Gaur is a third–year student from the Columbus area, where he attended Olentangy Liberty High School. Growing up, he always felt a connection to Ohio State. Although he applied to a variety of schools, he knew Ohio State was the right choice as soon as he received his acceptance letter. As a student so far, Saarthak has made a large impact at Fisher and at Ohio State and, as the president of the Undergraduate Business Council (UBC), he is looking to make an even larger one over the next two years.

Saarthak is majoring in finance and economics and is pursuing a minor in computer science. He was always interested in finance and data and decided to pick up the double major in economics based on the positive experiences he had in each of his economics classes at Ohio State.

Saarthak got involved at Fisher early, joining UBC as a first-year representative. Throughout his freshman year, Saarthak wanted to experience many of the opportunities that Fisher and Ohio State offered. He attended many student organization meetings with the goal of determining where his passions and interests were.

During his sophomore year, Saarthak further focused his interests to his co-curricular activities. He got involved with Undergraduate Student Government at Ohio State and served as a Fisher Peer Mentor. He also discovered an interest in consulting, which led him to join Students Consulting for Nonprofits, a student organization. Currently, Saarthak is a part of the Honors Cohort program and is interested in refining his leadership skills. As president of UBC, he hopes to have a lasting impact at Fisher by uniting the college community and its many organizations.

Professionally, Saarthak is interested in healthcare and the large impact it can have on many. He interned this past summer with HealthPlan Data Solutions, a startup where he worked with databases and was a project manager on a number of teams. The experience taught him to be self-reliant and to better himself in a variety of ways, even when he wasn’t working directly with his teams.

Saarthak discovered his passions and interests through many programs and organizations at Ohio State. As a leader, he wants to provide other students with the same experiences and opportunities to discover theirs.

Fourth-year Operations Management major Cameron Zelen has found opportunities at Fisher that integrate her passion for service, community engagement and academics. Originally from Milford, Ohio, a town northeast of Cincinnati, Cameron grew up playing intramural volleyball and serving on her high school’s student council. Upon arriving at Fisher she, like many first-year students, struggled to navigate the challenges of college life and find her niche.

A pivotal moment that transformed her Ohio State experience was her decision to join the FisherCares volunteer organization during her first year and spend her spring break trip in Florida serving others. On the trip, Cameron met new friends, opened up to new experiences and discovered her passion for leadership. Upon returning from the trip, she picked up a minor in Nonprofit Management and changed her major to Operations to pursue her interest in project management, processes and finding efficiencies.

Throughout her time at Ohio State, Cameron has held leadership positions as Vice President of FisherCares, a Team Captain of BuckeyeThon and as the Student Director of Fisher Impact Day. She is passionate about each organization’s mission and their ability to utilize the resources of the university to positively impact the community. Additionally, she has served as the Vice President of Internal Relations for Buckeye Precious Plastic, a student run nonprofit, whose goal is to educate the Columbus community on the effects of plastic waste on the environment. The nonprofit has found success among the university community and has received funding from the Ford Motor Company.

Cameron has had internship opportunities with the Center of Operational Excellence at Ohio State and with the Bath & Body Works division at L Brands, where she will be joining full time as a Space Planning Analyst. When reflecting on her college experience and on advice she would give to her freshman self, she stresses the importance of not expecting everything to go as planned, and to look at failure as a learning opportunity rather than a setback. Taking things one step at a time, being OK with failing, and seeking new opportunities can all help create experiences that play to one’s strengths.

When she’s not busy developing her nonprofit, working her internships and completing volunteer opportunities in the community, she enjoys playing intramural sand volleyball and going hiking, and plans to eventually hike in all U.S. National Parks!

Rachel Goldstein grew up in Mentor, a suburb outside of Cleveland, and has lived in Ohio with her parents & brother her whole life. She was initially drawn to pursuing a career in business due to a program her high school had that exposed students to a two-year curriculum in marketing & entrepreneurship. Upon evaluating her college options, she admired the diversity & opportunities that a large school had, and ultimately opted to stay in-state and attend OSU.

Rachel got involved with Fisher early, as she was a member of the Business Scholars Program and attended Fisher’s early arrival program. She was able to get connected to other business students, get acclimated, and ultimately found the transition to college life to be relatively easy. She credits her extroverted personality and excitement for meeting new people as some of the most valuable tools in branching out & making friends. Rachel joined Phi Chi Theta, a professional business fraternity, as a first semester freshman and considers it one of her most formative involvements in college, as it’s allowed her to be a member of a large cohesive & supportive group.

Rachel reflects on sophomore year as her most academically & personally challenging time in college. While enjoying leadership opportunities in PCT and SLA, she struggled to find balance between her involvements, a social life, Fisher core academics, and part time jobs with the Owens Group and Connecting Grounds. A major learning experience was taking time to meet with professors one-on-one, and relearn how to most effectively study college material.

Rachel interned with the Fisher summer global internship program her sophomore summer with a PR firm in Dublin, an experience that she loved but ultimately drove her towards considering roles that focused more on brand & strategy within marketing. She had always been interested in consumer packaged goods, as it’s a sector that’s constantly innovating, and as a junior joined the CPG industry immersion. Rachel interned within brand marketing at Smucker, and will be joining full-time with Hershey after graduation.

Senior year has been a time for reflection and introspection for many, and upon looking back on her college experiences, Rachel is thankful for the many friends she made in and out of Fisher, and the skills she’s developed in growing and maintaining those friendships, particularly when separated by distance. As a senior, she’s spent her time working in ULEO as a Peer Impact Consultant, a role in which she’s able to give back to Fisher through mentorship and consulting appointments with underclassmen. She enjoys getting to hear people’s experiences, offer guidance, and interact with friends & staff in the office.

Advice Rachel would give to freshmen? Of course, get involved: find organizations that make you feel at home socially, and find groups that challenge you professionally & intellectually. But always focus on finding balance, which includes potentially saying no to certain things and instead focusing on the depth of experiences rather than breadth.

Unlike many graduating seniors at Fisher, Ruby Xun began her college career as a Hoosier at Indiana University. As a freshman in Bloomington, Indiana, Ruby joined IU’s chapter of Phi Chi Theta and was involved in its Business Honors Community. While she has significant respect for the Kelley School of Business and its students, she grew to appreciate the humility, work ethic, and well-roundedness of the student body at Ohio State and the opportunities that existed at Fisher. Ultimately, Ruby transferred and began her time as a Buckeye as a first-semester sophomore.

She credits her Phi Chi Theta connection for introducing her to some of her first friends and mentors in the Ohio State community; the organization has remained one of her most meaningful ways of getting involved at Fisher — she even served as the chapter’s pledge educator. Additionally, Ruby has spent time as part of Alpha Phi, Fisher Emerging Consultants, Students Consulting for Non-Profits and the Fisher Mentorship Program.

As a marketing major, she’s enjoyed internships that blend creativity and business; she was a private label marketing intern with Speedway, where she was responsible for Speedway-branded packaged goods and products. She also was a merchandising intern with Abercrombie & Fitch, which sparked her initial interest in fashion.

Ruby has also been drawn to consulting thanks to various touchpoints with the industry through friends and connections. The appeal of changing environments, working with different people and the chance to focus on issues that matter to her, such as sustainability in the supply chain, are strong draws to consulting. She has accepted a full-time offer as an analyst with Accenture in its Columbus office. Her advice to other transfer students is to get involved immediately, as the university has so much to offer; she encourages students to find at least one group or organization and to stick with it. It can totally transform and enrich your experience, she says.

One of Ruby’s biggest projects as a senior has been starting her own business and developing as a student entrepreneur. She and her co-founder participated in the Best of Student Startups (BOSS) competition, in which they participated in a series of workshops to develop a brand, marketing strategy, operations, and ultimately a pitch. Ruby’s startup earned second place as well as funding at the autumn competition. Ruby is thankful for the resources provided by the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship that enable students to develop real world entrepreneurial and start-up skills while in college.