Civic Scholars Student Profile Rachel Julie Huynh

Why Booth? Why Civic Scholars?
The program is a rare opportunity to build cross-cutting social sector fluency, benefit from thoughtful mentorship and programming with the Rustandy Center, and join a talented, like-minded cohort that is similarly committed to transformative societal change.
 
What are your career aspirations?
In my last role, working to increase access to essential maternal medicines in low-income countries, I saw daily how gender, health, and income too often culminate in senseless morbidity and mortality. I plan to use my business and policy dual degrees to continue working toward enabling greater health, prosperity, and agency for underserved low-income communities around the world.
 
What skills are you looking to develop at Booth?
I hope to leave Booth with a greater aptitude for evidence-based analytical rigor as well as a better understanding of my own authentic leadership style. Being adept in these areas is critical to my work in the social sector, where working for change in low-income countries requires galvanizing buy-in and political will while navigating resource-constrained and complex, multicultural contexts.
 
Tell us about your career journey.
I began my career looking to hone analytical skills and learn from broad exposure to the private and public sector as a management consultant with BCG. I translated these skills and experiences from consulting to pursue health care and international development in low-income countries, first through private health-care delivery in Bangladesh and then through public health and systems strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa with a nonprofit organization.