Between graduating from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, starting a new job as an analyst, and promoting her latest young-adult fiction novel, Sakthika Vijay, has had a busy year.
After graduating from Minnesota Carlson in May with a degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and a minor in Business Law, she moved to Philadelphia, where she’s now working as an operations lead analyst in Cigna Healthcare’s operations leadership development program.
Simultaneously, Vijay released her second book, Jasmine Flowers and Pounds of Sugar, a young-adult romance novel that came out October 7.
How does she balance it all? Vijay says her Minnesota Carlson education helps in more ways than she ever thought it would.
“When it comes to publishing a book, there’s a lot of back-and-forth and a lot of advocating for yourself," she says. "So, there’s a lot that goes on, and Carlson really helped me prepare for that, especially being an advocate for myself.”
Attending business school also stimulated Vijay’s creativity, she says. During events such as case competitions, Vijay was able to put her creativity to the test and find new, out-of-the-box ways to solve problems.
“A lot of business is storytelling,” she says. “They’re really intertwined.”
One thing she learned at Minnesota Carlson that she has carried forward in her career at Cigna Healthcare is the importance of work-life balance.
“[Cigna Healthcare] really focuses on developing you to make you the best analyst that they can, but they also focus on wellness and taking time for your passions,” she says. “And it was at Carlson where I first learned that I could do this and that, to have a career and do my own personal work on the side as well.”
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