My journey to Sauder has been an adventure. It seems to me that everything I’ve done so far has been leading towards this, but really none of it was deliberate. In fact, I hadn’t set my mind on business school until earlier this year, when I decided to change my career path from journalism and my brother suggested I take the GMAT.

I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. After high school, I decided to attend the University of British Columbia, where I majored in psychology. I learned to hone a sharp analytical frame of mind, while developing a sensitivity to and understanding of interpersonal relationships.

Yoni at southern IDF base

After receiving my degree I immigrated to Israel, where I immersed myself in a different language and culture, wrestled with cumbersome bureaucracy and built up a network of contacts without the comforts of ready-made help that countless people enjoy in their native surroundings. I enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, fulfilling a life-long aspiration and proving to myself that I can overcome even he most formidable challenges.

After being discharged from the IDF, I decided to explore the world of journalism, and began working as a breaking news editor at the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s most widely read English news outlet. My time in journalism taught me both how to write at a high level and to understand my target audience, something which will undoubtedly be useful going forward. Though I enjoyed my time at the Post, I realized that a career in journalism isn’t for me.

I had a long conversation with my brother in January, and he suggested I might do well in business. Thinking about it, I realized that everything I had done until now had been perfectly suited to the business world. With an educational background in psychology, I  am well situated to succeed in an MBA program, specifically in Sauder’s Product & Service Management track. A relatively large number of the module courses seem to draw upon psychological concepts with which I am vastly familiar. I believe this will help me offer a unique perspective in classes, and will allow me to excel in areas such as consumer behaviour and brand management. The Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship module is an intriguing alternative for me. As a one-time immigrant to a foreign country, I believe I’ve displayed a number of qualities necessary for successful entrepreneurship, including independence and risk-taking. That my destination country was Israel is no less important; Tel Aviv is dubbed the Silicon Wadi because of the successful start-up track record of its residents. By virtue of having served a meaningful tenure in the Israel Defence Forces, I have developed the very spirit and skill set that has made Israel such a success story, and look forward to translating this to career achievement in Canada via Sauder’s MBA. The Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship module, with its real-life simulations of the processes required to start a company, strikes me as one of the most practical modules I’ve seen yet.

Of course, I have lots yet to learn. I am very much looking forward to the Sauder MBA, where I hope to gain a detailed understanding of the many aspects of the business world.