Attending a national conference like the National Black MBA Association Conference and Exposition or the Grace Hopper Celebration can give graduate students inspiration, career insights, and powerful connections.

Unfortunately, not all students can afford the travel, hotel, and registration fee.

Thanks to one anonymous alum, cost is no longer an issue for many students.

“Full-time students are eligible for up to $250 reimbursement annually to attend conferences, career fairs, and other professional development opportunities. But travel costs generally far outpace this amount, which is why the support from this donor is so impactful. Now, we can cover the full cost of travel and attendance for students,” says Laura Oknefski, senior director of graduate academic programs and student services.

Opening Doors to Opportunity

For the past two years, this person’s generosity paid all the expenses for a total of 10 graduate students to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC)—the world’s largest gathering of women and nonbinary technologists. Four students attended in 2024 and last year, six students attended.

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Graduate students received support to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration over two years, connecting them with new professional opportunities.

The six students who received scholarships to attend GHC in 2025 are: Skyler Guo (MS+BA ’26), Kashish Gupta (MBA/MS ’26), Azure Hsiao (MS+BA ’25), Manshita Singhal (MS+BA ’25), Anvita Vasant (MS ’25), and Revati Wankhede (MS+BA ’25).

Singhal called the scholarship extremely impactful. “Without it, attending would have been unlikely,” she says. “I genuinely believe this event has shifted my career direction and expanded my professional network.”

“The conversations about positioning my background and learning about initiatives that organizations are investing in, like agentic AI applications, design thinking, and combining analytics with business operations, gave me clarity on my career path,” says Wankhede.

Six Pitt Business graduate students at the Grace Hopper Celebration 2025
Pitt Business graduate students at the 2025 Grace Hopper Celebration.

Hsiao echoed Wankhede’s thoughts, saying, “It gave me a clearer vision of how I want to use analytics to drive meaningful innovation, and what my next steps should be to reach my career goals. I also connected with professionals who offered great advice on growing a career in data analytics.”

A Lasting Impact on Careers

This year, the donation will cover all costs for six students to attend the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Conference and Exposition. Pitt Business has been attending this conference for over two decades and the event has jump-started numerous students’ careers.

In the past five years, Katz students who have attended NBMBAA have had a nine percent higher placement rate within 90 days of graduation, as compared to the overall placement rate of our students in the same timeframe.

Many students have received internships or full-time offers at Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and other corporations because of meetings with recruiters at NBMBAA.

This is the proverbial win-win; this alum wants to support career outcomes for students especially through career conference attendance, and our students get to jump start their career. Here’s proof that actions of one person can benefit endless others.