Member Highlights: Kayla Chang
Learn about Kayla’s experience in Phoenix Consulting as a Business major!
Kayla joined Phoenix in order to learn more about consulting while staying tangentially involved with science, which she had a lot of interest in. Outside of Phoenix, she is highly interested in teaching and entrepreneurship, coaching debate at a local high school while also keeping tabs on an educational startup she has been heavily involved in for years. In her free time, Kayla likes taking naps in the sun, knitting and crafting, cooking dinner, eating dinner, and yoga.
How did you learn about Phoenix and why did you decide to join?
I came to campus interested in consulting (let’s be honest — with all the talk about consulting on campus, who isn’t at least sort of interested?) and immediately gravitated to the more niche groups that seemed to be a little smaller and more tightly knit due to the mutual interests of all members. I had a friend in Phoenix and asked to meet up to talk a little about what it was like. Honestly, that really sealed the deal for me, especially after I went to an info session and met everyone. It was a place I found I could joke around and be myself and the members really encouraged that.
Just like anyone else in business, I think consulting groups (not just in college, but in life) toe the line of when business becomes just about money. Phoenix also gave me an outlet to continue my fascination with strategy, pricing, marketing, and more while still feeling like I was making a difference for good in the world, and that my work was more meaningful than just selling a cup of coffee.
How does Phoenix’s niche help you as a straight Business major?
On some level, I do see the disconnect between this healthcare and life science focused organization and someone like me striving to be in the more general business industry. What I’ve found is actually that on one hand, I still get all the exposure and experience that anyone else would get on consulting project, but getting familiar with the healthcare and life sciences industries has been fascinating for me, because it creates new challenges. For example, sometimes regulations and risks mean we have to propose different solutions that work around them, and that pushes us to think differently and better — sometimes I’ve found I’m even more happy with the end result after we had to scrap and restart. And, of course, having niche industry knowledge that most other college students haven’t had the chance to get has made me stand out from other candidates in my interviews!
Do you ever have trouble on projects because of your lack of healthcare background?
I’m not going to lie — there have been a couple projects that I probably wouldn’t have been able to be on easily because of the technical nature. However, 1–2 projects over 3 years sort of shows that the limitation isn’t really that limiting. I’ve also been lucky enough to take the lead and be on projects that have been a lot more business heavy as well, though, so my own expertise has been able to be utilized that way. In general, though, projects tend to be more about learning quickly — usually within the first week, we do a deep dive into the market and tangential markets, customers, trends, and it’s not common that our point of contact will directly brief us on any specifics of the product we’re working with and be available for more questions that give us all the expertise we need. And, at the very worst, that’s what principals, exec, and the rest of the org is for — to be our support staff in the case where our own knowledge falls short.
If you are a Berkeley student and liked what you read, please apply! Our application deadline is 1/31 at 5PM.
Phoenix Consulting Group is a registered nonprofit organization through the Associated Students of the University of California. Our focus is on solving problems in the healthcare and life sciences spaces.
