Lakesha Lundy (BA Finance ’07) once felt a little like she was flying blind. But with the Broad College of Business’ Multicultural Business Program (MBP) — which offers mentoring, tutoring and more — her professional aspirations took off.
Lakesha Lundy makes an impact on Broad’s MBP, and communities across the U.S.
The Broad College’s MBP, comprised of academic specialists, graduate assistants, and undergraduate students, represents a wide variety of cultural, economic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. The four organizations, Multicultural Business Students; National Association of Black Accountants; Native American and Hispanic Business Students; and Women in Business Students’ Organization, host events throughout the year to foster an inclusive academic environment where its members can thrive.
Since graduating from the Broad College, Lundy pursued her MBA from Clark Atlanta University and has worked in the financial sector for True Value, Sears Holdings, and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., as a real estate broker for Baird & Warner, as well as serving part-time as a faculty member of finance for the University of Phoenix. As proven, the sky’s the limit for Lundy: today, she oversees a $1 billion budget as a senior financial analyst for United Airlines.
But her MSU experience inspired her in other ways.
In her off time, she supports urban youth and young professionals in Operation FAM, a nonprofit organization she helped found in 2013 to share much of the same advice she received through the MBP. Operation FAM honors Lakesha’s mother, who succumbed to cancer in 2010, but not before she had seen all of her children through college and even went back to complete her own degree. She is also actively involved with United Way of Chicago, American Cancer Society, and Blessed to Give Scholarship
Lundy also makes it a priority to give back to the MBP each year.
“I feel honored to be in a position to give and to help someone like me, who had a lot of potential and just needed someone to take them under their wing,” she says.
