We’re on a Tour Throwback trip…welcome to Part 4. If you missed our recaps of Georgia Tech, Duke, or Georgetown, read those first.
If you are just joining us, we are holding our next 8-hour Consulting Bootcamp in San Francisco on September 21. Or, invite us to come present a 2-hour Bootcamp Lite (60 attendees minimum, lecture) or 8-hour Consulting Bootcamp (8-30 participants/day, interactive w/breakouts) – we would be honored to meet with you. Just contact us for more information, and we’ll get you on the calendar. We travel anywhere in the world.
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Thursday morning was as beautiful as the rest, and it was an important day in our tour – hump day!
We drove 1.5 hours from the Amish hills of Lancaster County to center city Philadelphia, and said “Sayonara” to our trusty Nissan Sentra.
After munching some pretzel dogs and a cinnamon pretzel from Lancaster classic, Auntie Anne’s (now PE-owned), we hung out with a nun and then jumped a Bolt Bus to NYC.
The Bolt Bus finally gave us the chance to co-work (otherwise, Julie was rocking the work in the passenger seat while Jenny Rae chauffeured). The driver seemed to have an intimate understanding of aggressive-but-safe speeds, and we finished the 2 hour trip well under the allotted time.
A quick subway ride later, and we were not only at the hotel – but Jenny Rae was asleep. The only nap on the tour, it was absolutely glorious!
Never fear – a 2-hour nap was all that was in store, and we were on the move again. Next stop – a meeting with the Executive Board of the Women’s Finance Society at Columbia University.
Holy majoly – talk about GIRL POWER! These ladies were amazing.
We had almost 2 hours together, and in that time we covered things like what it’s like to be the first female entrepreneur in my family and how our mothers affected the way we think about work. I also shared a bit about how to present yourself as a woman in consulting networking and interviews. It was a very special time – one of our very favorites of the trip.
We also grabbed the most divine Korean street BBQ from a local food truck. Despite our many trips to New York, it was the first time we’d ventured above 92nd street – and let’s just say, we’ll be back.
From that point on in the evening, we proceeded to violate multiple Columbia campus rules – from taking food into a reading lounge to entering a meeting room without our sponsor to packing out the 25-person reading room with 75+ people (folks were sitting on the floor, on the radiator, and even standing outside the door for the full 2 hours).
The target audience was the non-MBA grad school population – lots of Masters and Ph.D. students were there – but it seemed like word had gotten out and there were definitely folks from every academic interest in the room.
Needless to say, the students demonstrated that there is an absurd appetite for real information about consulting – and plans are already in the works for multiple full-day Bootcamps at Columbia in the spring.
Favorite quote of the night – “This is the best presentation on consulting I’ve ever heard. I loved how down-to-earth and honest you were.”
When the building supervisor finally kicked us out (they closed the building at midnight, and we were still there!) we headed to Times Square.
Although we thought we were special grabbing a photo op with Roman, the cop, we KNEW we were special when we featured the lesser-known Uptown Swirl staff in a jumping picture with Julie.
The nap was entirely snatched by the late night we had, but it was entirely worth it. Thanks, Columbia, for showing us something new in New York.