Stern Solutions Faces of Change: Meet Nancy Lu (MBA ’25)
Through Stern Solutions experiential learning projects and courses, students tackle real-world challenges in partnership with global companies – with more than 90 clients and projects each year. This spring, Langone Part-time MBA students Nancy Lu (MBA ’25) and Prince Obah (MBA ’26), as well as Full-time MBA students Austin Nguyen (MBA ’25) and Margaret Olele (MBA ’26) partnered with NBCUniversal as part of the Stern Consulting Corps course. The partnership was orchestrated through alumnus Matthew Gottlieb (MBA ’14), NBCUniversal Senior Vice President of Insights and Measurement, the executive sponsor of the project.
Working with NBCUniversal Vice President of Insights and Measurement, Impact Innovation Andrew Kahen, the students’ work focused on navigating the evolving advertising landscape.
Learn more from Part-time MBA student Nancy Lu (MBA ’25) below.
The Stern MBA team left to right: Margaret Olele, Nancy Lu, Austin Nguyen and Prince Obah
What motivated you to take part in this experiential learning course?
After a decade running my own boutique PR company, I was eager to prove that my skills could translate seamlessly to a larger corporate environment. This project with NBCUniversal validated that and it was incredibly rewarding to work directly with their ad sales organization to gain deeper insights into how a leading media company operates.
Can you briefly explain the real-world challenge you are working on as part of the course?
My team and I focused our work on enhancing value propositions in the rapidly evolving streaming landscape.
How has this experience prepared you for the next step in your career?
This experience gave me a strong understanding of how a leading global media and entertainment conglomerate operates and strategically manages its diverse portfolio across linear, streaming, and mobile platforms. Lectures led by our professors — Yasmin Ibrahim, Brett Baptist, and Bhushan Sethi — all of whom built impressive careers in consulting, equipped me with powerful frameworks for tackling complex, ambiguous business challenges with confidence and precision.
What was it like to interact directly with stakeholders?
Incredible! Our client liaison, Andrew Kahen, was extremely generous with his time and support. We had weekly status update meetings where we discussed team progress, new issues or roadblocks, and next steps. Throughout the project, Andrew served as a valuable sounding board for our proposed solutions, offering thoughtful feedback to ensure we were approaching the problem statement from the right perspective. He also connected us with several colleagues across different teams within the ad sales organization, giving us a broader view of how the pieces fit together to help us then build a much more robust final recommendation.
What do you want candidates who are considering Stern to know about the benefits of experiential learning courses and projects like this?
It’s a lot of work, but it’s absolutely worth it. At the start, the project can feel overwhelming, and you’ll probably experience what I call “blue-sky syndrome,” where so many ideas are flying around that it’s hard to lock in on a single direction and build real momentum. That said, the team dynamics session led by Taneya Waithe from the Experiential Learning team was a total game-changer. It helped us create a strong workflow, which pushed us forward and ultimately allowed us to deliver a final product we’re genuinely proud of.
The Stern MBA team with their NBCUniversal clients Andrew Kahen, Vice President of Insights and Measurement, Impact Innovation (back right); Joe Shelley, Director, Insights and Measurement, Impact Innovation (middle right); and Jacklyn Kim, Senior Manager, Data, Measurement and Insights Strategy (front right)