Sierra Brooks, MBAn '24

Sierra Brooks, MBAn ’24, has never been one to back down from a challenge. Her love for competition started early when she began her gymnastics career at three years old. Since then, Sierra has become a decorated gymnast, winning prestigious awards throughout her career, such as the AAI Award, Big Ten Medal of Honor, Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, and many more.

But Sierra is more than an award-winning gymnast — she’s also a dedicated business student with experience in business strategy, business analytics, and digital marketing.

Sierra was determined to follow her interest in business and compete as a gymnast simultaneously. It was important to her to find a school that could teach her the real-world skills she needed to stand out in the workforce after graduation while juggling her responsibility as a student-athlete at the same time. For her, that school was the Ross School of Business.

From BBA to MBAn

Sierra began her academic career at the University of Michigan, initially as a student of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. After her first year on campus, Sierra transferred to Michigan Ross.

“I heard about all the amazing resources that Ross had and how all their students were set up to do really well after college,” Sierra said. 

Talking to other Michigan students who were at Ross already or had graduated from Ross gave me a great perspective, and I just really liked the people.

Additionally, Ross had the curriculum that she was most interested in studying. Initially planning to minor in business, Sierra found that the more she looked into classes at Ross, the more she wanted to earn her BBA.

“I felt like I would be able to fine-tune what I liked if I got my degree in business versus getting a minor in business, where I might just dip my toe in it,” Sierra said. “I knew getting a degree in business administration would be a good fit for me and would also teach me what I did and didn't like.”

During her time as a BBA, Sierra learned that one of the things she was passionate about was business analytics, a subject for which she became a tutor. After graduating with her BBA, Sierra decided to pursue a Master of Business Analytics at Michigan Ross. Making the decision to pursue her MBAn degree to expand upon her existing knowledge of business analytics and coding was one that Sierra knew would open up new opportunities for her.

“I loved it right off the bat. I'd say one thing that stood out to me was that our cohort is just over 50 people, and having that small cohort and the way Ross was very intentional with orientation was great,” Sierra said. “We all got to know each other really, really quickly.”

Putting new skills into practice

As she wraps up her time as an MBAn student this year, Sierra is excited to see where her career takes her. Heading into her Consulting Studio project this winter term, she is excited to gain additional experience that will give her a chance to test out some of the skills she learned from the MBAn Program. Her team will work with State and Liberty, an Ann Arbor company creating menswear for professional athletes — a perfect combination of her two passions: business and sports.

“I’m looking forward to working with a company and getting that experience,” Sierra said. “It will allow us all to fine-tune our communication skills and the way we work with other people. I also personally want to improve my analytics capabilities because we've learned so many things since the summer started. I’m excited to be able to look at what we've been assigned and then be able to utilize this new toolbox and be able to pick out what works best for what we are doing.”

Plans for the future

When she graduates from the MBAn program, Sierra plans to start working at a boutique consulting firm in Chicago.

“I’m so excited to be at a smaller consulting firm, which is what I wanted,” Sierra said. “Our gymnastics teams are also really small. So I'm used to being in situations where everyone knows and supports each other. I don't know if I want to be one of 200,000 at a larger company, and I’m glad I was able to choose between different offers and find something that worked for me.”

To students thinking of joining next year’s MBAn Program, Sierra offered this parting advice:

“I'd say coming to Ann Arbor is one of the first things you should do if you're interested in the program. The decision to come to Ross was very easy for me because I was here in undergrad, and I loved it and didn't want to leave,” she said. “It's a beautiful building with great people and phenomenal resources."

You hear about our alums all the time, but it's seriously all very true. Michigan alums provide students with an invaluable network.