Journey to excellence: Rotman Commerce alumna wins Futures Fund Scholarship
The Futures Fund Scholarship for Outstanding Leadership is an award presented to 10 business students in Canadian universities who have demonstrated academic excellence, outstanding leadership, and community involvement. Both the Rotman School of Management and Rotman Commerce put forth a nominee whose applications are reviewed by Dean Susan Christoffersen to choose a winner. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Rotman Commerce’s own Gloria Yang was selected as one of the recipients.
In May 2024, Gloria attended the Awards Gala Dinner in Calgary, Alberta, a gathering of business and community leaders from Alberta, including entrepreneurs and CEOs, sponsored by notable companies such as Caldwell, Bennett Jones, and KPMG. This event is meant to award the scholarship recipients as well as honour the CEO of the Year. Gloria mentioned how she was able to learn from the experiences and inspiring stories of panelists and business leaders.
Throughout her time in RC, Gloria was involved with projects and activities such as case competitions, entrepreneurship pitches, and pro-bono consulting projects. These contributions are related to her involvement in RC Student Groups — the Rotman Commerce Competition Team (RCCT) and Rotman Commerce Innovation Group (RCIG). Gloria was the Co-Captain of RCCT, leading and training more than 30 students to represent U of T at international case competitions. She was also the Director of Professional Development at RCIG, where she sourced 3 pro-bono consulting projects, helping club members to develop their problem-solving and leadership skills.
Outside of her student life in RC, she built an inventory management system from scratch for a Toronto business during the pandemic, collaborated with an Alberta bank to reimagine their physical spaces post-pandemic, and pitched a product innovation to reduce agricultural emissions in Canada. While writing her application, a cover letter of how she demonstrated academic excellence and extracurricular involvement, she reflected on her experiences and how they contributed to her growth as a person and a leader.
Gloria Yang, BCom ‘24“Being selected for the Futures Fund Scholarship felt like I was truly being acknowledged for the complete story of what I’ve contributed and done throughout my undergrad. It was an excellent wrap-up to commemorate my time at RC.”
Over four years of her student life at U of T, Gloria found that the biggest change in herself is her mindset. She placed her heavy importance on outcomes in the beginning, concluding that bad outcomes meant wasted effort. However, as time went by, she realized that the process is meaningful — knowing that she has tried her best, and while effort may not guarantee the best outcome, it will increase chances of success in the future.
“Process and results are not perfectly correlated — sometimes we can do everything right and still ‘fail’,” Gloria remarks. “It’s really great that I can trust myself to gather the discipline necessary to slowly make progress toward my goals, even if I fail and make mistakes along the way.”
For her next steps post-RC, Gloria plans to start her full-time job in strategy consulting at McKinsey next year and is considering graduate school in the next few years. After that, she says that anything could happen, and the possibilities are endless. “Perhaps I’d still be in consulting; maybe I’ll work in a startup or in finance or even working on my own venture. Only time will tell!” she declares.
By Anika Kulathu (BCom ’27) | October 17, 2024
