Pride Month shout-out to LGBTQIA+ leaders at Olin

Angela Lu, MBA ’19, is president of the Graduate Business Student Association and wrote this on behalf of the organization.

Happy Pride Month! At the risk of tooting our own horn, I have to share how proud I am of the subtle queer student takeover that’s been happening in Olin’s MBA student government and community.

Olin BranchOut is the graduate business student organization dedicated to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. We have 10 self-identified queer students in the MBA Class of 2019 cohort; that’s 7 percent of the total. Meanwhile, 40 percent are directly involved as student leaders in the Graduate Business Student Association, while another 20 percent as Olin representatives to the greater WashU community — and that’s not counting the leaders of student clubs, because then we’d really be just bragging, wouldn’t we?

In the spirit of Pride, here’s a quick introduction to several of the Class of 2019 BranchOut members who play key leadership roles:

• Kevin Lin: A fellow of Reaching Out MBA and BranchOut president, Kevin was elected to the newly vacated seat on the Student Senate in March 2018. He is the dedicated curator of BranchOut’s social media presence – give him (and us all) a holler @washuolinlgbtq on Instagram!
• Angela Lu: GBSA president and former senator, Angela is still struggling to catch up to every other BranchOut member’s impeccable grooming and spot-on fashion sense.
• [name omitted]: Our vice president of diversity is suave and humorous and brimming with great ideas about broaching difficult conversations more frequently and with more depth.
• Meredith Owen: Vice president of social programs and chief wine aficionado, Meredith is a high-beam ray of cheery energy guaranteeing a good time. Enthusiastic, organized and mischievous, she’s the life of the party that everyone can depend on.
• Mukund Birje and Vanessa Redensek: Olin representatives to the Graduate Professional Council, Mukund and Vanessa are tasked with being the voice for Olin graduate students.
• Dan Ho: But wait, there’s more! Dual-degree candidate Dan (M.Arch/MBA) is president of the Graduate Architecture Council. Enviably multi-talented, Dan dazzles everyone with his ability to do it all and still make flawless look effortlessly easy.

So, here’s a toast to Olin Pride, something to celebrate both this month and beyond. I’ve got it, and I hope you do too! Stay tuned to hear more about how Olin Pride fits into GBSA’s larger goals for the coming year!

Pictured above: BranchOut members and allies posing at the OWIB auction in February 2018.