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Oxford Saïd Partners with Reaching Out MBA to Support LGBTQ+ Students

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Two impactful LGBTQ+ community leaders have been awarded Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) fellowships at Saïd Business School.

Roni Belenki and Sanoma Jean will be the first recipients of ROMBA fellowships at Oxford Saïd and will join the 2021 MBA cohort.

The inaugural fellowships are available through a partnership between the School and Reaching Out MBA, a unique global network for LGBTQ+ MBA students. The fellowships award £20,000 to each recipient.

The ROMBA fellowships promote the empowerment and representation of LGBTQ+ students at the School and as future leaders. 

Kathy Harvey, Associate Dean, MBA and Executive Degrees at Oxford Saïd, commented on the fellowships: ‘The School is dedicated to being an active ally for the LGBTQ+ community. We are excited to admit our first ROMBA scholars, who have already shown a huge amount of commitment to supporting those in the LGBTQ+ community, we look forward to seeing their impact as future leaders.’

Roni Belenki
Roni Belenki

 

Roni Belenki will join the Oxford MBA as a recent Master’s in Public Policy graduate from Columbia University. Prior to that she was the Vice President of Policy and Public Affairs at The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel. Whilst in this role she co-led the largest-ever LGBTQ rights campaign in Israel’s history, working to assert equal rights to marriage and surrogacy for people in same-sex relationships.

Building upon this leadership, Belenki is joining the Oxford MBA to gain in-depth skills in sustainable business and finance, with the focus on combining this with her public policy expertise to bring about social change.

For Belenki, the ROMBA fellowship not only gives her the opportunity to commence her MBA studies, but the initiative has the wider impact of acting towards greater diversity and representation in leadership.

‘We need to see LGBTQ+ people in key positions, as elected officials and in business leadership, because this is where decisions are made and around every table where decisions are made, we need to see this diversity,’ she said.

‘Representation is also a value not just a method to achieve effective policy.’

On completion of her MBA Belenki plans to continue working towards equal rights for Israeli minority communities and for her own LGBTQ+ community.

Sanoma Jean
Sanoma Jean

Sanoma Jean has worked in technology roles at KPMG and Tesla, and now works in Finance Tech at Google. Her engagement with the LGBTQ+ community began when she decided to come out at work in 2018. Happily, she found her workplace was warm and accepting, she credits their ‘bring your whole self to work’ ethos for creating this positive environment.

Since then she has become a prominent leader in the LGBTQ+ community, including joining the organising committee for San Francisco Pride. Jean also mentored a student who identifies as LGBTQ+ and volunteers with The Trevor Project, a charity that serves American LGBTQ+ youth through a 24/7 National Suicide Hotline.

Jean explained how the fellowship not only provides financial support to individuals but helps to create change, working towards better LGBTQ+ representation in leadership: ‘The impact for all of the community and the future of LGBTQ+ rights and legislation is monumental and catalyses the momentum of change in the right direction.’ 

Her commitment to future leadership work in the LGBTQ+ space is focused on giving back: ‘I hope that I can help the community that has been so supportive and amazing to me, become even more inclusive to all of our members, however they identify.’ 

Aidan Currie, Executive Director for ROMBA added: ‘Reaching Out MBA is excited to welcome Saïd Business School to the Fellowship Program for the 2021 Cohort. What began as a conversation between our staff and the Pride @ Saïd Club Leaders has developed into a committed partnership to support LGBTQ+ and active ally candidates.

‘With Oxford Saïd being one of the leading business schools worldwide, the recognition and designation of the Reaching Out MBA Fellowship sends a message to all those who are LGBTQ+ and considering an MBA: You have the power to make positive change as part of the upcoming generation of leaders.’