Dear People of Kellogg,

[7th Nov 2025]

We just finished our last class. .....and tomorrow the program closes.

And I’m sitting here thinking about how wrong I was about what this would be.

I came here for strategy, finance, operations, frameworks .... the tools to build bigger and lead better.

And yes, I learned all of that.

But what I needed most was everyone I met along the way.

My cohort, who turned exhausting weekends into friendships I’ll carry for life.

Professors, who taught me that admitting uncertainty is leadership.

Admin who made every week work — aligning schedules, classes, food, and rooms — making the impossible feel ordinary.

The staff behind the scenes, who fed us and cleared our coffee cups so we’d return to a clean desk.

And friends from every corner of the world, who taught me more about leadership, culture, humility, and courage than any textbook ever could.

I used to think education was about what you learn in classrooms.

It’s actually about who you become when you’re surrounded by people from everywhere, doing everything, choosing to believe in each other.

Education isn’t built by curriculum. It’s built by community.

And community isn’t agreement — it’s presence. It’s showing up. It’s saying: I see you, and I believe you belong here.

I am a mosaic of this experience.

Every conversation in every city, every debate, every moment someone took the time to teach me something I didn’t know I needed — I carry all of it forward.

Whatever I build next will have your fingerprints on it.

Some of us led from the front, some from behind, some simply by listening deeply.

Together, we became something none of us could become alone — and it doesn’t end here.

The classes are over, but the community isn’t.

Thank you for expanding my world. For seeing potential I didn’t know I had. For making me better.

And wherever we go next… I’ve got your back, the way you had mine.

— Z