A Snapshot of Two Dartmouth Students Who Want to Change the World

Episode Summary

Two women – one studying economics with her own fashion line (Avalux) and a member of the US 2020 Olympic team in rugby, the other a first-generation low-income Latina college student in bioengineering looking to increase representation in academia while studying developmental genetics in women’s health. An up-close conversation with Olympian Ariana Ramsey and aspiring PhD student Samantha Carranza, on The Sydcast.

Sydney Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life.

Ariana Ramsey

Ariana Ramsey was born in Philadelphia and raised outside the King of Prussia. She is an Economics major at Dartmouth College and a Division I Women’s Rugby team member. She recently was named and participated in the 2020 Olympic Games on Tokyo's Women’s USA Rugby team. 

Samantha Carranza

Sam is a senior at Dartmouth College pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Sciences and her Bachelor of Engineering in Biological Engineering. On campus, she’s a QuestBridge Scholar and dedicates much of her time to advocating for equity and inclusivity in the spaces she takes part. Upon graduating, she aspires to obtain her Ph.D. in biological engineering with a focus on developmental genetics in women’s health. As a first-generation low-income Latina, her ultimate goal is to increase representation and equity in academia while making impactful contributions to the biological field.

Insights from this episode: 

• Samantha and Ariana’s lives growing up
• Samantha’s experience at Dartmouth College
• How their parents impacted their lives
• How Samantha found a support group in college
• How Ariana started playing rugby 
• Joining the Olympic team
• Building resilience in their lives 
• Discrimination in campus
• Ariana's entrepreneurial journey

Quotes from the show:

• “When we think about what these great schools can do for students, for young people, when we bring in more people that have not had all kinds of advantages, the first kids in their families to go to university, the impact, the depth of that impact is really gigantic” —Syd Finkelstein [2:47]
• “I have always known that I wanted to go to college and my mom, she has always encouraged me to go, and my father a