Our Favorite Stories of 2020

16 Dec 2020

The HBS alumni content team break down a few of their favorite tales from Skydeck and the Bulletin

Re: Omar Maniya (MBA 2016); Kiran Gandhi (MBA 2015); Ayr Muir-Harmony (MBA 2004); Sonia Lo (MBA 1994)

Topics: News-School News Entertainment-General

Can This Man Change the American Diet?
Clover Food Lab takes a transparent approach to bringing its unique style of vegetarian, fast-casual food to customers. In this episode of Skydeck, we meet Ayr Muir, Clover’s founder, and listen in on a food development meeting testing everything from chocolate to hay straws.

Change, Stat
When COVID-19 patients began flooding ICUs earlier this year, one MBA was at the epicenter, working as an ER doc at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, one of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. In this Bulletin Turning Point essay, Omar Maniya (MBA 2016) (who also contracted the virus) describes that mind-altering experience and how it changed his perception of the current healthcare system.

Keeping the Beat
Musician-activist Kiran Gandhi (MBA 2015) describes the ups and downs of making music under lockdown, sings some lines from her next EP, and explains why she’s hype for the potential virtual audiences offer.

Green Light
What struck us was the enormity of Sonia’s vision and its perfect timing—coming just as plant-based foods are beginning to saturate the mainstream. Her unique set of skills and abilities is also nicely traced to her childhood as the daughter of diplomats.

Good Odds
We loved this story because it reveals something hidden in plain sight: How less-than-perfect foods—from an airline’s unsold cheese trays to a weirdly-shaped carrot—can fill a need and drive a viable business.

Gotta Dance
All due credit to our outstanding art directors at EmDash and the photographers at HollenderX2 on this photo. This shot captures the energy of this particular duo and their business. And we still wonder how many takes it required.