Marshall and Mentors

I was blessed to attend the University of Southern California Business School and Entrepreneur Program. I obtained my Bachelors of Science in Business Administration focusing the fourth year of college on The Entrepreneur Program. In addition to the basic required courses, I also took additional courses in Marketing and Advertising to further my knowledge on national and international sales and marketing campaigns. 

I‘ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the most brilliant, visionary, kind, considerate and ethical entrepreneurs. Gratefully I met most of them while attending USC Marshall School of Business and Entrepreneur Program.  I’m truly thankful for all the time these thriving entrepreneurs generously spent with me to share their expertise and wisdom.

USC Marshall was the first business school to establish an integrated program specifically for entrepreneurial studies nearly 50 years ago. USC Entrepreneur Program was and has been continuously rated as #1 in the nation by Entrepreneur Magazine and Princeton Review.

USC Marshall has also been continuously ranked as Top 10 Business Schools in the nation along with Ivy League schools. It’s been rated number six, in the company of business schools including Stanford, Babson College, Harvard, NYU Sloan and Wharton.

The Entrepreneur Program had weekly select speakers who shared their entrepreneurial journeys. These were amazingly impressive entrepreneurs. Some had created patented products while others had incorporated distinctive niches with products and services. The entrepreneurs with nationwide stores were also USC board members. This meant extra time to interact with them during USC events. 

From Sandy Gooch of Ms. Gooch’s - now Whole Foods Market to Marsha Israel, Founder of Judy’s to Joe Coulombe -Trader Joe’s CEO, each entrepreneur had their own inspiring story of why they created their businesses and how they succeeded. I was in awe of how bold, visionary, confident, persistent and entrepreneurship-minded these remarkable individuals truly were. 

It’s been truly an honor and a pleasure to have Sandy Gooch as a mentor since USC to this day. She’s incredibly kind, wise, supportive - and a fantastic mentor. I’m beyond proud of Sandy first and foremost for the wonderful person she is - as well as creating and expanding Mrs. Gooch’s to a $90M sales per year retail power house - before selling it to Whole Foods Market for $60M. She has taught so many how to eat better for a better life. 

Yet Sandy Gooch, an inside and out beautiful lady, remains humble and generous with her time. It doesn’t matter if it’s the weekend or if she’s on the other side of the world traveling - Sandy has always been a reliable and consistent mentor. 

Sandy Gooch has not only mentored me in business - but also about what love looks like in the business world. From making organic and healthy foods available in one place to being a supportive mentor - the ”Queen of Retailing” is a great example of how love wins.  Thank you, Sandy! I’m incredibly grateful to have you as my mentor.