Alumni Spotlight: Meg Lee MBA 22

Alumna Meg Lee shares her about using her skills learned in the Sacramento Part-Time MBA program and her experience working at one of the world's largest private wine companies.

She also offers tips on what she believes business managers need to know about Gen-Z, the changing workforce, the rise of non-alcoholic consumption, and more.

"When I was starting my career and, and just entering the professional realm, there was a lot more of a, you know, put your head down, grind it out," Meg Lee explains, "You could like buy pillowcases that said like, "Rise and grind". That was definitely like a cultural phenomenon."

"And that's not the case anymore," she continues. "And I think it's really important for us to recognize that the people that we are recruiting, the people that we're hiring...don't feel the same way about their professional careers."

What are the highlights of your career the last few years?

I work at E. & J. Gallo Winery and I have for the last 10 years in my current role. I work in what we call wine and grape supply, which is essentially managing all the wine that we have in tank and sourcing grapes for the upcoming vintage and just making sure that we have enough supply to meet demand.

What does collaborative leadership mean to you?

Organizations, in general, especially really large organizations, used to be a much harder place. And, now I think there's a drive towards a much softer type of organization that's driven by kindness and empathy and understanding, not only of the people you work with, but also ultimately who your consumers are.

How do you collaborate at work to make an impact? 

My job is interesting. It's sort of inherently, I shouldn't say collaborative, but at least cross functional because I don't actually own any particular piece. I have to work with a lot of different groups, winemaking, the people that actually go out and source the grapes with growers, the finance teams that have to pay for the grapes. So it's, you know, built in. It has to be super cross functional.

What are the biggest challenges in your industry?

There are a lot of challenges in the wine industry. Consumption is declining for pretty much the first time in a long time. And Gen Z, I think, has a lot more options for what they want to take to party and celebrate with their friends. And I think they're also much more health conscious, right? Demand is shrinking. You know, there's there's only a few options that you have to, you know, try to continue doing what you're doing and hope that demand picks up and industry trends change. Or do you innovate and try to enter a category that we haven't previously been in?

What are you seeing that future business graduates should know as they start their careers?

When I was starting my career and, and just entering the professional realm, there was a lot more of, you know, put your head down, grind it out. You could buy pillowcases that said like, "Rise and grind." That was definitely like a cultural phenomenon, I think. And that's not the case anymore.

I think it's really important for us to recognize that the people that we are recruiting, the people that we're hiring, the people that are going to be future leaders don't feel the same way about their professional careers and the fulfillment that it gives them in life the same way that we do.

It's really important to recognize that and work around it and make sure that we're -- one -- providing a fulfilling experience to the people that we hire and -- two -- giving people the grace and flexibility that they need to live the life that that they want to live -- and we're all going to be better for it!