Alumni Video Spotlight: Jaimie Asakawa MBA 24

Since graduating from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Jaimie Asakawa has built a career at the intersection of entrepreneurship, marketing and community impact. 

She launched SAC Health Marketing, helped fellow entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life and now works to expand opportunities for young people through Junior Achievement of Sacramento. Across health care, education and entrepreneurship, Asakawa has carried lessons from GSM about leadership, creativity and innovation into each new chapter. 

In this Alumni Spotlight, she reflects on her evolving career, the faculty who influenced her and why business graduates have the tools to create meaningful change in their communities.

Video Transcript

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

Over the past few years, I've really enjoyed the trajectory of my career. Since graduating from the School of Management, I have started my own LLC called SAC Health Marketing. That has been a joy. And one of my first clients is another GSM alum. And I was able to help this first client start with an idea, help her brand it, design her brand for her and bring her up to a recent ribbon cutting at the Roseville Chamber of Commerce.

At the same time, I’ve had the pleasure of working with one of my friends and colleagues at the School of Management, Chris Marshall, who is now the president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Sacramento. Junior Achievement of Sacramento lets students from all walks of life be the change they want to see. Through our programming in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and career readiness, we give students hope. We help students prepare for their futures now, so that they can be fiscally responsible adults and business owners and community influencers in the future.

What does collaborative leadership mean to you?

Collaborative leadership is an interesting phrase. There are a lot of different leadership styles that Professor Stephen Garcia goes over in his course. Some of these include collaborative leadership. Some of them include servant leadership. There are a lot of different leadership styles, but I think what's important, more than the phrase or the type or style of leadership, is to lift each other up and lift up your communities and your region together with each other, and to inspire hope and to inspire change in your communities.

What are the biggest challenges in your industry? 

I've worked in a few different industries. I worked in healthcare for about five years, started working there during COVID, so you can imagine the challenges working in healthcare during COVID as a marketer. It was really fun because the messaging that I was able to help create framed the way that the public interacted with our healthcare system.

After working in healthcare, I moved on to being an entrepreneur, still in the healthcare world, but helping other entrepreneurs make their dreams reality. It's been awesome working in education. So education, especially for students who are underserved by our current education system and giving them hope for a new reality for themselves or their families and for their communities.

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

Future business graduates shouldn't be afraid to do anything. We have the education and the tools and the mindset to shape the future. We can be the change we want to see. We can make an impact where no one is making an impact. We can be the visionaries of not only the future, but of today.

Honestly, I would say that Joe DiNunzio and Andrew Hargadon had the biggest impact on me as I am passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation. I love the work that they're still doing in the community. I love seeing Joe's latest company that he started on LinkedIn or that he's promoting. I love how Andy H. used to talk about his experience at Apple and how much things have shifted since he was there. And I just love the boundlessness of creativity that they promote.