Crescent City Connections (c3nola) at PitchNOLA

I knew when I signed up for the Professional MBA program at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business that I wanted to gain experience and skills that I could apply immediately. At around the same time I was putting together my application for the program; I started a non-profit organization here in New Orleans called Crescent City Connections (c3nola) that customizes volunteer experiences for business and various groups. I was determined to apply my learnings from the program to get this nonprofit off the ground. From my very first class in the PMBA program, Mass Communications, to now a year and half later, I’ve found the PMBA program to provide a great foundation for building this nonprofit. c3nola was simply an infant when I when first started the program, but as time has passed it has grown and is continuing to do so, and I owe much of c3nola’s success to the PMBA program that I’m currently enrolled in.

The PMBA program provides a diverse and extensive background of business fundamentals and strategies that have helped c3nola in various ways. From learning about revenue models and budgets, to marketing and competition, as a director of a start-up organization, I’m now far more confident and competent in my abilities as a result of the program. Furthermore, my fellow students and professors have been instrumental in providing ideas, encouragement, and support for my venture that otherwise I would not be able to get. Additionally, in my conversations with various stakeholders, they’re all noticeably more interested and intrigued in the venture once they learn I’m a PMBA student at Tulane’s Freeman School of Business, so it adds a nice piece of legitimacy. Overall it provides a great arsenal of skills, confidence and contacts that can really make a difference in one’s goals.

The PMBA program is great for whatever one is trying to achieve. If you want to work your way up in your company and boost your performance at your day job, it will help do that. If you want to start a small business or nonprofit, it will definitely help as well. If you’re looking for business knowledge and acumen, you certainly get that as well. It’s a very versatile program and I recommend it for anyone working in New Orleans trying to do bigger and better things and get to the next step, whether as an individual, business or nonprofit.   Looking how far I and c3nola have come over the last 18 months is amazing and makes me very excited to see what’s in store for the next 18 months in the PMBA program and beyond.

Theodore Nathan