Indulging Wanderlust

Indulging Wanderlust

Name: Eddie Minkoff
Hometown: Bellingham, Wash.
Education: University of Washington, Foster School of Business, MBA Class of 2009
Plan A: Product development for Starbucks
Plan B: Mountain climbing

When I came to business school, the company I was really looking into was Starbucks. I put a lot of effort into securing an internship there, and I did. But Starbucks went through a round of layoffs when I was there, and a job possibility essentially fell through the cracks.

In a lot of ways it was kind of liberating. I refocused on what I really love—outdoor activities—and redefined my ideal job: doing product development for the REIs or North Faces of the world. That industry wasn't hiring either, so I secured a summer internship at T-Mobile through September. Which isn't hiring.

So I decided to travel. I'm really excited to be able to do this; it'd be one thing if I had a job offer lined up, but now there's nothing holding me back. I'm going to Iceland, Tanzania, India, and Nepal.

While I'm in Tanzania, I'm going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro: more than 19,000 feet. I first became involved with mountaineering through 3 Summits for Nepal, a fundraising group founded at the Foster School that sponsors climbers to raise money for children's education in Nepal. Part of the reason I'm visiting Nepal is to see the work being done on the new school there. They will be starting construction in October, so I'll get to see it as it goes up and hopefully meet some of the students and teachers.

I started off as a participant in the Cascade climbs in Washington, but now I'm an active board member. I'm in charge of getting us incorporated as a full nonprofit. Right now, it's all volunteer work, but it's definitely something I'm going to stick with post-MBA. It's becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life.