Here at Haas

About Here at Haas

Here@Haas is a student-run podcast for the Berkeley Haas Community. We are supported by student donations, Haas Culture Champions, and other sponsors. Our mission is to promote inter-program connectivity of the Haas family, between the different MBA cohorts, years, and programs (FT, EW, and Exec.). With over 1,400 enrolled Haas MBAs on campus every year, there is more to this network than meets the eye. We hope to bridge the network gap ever so slightly and introduce you to people you never knew you had in your Berkeley Haas network. Thank you for tuning in to this Berkeley Haas Podcast and remember we're all One Haas!*Here@Haas Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

Publisher

Haas Podcasts (Produced by University FM)

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Apr 2020

Latest episode

2 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

105 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Oct 2026

   Building with AI: Colton Hess on Agency, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Work

   New Here@Haas hosts Rehan Panjwani and Sreya Ravi kick off their first episode with Colton Hess, founder of Activation Playbook. Colton shares how building a sleep-tech startup at Haas unexpectedly led him to AI, vibe coding, and eventually helping others turn their ideas into working products. He talks about why learning to build with AI is less about becoming a technical expert and more about developing confidence, curiosity, and a greater sense of agency. The conversation explores Colton’s entrepreneurial journey, his approach to using AI thoughtfully, the value of experimentation and failure, and how Haas and the broader Berkeley community shaped his path. He also shares practical advice for students, founders, and anyone learning how to navigate a rapidly changing AI landscape. Episode Quotes: On finding agency through AI "These tools are remarkable. They just give you this incredible sense of agency and power and what you can create. And just at the time, Claude Code had just come out, and so I was just trying to understand this tool, and it felt like a secret I was in on at the time, and I kind of felt this pressure of, “I’ve got to tell my fellow MBAs about this,” all these people with these great ideas who maybe don’t have a technical background." On using AI to focus on the human parts of work "Okay, what, don’t we want AI to touch? What do we really wanna protect here? And what are maybe the parts of our job that we don’t like doing as much, that don’t feel human, that are tedious or boring or how can we find the areas where AI is good at those things and use it toward those? And generally, when you approach it like that, helping people focus on the most human parts of their work, which are generally the parts they like most, the most creative, the most human, then that’s where they’re much more likely to want to learn how to use these tools." On learning AI without feeling like an expert "We’re all learning as we go. The best engineers in the world feel like they can’t catch up. They feel like they’re behind. I view it as a moment of incredible opportunity to focus on trying to figure out how to use these tools, how do we use them in a thoughtful, ethical way, a way that feels right to us, a way that helps us feel more us, and to put more of our energy and ideas out into the world." On taking advantage of the MBA experience "But I think a more, like, a different approach to that answer is taking advantage of this two years where you’ve already decided to pause your career, you’ve already decided you’re not gonna make money during these two years, and there is never gonna be a lower cost of failure than these two years to just try things and fail and, and learn and pivot and iterate, and also to pay attention to what’s going on in industry." On getting started with AI "I like to tell people, I always say refuse to feel stupid. You know, like we said, we are all learning about this at the same time. All learning how to use these tools. So just refuse to feel stupid. Don’t let shame get in the way of trying things. I also like to tell people, if you can really clearly articulate a vision, if you can articulate the problem, right? These tools can do a lot of the work of helping turn that into a solution in collaboration with you, but then also helping to actually engineer and build the solution." Show Links ⁠Colton Hess on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/colton-hess) ⁠Activation Playbook (https://activationplaybook.com/) Colton Hess, MBA/MPH ’26 — Berkeley Haas (https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/colton-hess-mba-26/) Berkeley SkyDeck (https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/) ⁠Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub) (https://ehub.berkeley.edu/) ⁠AI for Business Graduate Certificate — Berkeley Haas (https://haas.berkeley.edu/mba/academics/other-academics/certificates/) ⁠Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-We-Sleep/Matthew-Walker/9781501144325)

2. 

   12 Mar 2026

   Leading People Series: Growing Food, Growing Community: ab banks on Leadership, Listening, and Food Justice

   In this episode, we speak with ab banks, a leader at Oxford Tract Farms. ab works with the Berkeley Food Institute and on the ground with Berkeley Student Farms. An Oakland native, ab banks serves as garden lead for People’s Programs in West Oakland, grows food and ensures produce goes from the urban garden into the hands of under-resourced community members. ab was the first member to join People’s Programs. The People’s Garden was created to advance food autonomy for Black people in ab’s hometown and increase access to healthy food – including hot-meal deliveries for unhoused neighbors every Sunday and family grocery deliveries twice a month. With ab serving as garden lead, stewarding the land and harvesting crops, in 2022, the program distributed more than 800 pounds of produce to families and unhoused neighbors in West Oakland. ab’s farming work is intertwined with wellness for people and the planet. In addition to leading the People’s Garden, ab started the (Free) Community Health Clinic, which opened in 2021 to address needs identified during weekly food delivery. ab is also the Agroecology and Wellness Coordinator at the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI). Here ab conducts participatory research on agroecology practices rooted in soil care and healing communities that have been generationally underestimated and silenced. BFI supports outreach, events, and academic opportunities at more than 10 urban gardens producing food and preserving native ecosystems. ab continues to learn, grow, and share their work in healing and meditation. In 2022-2023, ab was a Just Leader Fellow with the Cooperative Food Empowerment Collective. Their work is aimed at a cooperative food economy powered by the visionary leadership of Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous People of Color. Episode Quotes: Power of Listening When you’re interacting with a lot of different people with a lot of different backgrounds, especially backgrounds that you aren’t familiar with, there will be a lot of listening involved. That is a key part of being a leader. Community Resource In the beginning of me coming to Oxford Tract and Berkeley Food Institute I had numerous conversations with different stakeholders like students, community members, and people we serve. All of the ideas that I have about the future are definitely linked to those initial conversations I had and ongoing conversations. So again listening to what people need from Oxford Tract. It boils down to my goal of being a resource for community members and the students. Show Links: From the Field: (https://food.berkeley.edu/from-the-field/the-vibrant-student-community-at-uc-berkeleys-oxford-tract-farm/) The Vibrant Student Community at UC Berkeley’s Oxford Tract Farm BFI News: (https://food.berkeley.edu/bfi-news/bfis-ab-banks-wins-2023-maxwell-hanrahan-award-in-food/) BFI’s ab banks Wins 2023 Maxwell/Hanrahan Award in Food Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/here-at-haas/donations (https://redcircle.com/here-at-haas/donations)

3. 

   13 Feb 2026

   Leading People Series: Investing in Leadership: Lessons from Ana Carolina Mexia, Co-Founder of Nido Ventures

   On this episode of the Here@Haas podcast, we sit down with Ana Carolina “Caro” Mexia, Co-Founding Partner at Nido Ventures and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. Born and raised in Mexico City, Caro blends her roots in computer science and product leadership with an MBA from Stanford to spot and support the next generation of transformative B2B technologies. Nido Ventures was founded to bridge the technology gap between Silicon Valley and Mexico's foundational industries. What began as an angel syndicate has evolved into a pre-seed fund backing B2B startups at the intersection of U.S. technical innovation, Mexico’s industrial strengths, and the region’s growing nearshoring opportunities. In this conversation, Caro joins Haas MBA student Taylor Dahlgren as they dive into how venture capitalists identify and evaluate the qualities that inspire confidence in founders and dig into what great leadership looks like from an investor’s perspective. *Here@Haas Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.* Episode Quotes: On The "Healthy Delusion" of Founders We have to find founders that have a healthy dose of delusion, but that are also rooted in the reality of the operation of what has to be built... We are always looking for the kind of leadership that that particular industry needs. On Team Dynamics and Red Flags One common pitfall is founders that have a team that they don't respect. If they don't respect the rest of the team, it becomes a one-man show. If I were to have tried to do everything myself, I would have died. You have to be able to trust. Advice for MBAs: Keeping Your Authenticity I lost a little bit of what I would say was my essence during the MBA. Be truthful to yourself of what it is that you want to get, because you can end up becoming more lost than finding things. Show Links: Caro’s LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anacarolinamexia/) Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/here-at-haas/donations (https://redcircle.com/here-at-haas/donations)

Who has been a guest on Here at Haas

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Ravi Malhotra
• Paramee Intarachumnum
• Lucia Casella
• Claudia Vina Vazquez
• Xan Wood

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

64

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact Here at Haas

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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