MBA grad grows as leader, community builder
Photo credit: Gin Quist Photography
Legal Aid Alberta executive returns to school during pandemic to advance education and career
Laurie Wang (Master of Business Administration ’23) has many accomplishments to her name.
As a communication professional, she has won numerous industry awards, including a Gold Quill, reflecting the quality of her work and leadership. She’s a member of Forbes magazine’s communication council—a prestigious group where senior communications executives connect and share advice with others in the industry.
As a vice-president with Legal Aid Alberta, which fulfils a critical need in Alberta’s justice system by providing affordable legal services, Wang helped launch National Duty Counsel Day. The day brings awareness to legal aid lawyers who give free, on-the-spot legal advice in family, criminal, and immigration cases for people across Canada.
The mother of 3 is also an active volunteer giving her time to various community-based organizations.
It is for these reasons that Edify magazine recently named Wang one of Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40. She has a new accolade to add to her collection: a member of Athabasca University’s (AU) Class of 2023.
Back to school during COVID
Despite all her successes, Wang was motivated to do more. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she used that as an opportunity to advance her education.
“This is the time to learn and learn because I want to,” she said.
In previous leadership roles at the University of Alberta, Wang’s career in communications was already on course. But increasingly she became involved in projects and decisions that were business-based such as organizational strategic planning and overseeing department budgets. This led her to pursue an MBA.
Choosing AU’s open MBA
Wang was enticed by AU’s flexible and asynchronous model that would allow her to learn at her own pace. She also appreciated the responsiveness of AU staff such as academic advisors and leaders in the program.
“It was definitely the AU community that tipped the scale for me,” she said. “They were very good at answering my questions and were very responsive.” She also did her own due diligence connecting with graduates through LinkedIn. She liked everything she heard and the advice that alumni shared. But what really spoke to Wang was AU’s accessibility.
“Accessibility means a lot to me. I really believe in the democratization of education and information and access, and that’s something that we wouldn’t have had before, especially as working women with busy families. The ability to give that access to everybody is huge” she said.
“Accessibility means a lot to me ... and that’s something that we wouldn't have had before, especially as working women with busy families. The ability to give that access to everybody is huge.”
– Laurie Wang (Master of Business Administration '23)
Making an impact at work through online MBA
Wang took advantage of the program’s flexibility. She was able to take her studies wherever she needed to be, including her kids’ badminton practices, board meetings, and friends’ homes.
She was able to apply everything she was learning at work. After leaving the U of A, she joined Legal Aid Alberta to oversee the non-profit’s marketing, communications, and HR teams. This past year, she was promoted to vice-president. “The material was applicable to everything I was doing at work which was great.”
Taking on new challenges
Overall, Wang said the program taught her that she can take on challenges and learn things she never thought were possible.
“I never thought that I could do accounting!” she said with a laugh.
Wang also learned about the important role that planning and management has in maximizing her capacity to do work. Her biggest takeaway, however, was learning about the type of leader she is. She learned that her leadership style is transformational and that it’s a work in progress. Wang believes that we should always be evolving and learning.
“I think every leader goes through that journey of what kind of leader they are and what kind of leader they want to be.”
Source of inspiration for future leaders
In speaking with Wang, it is clear to see that she is driven to make positive change. A disruptor who is always looking for ways to become a better leader both at work and within her community. When asked who she draws her inspiration from, she did not hesitate.
“My dad shaped a lot of who I am,” she said. “He was the one that gave me that independent thinking, initiative, and drive. He was, and still is, a stoic Asian man with quiet, strong strength. He would be leading by example in how he lived.”
Wang and her family escaped Cambodia’s genocide brought on by the Khmer Rouge. In fact, she was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and later immigrated with her family to Canada at the age of 3.
Finding gratitude
Despite those hardships, her dad was the one to always remind her to be grateful for what you have. “He’s the one that always makes us remember the day we arrived in Canada. He’s the one that gave us that appreciation, which is important these days, because there’s so much negativity going around.”
Through her father, Wang has also learned the importance of appreciation and gratitude, and equally important, the importance of having someone fully believe in you. He always believed his daughter could do anything.
“He never told me I had to be anything. He just said be who you want to be.”
That belief inspired Wang to follow suit with her own children.
“My dad shaped a lot of who I am ... He never told me I had to be anything. He just said be who you want to be.”
Giving back to community
Today, Wang is focused on giving back. While her role at Legal Aid Alberta certainly benefits the community, Wang is also considering how to give back to the people and organizations that made a difference for her and her family when she was growing up.
She is an active volunteer for Junior Achievement and helps with their career and financial literacy programs for students.
“All these programs that shaped me and my brothers when we were kids—Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Junior Achievement, YWCA, and YMCA programs. I’m at a point where I want to give back.”
“All these programs that shaped me and my brothers when we were kids—Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Junior Achievement, YWCA, and YMCA programs. I’m at a point where I want to give back.”
These are the things that have shaped Wang, what she wants to do, and where she wants to be.
To anyone thinking about taking an MBA at AU, Wang’s advice is: “Do it! You’ll be surprised with what you’re able to accomplish. And surround yourself with a good community, a network. There’s going to be times that you need it.”
Celebrating Convocation 2023!
Read more stories about AU grads as part of our Convocation 2023 coverage. You can also check out profiles of other inspiring AU grads from other graduating classes in our Open for Alberta series.