Brandon Walker

HINT: IT STARTS WITH CREATING OPPORTUNITIES.

The path to success is often winding and lengthy. But identifying opportunities — and taking advantage — can make the destination closer and more rewarding. For Emory alumnus Brandon Walker 16BBA, success included taking advantage of multiple options while always finding ways to give back.

Walker may be from the small town of Austell, Georgia, but he’s doing very big things in his business career.

“I knew I wanted to major in business when, in middle school, my neighbors started to pay me to cut their grass,” he said. “I realized then that business was about using my skill set to create opportunity.”

Walker quickly realized he could expand that opportunity to others.

As a student at Goizueta Business School, he put his focus where his passion was, inside and outside the classroom.

For Walker, business as usual just didn’t exist, nor did business for the sake of business alone. His social conscience runs in tandem with his financial mind.

“Academically, he is equally gifted in quantitative and qualitative analysis, with a deep passion for critical thinking and a social conscience that is sometimes too rare amongst business students,” said Andrea Hershatter, BBA program director and senior associate dean, in an interview with Poets&Quants.

One of the most standout examples is the micro-investing group he founded to assist small entrepreneurs in underserved communities. This group, now named the Emory Impact Investing Group, offers participants financial resources and expert advice on how to grow their businesses to their full potential.

Walker credits his family with an ability to balance life with work, take risks and define joy in multiple ways.

“They truly understand how to enjoy life regardless of the present situation,” he said. “This mentality helps alleviate the pressure to succeed and encourages me to focus on what I find interesting. It also gives me reassurance when I take risks.”

While Walker was helping others at Goizueta, he was also honing skills through internships with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Google and Travelers Insurance. He took a job with Boston Consulting Group after graduation.

One of Walker’s most defining characteristics is he takes risks, which continues to fuel his curiosity and altruistic nature. He started during his time at Emory, and at any given moment, you could find him helping others with a financial model, interviewing hip-hop artists on the Emory radio station or out in the community raising funds for economic development.

Beyond starting an impact investing group, Walker set the bar high personally and professionally. And while he may be just a few years removed from cutting grass in Austell and less than that from his graduation, Walker embraces the opportunity ahead.

“It is exciting that there is no guaranteed path to success,” he said.