NYU Alumni & Friends Connect

April 15, 2019

Mandy Tan (NYUAD '15)

The NYU Alumni Association (NYUAA) represents all NYU alumni, from every NYU school and department—a community more than half-a-million strong. The diverse and active NYUAA Board of Directors is made up of alumni volunteers who steer the Association in their mission to engage and support alumni. Mandy Tan (NYUAD ’15) is a second year Board member and serves on the NYUAA Fundraising Committee.  

Mandy graduated from NYU Abu Dhabi with a bachelor's degree in economics; her thesis compared Chinese stocks listed on Chinese vs. American stock exchanges. While at NYU, she was treasurer of Student Government and co-director of the Women’s Mentorship Program. She also led her cross-university team to win the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research award.

Mandy Tan (NYUAD '15) graduating

Mandy Tan (NYUAD '15) during UAE National Day

Mandy is currently in Beijing, completing her master's in global affairs as part of the Schwarzman Scholars program at Tsinghua University; she sees this experience as a continuation of her global academic journey, started at NYU Abu Dhabi, and of her professional journey, started at Deloitte Consulting. While in Beijing, Mandy's been able to take an array of courses, including Chinese Political Institution, Leading in Crisis and Disaster, and Ambicultural Strategic Management. She’s also participated in internships that provide her with a deeper understanding of China and an opportunity to explore her own leadership qualities.  

Meet Mandy

What is your favorite:

  • Food? Jianbing (a Chinese savory crepe)
  • Book? A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  • TV Show and/or Movie? This is Us (shout out to NYU grads Susan Kelechi Watson and Sterling Brown!)
  • Song and/or Musical Artist? I’m recently obsessed with the A Star is Born soundtrack
  • Way to spend a Saturday? In the morning, I typically enjoy breakfast with a cup of cold brew while reading a book or the news (I just finished Educated and Destined for War and highly recommend both!) After breakfast, I commute into the city, listening to a couple of podcast episodes along the way, to go to my workout class and to meet up with friends. Since a couple of us are business-minded, we often talk about new business ideas or dissect existing ones. At night, I try to attend different events in the city, some of my favorite being NYU speaker series.
  • Place to travel? I would love to go back to Istanbul, which I had the fortune of going to through an NYU Abu Dhabi Urbanism and Modernity class. In terms of a new place, I would love to explore Vietnam more deeply, as I only visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh the last time I was there.
  • Place on the NYU campus? The Highline at NYU Abu Dhabi

What is your favorite memory from your time at NYU?

A group of about 15 of my closest friends and I travelled to Beirut the spring before we graduated. There was a particular moment where we were all sitting on the old walls of Byblos; it seemed surreal that we had spent almost four years building our lives in Abu Dhabi and were about to each depart to the next destination in our own lives. It was a profound collective moment—of gratitude, appreciation, excitement, respect, and love. 

Why do you give back to NYU?

NYU introduced me to a world of intellectual conversations, to a dream of a better of world, to a reality that I too can not only be a part of shaping the better world but also have the responsibility to do so. I want to give back to NYU not only so those after me can have access and exposure to what I've had, but so that they can have even more.