From Graduate to Ambassador: Shonali Burke’s Journey through the Harvard Business Analytics Program

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Inside the Harvard Business Analytics Program with Shonali Burke, an accomplished public relations, corporate communications professional and recognized PR measurement expert.

A former agency marketer, Shonali recently completed the Harvard Business Analytics Program. In this episode of the Earned Media Podcast, she talks about why she decided to enroll, what exactly she learned, just how difficult the program was, and whether or not it's worth the $51,000 investment.

The Harvard Business Analytics Programs is a three shield program that combines faculty from Harvard Business School, the School of Engineering, and the School of Arts and Sciences to go well beyond just statistics.

To give students a thorough understanding of digital transformation, which digital analytics are used to justify, the program covers programming languages like SQL and Python, as well as the building blocks of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

In this interview, Shonali talks about how the program teaches student how to take a more agile, modular approach to leveraging and harnessing data to drive business growth.

The Harvard Business Analytics Program – which can be completed in as little as 9 months for full time track students – is made up 6 core courses (like Digital Strategy and Innovation and Foundations of Quantitative Analysis) which are 8 weeks each, 2 two-week seminars, and 2 3-day immersions which used to be on campus preCOVID but are not anymore.

Much of the work can be performed asynchronously, but you do also attend live peer group discussions. Shonali says the live classes are fun, but in true Harvard Business School fashion, you have to ready to answer questions from Professor Lakhani who fires them away from the lectern without notice.

Listen to full episode and find out why effective business communication is so foundational to digital transformation, how data can improve content marketing funnels and more.