Learning to Design Your Life

Rebeca Khorzad (MEM '05) was drawn to life as an engineer.

Khorzad earned her bachelor's in industrial and systems engineering from Mexico's Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in 1997. She went on to become a quality engineer in the automotive industry. Three years later, she found herself craving more knowledge.

"I was very much an engineer who liked data analysis and efficiency," Khorzad said. "I wanted to go back to school so I could learn better methods to do what I did but I wasn’t thinking as much about the business side of what I was doing."

Khorzad didn't think much about end users until a loved one suggested she step out from the background and focus more on customers. By understanding the customer and their pain points, Khorzad and her colleagues could have a bigger impact.

She looked at MBA programs, but they didn't feel right for her.

She found a better fit with Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program.

Khorzad completed the program while working full time, allowing her to immediately apply lessons she learned in the classroom. Today she works as a healthcare quality consultant, helping clinical teams design and improve healthcare services.

She also is back at MEM, helping a new generation of students look at their careers — and their lives — with a wider perspective.

This fall, Khorzad moderated a panel discussion for new students that featured soon-to-be MEM graduates. The goal was to help students understand the importance of networking — specifically that it is a long-term effort that shouldn't be delayed until internship season.

Khorzad also teaches a "Designing Your Life" workshop for MEM students every fall — adapted from the highly successful undergraduate Northwestern class of the same name — which she co-teaches with Professor Bruce Ankenman. The MEM workshop is taught in two sessions and encourages students to utilize design thinking skills for personal goals and development.

The sessions expand upon the methodologies first developed at Stanford University that encourage using design thinking to develop meaningful lives.

Khorzad was excited to have Swati Sharma (MEM '24) participate in the orientation panel because she knew the workshops completely changed how Sharma looked for a job.

"I stopped sending out mass resumes," Sharma said. "Instead, I started contacting people, including new alumni, and just had conversations."

Sharma did not seek out job opportunities in these meetings. Curiosity about the people and what they did was the driving force behind the discussions.

"That's one of the main tips in the ‘Designing Your Life’ workshop," Khorzad said. "Do curiosity conversations to learn about people and tell people who you are. Don't ask for a job."

Those conversations ultimately led to multiple internship opportunities for Sharma, including one that wasn't posted anywhere online.

Those types of informal conversations are just one of the lessons Khorzad tries to impart during her workshop. The bigger picture — the one that she needed help realizing in her own life — is providing a space for students to think about what they want to do and, even more importantly, who they want to be.

Once they have a goal aligned with their values and interests, they can think through the steps needed to get where they want to go. The process often involves challenging assumptions and leaning on others for advice. Sometimes, it also requires taking a path that is not necessarily direct, and that's OK, Khorzad said.

"If you think of sailing a boat, you might know where you want to go, but depending on the wind, you may have to go somewhere else first," she said. "'Designing Your Life' is more about taking time to reflect on your compass, your values, and what you truly believe in, and then approaching decisions in your life to align with that compass."