Mary Ziegler

Hey everyone I’m Mary Ziegler! I am a fourth-year MIS major obtaining a certificate in entrepreneurship from Alpharetta, GA. I’ve always grown up a UGA fan, both of my parents, much of my extended family, and my older brother went here. Because of this, and a little of my own stubbornness, I was somewhat against the idea of coming to UGA because I wanted to do my own thing. I love hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and other outdoor activities so I was looking at CU Boulder for a while, but thankfully I came to my senses and decided to attend the best school. The past four years have been nothing short of amazing and I’ve made incredible friends, memories, and connections at UGA! I am graduating in May, taking a few months to backpack around Europe this summer, then starting a job in Atlanta working for Slalom Consulting. I interned with them this past summer and had an incredible experience so I’m pumped to return in September full-time!

I have a lot of random hobbies which keeps life fun! I love playing sports with friends like basketball, tennis, and pickleball. Basketball was my main sport growing up so I love getting friends together at Ramsey or outdoor courts for a quick game or shooting competition! I also played tennis towards the end of high school so I enjoy going to the IM fields to hit with friends. Recently, I was introduced to pickleball and safe to say it’s a new obsession. I love it because it combines aspects of tennis but it’s super social and easy to learn so any of my friends can play! Other than that, I enjoy running and am training for a half marathon in Nevada in April. I’ve been getting in more miles recently and it has been neat exploring places in Athens on runs that I have never been to before.

Besides sports, some of my other hobbies include making jewelry, cooking, music, and spending time outdoors. I had a jewelry business in highschool that I started to fundraise for mission trips. It was such a unique learning experience for me and allowed me to go to Honduras twice for mission work which brings me to another important aspect of my life- my faith. Being in Athens has been awesome finding a great community in the church to encourage me and push me to become the best version of myself.

I love all types of music and have recently started learning to play guitar. Going to concerts is one of my favorite activities and my favorite one I’ve been to is the Head and the Heart at Red Rocks Amphitheater in CO.

I love spending time outdoors and doing outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, skiing, wakeboarding, and running. It is my goal to go to every national park and climb to the highest peak in every state! I’ve already got the highest point in the Rockies- Mt. Elbert in CO, but I still have a lot of destinations and peaks to check off. During COVID with the flexibility of online classes and during the summer break I was able to take two roadtrips with friends. The first was around Colorado. We drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and stopped in St. Louis on the way out. We worked our way from Northern CO, to Denver, CO Springs, then down to southern CO to visit the Great Sand Dunes national park. We got to sandboard down the dunes which was SO fun! It was such an exciting trip and I’ll cherish those memories forever.

The second roadtrip I went on was to California. Thankfully we flew out there and then rented a car to explore the state in. After driving to CO, I could never imagine driving to CA. We started in San Fran, then explored Yosemite, Highway 1, Big Sur, Carmel, and ended back in San Fran. Again- such a fun trip and made hilarious memories that I will never forget.

As far as my work experience in high school I mentioned that I had my own jewelry business, but I also got to work for an international jewelry company called Melania Clara. It was really neat to experience the progression from my own business to a larger-scale jewelry business and see how the operations changed with a larger client base and more revenue. In addition to the jewelry companies, I worked for an entrepreneur who makes charcuterie boards for a company known as Cappai Designs. I started out working for her in her garage helping her sand wooden boards, paint and finish the boards, and then send them out for shipping. Her business has grown a ton since I started working for her, and now she has a permanent storefront in Avalon. I learned a lot working for both of these companies which made me interested in pursuing a certificate in entrepreneurship from UGA! In college, after my sophomore year, I worked as a management consulting intern for a startup firm. This experience taught me the vast knowledge base consulting exposes you to and made me seriously interested in pursuing a career in the consulting space. I loved the client interaction and the ambiguity of solving problems in a team setting. The summer after my junior year, I interned for Slalom Consulting in Atlanta which is more tech-focused. I had a great experience with them and am super excited about starting with Slalom full-time following graduation!

I am genuinely so excited about this class and the opportunities/people it will connect me to! It seems like a unique, hands-on way to learn more about MIS and how it will continue impacting everyday life. The guest speakers will be a great way to learn more about real world MIS application too. Looking forward to working with and getting to know all of you better!