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Executive MBA graduand Ritu Bhasin made a complete career change while enrolled in the Rotman School of Management, morphing from lawyer to diversity specialist, all while working as a full-time lawyer on Bay Street.

“I decided to do my executive MBA so that I could further develop my leadership and management skills,” said Bhasin. “I also wanted to take my business acumen to the next level and the support that I received was excellent. You have a full-time person running the program, a full-time person dedicated to providing you with career services support. The professors were always available. It was just excellent in providing the level of support that we would need to succeed.”

While at Rotman, she took full advantage of the program and engaged in more than just academic pursuits. She sat on the Rotman external review committee and the values initiative working group and was also a course instructor on the importance of diversity in non-profit governance.

Today, Bhasin has her own diversity consulting firm, bhasin consulting inc., that provides organizations with strategies on people management and organizational leadership, with an emphasis on diversity and the advancement of women. She’s worked with professional services firms, academic institutions, professional associations and not-for-profits. Bhasin also acts as a career and leadership coach and has now coached hundreds of individuals, focusing on empowering them to leverage their strengths and interests in their development.

“I was inspired to start this firm because of the EMBA program,” she said. “By being in the program it really helped me to develop my skills and spread my wings.”

She also found a home at Rotman, teaching there in the area of diversity and governance.

“I care about diversity because it speaks to what is at the core of humanity and our interconnectedness, despite our differences.”

In addition to earning a degree this spring, Bhasin was the recipient of a 2011 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award for her leadership work at Rotman. The awards were established in 1994 by the University of Toronto Alumni Association and the Division of University Advancement to recognize students who have made outstanding extracurricular contributions to their college, faculty or school or to the university as a whole.

Her talent doesn’t end there. She enjoyed her yoga classes so much that in her free time she decided to become a yoga instructor.

“I don’t tell people normally that I’m a yoga instructor, but I’m a huge yoga fan,” said Bhasin. “It’s part of my culture. I went to India and did my training at an ashram. But I don’t teach. I just wanted to deepen my practice and better understand the yogic way of life.”

Upon graduation Bhasin will be continuing to grow her own consulting business. For more information on Bhasin visit: .