Sloanies Talking with Sloanies Raafet Azzouz, SFMBA ’24: Stories, Strategy, and the Strength of the Immigrant Experience
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies, host Christopher Reichert sits down with Raafet Azzouz, a 2024 Sloan Fellow at MIT Sloan, to explore his remarkable journey from a small town in Tunisia to global finance and entrepreneurship. Raafet shares how his early love for mathematics and humanities shaped his academic path through France, ultimately leading to senior roles at major financial institutions like JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Despite his successful Wall Street career, he felt the need for a deeper sense of purpose, prompting his decision to step back, pursue impact-focused ventures, and enroll in the Sloan Fellows MBA program.
Raafet speaks candidly about the challenges and strengths of the immigrant experience—resilience, adaptation, and resourcefulness—which inspired his New Colossus Project. (YouTube) This initiative tells the stories of first-generation immigrant trailblazers in America, aiming to reframe the narrative around immigration and highlight its immense contributions to innovation and entrepreneurship. He also discusses how MIT Sloan became a space for personal transformation, where he stepped outside his comfort zone through courses in leadership, improvisation, and social media, all while reflecting on his identity and future direction.
Throughout the conversation, Raafet emphasizes the value of risk-taking, lifelong learning, and giving back to community. His evolving definition of success now centers on impact, connection, and legacy rather than titles or accolades. This episode is a powerful reflection on navigating change, finding one’s voice, and the importance of institutions like MIT Sloan in shaping not just careers, but lives.
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