The Real Joint Venture at the Johnson School
Satyam Viswanathan `02
Issue date: 4/27/01 Section: People
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The percent of students who are married is a statistic that everyone notices while researching business schools. Historically grad schools have also been great meeting grounds for future husbands and wives. But how about classmates who are married to each other? The class of 2002 has not one but two married couples who achieve unique ‘economies of scale and scope’ by enrolling together!
One of these couples is Anthony Smith and Donnia Sooklal-Smith – who had a very eventful year before arriving at the Johnson School. The two had been acquaintances at the University of the West Indies seven years ago, where they occasionally exchanged greetings in the corridor. They were re-introduced to each other by a mutual friend in the summer of 1999; at the time Tony was working with Schlumberger Canada while Donnia was with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Trinidad. What started as an innocent challenge to a game of chess over the Net, soon turned into a barrage of emails, phone calls and instant messages that eventually changed the course of both their lives. In Donnia’s words ‘It’s amazing how the safety of distance between us allowed us to explore who we really were and what we wanted out of life…without hesitation, I knew then that I’d finally found what I’d been looking for’. When they finally met for the first time in Miami in September 1999, the ending of Nora Ephron’s Tom Hanks–Meg Ryan film ‘You’ve Got Mail’ was re-enacted with both Tony and Donnia fulfilling what they saw as their destiny.
The rendezvous in Miami was the trigger for events to unfold at a frenetic pace. In December Anthony flew down to Trinidad to meet Donnia’s parents and officially ask for their daughter’s hand in marriage. They were engaged in January 2000 and decided that it was the right time to start a new life altogether. So the freshly engaged couple did the most romantic thing – study for the GMAT, write B-school application essays and chase their colleagues for recommendation letters! They presented themselves to business schools as a package – asking admissions committees to either accept both or neither of them. Once all the applications were sealed and delivered it was time to head home and celebrate. The bride-to-be’s dress was selected on the way to Trinidad in Miami, while wedding events and arrangements were meticulously planned. On April 29th 2000, family and friends congregated to witness Tony and Donnia exchanged vows – with white arches and pillars and the blue Caribbean Sea in the background.
A month later the postman delivered two big parcels from the Johnson School at their doorstep and the next phase of their lives was underway. The two are now enjoying the unique way in which they have chosen to spend the first few years of married life and are working towards future careers in finance. Thank you Tony and Donnia for making the Johnson School a better place with your big smiles, sharp minds and large hearts. All the very best for the future!
One of these couples is Anthony Smith and Donnia Sooklal-Smith – who had a very eventful year before arriving at the Johnson School. The two had been acquaintances at the University of the West Indies seven years ago, where they occasionally exchanged greetings in the corridor. They were re-introduced to each other by a mutual friend in the summer of 1999; at the time Tony was working with Schlumberger Canada while Donnia was with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Trinidad. What started as an innocent challenge to a game of chess over the Net, soon turned into a barrage of emails, phone calls and instant messages that eventually changed the course of both their lives. In Donnia’s words ‘It’s amazing how the safety of distance between us allowed us to explore who we really were and what we wanted out of life…without hesitation, I knew then that I’d finally found what I’d been looking for’. When they finally met for the first time in Miami in September 1999, the ending of Nora Ephron’s Tom Hanks–Meg Ryan film ‘You’ve Got Mail’ was re-enacted with both Tony and Donnia fulfilling what they saw as their destiny.
The rendezvous in Miami was the trigger for events to unfold at a frenetic pace. In December Anthony flew down to Trinidad to meet Donnia’s parents and officially ask for their daughter’s hand in marriage. They were engaged in January 2000 and decided that it was the right time to start a new life altogether. So the freshly engaged couple did the most romantic thing – study for the GMAT, write B-school application essays and chase their colleagues for recommendation letters! They presented themselves to business schools as a package – asking admissions committees to either accept both or neither of them. Once all the applications were sealed and delivered it was time to head home and celebrate. The bride-to-be’s dress was selected on the way to Trinidad in Miami, while wedding events and arrangements were meticulously planned. On April 29th 2000, family and friends congregated to witness Tony and Donnia exchanged vows – with white arches and pillars and the blue Caribbean Sea in the background.
A month later the postman delivered two big parcels from the Johnson School at their doorstep and the next phase of their lives was underway. The two are now enjoying the unique way in which they have chosen to spend the first few years of married life and are working towards future careers in finance. Thank you Tony and Donnia for making the Johnson School a better place with your big smiles, sharp minds and large hearts. All the very best for the future!