Aakash Shah

Aakash Shah. Photo courtesy of NEWaukee.

How long have you lived in Milwaukee and what brought you here?

I moved to Milwaukee from Washington, D.C. six months ago after finishing up grad school at Georgetown University.

What is your job and its responsibilities? Where do you work and what makes your role awesomesauce?

I work for a pretty small, relatively obscure company: General Electric (cue laugh track). I am part of their Experienced Commercial Leadership Program in the Healthcare business. If I had to self-select a job title, it’d be Marketing Jedi. Like a Jedi, I find creative ways to influence people and their actions… but without a honed mastery of mind control, I work through subtle, influential marketing tactics.

It’s a post-MBA rotational program aimed at developing marketing leaders for the company. What makes it awesomesauce? Well, take all the benefits of working for a global industrial behemoth and couple it with the unique challenges and opportunities of working for a Silicon Valley startup. I get to work on marketing strategy for software products that help hospitals improve patient care and efficiency.

As a recovering mortgage banker, it’s quite gratifying to now focus my career on equipping physicians with tools that directly enhance lives.

What do you love most about Milwaukee?

At the risk of pandering, the NEWaukee organization was exactly what I was hoping to find when moving here. The social events over summer were a great way to see the city and make new friends before hibernating for the winter.

43° 2′ 29.95” N, 87° 54′ 35.14” W

What is one word that you would use to describe Milwaukee?

Cheese. As a life-long East Coaster, I never had cheese curds until I moved to Milwaukee. It’s been an almost religious reawakening, initiating a reevaluation of the utter inadequacy of mozzarella sticks in my diet.

What is your favorite Milwaukee tradition?

The Wisconsin State Fair. For a city boy from the northeast, it was quite the ‘Real America’ experience with everything from kegs to cows to cream puffs. The “I’m a Wisconsinite” moment that I’ll cherish forever was when some livestock left a drive-by-dropping on my friend, a fellow Milwaukee transplant, in the middle of the fair grounds.

What neighborhood do you live in and why do you love it?

I live downtown a few blocks east of the Bradley Center. I especially love the late night college rooftop parties at the 3rd street bars that transform sleeping on Thursday nights into a nocturnal game of red light/green light… Have I unknowingly crossed the divide of young professional to old and grumpy?!