FALL ‘25 CASE COMPETITION RECAP!

2025 Equity Fluent Leadership Case Competition: 

Reverse Mentorship and Leadership Development in the Workplace

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is often in the background of daily events and activities in business —

but through the 7th annual Berkeley Women in Business (BWIB) × Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) case competition, these values took center stage once again. This year’s competition invited students to explore how reverse mentorship can bridge generational gaps, foster mutual learning, and build workplaces where both junior and senior employees thrive.

Giada Aviles and Hattie Westnedge, BWIB’s Vice Presidents of Diversity, Inclusion and Operations, alongside Sandhya Melpakkam and Victoria Truong, worked in collaboration with EGAL for several months, united by the mission to provide students with a platform to rethink leadership, inclusion, and the future of work.

Participants were challenged to design a scalable training toolkit that empowers organizations to strengthen inclusion and leadership across all levels of the workforce. Drawing inspiration from EGAL’s Impact Exchange Reverse Mentorship Program, teams proposed innovative solutions to help businesses create spaces for shared learning, collaboration, and growth.

Joined by over 100 PARTICIPATING STUDENTS and 42 TEAMS, esteemed judges Amy Chan, Caroline Prandini, Hana Athanasios, and Sukkriti Nath brought their expertise and insight to the competition, making it a valuable learning experience for all involved.

Ultimately, our top finalists came down to Team 12 (1st place): Sheina Pribadi, Noor Abdullah Masri and Mohammed Rashed Bukhari and Team 10 (2nd place): Nataly Lopez, Hugo Canseco and Allison Lin.

Team 12 presented the Impact Exchange (IE) Toolkit, an AI-powered mentorship ecosystem designed to make reverse mentorship measurable, engaging, and inclusive. Their platform incorporated smart matching, gamified learning, and continuous feedback loops to create a data-driven approach to personal and professional growth. The toolkit included features such as the Impact Passport, Journey Roadmap, and a Community Leaderboard that incentivized participation while promoting belonging and accountability

Team 10 introduced the BREW Toolkit, a modernized mentorship framework centered around Matcha Moments — a creative twist on traditional coffee chats. Their approach blended AI-driven mentor matching, gamified engagement, and structured conversations to foster trust and mutual learning between Haas MBA students and corporate leaders. By integrating modules such as “Begin the Blend” and “Whisk and Reflect,” the team emphasized connection, reflection, and continuous growth through interactive dashboards and workshops

The judges commended 1st place team, Team 12, for their clean and powerful slides, noting that their integration of DEI standards “spoke loudly.” They applauded how no part of the program felt missing or underdeveloped. The judges also praised 2nd place team, Team 10, for their exceptional creativity and real-world applicability, describing their presentation as “great,” with “risk and mitigation strategies developed for real-world problems,” and “above all, a creative approach that felt ready to implement.”

A newly joined BWIB committee member, Sasha Marc recounts, “It was inspiring to see students so passionate about creating change!”