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WATCH UNDER Meet eight Wisconsin School of Business graduates with high-profile careers making an impact in their industries BY JANE BURNS AND SIRI PAIRIN | PHOTOS BY PAUL L. NEWBY II
Deanna Singh (MBA ’12) Deanna Singh (MBA ’12) calls herself a “chronic founder.” Since she was 16, Singh has been harnessing the resources around her to help others in her community. By the time she was a senior at Fordham University in New York, Singh had founded several different organizations dedicated to helping and creating a network for people in continual poverty. “There is a true power in being able to rethink our resources and put business practices behind them,” she says. “I’m always asking myself, ‘Is there a way to use the
things that are at my fingertips and really elevate them for the people in our communities?’” Over time, Singh developed her own toolkit of resources to use to start up new organizations. But what she didn’t have was perspective. “I needed to step back and look at other practices and weigh my own practices against them,” she says. “Being at the Wisconsin School of Business allowed me the opportunity to do that—to really think about the tools that I had and to be able to assess them, improve them, or get the affirmation that they were the right ones.” In September 2016, Singh
10 | UW–Madison Wisconsin School of Business
published a book titled I Am a Boy of Color. It was inspired by her two sons; realizing that her multiracial sons had little to no representation in the books they read, Singh wanted to make sure they had the resources to learn about their identities. Singh uses the book’s proceeds to help support other organizations that foster positive images and opportunities for children of color. Today, Singh serves as president of the Dohmen Company Foundation in Milwaukee, which supports and invests in selfsustaining organizations dedicated to ensuring people have access to a healthy life. The foundation