Rangena Hotaki 2007
An M.B.A. graduate from the Harvard Business School, Rangena Hotaki is a true portrait of success. Her goal is to pursue a career at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation or International Monetary Fund and work towards improving the condition of women and children in Afghanistan.
Rangena has first hand memories of the problems she seeks to solve. With only the clothes on their backs, Rangena’s family dodged the crossfire of Mujahadin rebels, hid in a bus disguised as a garbage truck, and traveled through the prairie, to cross the Pakistani border to Quetta. The Hotaki family eventually gained asylum in the United States where they arrived with about $400 and the unbounded hope that “the benefits far outweighed the sacrifices as my three siblings and I would be offered limitless opportunities to succeed.”
Rangena took full advantage of the educational opportunities in Alexandria as she progressed from William Ramsay Elementary to Francis Hammond to T.C. Williams High School. She was an active member of Project Discovery, a club for students who are the first generation in their families to attend college. Rangena was a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Latin American Student Society, and Key Club.
Rangena received the Larry Trice PTSA Scholarship and enrolled at the University of Virginia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish. She was active in the Afghan Students Association at UVA. Rangena wrote that, “The Scholarship Fund allowed me to focus on my coursework rather than attempting to get a part-time job to help pay for school. The generous gifts of the citizens of Alexandria made a colossal difference in my academic experiences at UVA.”
Upon graduating from UVA, Rangena worked at various consulting firms – Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Leverage, LLC – and she ran her own business, a successful Domino’s Pizza franchise, for two years. She is an avid chef, dancer and weight lifter.
T.C. Williams Class of 1996
B.A., Economics, Spanish, University of Virginia, 2000
M.B.A., Harvard Business School, 2008
