“I’m inspired by the idea of social-impact professionals pursuing their careers with the same rigor as those working in finance, consulting or law.”

Since starting a nonprofit at the age of 16, Danielle Bayer, MS ‘24, has spent the last two decades working to boost others in that space. She quickly realized that organizations needed more than just grants to solve the societal problems that they were devoted to fixing.

This realization unlocked a desire to investigate how institutions could help. In 2023, Danielle earned her master’s of public administration from Harvard, where she “learned how to shape the government's approach to social problems.” At Stanford, she’s focusing her learning on what the private sector can do. “I’m exploring how business can be part of solutions through impact investing, impact measurement, and social entrepreneurship.”

Since coming to the GSB, Danielle has had one event that has sharply impacted her experience — she gave birth to her daughter, Ella, two weeks into the start of the school year.

“What could have been only difficult was instead an experience with a lot of beauty thanks to the people surrounding me this past year,” she says. She returned to classes just a couple of weeks after giving birth, where she was welcomed back with a standing ovation from her classmates and an accounting-themed onesie from one of her professors.

With Ella’s arrival, Danielle has juggled the demands of being both a mother and a student. But being able to fully partake in the GSB experience remained a high priority for her, one that her family has earnestly helped support. “My parents helped take care of Ella while I attended classes, while my husband has encouraged me to have time on the weekends to take part in extracurriculars like the GSB Impact Fund.”

Danielle’s advice for mothers choosing to pursue further education or embarking on motherhood while completing their degrees?

“Prioritize what matters most to you, and surround yourself with the structures of support you need to be the best mother and student you can be. You probably can’t “do it alone,” but when you do it together, you can do even more than you could imagine.”

#MothersDay