Hitting the Tough Shots - MIT Sloan School of Management

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During college, her passion for basketball was channeled into the creation of a basketball camp for
Bosnian refugee children in Minnesota. “The basketball camp for other Bosnian children refugees was my
fi rst community engagement in which I sought to instill in others the values that sports have helped me
develop.”
Hana coordinated all aspects of the project. Over 40 children attended in the fi rst year, leading her to
organize separate boys’ and girls’ camps and hire more staff in the second year. The camp was recognized
in the media for the positive impact on the community but more importantly, a number of the campers
continued to play basketball and become role models themselves in the community.
Following graduation in 2004, Peljto went on to pursue a lifelong dream of playing professional basketball
for two years in France, in one of Europe’s top women’s basketball leagues. “I always wanted to play at the
highest level of my sport, and it was great to have had that opportunity. I enjoyed travelling with the team
and then on my own. It was a great opportunity professionally and internationally,” she said.
This year, Hana is the Co-Lead of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which will have some of the
same amazing guests the conference has had in the past. The keynote speaker is Malcolm Gladwell, writer
for the New York Times and author of The Tipping Point. Other speakers will include Mark Cuban, owner of
the Dallas Mavericks; ESPN writer Bill Simmons, and Sarah Robb O’Hagan, the Chief Marketing Offi cer of
Gatorade. “Having known some people who went through the MBA program here, I was excited to apply to
MIT Sloan. I liked the culture here, and obviously a huge draw for me was the Sports Analytics conference,”
Hana said.
“The conference is a great collection of people and students who are interested in and excited about
sports. Both the growth of the conference and students’ increasing enthusiasm has just been incredible
over the last couple of years. This year we are considering having the conference take place over two
days. To be a part of one of the pre-eminent sports conferences has been very exciting for me,” she noted,
adding, “Sports have always been a huge part of my life. I have a passion for them, so I can defi nitely see
myself working in sports in the long-term,” she said.
Hana already has a jump-start on working in a sports-related fi eld. This past summer she interned for
Gatorade, the sports beverage, in the company’s Chicago offi ce. Through her MIT Sloan network, Hana
was able to set up a series of interviews that eventually landed her a position in the Marketing Department.
While at Gatorade, she worked on a retail strategy and laughed when she said, “I was very well hydrated
this past summer.”
Hana worked on a project that focused on investments in Gatorade’s retail outlets. She had the opportunity
to meet Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer while there. “To get insight into how one of the largest sports
drinks in the world really works was very valuable for me,” she said.
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