Humans of Kellogg: Christina Chang (E&W), Strategy & Business Development at Lockheed Martin
- Cathy Campo
- Mar 29
- 5 min read
By: Nika Chugh, Staff Writer
Living Life to the Max
Christina Chang started her career as a thermal engineer, launching into the aerospace industry after a lifelong fascination with space.
As she grew at Lockheed Martin, she realized that she was becoming more involved in business conversations, focusing on topics such as cash flow and market analysis. Christina found herself lost in these discussions, which prompted her to consider business school.
“I felt like having an MBA under my belt would help me become a business leader at my organization, instead of just a technical one.”
At the time, Christina was living in Philly, commuting down to D.C. often for work. While in D.C, she attended a meetup for potential Kellogg students.
“The community of people that I met just felt like home. I always resonated with the idea of servant leadership and viewing people as people before just employees. The people I met throughout my application process just felt more like ‘people’ people. I wanted that emphasis on the softer skills of leadership.”
A few months later, Christina found herself admitted to Kellogg and excited to start her journey as an Evening & Weekend student, commuting to Chicago for Saturday classes (emphasis on the ‘Weekend’ part).
The Weekend Student Experience
As an Evening & Weekend student myself (with an emphasis on the ‘Evening’ part), I was curious about the life of the Weekend student. To me, it seems like the Weekend students are almost a cohort of their own, isolated from us Evening students with Wieboldt all to themselves every Saturday. I wondered what that experience was like. Did it feel like you had one foot in two different places, or were these students able to find a meaningful community in Chicago?
Christina started the program assuming she would fly in from Philly each week. Soon after, she received the opportunity to move to Denver for a promotion, which would also move her and her husband closer to family.
“I started the program thinking I would fly in on Saturday mornings for class all-day Saturday, taking advantage of the time zone shift from east to west. When I moved to Denver, I realized that might not be an option anymore.”
Once in Denver, Christina completed most of her courses that year in a mix of online, pop-up, and shorter classes, allowing her the flexibility to fly back and forth in shorter stints from Denver while still taking advantage of the Kellogg experience.
This quarter, she’s been able to get a fuller taste of what most Weekend students experience, as she has been coming out to Chicago every weekend for class.
When asked about how she makes it work, Christina first cited her husband’s support.
“I wouldn't be able to do it without my husband. He is amazing and drops me off at the airport on Friday and picks me up every Saturday, so that is awesome.” Must be even harder to be a JV from across the country, so kudos to all of the Weekend JVs!
Christina agreed with my assessment of the Weekend crew feeling like their own little enclave within the broader Kellogg community.
“We’ve all gotten to know each other and as new cohorts come in, you start noticing new faces. Kellogg Table is phenomenal since we all usually sit down for breakfast and lunch together every Saturday. If you make that effort to sit at a different table, you'll pretty much meet everyone.
I've gotten to know a lot of people that are commuting in from all over—California, Toronto, Atlanta—and it makes you feel less crazy as you’re going through it. There’s a group of us that are all experiencing the same thing.”
She has also made time to cultivate a strong community as part of the Drake Scholars program, courtesy of Ann Drake, Kellogg alum and current benefactor. The program provides scholarships and networking opportunities aimed at advancing women into leadership role.
“The community has been one of the best gifts of my time at Kellogg. Ann, as a person, is just so inspirational. I’ve so enjoyed having the opportunity to be in the same room as her and hear her story of breaking down all of these barriers as a woman in business, then see how she has been able to give back.”
I am truly impressed with Christina’s ability to build such strong connections, despite living in a different time zone. You have to admire the dedication of all of our Weekend students, especially those that are flying out from cities across the country. These students don’t let something as significant as traveling miles and miles each week get in the way of following their dreams.
Identifying as a “Life-Maximalist”
This ladders into a larger belief system for Christina: living each day as a “life-maximalist.”
“I see so many people talk about how they're waiting for the right time to do the things that they want to do. Then, you hear this narrative about people that are older who talk about how the right time never came. I made a decision that I did not want to live my life that way.
I wanted to make sure that if, God forbid, something happens to me tomorrow, I would be able to point at the things that I've done and think, ‘wow, I’ve really maximized my life.’”
This perspective started with her career in the aerospace industry, which she was drawn to due to the prospect of doing work that’s, literally, out of this world. I see this theme showing up in her decision to be a Weekend student, and moving from Philly to Denver while in the program.
Another exciting avenue that this mentality shows up in is her love for travel. Christina and her husband try to take an international trip each year, with one of the most memorable being a three-week trip to Eastern Europe.
“Some of our best friends from college decided to elope in Croatia, so we ended up planning an additional trip to Slovenia, Montenegro, and then Bosnia and Herzegovina. We were at a different Airbnb pretty much every day and it was insane.
The little things are what I remember most. We had this phenomenal host one day that did a wine tasting for us, and she asked us what our favorite wine was. When we finally decided, she just took out an empty 5-liter jug and filled it to the brim!”
Of course, I had to ask Christina about her next adventure and the answer shocked me: she’s heading to Antarctica with her husband in October.
“I’m very passionate about my job, but also, I believe that you get PTO for a reason. You have to remember to live your life too. If your dream is to work every day of your life, then live that dream. Just make sure you’re not making excuses to not do the things you want to.”
Well said, Christina. Newly energized by my conversation with Christina, I’ll be re-examining my travel plans for the coming years. Japan Trek anyone? Read About More Humans of Kellogg: E&W Student Katie McCarthy, Chief of Staff to the CEO, GoFundMe Paige Kotecki (E&W, Kroger) and Ryan Kitchel (E&W, PepsiCo) Chevy Chen (Kellogg E&W) United Airlines Radhika Jajoo (2Y ‘26): Raised by a Village of Women Isabelle Hofgaertner (2Y '26), Former Nike Intern Thomas Reinhart (a JV who's a Boothie!) Keanan Crasto (2Y '27): The JV Who's Basically Doing Kellogg Twice