Fellow:Jake Kapusansky


Name Jake Alihan Kapusansky School (Cohort) Central Michigan University (2022 cohort) Majoring in Marketing with a Professional Sales Concentration Country United States of America Email Special:EmailUser/Kapus1ja

Bio

Hi! I'm glad you're here.

My name is Jake Alihan Kapusansky, and I have been described by my teammates as a problem solver and leader who seeks to bring grand visions and change to life. Regarding my professional experience, I currently work at Paycom Silicon Valley, developing new business throughout Northern California as an Account Executive within the HRIS (Human Resource Information System) and Payroll industry.

In 2024, I graduated from Central Michigan University with my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, simultaneously being pinned as a University Innovation Fellow throughout my junior year of undergraduate studies.

Throughout my time at Uni, I completed 3 sales-based internships (my Business Admin. degree centered on Marketing with a Concentration in Professional Sales); one at State Farm, in which I became THE Jake from State Farm; one at Dell Technologies, in which I worked as a Services Sales Intern (hybrid) in Austin/ Round Rock, TX; and one at the Paycom Indianapolis Sales Office in Monument Circle (a.k.a. the heart of Indy or a 5 min. drive to Lucas Oil Stadium).

I loved every single one of these experiences, and I see the profession of sales as a catalyst for learning, listening, building for connectivity and conversation, while also leaning into rejection and resilience. In one word, I'm looking to create intrinsic GRIT for whatever profession I end up moving into in my 30's and beyond.

My mission is to transform the way in which underrepresented populations are able to capitalize on economic opportunities within inequitable systems. For context, I began my life in an orphanage in Yalutorovsk, RUS (I stand w. Ukraine), and came to the United States as an Adoptee when I was a baby. This personal history has led me to combine business and social work within my current and future domains of expertise based on lived experience. As I grew up, I struggled to tell my story, and in working through this challenging process, I became a high energy communicator who has now made a profession out of telling and listening to stories.

To align with this mission, in 2020, I co-founded the Organization of Asian Leaders (out of the Asian hate that my community was experiencing at an unprecedented scale across the U.S.), which aims to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that support the Asian community at Central Michigan. As we developed the organization, we learned that it wasn't stopping hate that we could control or influence. What we could influence was COMMUNITY, and in doing so, we could build strategic alliances with the other underrepresented communities within our campus's ecosystem while championing their causes in tandem with ours. This rapidly transformed the landscape of how students saw themselves and their organizations' ability to create self-representation while navigating the higher education environment. We fostered change through fundraising, carving out budgets for ourselves, speaking publicly/ protesting for our causes, and so much more.

My vision has always been to work myself out of organizations to make room for new leaders to emerge. I always say, praise in public, coach in confidence. If we can do these two things, we can bring the next generation of leaders to replace us while operating autonomously through our training and principles that we leave behind. Then these emerging change agents can become better than we ever were.

When I am not working (which I probably do too much of), I spend my time with my family and friends, eating, laughing, and having deep conversations about life. I love to watch movies, travel (just backpacked Europe with the money I made from starting my consulting company in college), read (fiction before bed and non-fiction when I wake up), write, and go for runs at a very very slow pace. This year, I completed my first ever half-marathon, and I plan to do a lot of backpacking and camping in NorCal over the next few years.

Check out my blog to learn more about my life: https://jakekapusansky.wixsite.com/my-site-1

Achievements

- Annual Recurring Revenue Total Influence of $71,500 via Paycom Internship (2 closed deals, 20 years old)

- Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Speech Contest, $1,000

- PNC High Achiever's Award, "For going above and beyond to make Central Michigan University a better place, with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and education"

- Raised $2,000 in Start-Up funding for Kap and Company, Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consulting, consulted in Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, and Texas

- Created an inclusion strategy process based on my work with the employee resource group, Asians in Action for a 1,000+ intern cohort at Dell Technologies

- Founded the Organization of Asian Leaders at Central Michigan University, leading an executive board of 8 individuals to execute Asian Pacific American Heritage while hosting 100+ CMU students at each event: https://www.cm-life.com/article/2022/03/ji4cqlfluo4riz1

- Creative Curator/ Marketing Team-Member, TEDxCentralMichiganUniversity, Year 1

- Organization of Asian Leaders wins "Outstanding New Student Organization", Central Michigan Universities S.O.A.R. awards

- University of Toledo Sales Competition, Top 3 Nationally ranked, $500

- Twin Cities Collegiate Team Sales Competition, Team Captain, Top 5 Place Nationally Ranked

- Converted 79 cold leads into prospects resulting in a $15,329.13 annualized premium written as Jake from State Farm, the intern

- CMU Sales Challenge, 1st Place “My Story of Success” Winner, $150