Tuck was most definitely the best two years of my life, and very influential in terms of shaping who I am as a leader.

Torlisa Jeffrey T'12 is a senior product manager for Williams Sonoma Inc, focusing on personalizing the in-store and online customer experience through retail technology. Formerly, she was a product implementation architect at Knewton, a company specializing in personalized and adaptive learning. In that role, Jeffrey managed every step of the new-product lifecycle, from the initial strategy to the technical integration. Both jobs have allowed her to combine her previous experience as a software developer at Lehman Brothers and as a technology and strategy consultant at Deloitte. But, most of all, her experience aligns with her philosophy that one size does not fit all.

Jeffrey has been putting that philosophy to use in her spare time as well, as the co-founder and chief marketing officer of My Muse Dolls, a startup that sells dolls that celebrate and promote non-traditional beauty standards. The “build your muse” product line allows customers to pick their doll’s skin tone, hairstyle, and clothing. And the “Feature Muse” collection has dolls with a global life story—giving children an idea of what it’s like to grow up in Nigeria, China, India, or Ireland. Each doll’s story is on the My Muse website, and on the back of the doll’s box, “giving adults a chance to interact with children about diverse backgrounds and help them visualize what a day in the life of a Nigerian child might be like,” Jeffrey says.

Jeffrey’s startup, which she began with a Nigerian colleague from her Lehman Brothers’ days, is a for-profit business with a social impact mission. They contribute a portion of the company revenues to charities working to empower children to reach their full potential.

Tuck provided Jeffrey a customized business school experience that she values highly to this day. She took many opportunities to travel, both with friends and on learning expeditions and global consultancy trips (now part of TuckGO). And she could tailor her academic experience and elective courses to fit her interests. Jeffrey was a fellow for the Center for Digital Strategies, which allowed her to apply her love of technology to the business environment. And she fed her curiosity for marketing in memorable courses such as Brand Management with renowned professor Kevin Lane Keller, and Database Marketing with top scholar and teacher Praveen Kopalle.

“Tuck was most definitely the best two years of my life, and very influential in terms of shaping who I am as a leader,” she says.