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The Business Minor is consistently No. 1 among 81 campus minors, enrolling more students than any other minor—and with good reason.

Analyze data. Make informed decisions. Communicate with confidence. Those are some of the practical skills students gain through the Leeds Business Minor. With a hands‑on capstone, access to mentors and career advisors, and experiential opportunities like career treks, the program attracts about 1,250 new students each year, enrolling about 2,900 students from all majors across �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder. But don’t just take our word for it—three students share how the Business Minor has shaped their paths—and why it’s made all the difference.

Turning Curiosity Into a Career

Annika Jobanputra (StComm, MediaSt’27)

Majors: Strategic Communications (Advertising), Media Studies
Minors: Business, Multicultural Leadership

Annika Jobanputra started out as a business major but realized her passion was understanding how messages influence people. She shifted into strategic communication but “didn’t want to lose that business perspective,” she said.

“Things like strategic messaging, understanding audiences, analyzing demographics—all of that requires business acumen.”

The Business Minor has given her the skills in accounting, finance, marketing and management that help her understand how ideas fit into the larger ecosystem of a company, she said. Those skills proved powerful across eight internships. In one PR role, she realized “creativity and business strategy work best when they’re integrated.” At another internship, she coded an internal training website using AI and HTML. She even led team trainings—experiences she credits to building confidence through leadership and public speaking at Leeds.

Jobanputra brought that blend of creativity and strategy into the Business Minor Competition in December 2025; her team of six women developed the capstone for Bowl Bar, an acai brand focused on wellness. “It was really rewarding,” she said. “I got to take the lead and integrate a lot of creativity—like making an AI ad that grabbed everyone’s attention.” In addition to crafting custom T-shirts and visual elements, a highlight was collaborating with students from different majors, each bringing unique insights to the project.

Across it all, Jobanputra carried one lesson: “Be a sponge. Stay curious. Say yes to opportunities.” An FGX trip to Paris also strengthened her leadership skills, allowing her to see firsthand how different cultures and economic environments impact business.

Heading into senior year, she has already connected with dozens of professionals through Leeds networking and has discovered that those conversations develop into relationships. “Building those genuine connections is so important.”��

Connecting Creativity and Strategy

Braden Stirrett (StComm’26)

Major: Strategic Communication (Advertising Strategy)
Minors: Business, Cinema Studies

Braden Stirrett initially saw the film and television industry solely from a creative perspective.

Through his capstone in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, he and his classmates built a hypothetical venture, from mapping out financial forecasts and testing feasibility to facing real-world constraints. “That experience helped me understand that creativity has bounds to it. There are great ideas, but that doesn’t mean every idea comes with an unlimited budget.”

That balance was instrumental to Stirrett successfully landing an internship in ad sales at NBCUniversal. “In interviews, I was able demonstrate that I understood the business side of the industry as a whole.” The experience helped him see the breadth of roles in film and television, and to understand how teams work together.

“I was able to meet with several higher ups in other departments, which was extremely helpful in my own work under platform monetization.”

Stirrett sees business knowledge as a differentiator in creative fields. “Being able to understand both the storytelling side of media and the business decisions that shape how content is created, marketed and distributed is something I believe will be very valuable in my career.”

Engineering Solutions With a Business Lens

Dalton Ford-McGee (CompSci’27)

Major: Computer Science
Minor: Business

Before starting the Business Minor, Dalton Ford-McGee approached software development almost entirely from a technical perspective. “Now I naturally consider things like user needs, market fit and the broader impact of what I’m building,” he said.

The minor also helped him reframe his long-term goals. “I’ve realized I don’t want to just write code by myself in isolation. I want to collaborate, contribute to strategy and work on problems that are at the intersection of tech and business.” He now sees the most interesting challenges in tech as business problems that require engineering solutions.

Two courses—Product Development and Principles of Management—were especially influential. “They taught me to communicate clearly, work in teams and leverage different perspectives.”

For Ford-McGee, the biggest change has been mindset. “It’s less about having everything figured out and more about the lens I bring to the problems I encounter,” he said. “Because of the minor, I bring more to the table than just technical skills.”

As he looks toward the job search, that preparation is paramount. “My computer science major has made me great at tech, while the business minor has taught me how to put all my skills together and work effectively as a member of almost any team.”