Wharton students may wear a lot of hats, but for Samica Goel, “musician” was never one of those.
“My mom put me in piano when I was four years old but I hated it. I was a really energetic kid and I wanted to move around. I was really hyper,” said the Old Bridge, New Jersey native.
However, when watching “Shake It Up” on the Disney Channel, four-year-old Sami found a way to channel her energy into dance. She started with ballet and “hated it so much” that she quit for two years, until she met a street dancer from California who introduced her to hip-hop at his dance studio.
She ended up enjoying the energy of hip-hop and joined a dance company in high school, training for hours in all dance styles. After years of dancing at the competitive studio, her agent had an urgent request for any available dancers. Joe Jonas was performing with DNCE at the Red Bull Arena, and eight dancers were sick.
She and three of her friends performed on stage with Joe Jonas and DNCE in her junior year of high school. She had to be flexible: “I auditioned and learned all the dances on Friday and then performed Saturday.”
Changing Focus
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sami choreographed eight- and nine-year-olds’ dance recitals since teachers were unable to come to the studio, but her own dance career was interrupted at a crucial time since dance tryouts were paused. This sparked introspection over the role she wanted dance to play in her future, and Sami refocused on her passion for academics.
“I knew I wanted to dance in college, but I didn’t want to major in dance,” she said.
During the pandemic, she worked with a local congressman’s campaign-finance team and interacted with businesses of all sizes. As a choreographer, she found a natural link between business and the arts. “I think the one thing that stuck between dance and business was that I like building things from the ground up.”
Between both fields, Sami found herself drawn to the self-reliant nature of entrepreneurship: that everything “was a result of her own actions” and she could see tangible results from her dedication.
In her first days at Penn, Sami met the captain of Penn Masti, a South Asian co-ed Bollywood fusion dance team, who also happened to be her Wharton 1010 teaching assistant. She immediately felt the desire to follow in her footsteps and was happy that Penn had a vibrant performing arts scene.
After going to one of Penn Masti’s recruitment events, Sami says she fell in love with the team and its representation.
“I grew up in a community that wasn’t really diverse, and when I went to the event, it felt really nice,” the fourth-year said. “They were all talking about Bollywood movies and speaking in Hindi, and I was like: ‘Wow, I actually never grew up with people like this.’”
Not only was the club an opportunity to get closer to her cultural heritage, but it was also a chance for her to gain exposure to a wide network of friends and mentors.
“I loved the people I auditioned with, and they actually helped me get involved with a lot of the other organizations on campus.”
Sami became the club’s assistant choreographer. The team went to Nationals, and she was elected as the artistic captain, which means developing the choreography, music, and set design for the team. She credits her unique background and willingness to step outside her comfort zone as a choreographic asset: coming from a hip-hop background, she had ideas that wouldn’t have been traditionally explored from a Bollywood/Indian dance background.
Making a Tangible Impact
Last summer, Sami interned at a private alternative investment firm and loved that the company was smaller and woman-run – a creative and representative vision that she wanted to be a part of. She’ll return to the New York-based company after graduation, and she sees herself eventually pursuing a law degree or MBA and working with startups. As a choreographer, she drives the vision for a dance, and as a businessperson, she sees herself driving the vision of a company.
Like her time at Penn, Sami sees her future as an intersection between the arts and business. Last summer, she was still able to choreograph and teach at her old dance studio during her internship. When she graduates, Sami hopes to join a dance company that provides performance opportunities for people working full-time.
For now, she’ll do her final year with Penn Masti and third one as their artistic captain—choreographing the annual South Asian Society show, preparing and rehearsing for campus performances, and traveling around the country for competitions—all while balancing being a Wharton student.
—Alex Zhou, W’25, C’25
Posted: September 19, 2024
