Think about the parts of kindergarten you enjoyed most: Holiday decorations and treats. Maybe some music to start the day. A teacher who cared about you personally and made you feel safe.

Now think about some of the most serious topics of a business management class: How to handle layoffs respectfully. Negotiating salaries and making commercial real estate deals. Leadership styles and the different forms of organizational culture.

Put them all together, and you might find yourself in the classroom of Karisa You, lecturer in management and the recipient of the 2025 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching Graduate Elective courses.

“I think that learning should be fun,” You said. “You could take a really intense theory and teach it in a 37-page document, or you could teach it in a very engaging presentation. Personally, I am most interested in learning things when I find them both relevant and when the learning experience is enjoyable.”

That’s where the holiday decorations meet weighty business topics: “It feels kind of like we're in kindergarten, but we're discussing MBA subjects.”
 

Inspired by ‘kindness from the podium’

You’s teaching philosophy is evident in the comments from the students who voted for her Golden Apple recognition:

• “It feels like we are having a conversation in the class, not being lectured at.”
• “She is kind and really cares about her students.”
• “She helps us understand the concepts with real life examples making the content memorable.”

Hearing those comments was gratifying to You, who began teaching as an undergraduate student at UCLA and as she earned her law degree at USC.

“When I was in law school, I had a professor — it was during a really rocky time politically and financially for the world — and she gave a message before one class saying, ‘If anyone needs anything or if you're ever having a hard time, I am here for you,’” You recalled.

“It really struck me to have kindness from the podium. She set this balance where students both respected her so much that they wanted to do well in the class to impress her, but they also really loved her and felt safe with her.”

You puts that inspiration into action by being open with students about her own challenges with stress and mental health. She often starts or ends each class with “grace notes,” reminding students to take care of themselves and telling them she can be a resource if they are struggling.

“My biggest lesson in life is learning to give myself grace and learning to fully accept myself and love myself as I am,” she said. “My faith plays a big part of my life, and I’ve been learning just how much God loves me as I am and how he embraces my messiness and designs humans to be messy. Just as I've been learning that lesson in my own life, I think it's just poured out into the classroom inevitably.”
 

Getting down to business

That’s not to suggest every class is full of such personal topics. Every lecture is very structured — starting and ending on time and covering important subjects, You said.

She prepares for each class with research from academic business journals. And before diving into practical topics, she asks herself, “Is this something I would pay to learn as a student?” Then she looks for creative ways to explain the relevance of each topic.

”For instance, before I teach employment discrimination, I have them close their eyes and paint a detailed full story so they can imagine their first day of work a year from now, in a wheelchair after an accident, unable to access the second floor and being late to a meeting,” You said.

“When we discuss disciplining an employee, I pretend to be that employee and sit in a chair before the class, opening the floor for any of the students to have a shot at giving me hypothetical feedback.”

You also invites students to bring up topics that interest them — then leads role-playing exercises to act out scenarios in class.

“We pretend to be landlords and tenants. We negotiate over commercial real estate deals, or we pretend to be an employee letting another employee go,” she said, noting that while the approach is engaging, the topics can be serious.

“Of course, I’ll shift the gravity. I don't believe in a fake, happy-go-lucky attitude that everything has to be positive. I believe in authenticity,” she said. “So we're going to sit with real emotions when they're hard and we’re going to talk about real deep things.”

That relatability is evident in faculty evaluations for her courses. One student wrote that they “appreciate her building case studies for us and asking us to give our recommendations in assignments. This is a great practical approach and very much in sync with what the industry practices are.”
 

Strong work ethic

You is grateful for an upbringing that taught her to be self-sufficient, responsible, independent — and to keep busy.

Her passion for social justice led her to work with a faith-based program helping international students find homes and get connected to families and mentorships. At an inner-city law center, she helped clients get off the streets and into housing. She reads to kindergarteners once a month and advocates for foster youths. She maintains a website, karisayou.wixsite.com/karisa, posts supportive resources on two Instagram channels — @goodnews_timelesstruths for mental health and spiritual formation topics and @misskarisy for teaching topics. She publishes a blog and contributes articles as a journalist for the SOLA Network, a faith-based resource for the emerging generation of Asian Americans. She has written two books and is finishing a third.

“I appreciate that work ethic that I was taught. It definitely taught me to go for my dreams,” she said. “I enjoy many things, and I think every time an exciting thing pops up, I'm excited to do it.”

That approach to life might help explain why You is energized by connecting with students.

“My friends will say that whenever I'm passionate about subject, I wanted to tell everyone about it,” she said. “I feel like I have the personality of a kindergartner, and I think that's why my class feels fun. I would hope so.”

 

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Header image: Karisa You, lecturer in management at the UCR School of Business, celebrates winning the 2025 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching Graduate Elective courses.