When people hear that I spent the first part of my career working in the art world, they are often surprised to learn that I am now pursuing an MBA at Cambridge.
Before joining the Cambridge MBA, I worked at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. My career revolved around art, culture, and the relationships that drive the global art market. Those experiences gave me a front-row seat to an industry that sits at the intersection of creativity, commerce, history, and human behavior.
I didn’t want to leave the art world. I wanted to understand it better. The more time I spent in it, the more I realised how often the conversation extends far beyond art itself, into markets, technology, politics, timing, and the way value is created and perceived. That curiosity is what brought me to Cambridge, alongside the opportunity to explore that intersection more directly, including through the Culture, Art and Media Management concentration.
One of the most striking parts of the MBA has been the people. I came from a highly specialised corner of the world, and here every conversation starts from a different place. At first, it can feel like everyone is speaking slightly different languages, but over time you start to notice how often those perspectives connect in unexpected ways.
That is also what makes the Cambridge environment so distinctive. There is something inspiring about being surrounded by centuries of scholarship while engaging with a community focused on solving contemporary challenges.
What I have enjoyed most is how those conversations begin to overlap in practice. A discussion about startup strategy can echo questions faced by cultural institutions; a conversation about healthcare systems can shift how you think about audiences and access in the arts. Slowly, the boundaries between sectors start to feel less fixed than they first appear.
For me, the MBA has not been about changing direction. It has been about stepping outside the boundaries of a single way of thinking and realising how much more interesting things become in the space between disciplines, where the most compelling questions tend to sit.
Ultimately, the MBA hasn’t taken me away from the art world; it’s changed the way I see it. What once felt like a clearly defined industry now feels part of a much broader ecosystem shaped by the constant interaction of art, culture, finance, and strategy.