What Do Art Houses, Hedge Funds, and Venture Development Studios Have In Common?
Lauren Z has charted an awesome, uncommon professional journey
Lauren is a mentor with BeenThere and recent graduate from Wharton. After undergrad at Columbia University, Lauren dove into the art auction house world at Sotheby’s and Phillips. After her MBA, she’s now working with businesses big and small at venture development studio Two Canoes.
Can you share a little on your background? What did your roles entail?
I spent the first six years of my career helping build the acquisitions pipeline at two international art auction houses. At Sotheby’s — my first role out of Columbia — I had my hand in every piece of this pipeline, from initial strategy to market analyses to graphic design to physically producing the beautifully-bound proposals that we often hand-delivered to our potential consigners. At Phillips, an auction house focused on acquiring art made in the 20th and 21st century, I had a hand in building the business development vertical, and operationalizing the process from strategy to pitch.
As you’ve said before, that’s a somewhat “non-traditional” route to an MBA? What led you to Wharton? What did you want to do?
The art auction world is heavily skewed towards an antiquated generation of leaders and collectors. I didn’t see a future in that space for me any longer. Majoring in English Literature, I was already trained to look at the world from a language perspective, and how words can deeply shape how we move through our daily lives. I wanted to train myself to also look at the world with a financial, entrepreneurial, and operational mindset so I could eventually couple those narratives and be in a role to found a company or be very close to the founding team and grow a product or firm from the ground up.
Can you share a little about your internships? You landed at two awesome spots — how were those experiences?
I was chosen to do a year-long fellowship with Alumni Ventures Group, specifically their investment vehicle Fission Ventures, which targeted Columbia alumni founders and LPs. This gave me incredible insight into both the fundraising and investing processes.
During the summer between first and second year, I interned at Bridgewater Associates as a Senior Management Associate, where I was embedded in Bridgewater’s culture that touts radical transparency while being asked to solve two nubby problems inherent to the firm.
How did those experiences inform your goals for after your MBA? What was your recruiting experience like?
While I enjoyed my experience at Bridgewater, I knew I wanted to build something from the ground up, or be part of a small team building a product that reimagines our future state.
My friends at Wharton will tell you that my recruiting experience was constant. I tried to speak to as many different kinds of people and companies as possible, both as a learning tool for me to have my finger on the pulse of where the world was heading, but also to see what kinds of roles existed, and the role I could see myself eventually filling.
How has your experience been after school? What is the role like?
Soon after graduation, I connected with the former head of Siren Ideas (Starbucks’s internal innovation engine), Mesh Gelman, who had since left Starbucks to start Two Canoes, a strategic growth consultancy that transforms businesses by identifying and activating opportunities at the nexus of emerging consumer behavior.
By combining a customer-obsessed mindset and deep vertical expertise, we help large organizations disrupt themselves, building great new businesses to drive sustainable impact. My role is constantly shifting depending on the needs of the business, but most often I find myself strategically guiding conversations with clients and leading the charge on operationalizing the firm.
What advice do you have for those seeking a new role, but who aren’t sure on specifics?
Keep talking to people across industries and keep refining your vision. And, if you find the perfect company but they don’t have a role for you, pitch one!
If you’re interested in other careers, check out our previous interview with BeenThere mentor Mattia, previous blog post, and other follow-up resources.
For questions on your career search or MBA application, schedule a free consultation with one of our founders, or search and connect with a mentor like Lauren by creating a profile on beenthere.mba!
