I started working at Google in 2021 as an associate product marketing manager in its London office. It was my dream role, and I landed it after interviewing 10 times.
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Three years later, I left to pursue an MBA in artificial intelligence from Wharton with the goal of creating a portfolio career. I had no idea what that would look like at the time: only that I wanted to create more career options going forward.
The higher education space is changing with AI and the creator economy, so I understand why some people might feel it’s not as valuable as it once was. However, that hasn’t been my experience; my unconventional background became my advantage.
Now, as I prepare to graduate this month, I’m building a true portfolio business, and I have the MBA to thank.
I wasn’t afraid to leave Google, but there were moments I questioned my decision
I didn’t have any fears about leaving Google; however, I wondered how I’d fit in at a finance-focused business school.
Initially, I questioned if this was the right choice. I figured everyone would be doing types of modeling I hadn’t really heard of before, and I’d have to spend a lot of time ramping up.
I had some analytical skills from my early career in growth marketing, but I realized the financial metrics were very different. I had to learn cap payrolls, discounted cash flows, and all these things that I’d heard about but never built on my own.
At times, I could’ve been more social with friends, but I felt like I had to focus and really nail the program.
I started building my new career in grad school
AI skills weren’t necessarily something that everybody around me had or really understood, so coming from an unconventional background was an asset to me.
The biggest drawback about grad school was that the focus is on studying how to build products, not actually building them. I wanted to actually ship something with real users.
I addressed these challenges by starting to build Moonlight Club — a newsletter and eventual community for multi-hyphenate women who are trying to build income, audience, and career optionality — in my second year. I learned that working on my MBA didn’t have to mean stepping back from building.
This MBA exposed me to paths I never considered
I’m still building Moonlight Club, from a newsletter to in-person events, it’s going to be a true portfolio business. It’s absolutely possible to pursue business ideas without going to business school, but an MBA taught me the ecosystem.
I got exposed to paths I’d never considered: search funds, newsletter businesses, and fractional consulting models. Hearing classmates and guest speakers talk about how they built these careers expanded my sense of what was possible and helped me get clear on what I wanted.
There are a lot of paths that don’t necessarily make sense to your average midlevel professional until you get exposure to them, and that’s what my MBA program did for me. It gave me the courage to build my own path
Getting an MBA was worth it for me
Wharton costs about $135,000 a year, including tuition, fees, room and board, and more. I paid through a combination of savings, vested stock from prior roles, family support, and student loans. I’m proud of my decision to get an MBA, and believe it was worth the investment.
I didn’t take on outside work during the academic year because I wanted to use my time experimenting with riskier ideas like Moonlight Club, joining the AI product management incubator, doing hackathons, and building a real network.
If you’re looking to get an MBA, find a school that fits your values, learning style, and caters to the career path you’d like to take.
Speak to students and alums from the schools you’re targeting because the best way to understand the culture, the opportunities, and the exit paths is for you to speak to the community.
Do you have a story to share about pursuing a master’s degree? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.
