MBA Admissions Essays

Essay Prompt: "What event or life experience has had the greatest influence in shaping your character and why?"

I view music as impassioned communication capable of transcending language barriers, uniting people and conveying ideas and emotions where words do not suffice. In 2009 I co-produced a benefit concert for Ugandan war refugees that uncovered my own ability to use music’s communicative potential to positively influence the world around me. This experience inspired me to broaden my ambition beyond business success alone and enabled me to recognize opportunities to impart elements of social responsibility into both personal and professional initiatives.

I had laid the foundation for this experience several years earlier by choosing to pursue a career path based upon my personal passion for music. My enthusiasm for music and the industry that supports it grew from my admiration of music as a uniquely powerful means of presenting and expanding human perception of ideas, emotions, and attitudes. While studying music business at Berklee College of Music in Boston I took a significant step to tie my personal passion for the music business more tightly to my professional aspirations when I launched my first for-profit venture and developed interest in entrepreneurship. I did so by connecting two components I knew well, Berklee musicians, who were looking for work, and Vermont ski resorts, which were in need of fresh talent. From this understanding, I recruited artists, solicited venues, negotiated performance contracts, and booked performances. Supplying audiences and buyers with top-notch talent while providing artists with experience and paychecks was gratifying. However, adding an element of social enterprise to my passion for music and entrepreneurship was to more completely define my character and career beyond simply that of an ambitious music industry professional.

I recognized the opportunity to connect my value for social responsibility and efficacy with my involvement in music after learning about an organization called Invisible Children (IC) whose mission to provide relief for Ugandan children forced to fight in the country’s civil war I greatly admired. One fateful evening while reading about IC online, I discovered an article discussing a high school talent show near Boston, the proceeds of which were to go to the Invisible Children fund. Although I had already moved from Boston to New York, I was still managing an up-and-coming band from Boston so I immediately contacted the teacher organizing the event, told him about the band, and suggested the band play at the end of the talent show. After consulting his students, many of who were already fans, the teacher called me to ask about the booking fee. The typical charge was $800 but I told him we’d do it for $400 and even help promote the show.

The concert was fantastic and the band truly connected with the crowd driving heightened enthusiasm for Invisible Children. After the concert, I donated my fee percentage back to IC and convinced the band to do the same because the concert and it’s association with Invisible Children had already benefited us by providing an opportunity to play to several hundred current and potential fans that fit the band’s core marketing demographic. In addition, the band received more press from this show then from any other when a number of radio stations, print publications and websites chose to cover the event as inspiring story about a rock band on-the-rise joining forces with a local high school to help innocent war victims. It was a dual victory—not only had the band and I help raise more than $10,000 for a commendable cause, we had also generated valuable exposure for the band and its music. Since then I have helped the artists I work with identify causes beyond their immediate ambitions and have connected them with organizations such as the United Service Organization (USO) in support of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and CoFed to encourage college students to create cooperatively-run sustainable food stores on campus.

This experience did not necessarily motivate me to promote my own social ideals or personal values as much as it showed me the value of enabling artists to use their ability to communicate through music to further develop and actively support interests in community involvement and social responsibility. Thus, by combining my passion for music and entrepreneurship with my concern for social responsibility I have been able to grow personally, professionally, and in a way that will lead ultimately to a more fulfilling life for myself and those around me.