When Paulina Wersocki ’22 moved to Boston from Poland to study audio engineering at the Berklee College of Music, she got to help bands, artists, and singer/songwriters bring out their very best.
As she worked with these industry professionals to reach their full potential, however, she was surprised to discover that she enjoyed the project management, music production, and partnerships involved with bringing albums together.
After graduating with a degree in music, she did freelance work before landing a job with iZotope, an audio software development company.
Serving as the company’s manager of customer care, she fell in love even more with the business side of making music. “That’s when I knew I wanted to go to graduate school to develop my business skills within the creative realm,” she describes. “I loved working on reports, thinking about business strategy, collaborating with different departments, and addressing musicians’ pain points.”
At first, she considered traditional MBA programs, but when she uncovered Northwestern’s MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises (MSLCE) program, she applied right away.
“When I was accepted, I stopped applying anywhere else. I knew it was the right program because it blended creativity with business, which is exactly what I wanted.”
Wersocki says she especially enjoyed learning new ways to sell her ideas and develop her entrepreneurial spirit in Adjunct Lecturer Laverne McKinnon’s The Power of Pitching and Persuasion course alongside students with similar professional mindsets. “Even though some people are working in art while others are in music or film, we’re all artistic and have similar interests. It was an amazing atmosphere.”
When she landed an internship with Amazon Kindle in Luxembourg during the program, she also got to see firsthand how the concepts she learned in class applied in the real world.
“Having this degree on my résumé helped me get my foot in the door. “As an intern, I manage a lot of different projects at once: reporting, checking in on different stakeholders, reaching out to authors, resolving any issues they may be dealing with, managing marketing efforts, and taking note of how the business is growing,” she explains.
She creates reports on business insights, helps manage contests like the Kindle Storyteller Awards, and works with marketing to oversee campaigns that promote Kindle Direct Publishing.
Wersocki was able to understand how metrics and big data apply to Amazon’s business strategy thanks to Assistant Professor Ágnes Horvát’s Culture and Arts Analytics class. Adjunct Lecturer Cory Sandrock’s Economics of Creative Enterprises class equipped her with valuable Excel skills to translate creative concepts into the language of finance. And she felt more prepared to work for a global organization after Professor Pablo J. Boczkowski’s Organizational Processes in Creative Enterprises class, which she says opened her eyes to how large organizations function.
“We also got to conduct interviews with alumni, and I was able to meet one of Amazon’s program managers,” she describes. “I talked to her about the culture of Amazon before I started the internship, and I thought that was amazing.”
Just as valuable as her newfound skills are the relationships Wersocki built during the program. After connecting with classmate Katelyn Smith ’22, the two decided to partner on a business venture that stemmed from an idea Smith presented in class— applying online personal styling services to party planning.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of good feedback from MSLCE professors about the idea, too, which has been so helpful,” says Wersocki.
As an aspiring serial entrepreneur, she plans to focus on bringing this new idea to life and continuing to turn creative ideas into successful business strategies.
“I would love to build a company from nothing and see where it goes,” she describes. “I’ve learned that I really like doing lots of different things within a business as long as they’re creative in some way. It keeps life from being monotonous, and I get to meet new people and try new things. Now I have the business skills to make that happen.”
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