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Around the world in an MBA

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Marketing Manager and MBA student Lorena Ramirez shares her journey on the MBA, across three continents and what she has learned along the way.

Picture of Lorena Ramirez

The first time I heard about the Central Saint Martins Birkbeck MBA was while living in Peru. I’d been working in the fashion industry for the last ten years and was ready to expand into different creative areas. I was looking for a Masters degree that focused not only on fashion, but on creativity and innovation.

There are lots of really good MBAs in London, but the Central Saint Martins Birkbeck MBA was different. There is nothing else in the market that mixes art, design, business and social innovation in that way.

I fell in love with the course immediately, but attending face-to-face sessions in London wasn’t an option for me, so I was forced to put my plans on hold.

Moving to London

It just so happened that, months after discovering the MBA, my husband was offered a job in the UK. We moved to London without any hesitation: I arrived, found a job, got pregnant and applied for the MBA! I had my interview with Dr Pamela Yeow, the Course Leader, about a week before I gave birth.

I had my reservations about starting a Masters with a newborn baby, but when I won a scholarship for the course I felt like it was a sign to just do it. I started the programme and absolutely loved it. On a course like this, it’s so important that your peers are with you on this journey. For a lot of MBAs, the average age is around 24 or 25. I’m 37, and while the youngest person in our cohort was 25, the oldest was 60. Through the MBA, I met people in media, television, different organisations and entrepreneurs. The diversity of ages and interests in my cohort was what I enjoyed most about the experience.

Then my maternity leave finished, the pandemic hit and I found myself working full-time with a baby under highly pressured circumstances. Sadly, I couldn’t continue the MBA with my cohort, but Birkbeck and Central Saint Martins were very understanding and supportive. It was not an easy decision, but looking back, I think it was the right one. I wouldn’t have had the time to properly enjoy the reading and the learning process if I had continued then.

Picture of Lorena with her son

Recognise this scenario? Lorena trying to work and study, featuring her son Noah.

A new challenge in Ceuta

Despite having to put my studies on hold, this has been a whirlwind year: I was promoted to Marketing Manager for Spain for my organisation and relocated to Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city in Morocco. Ceuta is a small, quiet city, so it’s a big change from London!

In my new role, I am already applying the learning from the first module of the MBA, which is all about how to solve complex problems. Right now, in Spain, the gambling industry is facing new marketing regulations which drastically change the way it has worked for the past twelve years. This has a huge impact on our work, meaning we have to really think outside the box when it comes to promotion.

Changing the way an entire company works is very difficult, especially when you lead teams. For me, the MBA was the perfect preparation to face this challenge. On the course, we completed a project with the London Ambulance Service – what we are learning is not theoretical, it’s real life, day by day. In my work now, we essentially have to reinvent all the departments and how we’re working. For this to be a success, you have to change the way of thinking not of the directors but of the users and your team, and that is the most difficult thing. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to study to have a preparation to understand this better.

Where next?

From March 2021, I’ll be travelling to London once a month to re-join the MBA programme – I can’t wait to get started again!

In the long term, I would like to go back to sustainable fashion, for which my current experience in online marketing will be really valuable. I’d like to work with artisans, especially Peruvian artisans, linking them with brands across the globe. Most artisans around the world don’t speak Spanish or English, so it can be difficult to reach them, but I hope to do this through a foundation or social enterprise – I think the MBA will lead me to the right way to do this.

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Invisible Women

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Professor Lynne SegalThis post was contributed by Professor Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor of Psychology & Gender Studies in the Department of Psychosocial Studies. It was originally published on the LRB blog.

I heard that the octogenarian Joan Didion was to be the ‘new face’ of the Parisian luxury brand Céline when I was in the middle of commenting on a new monograph by Margaret Gullette called How Not to Shoot Old People. It documents countless grim instances of neglect and contempt for the elderly across a vast ageist spectrum. We oldies live in schizoid times.

Old fashionistas are suddenly all the rage (if hardly plentiful) at Vogueand Dolce & Gabbana. Living longer, old people can be encouraged to consume more, especially by cosmetic and fashion industries promising to keep us looking streamlined and elegant. We may, undesirably, be no longer young, but we can at least dutifully defer to the dictates of fashion. Didion even has the skinny look of a fashion model: hardly an inch of flesh, mere bones on which to hang clothes and accessories.

Meanwhile, social media trolls pour forth hate speech against the elderly. Only occasionally is it directed at those with the resources to resist, such as Mary Beard. Older women in need of care regularly report being treated with impatience or disdain, but only the most scandalous cases of neglect attract public notice. There were mild complaints five years ago when Martin Amis, in the Sunday Times, called for euthanasia booths to deal with the threatening ‘silver tsunami’ of old people who would soon be ‘stinking out’ the streets of London. He said he could ‘imagine a sort of civil war between the old and the young in 10 or 15 years’ time’. His words resonate with the constant hum of alarm – almost panic – about the increasing numbers of elderly people, with our distinctive needs.

The most terrifying images of old age – the witch, hag, harridan – have always had a female face, whether in myth, folktale or horror movie. This can have stark material consequences. Women are twice as likely as men to end up living alone in old age, with no companion to care for them. Their pensions are generally smaller, too, as they are confined to fewer areas of the labour market, paid less, and more likely to have taken time out from their jobs to look after other people. In September 2013, the Labour Party’s Commission on Older Women provided stark evidence of the continuing invisibility of older women in public life. Eighty-two per cent of BBC presenters over the age of 50 are men. More generally, unemployment among women aged between 50 and 64 had increased by 41 per cent cent in the previous two and a half years, compared with 1 per cent overall.

In this dismal landscape, it is pleasing that ‘Fabulous Fashionistas’, older women with a flair for bright, distinctive dressing, were sought out and celebrated on TV last year. They were presented as role models for invisible women everywhere. The programme’s producer, Sue Bourne,confessed it had taken her two years to find the half dozen confidently colourful and stylish older women in the UK, but she’s hoping they are setting a trend. Perhaps Didion will boost that trend: her chic self-presentation mirrors her precise, elegant prose. Didion will never frighten the children, unlike the ‘old woman of skin and bones’ in the playground song, who goes ‘to the closet to get her broom’, and may fatten them up for supper. Didion represents instead the cheery resilience that the government and media look for in those older women who are allowed a certain visibility to tell us all how to grow old gracefully. We must all keep looking healthy and feisty; making few demands on others, and least of all on the public purse.

Didion offers the ironic detachment of a woman able to see through the duplicities and deceptions that any celebration of ageing cloaks, knowing that our culture continues to worship youth, and youth alone. Let’s rejoice that she can ride these contradictions, at least for now. As one young fashion model said, ‘It’s so cool, it hurts.’ Quite.

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Let’s join the fashion club; or how ‘Rihanna’s horror show’ may represent retail avant-garde

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This post was contributed by Dr Wendy Hein, a lecturer in the Department of Management.

We are still recovering from the glitz and glamour of London Fashion Week (LFW). Arguably, fashion is becoming the ‘big consumer sport of today’ – a participatory sport allowing us to virtually and materially reinvent ourselves. However, it is still an elite space – only those in the front row or the red carpet can legitimately claim their rightful place. There are a select few who seem to be in ‘the know’, while others are desperately trying to join this ‘club’.

New technologies ‘democratising’ fashion

The importance of fashion enthusiasts has not gone unnoticed in the haute couture circuit, and its doors are ajar to participation from outsiders. We could view this as a ‘democratising’ trend. Thanks to new technologies, we can now experience live shows streamed over the internet; we can select our favourite pieces and create an expressive collage of our ideal ‘me’ on Pinterest/Instagram/Tumblr, and can share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, and the many forms of digital exchange. Understanding the importance of these experiences and the size of the growing fashion industry helps us understand its gravity in today’s society. The good news may be that the trickle down from runway to reality is faster. Yet, the divide between the real insiders and outsiders persists. The magic of the front row may not be the same if it wasn’t for its exclusivity. On the other hand, ‘insiders’ would never be recognised for their competence and taste if it was not for fashion’s many fans.

Fashion collaborations

All of this takes place at a time when retail is struggling. With youth unemployment continuing to hit record figures in the UK, the list of retail closures appealing to youth markets is extensive.  High street fashion has, however, recognised the desire for design from the ‘common crowd’ and numerous collaborations have paved the way towards letting some of this fame and fortune rub off:  Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Lanvin, Versace or Marni for H&M; Valentino or Pierre Hardy for GAP; or Mary Katrantzou for Topshop.  The power of celebrity and popular culture has equally been tried and tested by retailers; think Topshop and Kate Moss, New Look and Kelly Brook, or H&M and David Beckham. Rather than a claim to design, these celebrities use their star power to lure customers into the shops.  While some retailers have made inroads to high fashion through collaborations, others have gained their own legitimate place in fashion show lineups. TheUS retailer JCrew has earned its place as a stable contributor toNew York fashion week, and the Olsen twins, as well as our very own Victoria Beckham in theUK have claimed their places amongst the fashion glitterati.

Rihanna and River Island

At London Fashion Week AW2013 we see similar scenarios and even a new mix of the above tried and tested formulae. One of the big surprises came with Rihanna presenting her new designs in collaboration with the UK retailer River Island. Her show certainly received marked attention, but not always positive. Of course, this may have been due to the ‘brand’ that Rihanna seeks to represent – rebellious, untamed and youthful (on a good day) –but may have also been linked to reactions of the high fashion club. The Daily Beast labelled it a ‘horror show’ and a ‘tiresome, underwhelming and uninspired marketing exercise’.  We may go along with the mantra that even bad press is good press, but despite these controversies, the deliberate nature of connecting Rihanna’s developing brand and River Island with the runway certainly found its critics. Serious fashion enthusiasts were quick to comment that this show was, once again, not part of the official LFW lineup. I was fortunate to be asked about my views in an interview prior to the show  and I clearly saw a potential mismatch between high fashion,RiverIsland and Rihanna. The homogeneity of audiences and their expectations may not have worked to their advantage. While there may certainly be promise in connecting the high street with haute couture, and pop star kudos with clothes, bringing all three together without extensive previous record may or may not have paid off. Rihanna and Versace – yes; Rihanna andRiverIsland – yes; but could there be a missing link between Rihanna,RiverIsland and LFW?

Marketing milestone or misplaced experiment?

Whether this experiment goes down as the new ‘retail avant-garde’ that will be adapted by others (possibly more experienced), or whether it will be remembered as a marketing experiment, is questionable. What is clear is that fashion continues to seek its share of the desire and exclusivity produced by art & design, but success may increasingly depend on how this is managed. Whether it was achieved in this instance is now up to consumers to decide.RiverIslandlargely depend on the technologies that have facilitated ‘fashion as a new consumer sport’, and the success of its campaign could highlight to what extent these are embraced by the broader (youth) public. It may also be interesting to observe the potential strategies of the fashion elite in creating a division between insiders and outsiders. As argued above, without this distinction, the exclusivity that outsiders crave may not exist.

Lastly, success may also depend on the price of this exclusivity. Rihanna’s line will hit the shops today (5 March 2013) but as I write this piece, prices are rumoured, but not confirmed byRiverIsland. With a youth struggling to find work, yet a retailer looking for fame in high fashion, I for one can’t wait to find out how this pans out.

Would you camp outsideRiverIsland’s store to get your share of Rihanna’s River Island designs?

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