About
Name: Sarah Lester
Nationality: Australian
Programme: MBA 2019
Education: BA Chinese Language & Studies, BCom Finance, Melbourne, AUS
Current role: Equity Research, Morgan Stanley, London, UK
Pre-MBA role: Professional Triathlete, Australian Representative
Sarah is a recipient of the Forté Foundation Fellowship.
What stood out about the academic learning experience for you? What were your favourite courses and what impact did they have on you?
As much as any MBA tends to gravitate toward the more ‘black and white’ and tangibly challenging subject material, I actually find myself regularly adopting skills learned through the more qualitative Management Praxis classes. As much as I thought I had experienced (and therefore knew about) working in varying group dynamics, I have been amazed at how much I have referred back to the Management Praxis teachings since leaving the MBA.
Please tell us about the standout elements of the Cambridge experience or extra-curricular activities you had during your MBA.
The standout for me was undoubtedly the cohort. My MBA cohort feels like one big family and nothing emphasised that like our return to Cambridge for our COVID-delayed graduation. It was like a family reuniting and just so underscored for me how incredibly fortunate I have been to have had this experience.
What aspect of the MBA learning/experience would you say you find most useful now in your professional life?
The compelling combination of a diverse cohort and lecturers with real world experience provided the perfect environment in which to learn. The supportive culture also fostered a feeling of safety to be academically brave, enabling us to take risks and to really genuinely test our ideas and to ultimately maximise our learning. I have taken this into my career post MBA, frequently catching myself asking questions, digging deeper and being more ‘academically brave’ than I had previously been prior to the MBA.
Did you switch any of the following after your MBA – function, sector, country?
I switched country – moving from Australia to the UK. I technically switched career, having been a professional athlete immediately prior to the MBA. However I had earlier performed the same equities role for the same investment bank (but in Australia) that I am now with in London.
How has the MBA influenced your career journey in general?
I came to the MBA with a career goal and although I am now fortunate enough to have achieved that, the MBA provided me the room to really consider my options. I was able to dabble in the world of consulting and case workshops and to truly ask myself if returning to an investment bank was what I genuinely wanted. It was, and thankfully I was made the offer I so desperately wished for. But I will be forever thankful to the MBA for opening my world up to so many different career paths, such that I could continue down my path without a doubt in my mind that it was the right one for me.
What would you say to others working at the same company you did before your MBA – would you recommend the Cambridge MBA and why?
I have told everyone and anyone that the Cambridge MBA is an unparalleled year of learning, of self-growth and a year from which you emerge with the most amazing lifelong friends. It’s not purely what you get out of an MBA at the end, it’s the year itself that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will go down as one of (if not ‘the’) best years of your life.
Entrepreneurship and innovation
Our MBA Forté Foundation scholars share their experiences at Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) supports an active and engaged female community of future business leaders. Here we meet and talk to two leading women, both from the finance sector and both recipients of the Cambridge MBA Forté Foundation scholarship.