Taylor Golden: From US politics to tech operations

Why did you choose to do an MBA?

I started in politics, in US politics. I worked on campaigns and in the US senate. I was a scheduling director. I pivoted to real estate for a few years, but ended up working in tech and doing tech operations. What attracted me to getting an MBA, what really drove me to make this jump across the pond was I really needed the credibility. 

I wanted to be able to make my own decisions and to have my own impact on an office, on a company, or on an organisation. I really wanted the experience to go back and learn and remember what it was like to have the joy of learning again. 

Why did you choose Cambridge in the UK for your MBA studies?

I had studied at Cambridge when I was in high school over a summer. It was an incredible experience that I knew I always wanted to replicate, and I wasn’t really interested in a two-year programme, but really wanted to end up in a place like Cambridge and having this full Cambridge experience. 

What has your MBA year been like?

My favourite thing about this programme and working on the Cambridge Venture PRoject (CVP) and the Global Consulting Porject (GCP) has been the study groups. There’s something really brilliant about the way that the programme’s team built the study groups. Now, I had incredible groups and an incredible experience because they built such diverse groups. Your diverse based on culture, former profession, experience, age and stage of life. 

 It’s an incredible opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds and experiences, come together, work as a group, and problem-solve collectively. You reach a point where you feel like you’ve learned not only through the classes, but also a lot about yourself. It has been the defining experience. What I think is unique about Cambridge Judge is the idea of these study groups: you work with different groups each term, but you get enough time with each group to really get to know people and share in their lives. That’s been incredible! 

What has been a highlight of the MBA programme for you?

Tailoring the choices across the programme is really one of the keys to understanding what brings you joy. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to be in this position to find, I think exactly the right fit of what brings me joy, what I really enjoy doing, and where I think I can provide value to a company in the future. I don’t know if everyone who attends an MBA could possibly say that their entire cohort is a really incredible group of people, but there’s something extremely special about the way that Admissions chooses the type of cohort and the type of people that they want to have both in the class and then represent them in the future. I think that it’s unique in the way that we have really all come together and support each other. So I think the cohort is really what makes Cambridge Judge special.