2017 MBAs To Watch: Constance Kratsa, University of Oxford (Saïd)

Constance Kratsa

Said Business School, Oxford University

“I am an open and creative person that is constantly curious to explore new things.”

Age: 32

Hometown: Athens, Greece

Fun fact about yourself: I love theater and I recently won an award for a short play I wrote and directed at an international festival (Short+Sweet). I had formed a theater group called Thespis Greek Theatre that raised $30k from our shows to support homeless people in Greece.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Queen Mary, University of London – Law & Economics BA with Hons & University College London – Corporate & Commercial Law LLM.

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? After working for L’Oreal in Europe (Paris, Athens and London) in marketing, I moved to Dubai where I became Head of Marketing for Middle East and Africa at International Flavors & Fragrances.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2016? I did not have to intern but I decided to spend part of my summer volunteering at a refugee camp on Samos island, in Greece.

Where will you be working after graduation? I am interviewing at the moment and exploring different options.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: WEF Global Shapers Member and Scholar (Working on a refugee project); Effective Altruism Representative for Kellogg College & SBS (Supporting the Oxford EA campaigns within the business school); Executive Director & Curator of TEDxOxbridge 2017 (Organizing a TEDx event on Post-Truth with teams from Oxford & Cambridge).

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I enjoyed focusing on the quantitative courses in the first term and it was very rewarding to receive distinction marks for our group assignments on Accounting & Analytics, during which we built a strong bonding relationship with the team. I am also honoured to have been selected to lead TEDxOxbridge, which will take place in Oxford in May 2017 and we will address the issue of Post-Truth from different perspectives and industries.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I launched best-selling products globally that had a great impact on local communities around the world, when I was a Marketing Manager at the HQ of the Body Shop (L’Oreal). That was a wonderful experience and a great example of marketing with purpose.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Dr Siddharth Arora is a professor with a wonderful personality that had great passion for his course. He managed to show us with creative interactive examples how statistics can be interesting and powerful in our lives.

What was your favorite MBA Course and what was the biggest insight you gained about business from it? Strategy is my favourite course. We have the opportunity to examine the decisions companies take under different circumstances and to evaluate them. Strategy is a course that helps with decisions at a professional but also personal level.

Why did you choose this business school? I was very honoured to receive an offer with a full scholarship for the MBA programme. I believe that it is a top business school, especially when it comes to responsible leadership, business with impact and social entrepreneurship. Oxford’s Said is leading the way in this field.

What did you enjoy most about business school in general? The people are a big part of what makes this Business School unique, including the diverse cohort of students, the experienced professors, and the frequent guest speakers visiting and sharing their unique experiences with us.

What was the most surprising thing about business school for you? The fact that SBS is embedded in a larger university with such great history and heritage. Although this may be written in the brochure, you only really understand what it entails after arriving in Oxford. There are always so many interesting events going on and so many unique experiences to discover.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Before you apply, you should realise that what differentiates Oxford from most universities is the importance of making an impact to the world. Think of ways that you have made impact and how you want to continue after your MBA. Once you succeed in your admission, you have to be well organised with clear priorities to make the most of your year.

What is the biggest myth about your school? That Oxonians are snobs and self-centred.

What was your biggest regret in business school? Not having a 2-year programme at Saïd Business School in order to dwell into more activities and the different opportunities at Said and the greater Oxford University.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? It is Farnam Bidgoli because she is a bright and inspiring person. She is very knowledgeable and studious with time for an active social life full of events and sports (rowing and fencing). Parallel to her MBA, she has set-up the Oxford chapter of Techfugees.

“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I understood what Said Business School stood for and how important it is to create future leaders that will have a positive impact to the world.”

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…still working in Dubai but possibly exploring new opportunities.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would turn the MBA into a 2-year programme and I would try to make all courses more practical with real-life examples.

What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? It would be to find the sweet spot of business with social impact. To work in a corporate structure that will be contributing to society via responsible leadership.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents. They have given me everything in life and they continue to endlessly support all my choices.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? As a cheerful open person that is authentic and reliable as well as cooperative and hard-working.

Favorite book: Aristotle’s Poetics

Favorite movie or television show: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Favorite musical performer: Florence and the Machine

Favorite vacation spot: My family holiday home on Ikaria island in Greece!

Hobbies? Debating, theatre acting and fencing.

What made Constance such an invaluable addition to the class of 2017?

“Constance Krasta’s positive, creative and driven personality has been a perfect fit for Oxford Saïd. Her work as a WEF Global Shaper and high level of involvement with events throughout the year earned her the respect of faculty, staff and fellow students alike. With strong talents in marketing, strategy, accounting and analytics, I believe Constance has a very successful future ahead of her.”

Ian Rogan

MBA Programme Director

 

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: THE STORIES OF 100 EXTRAORDINARY GRADUATES FROM THE CLASS OF 2017