Katherine (Kat) Elliott-Moskwa

Columbia Business School

“Art specialist passionate about female printmakers, die-hard Rita Sodi/Jody Williams fan, squash enthusiast (the sport, not the vegetable).”

Hometown: Princeton, NJ

Fun Fact About Yourself: I once cooked an eight-course meal with the late, great Anthony Bourdain.

Undergraduate School and Major: Brown University, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History of Art and Architecture

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Sotheby’s, Associate Specialist in the Prints & Multiples Department and Buy Now Marketplace

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of Columbia Business School’s MBA curriculum programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Leveraging its location in NYC, I wanted to immerse myself in the epicenter of the global art world and strengthen the relationships that I already cultivated, CBS therefore was my immediate first choice. Aside from classmates and location, which truly is hard to brush aside, I was drawn to The Chazen Institute and their Global Immersion program. I hope to capitalize on the access to world class executives through the Executives in Residences Program as well as the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization, which will provide a great introduction to the NYC startup ecosystem.

 What has been your first impression of the Columbia Business School MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best CBS story so far. After speaking with many students and alumni, I was immediately struck by CBS’s collaborative, close-knit community. These meetings underscored how the community supports yet challenges one another and it also highlighted the enduring strength of the alumni network. Every person was an incredible, active listener who was genuinely curious about learning more about my journey and quick to point me to another colleague who can share more insights. They were insatiable for knowledge and I soon had a long list of people that I can turn to for advice before I even arrived on campus.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Columbia Business School? I had the great pleasure of attending one of Dr. Sheena Iyengar’s virtual seminars, Innovation Salon. I previously listened to her TED talk, The Art of Choosing, and her Columbia Bizcast interview on choice and implications for business leaders. I am very excited to take one of her seminars once I start school and to see how her research can be applied to the modernization of the art world.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far AND What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? My biggest accomplishment was helping to manage Sotheby’s Prints department’s transition to regularly scheduled online-only sales and overseeing the department’s new Auction Estimate Platform. These experiences showed me the necessity of bringing the art world into the 21st century and cemented my goal to work at the intersection of business, technology, and art. Post-MBA, I hope to join an online art market platform in a corporate strategy role and bring more of a quantitative perspective to the art world or transition to early-stage consumer venture capital to help fund the next generation of art startups.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? I highly recommend Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat, which tells the true story of nine working-class boys from the American West who aspire to succeed in the elite sport of rowing and ultimately win Gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Determination, perseverance, and heart prevail in this gripping story, which I re-read as I was applying for school and, as a non-traditional candidate, I really resonated with the “underdog” themes.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? N/A

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Columbia Business School’s MBA program? My advice to potential applicants is to talk to as many current students and alumni as possible. Stay true to yourself and really think about YOUR story and what you want to do after business school. Also, be as specific as possible – find out what classes are a “can’t miss”, what clubs you’re interested in, and try to sit in on some classes either virtually or in person.

DRAFT: MEET COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL’S MBA CLASS OF 2024