Juliet Powell

Cambridge Judge Business School

“Energetic, intelligent, driven, empathetic, enthusiastic, ambitious, curious, determined – most importantly, kind!”

Hometown: Cambridge, UK

Fun fact about yourself: I absolutely love hiking! I’ve completed a charity trek to Everest Base Camp with Hope for Children, and I’ve also hiked from one side of central America to the other with Raleigh International: Pacific Coast to the Caribbean Sea. Next on my list is Mount Kilimanjaro…

Undergraduate School and Degree: BA (Hons) Politics – University of Exeter

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? I worked as a Senior Client Manager for Hudson Sandler, a communications and strategy consultancy based in London. I specialised in corporate communications and crisis management consultancy for multinationals in the tech and finance sectors.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? As the Cambridge Judge Business School MBA is a one-year course, I was working in corporate communications and crisis management strategy before the course started in Sept 2023.

Where will you be working after graduation? I’m exploring several avenues currently, but I’m looking at marketing strategy roles in New York City.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: 

Leadership Roles

It has been a real honour to co-found and co-chair the AI Special Interest Group at Cambridge Judge. My co-chairs and I hosted the first ever AI Open Day at CJBS, with speakers from MBB firms to start-ups harnessing AI tools. We also organised AI career sessions with alumni for our fellow MBAs, to give them a flavour of how to incorporate AI into their future careers. My personal favourite event was the AI clinic – we organised ‘meet-up’ sessions for computer scientists and business school students to exchange ideas and further understand the intersection of business and AI. Watch this space!

Community Roles

I am a mentor at the Cambridge University Women in Business Society. In my life and career, I have been mentored by so many fantastic women, and I feel humbled and honoured to give back to undergraduates of the University. The drive and intelligence of the women I have met has been beyond inspirational!

At the University of Cambridge, there are 31 colleges – all unique in character and steeped in history. Many of my cohort says it reminds them of Hogwarts! My college is St Catharine’s College which was founded in 1473 and celebrated its 550-year anniversary last year.  I was nominated by my college and senior tutor to serve as a committee member of St Catharine’s College’s Alumni Society. It is a real pleasure to be on the committee, engaging with alumni and being part of such a historic and vibrant community – here’s to the next 550 years!

I am also part of Cambridge University Athletic Club, the oldest track and field club in the world. Being part of the University team has been a real highlight of my time at Cambridge and I owe that to my brilliant coach and fellow athletes. The community at Cambridge is unparalleled – go light blues!

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? My proudest moment of the Cambridge MBA so far was giving a presentation at the House of Lords in the UK Parliament. As part of our MBA course, we take part in the Cambridge Venture Project (CVP), which is a consultancy project for domestic firms or charities. My team project was with Diversity UK – an equality charity that advocates and promotes ideas for improving diversity and inclusion in the tech industry in Britain. It seeks to influence policy, enhance civic engagement, and improve the perception of the minority ethnic communities in Britain.

Our client was fantastic, and it was a fascinating project to work on and a cause which is very close to my heart. My team and I were fortunate enough to be invited by our client to present our findings to their key stakeholders in the House of Lords. It was such an incredible experience, and the team and I were honoured to give a talk in the heart of the UK’s Government.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? In my work as a consultant, I am most proud of leading Alibaba Group’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion communications strategy in London. Tmall Luxury Pavilion is the largest online destination in China for luxury brands and it is a pioneer when it comes to digital innovation in the luxury sector. I headed a fantastic team and designed, delivered, and managed a targeted marketing and corporate communications campaign to reach key stakeholders across multiple audiences. The campaigns I managed exceeded KPIs, and our team worked well together. I learnt a lot, very quickly and the exposure to the Chinese market and the extraordinary tech in the Alibaba Group ecosystem was an invaluable learning experience. I am proud of what I achieved in this leadership role – establishing a trusting collaborative team dynamic whilst also delivering above client expectations.

Why did you choose this business school? The University of Cambridge is one of the best universities in the entire world. For over 800 years, Cambridge has pioneered groundbreaking research across multiple disciplines, and that is such a powerful legacy to be a part of. Membership of the University and the Colleges enables me to network with and meet a plethora of different people, from Astrophysics PhD candidates to Social Anthropology Fellows. These connections across the University can lead to the genesis of innovative ideas – or at the very least, an interesting conversation!

Looking at the Cambridge MBA specifically, I was really drawn to the collaborative and practical nature of the course, especially the many consulting projects. The diversity of the cohort was also a huge draw – it’s been such a joy to learn from people who have a completely different background to my own. I also wanted to get exposure to the ‘Silicon Fen’ tech ecosystem and the entrepreneurial hub that is thriving in Cambridge. There are lots of exciting entrepreneurs in Cambridge – it’s great to be so close to all this innovation!

Who was your favorite MBA professor? That’s such a difficult question! The teaching at Cambridge Judge has been brilliant across the board. If I had to pick, I would say Associate Professor Philip Stiles. His lectures on Organisational Behaviour and Leadership were particularly thought-provoking and engaging. Understanding the relationship between individual and group behaviour and organisational performance has been fascinating and will be really useful practically. Philip also makes time to meet and engage one-on-one with students. As someone interested in leadership and managing organisational culture, I have found his insights extremely useful.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? I really enjoyed the Negotiations Lab taught by Professor David Reiner. The MBA course provides a safe environment to negotiate differences, whilst also trying different negotiating styles and analytical techniques with people who inhabit completely worlds to you. The practical nature of the course helps you recognise your own strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator, but also to understand the interest of other people and these relationships can drive value. It really challenges perceptions of yourself, whilst providing an opportunity to practice soft skills and learn from your peers. I’d urge everyone to take it!

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? A tradition that I love at Cambridge is the culture sharing across the cohort. Out of 226 MBA students, there are 45 nationalities. We’ve all celebrated Diwali, Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year and had a Japan Night – to mention but a few. It’s been awesome to learn about such a diverse range of cultures and experiences that make up our MBA group. On a side note, I’ve had some of the best food of my life this year thanks to my cohort!

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? For every MBA student, the experience is so fast paced and exciting – there’s so much to do and so many wonderful people to meet. Yet it does mean that it can be easy to move on from one thing to the next quickly. In extremis, you can get a bit overwhelmed.

What I would do differently from the start is to take a moment regularly to reflect on the experiences I have had and how far we have all come. Now that we’re getting to the end of the MBA experience, I try to allot time to appreciate the experiences I’ve had here as well as the lovely people around me. I would recommend this to any new MBA student at the start of their journey!

What is the biggest myth about your school? As the University of Cambridge was established 814 years ago, it has a strong historical legacy. But what’s so exciting about being at Cambridge Judge Business School now, is being so close to the innovations that are coming out of the start-up scene in the ‘Silicon Fen’. The technological ecosystem in Cambridge is so fast-paced, and the discoveries and developments happening in this area, be it AI, deep tech, clean tech, are groundbreaking. It’s really cool!

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Well – I’m Cambridge born and bred. But being a student in my hometown is a completely different experience, it feels like I’m experiencing it for the first time. I’m still struck by the magic of the buildings, the people, and the atmosphere here. Being part of Cambridge’s legacy is an honour and is very empowering – it makes you feel like you can do and achieve anything.

What surprised you the most about business school? I’ve been really struck by how much you can learn in one year at business school. The professors at Cambridge Judge are at the cutting-edge of research in multiple areas of the business field. Plus, my MBA colleagues and classmates are some of the brightest and driven people I have ever met. Once you get to business school, your horizons expand more than you could ever had imagined.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Gosh – there are so many I admire. It’s incredible to be in the same cohort as such talented and driven people, I’ve learned so much from so many people in my cohort! Someone who has been such a source of strength and support to the cohort is the lovely and talented Vianny Gomezgil Yaspik. She has gone above-and-beyond to support her peers and has shown herself to be a real advocate for women and minorities within the workplace and here at Cambridge. As an Economics PhD, she hosted exam revision sessions for our whole cohort ahead of our exams and she was always on hand to answer any questions. In addition to her PhD, she holds multiple leadership positions across the university, including Vice Captain of the University of Cambridge’s Women’s 1st XV Rugby team. And to top it off she is fluent in six languages! She handles herself with such grace, generosity, humility, and I feel very lucky to call her my colleague and friend. I can’t wait to see her take on the world.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1) A big career objective of mine is to work with or establish a mentorship program to encourage more women leaders in different areas of business, from marketing to finance to entrepreneurship. Representation and diversity of thought matters.

2) At some stage of my career, I would also like to manage and run a company.

What made Juliet such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“Juliet Powell is a star of the MBA class. She is an invaluable addition to the class of 2024 for three big reasons. First, she always brings her great intellect to the class – she is excellent at presenting her insights and experience to the group and always enhancing and enriching the discussions we have. She has a very interesting and rich background, and her observations and comments bring this richness to others.

Second, she is a great social presence on the MBA. Her co-founding of the AI Special Interest Group at Cambridge Judge Business School is a wonderful example of commitment to the group and shows her desire to go beyond the norm and establish something really important for the MBA Class of 2024. Juliet’s mentorship role at the University of Cambridge, Women in Business Society, is another great example of her enriching community life at the School.

The third reason is her embracing of the social side of MBA life. She is a committed athlete and runs at the University Athletics Club. The MBA we believe should be a life enhancing experience, not just in terms of the content of courses but in taking in the networks and events and the societies that the University of Cambridge has to offer. Juliet is a wonderful exemplar in this. It is clear from her ambitions that she has a great future ahead of her and I am sure she will achieve her goals.”

Philip Stiles
Associate Professor of Corporate Governance
Co-Director of the Centre for International Human Resource Management (CIHRM)

DON’T MISS: THE 100 BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAs: CLASS OF 2024