Lexa Armstrong

Columbia Business School

“Part artist, part strategist – designing a future where women feel more comfortable embracing their spotlight.”

Hometown: Dunedin, FL

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a performing arts enthusiast – particularly ballet – and have seen over 100 shows here in NYC!

Undergraduate School and Major: Columbia University (Columbia College), majored in English and Dance with a Special Concentration in Business Management

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Consultant, OC&C Strategy Consultants (NYC)

What makes New York City such a great place to earn an MBA? New York City is a hub of so many industries. Whatever your interests, chances are you can find it here.

That’s been particularly true for me as I’ve been working toward the launch of my fashion startup, Rushway. Just yesterday, I went from my core classes on campus, to visit my production partner in the Bronx, to source materials in the Garment District, then back uptown to a CBS club social. It’s amazing all you can see and do in a day here.

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? What makes CBS’s academics so spectacular is the faculty. In part, how many instructors are adjunct lecturers working at the forefront of their industry while teaching an elective course at CBS. The way our curriculum is structured, we complete most of our mandatory core classes in our first semester, leaving the next three semesters to explore the vast range of electives and curate our education. I want to explore across leadership, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and strategy courses – and the flexible curriculum enables this.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Columbia Business School? Starting in Orientation, every student takes a course called LEAD first semester that is a whistle-stop tour of areas like decision making, fostering inclusivity, and negotiations. Professor Modupe Akinola made it the most engaging course I’ve ever taken, really opening my eyes to the great depth and breadth of leadership education at CBS. Some classes include The Leader’s Voice – about honing your communication skills for coaching, public speaking, and facing audiences during crises. Another is Napoleon’s Glance – a course on fostering your “creative intuition” in business to recognize or even create opportunities for yourself or your company.

Looking at your recruitment, what was the moment when you realized Columbia Business School was the right program for you? Why? My CBS story began in undergrad, at Columbia’s Mendelson Center for Undergraduate Business Initiatives, where I took a handful of the core MBA courses. When I visited professors’ office hours, I was met with genuine interest, helpful advice, and their eagerness to stay updated on my next steps. I then heard about the Deferred Enrollment program and decided to apply, knowing I may eventually seek to return to the warm community I found at CBS.

Between its location (I love NYC too much to leave!) and the incredibly positive experience I had in undergrad, CBS was my top choice.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My former colleagues at OC&C Strategy Consultants are some of the smartest people I know – and their clients are often equally discerning – so expectations at the firm are high, and moments of exceeding them are really an accomplishment. In one of my last consulting projects before business school, I ended up driving forward a challenging project in my team member’s absence and was able to answer most of the client’s questions on the spot despite being relatively new to the space. It was an intense test of developing a robust business thesis under tight deadlines and felt like the perfect capstone to my experience.

What do you hope to do after graduation? My goal is to be working on Rushway full-time after graduation. So many women, including myself, wear clothing that is wildly uncomfortable for their love of fashion – and I don’t think we should have to choose between looking good and feeling good. I see a massive gap in the market for elevated styles that are exceptionally comfortable, so I am creating “secret athleisure”: party dresses, work pants, and other sophisticated clothing that you’d never know was athleisure!

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Columbia Business School’s MBA program? Do your research. Your story of “why CBS” will be far more compelling if you already have a sense of what classes or clubs you hope to join while on campus. Take advantage of the myriad of events hosted by the admissions office, most of which can be accessed virtually. I attended sessions on the Lang Entrepreneurship Center and the Retail and Luxury Goods Club before joining CBS. Go beyond just telling CBS that you want to engage with the community: show them how you already are!

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