Discover what our postgraduate alumni have gone on to achieve and how studying at the School helped them in their careers.
Neil Shah studied MSc Marketing and was Global Marketing Director, Smirnoff at Diageo in New York City for over two years, before recently returning to the UK to take up a new role within the company as Head of Guinness, GB. Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with over 200 brands sold in 180 countries.
While studying Biochemistry for his undergrad, Neil took classes in Psychology, which sparked a fascination in consumer decision making which led him towards a master’s and, subsequently, a career, in marketing.
“Studying an MSc in Marketing at Queen Mary helped build a foundation of marketing and business management which has been helpful within the more strategic aspects of my job. More broadly, the course has also been useful when coaching others on the functional aspects of marketing.”
Following his master’s, Neil took part in Virgin Media’s Marketing Graduate Programme, which gave him a holistic understanding of the core elements of brand management and how a marketing department works.
Neil loves his job as it means he gets to speak to people all over the world and is able to work across the marketing mix.
“I’m most proud of contributing to the development of people I have worked with and seeing them succeed, the brands I have been part of growing, and the deep connections I’ve been able to make all over the world as a result of working at a multinational company like Diageo.”
Gemma had always dreamed of moving to the UK from Australia and, after struggling to break into her preferred industry at home, she moved to London to pursue a master's degree in Heritage Management. During her degree, Gemma did four internships in different departments of Royal Historic Palaces, which gave her a fantastic glimpse into how a heritage organisation is run. She graduated in 2020 and, despite the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns, found a job as Assistant Centre Manager at a museum and library in Wales. Her future dream role is to be a curator working in a fashion and textiles collection or a presenter for historical documentaries.
“I love getting to work in a museum! My passion is social history and the museum I currently work in has a large collection of everyday items, but also archaeological artefacts, which means I get to work with a large range of objects. Every day is different; one day I am monitoring pests, the next could be spent in the archives hunting for a mysterious object or filling out paperwork like new loans agreements or acquisition forms. I am really looking forward to when the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic reduce, and we can start to reopen, and I can work more closely with the local community and school groups.”
Originally from Lebanon, Mohammad moved to London to study MSc International Financial Management and now works as a Consultant at Deloitte Middle East.
After receiving offers from many universities in the UK and Europe, Mohammad chose Queen Mary because of its worldwide reputation, world class teaching level and the beautiful campus in London.
While working on his dissertation, Mohammad interviewed with multiple firms, one of which was Deloitte. He received several offers in consulting, and directly after graduating from Queen Mary, he joined Deloitte as a Business Analyst and worked his way up to become a Consultant within two years.
“The year I spent at Queen Mary was much more than just studying to obtain a master’s degree. For me, it was a year of soul searching; finding out what I like and what I don’t like in terms of a future career. All of the support available at Queen Mary helps you decide what you want to do moving forward, at least that’s what it did for me, in addition to the great technical skills I acquired from my MSc program.”
Bekeme Masade-Olowola studied International Human Resource Management MSc, and is the Founder and Chief Executive of CSR-in-Action, a conglomerate of 3 businesses with a mission to redefine the sustainability terrain in Africa.
Prior to joining Queen Mary, Bekeme had informally started her career as an entrepreneur, making her first million by the age of 20. Upon completing her studies, she appeared as a contestant on The Apprentice Africa, which led to a role with the show’s sponsor, Bank HB.
Now, Bekeme runs the leading Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability firm in the country, CSR-in-Action, which was founded 10 years ago, and is partner at a reputation management firm, Zenera Consulting, amongst other businesses that she is involved in. Bekeme says it’s no coincidence that her two favourite courses at Queen Mary – Organisational Consultancy and Organisation Theory – are very much the foundation for what she does today; consulting and advocating for healthy institutions through probing closely and developing interventions that facilitate those thriving systems. Bekeme primarily works in sustainability consulting, advocacy and training, where she provides support services to institutions – business and government - and sometimes individuals, that helps them incorporate sound economic, environmental, social and governance practices within their corporate structures.
“My work has put me in board and other leadership positions, including becoming the first West African on the board of the leading sustainability standard-setter, the Global Reporting Initiative, Amsterdam, and the Nigerian version of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Business Coalition for Sustainable Development Nigeria.”