“It's very important to have people with different experiences in a room to be able to think about a problem creatively. You don’t want to create an echo chamber.”
Eme Caiafas
LBS Annual Fund Scholarship | Director – Global Vaccines Marketing, Merck
When Eme found herself working in a sector that she didn’t feel passionate about, she knew she had to make a change. London Business School (LBS) gave her the skills and space to find her path – and helped her grow an invaluable international network. She now works with purpose for an organisation that develops vaccines and benefits people on a global scale.
My story is about taking the time you need to find your path. I was always very drawn to healthcare and wanted to be a doctor when I was child. But after moving to the UK when I was 12 years old, my interests moved in a different academic direction. Eventually, I decided to study chemical engineering and spent my early career pursuing that field instead.
After a few years, I realised it just wasn’t my passion. I still really wanted to work in healthcare and do something that would benefit people – but I wasn’t sure how to make the switch without going to medical school. Business school felt like an opportunity to start afresh and explore new options – and that’s when I decided to apply to LBS for my MBA.
LBS was the perfect choice for me because of how global it is. I immediately knew that studying there would be invaluable in terms of building a large, diverse network – especially for someone like me, who wanted to change sector.
“During my time at LBS my confidence really grew and the camaraderie meant I never felt alone.”
“Having exposure to people from so many backgrounds helped me gain a much better understanding of where I was going.”
From the moment you start studying, you become part of a rock-solid network. You bond over your shared experience, and I have made friends for life. There were former consultants, medical doctors – you name it. I don’t think I’ve ever been in another environment where I had access to such a variety of profiles.
It made me realise there were so many opportunities out there. Hearing about other people’s journeys helped me better understand where I was going – and what to do for my next chapter. I don’t think I could have had that experience anywhere else.
I used my time to explore different careers and began to figure out what I was going to do long term. Post-MBA, I initially went down the consulting path because I knew it would develop my skills and give me the flexibility, credibility and applicable skills while I worked out my niche and where I wanted to be.
As a consultant I did a lot of work specifically with pharma clients, which brought me a step closer to my childhood ambitions, of working in the healthcare space. But I knew I still wanted to get closer to the actual impact where I would be able to have more of an influence. My exposure and time working with these clients positioned me to make the jump.
“What I’m doing now aligns so much more with my values of having a positive impact on people versus my early career.”
“Apart from taking the time to find your purpose and path, if I had any more general advice for someone coming into a new career, I’d say that wherever you work, it’s important to find your people.”
Now, my career experience spans 3 continents and I work in pharmaceuticals in North America. I’m a director of global vaccine marketing for Merck and operate in a Chief of Staff capacity. Each morning, I wake up and feel connected to a bigger purpose, and seeing the impact of our work is powerful. It’s super exciting to contribute to the strategy where you know your end goal is so tangible – preventing disease. What I’m doing now aligns so much more with my values of having a positive impact on people versus my early career.
It's not just about this big impact though, on a one-to-one level I just want to leave a positive mark on those I interact with and make sure people know I care. Years from now, you’re not going to remember the PowerPoint slides you made, you'll remember the relationships that you had.
Apart from taking the time to find your purpose and path, if I had any more general advice for someone coming into a new career, I’d say that wherever you work, it’s important to find your people. If you can find those people – and they don’t necessarily need to be on your team – you’ll always feel like you belong. I’m seeing more and more companies doing a great job of hiring outside of the typical mould and it means teams can think more creatively about solutions, because everyone brings that different perspective from their lived experience. And of course, the more diverse your workplace is, the easier it is to find your people.
