Profile Evaluation - 740 GMAT, Banking/Music experience

Jen, thanks so much for your detailed reply. Really glad to hear that my two host cities, London and Milan, treated you well!

It's encouraging to hear your feedback. Especially your analysis of potential weaknesses, if not addressed properly in the application, is super useful. My story is peculiar, which as you say is good to stand out, but I agree I need to be very clear to the AdCom on what has driven my choices and my path. And how MBA will help drive this path forward to where I want to go. Good news is - it's all very clear in my head, I just need to refine the short/mid/long version of the pitch.

Re your points:

1) career path. There clearly is one major turning point - Banking to Music, which sounds somewhat crazy. But not random, knowing my full background! I think this actually can work in my favour if explained properly. Despite having brilliantly graduated in Finance just 6 months earlier, feeling huge peer pressure, working for a high-salary high-prestige company, etc. I was brave enough to listen to my inner voice. I felt VERY unhappy with my life as a junior M&A inv banker (plus it was Autumn 2008, which made things worse!), and I decided to take the helm of my life. I could have chosen a finance job with less intense working hours - but no, I decided to take a step forward, and use my skills to do what I truly loved. Music had been my overwhelming passion since I was 9 years old, as my extra curricular activities show. I taught myself how to play several instruments, how to professionally record music, and I wrote/self-released a few records in my spare time. I even turned a profit from all cd sales (not including in the P&L a value for my own time spent playing/recording, but that is priceless!). When I decided to have a shot to the music industry, I realised that my strong quantitative skills, which I had developed through my studies and 10 months overall at Morgan Stanley, would be golddust for an industry in transition from simple CD sales to complex digital/streaming models. That's how I pitched myself to Universal back in early 2009, that's how I was promoted to a Head role at 27, about 5 to 7 years less than the average age. Five years later, I feel I turned a potential failure into a success story.

2) goals. My current role is de facto already within my target industry (Digital Content / Internet Services), perhaps just at the edge of it. Hence the "slight" industry change. As one of many examples, if I negotiate a deal with Apple on iTunes Radio, for distribution of rights owned by my employer, I need to be aware and try to model out the tiniest details of their business plan, product features, strategic positioning, marketing activity, etc. The huge difference being that iTunes Radio is Apple's product, not something I have any input on. In the last few years I realised that developing and bringing to market a digital product, especially if with cutting-edge technology and great vision, is exactly what excites the most. So the big plan for next phase of my life would be to leave the record company, after a gratifying experience, and to transition my knowledge/skills into one of the big Tech companies I already interact with. Not necessarily on a music digital service though. An MBA would help me (i) get more exposure on the wider target industry, beyond digital music products; (ii) get wider knowledge on functions/management principles I am currently not exposed to on a day to day basis (my role is mainly Commercial); (iii) develop further my leadership and innovation skills.

Let me know if you think any of the above is still obscure. I will work very hard on the essays, because I know that they will be the make-or-break factor of my application. And I will reach out for a 30-min session if I feel the need in the near future.

Many thanks again - warm regards from cold London!