Kelly Lansing

Why are you doing this? That’s what Kelly Lansing’s friends and colleagues asked when she enrolled in an MBA program. Her answer was: Why wouldn’t I?

“At first, people were confused,” says Kelly, a junior creative executive at The Walt Disney Company. “Why would a creative person with a great job leave it to do an MBA?”

First of all, Kelly, who has several years’ experience in the entertainment sector, didn’t have to leave her great job to enroll in Questrom’s Online MBA (OMBA). And second, when she thought about her industry’s future, she saw the writing on the wall.

“Over the past two years, I’ve seen the industry become more of a business,” Kelly says. “I’ve seen layoffs and reorganizations, and whole departments disappearing. One day, I want to be in the room making those decisions, not be at the mercy of them.”

Kelly has expertise in a variety of areas, including script and story development, casting, production coordination, producing, script and sketch writing, film finance, product placement, brand integration, distribution, talent management, and marketing for television and film. But as she looks ahead, she sees herself eventually moving into a role like senior or executive vice president. And in the OMBA program, she’s already learning to think like one.

For her capstone project this year, Kelly explored how Disney plans to catch up to the streaming giant Netflix, the company’s biggest competitor. “My industry is transforming. It’s in a new frontier of innovation. And right now, the future seems to be streaming,” she says. “Disney+ signed up 100 million subscribers faster than anyone thought possible. Our goal is to surpass Netflix in viewership by 2024.”

With her new MBA in hand, no matter what happens in the entertainment industry, Kelly will be prepared for what’s next. “I’m investing in myself and my future,” she says. “It’s an invaluable experience.

“I’M INVESTING IN MYSELF AND MY FUTURE. IT’S AN INVALUABLE EXPERIENCE.”

– Kelly Lansing