Navigating Startup Life in an Aged Industry: Q&A with MMS Alumna Zoey Kang
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a Duke MMS and Fuqua alum, Zoey Kang. I spoke with her a little bit about her experience at Duke and how it has guided her post-graduate life. More specifically, she shared with me the valuable skills the MMS program provided her with and her advice to other students.
The responses below are paraphrased from a conversation held earlier in the semester and have been edited for clarity and length.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
To this day, I don’t have a proper elevator pitch. I’m a Korean-born, New Jersey-bred, golf and music-loving girl now working in the entertainment industry. I graduated from Duke undergrad in December of 2019. I went to Korea to spend some time with family, came back to the states to avoid Covid there, and then covid hit here and the job markets went bust. I ended up fortuitously enrolling in Fuqua’s program and now there are two MMS’ in my life. Here I am now working as a publicity coordinator at A24.
What can you tell me about your current role?
A24 is celebrating its 10 year anniversary next year, meaning it’s a super young company. In its short history, it has seen so much success. I look at it as a startup in a really aged industry. There is a lot of change and growth going on right now which I was hired in the midst of. I’m in public relations within an industry that is changing a lot. As people’s streaming and viewing patterns evolve, I'd love to stay here and see where all of the changes end up taking the company.
What did you anticipate studying when you came to Duke?
I really had no idea what I wanted to study going into college. I listed interests as computer science, linguistics, and neuroscience. I did a focus program in linguistics and ended up taking an intro to AMI course by chance my freshman spring; this really changed the rest of my college career path. I ended up majoring in Visual Media Studies with Arts of the Moving Image and MMS certificates.
What were your biggest takeaways from the MMS program?
It taught me about innovation. This sounds really broad, but I didn't have a grasp on the concept of innovation and how it applies to the business world. I feel like it’s something that can be taught in many different ways and is something I’m seeing a lot of right now in my workplace. My company is a very young company, especially in the scope of the entertainment industry. In addition to this, I really appreciated how important it is to have a diversity in whatever field of interest you're in. The certificate spanned different topics and touched different departments which taught me how valuable it is not to be siloed into one place. It established a great foundation for my year at Fuqua.
I think the MMS program enables people to be successful in business fields even without a specific business program. A lot of people do this if they're interested remotely in the business field. I think, because of its diversity, it establishes a great background.
How would you compare your experience in the MMS undergrad program with the Fuqua MMS program?
The undergrad MMS program prepared me very well. It established a foundation that I otherwise wouldn’t have had because my other majors were in completely different fields. I gained a lot of my quantitative skills through the MMS certificate. I took a vast array of courses with incredible professors that really piqued my interest in business-related topics which ultimately inspired me to do the Fuqua program.
What has been your experience as a woman in the business field?
Amongst the women that are around me, there’s a lot of support and understanding. I was definitely more aware of my role as a woman during my academic experience as an Asian woman in a very traditionally white and male-dominated industry, but PR is a very female-dominated sector, and I find there is a lot of empathy for one another.
Do you have any advice you would share with your younger self or anyone in that position now?
My advice is to really take advantage of all the resources while you have them. I love music and was heavily involved in it extracurricularly, but I wish I had pursued it academically. Try everything that Duke has to offer, whether that’s academic or extracurricular or social; take advantage of every minute. Don't wait until senior year to try things. Overall, I’m really grateful that the MMS certificate doesn't only include classes in one department. It’s definitely an interdisciplinary certificate which I’ve really come to appreciate throughout the years.
Katherine Vieser is a senior majoring in Psychology, minoring in Political Science, and pursuing the MMS Certificate. She is currently an MMS Student Ambassador.