Alumni
MBA Alumna Karen Zairi Lands Business Analyst Position at Luxury Fashion Company in Paris
Tell us about yourself and why you decided to pursue a career in
Paris.
My name is Karen Zairi. I received a Master’s in Business
Administration from FIDM in 2021. I was raised in Los Angeles and to
this day will always consider it home. Passionate about the fashion
industry, I decided to take on a new challenge: immerse myself into
the French savoir-faire and move to Paris! In May of 2022, I arrived
in Paris to learn French and kick-start my career in the luxury
fashion industry.
While attaining a master's degree from the Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to gain operational experience as a boutique associate at Aritzia, a vertically integrated design house with an innovative global platform. During the same time, I passed the exam to be a licensed real estate agent in California. Through my love for luxury fashion, real estate, and sustainability my goal has always been a way to combine these passions into a full-time career. Fortunately, I was able to find a job in Paris with The Bicester Collection which is a company that has built and owns 11 luxury fashion villages in Europe and Asia.
Could you tell us about your role at the Bicester Collection, as
well as what a typical day entails for you?
I work at La Valleé Village which is a village located in Paris.
I am part of a program called the Rising Executive. I work as a
business analyst for the retail team. My day-to-day job entails me to
analyze different KPI's (key performance indicators) for the village.
For example, we look at the nationalities of guests that come to
visit us, analyze the revenue of our individual stores, and figure
out new ways to capture our guests. I also look for new shops to
bring into the village specifically for our pop-up shops in Le Salon.
I am also looking for ways to improve our sustainability and find
ways to reduce our global footprint. Lastly, I am learning to work
with various AI software for both written assignments and also for
the marketing projects I am working on. So far this has been a great
experience and I am learning so much. The tools I am learning here
will prepare me for what my future has in store.
What made you choose FIDM for your MBA?
I chose FIDM
for my MBA because I wanted to go deeper into the luxury fashion
sector in my studies. FIDM has a great one-year MBA program that was
exactly what I was looking for. I also wanted to be back in my
hometown of Los Angeles. It was definitely the right decision.
What were some of the highlights of your time at FIDM? How did
the FIDM MBA prepare you for your career?
One of the
highlights of my time at FIDM was definitely the professors I had the
chance to learn from. The professors at FIDM are professionals in the
industry and I could really feel that in our lectures. They are
passionate about what they do and care deeply about their students'
success. My classmates were great and I love the diversity we had
within the cohort. My classes definitely prepared me for my career.
We learned about many business cases and also talked a lot about
where the industry is going in the next 10 years. This gave me a much
broader look on the industry as we analyzed the pros and cons of the
current environment. Another highlight was the focus FIDM put on
entrepreneurial studies. We had specific classes focused on how to
prepare us to become better and more successful entrepreneurs. This
was very important for me as I hope to also have my own business one
day.
