Yogmaya Singh and Bhavika Mahtani are artists at heart. Singh is a music aficionado, and Mahtani has a history in professional dance with an affinity for contemporary dance. Throughout high school, both were told attending business school would mean leaving their interests and hobbies at the door. In 2017, when they enrolled at the UBC Sauder School of Business, they were determined to shatter that misconception.
With funding from the UGO Student Experience Grant, Singh and Mahtani co-founded Creatives Industries Network – a student club and community platform that empowers UBC Sauder students to pursue careers in creative industries.
“We wanted to find a way to piece students’ personal and academic interests together,” says Mahtani, who now works as a Technology Risk Consultant at EY. “We thought to ourselves: ‘if we want to make a change and inspire business students to channel their creative leanings into their careers, this is the right place to do it.'”
The classmates-turned-co-founders came up with the idea of forming a community for students interested in music, film, dance, and visual arts. By hosting networking events and workshops, the club offered upskilling opportunities to break into the industry.
Singh says having the title of club co-founder on her resume helped her land a media analyst role at Wavo, a company that builds data-driven platforms to help musicians improve their business outcomes. “During my interview, I talked about my work with the club and the insights I’d already gained about the industry. It’s no exaggeration that running this club gave me an edge and helped me land my first job in the music industry.”
The Creative Industries Network is now officially a student club at the UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS) and the Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS). After graduating, the co-founders handed over the reins of the club to the new cohort, and now occasionally attend the club’s events and workshops as speakers.
The UGO Student Experience Grant is available to UBC Bachelor of Commerce students to support student-led initiatives and professional skills development.
Please visit the UBC Sauder website to read the full story.
Through Strategy 15: Student Experience, UBC is expanding holistic, developmental and professional student advising and engagement to support students in determining and realizing academic, career and personal goals.