Jessica Robson

Growing up on two continents, with a mother in the airline industry and a father who spent years on the road as a professional baseball player, I was taught early on that travel and cultural understanding was of great value. My appetite for cultural exchange pervades my personal life as well as my professional life – I have traveled to 30+ countries, worked in a variety of geographic locations, and today I am a member of the Digital Strategy team at Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Going forward, I have ambitious goals which I attribute to my cross-cultural upbringing. Until age 19, I spent the entirety of every summer living on my grandparents’ farm in rural Northern Sweden. Morfar, as I called my grandfather, was a lifelong learner dedicated to discovering all the secrets of nature. For nearly two decades, I followed closely behind him in the woods, as he passed on pieces of his abounding knowledge. In those woods, I was bound to him by the core acts of interactive learning and exploration – and today, his memory serves as my biggest source of inspiration.

Just like Morfar, I am passionate about giving others the opportunity to explore – and I plan to do so post-MBA in a role focused on experiential marketing. I aspire to create innovative branded environments where consumers are given the opportunity to explore brands and products in a transparent, physical and memorable way. Ultimately, unique in-person experiences foster strong, unmediated relationships between individuals and brands – relationships where open, two-way communication is present, adventure is had, and new knowledge is exchanged. Relationships just like the one I shared with Morfar.