Meet an Alum sessions are informal opportunities to build your industry knowledge and make connections with General Course alumni.
In this session, you'll have the chance to meet alumni who work in the fields of creative media, marketing and journalism. You can ask the alumni about their day-to-day job, how they got into their role, and for any other career-related advice or tips they’ve picked up from their career journey so far.
This event will be particularly useful if you are:
- thinking about the realities of a career in this area or a related sector
- curious about the sort of work and responsibilities jobs in this area can entail
- interested in finding out how utilising the experience of studying at LSE can be used to get ahead in this area
- keen to build your connections
Meet the Speakers:
Forrest Hanson (LinkedIn). Forrest joined LSE from Northwestern University to study on the General Course in 2014-15, before graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism and history. After graduating, Forrest completed a secondment at Wales Online before working in the U.S. offices of The Daily Mail online as a features writer and news reporter. He then moved on to Nameless Network, a start-up media company specializing in social video production, and worked his way up to become assistant director of content. He has since left Nameless to become Communications Officer with the Prevent Epidemics team at Resolve to Save Lives.
Pia Padukone (LinkedIn). Pia joined LSE from Mount Holyoke College to study on the General Course in 2001-02. Pia then made the transition from the General Course on to a full undergraduate degree, graduating with a BSc in Government the following year. After leaving LSE, Pia entered the working world as a copywriter, developing marketable online materials for several New-York-based marketing and advertising firms. Building on her experience in the industry, in 2020 Pia was asked to become the Creative Director at Heartbeat. Heartbeat, an award-winning marketing agency, works with up-and-coming ‘challenger brands’ to overturn the status quo in the Healthcare industry. Within her role, Pia is responsible for helping clients develop distinctive and creative strategies that will enable them to challenge the market dominance of more established brands and get noticed by consumers. Pia is also the author of two novels, Where Earth Meets Water (2014) and The Faces of Strangers (2016), both published by Mira Books.
Andre Tartar (LinkedIn). Andre joined LSE from Carnegie Mellon University to study on the General Course in 2007-08, before graduating with bachelor's degrees in economics and creative writing. Andre then attended journalism school at New York University and went on to start his career at New York Magazine, working as a researcher, reporter, fact-checker and blogger over the years. In 2012, Andre moved to London and joined Bloomberg News's economic surveys team, before relocating back to New York, where he's held several roles, including as Graphics Editor and currently as a Senior Data Journalist for Bloomberg.
You may like to read LSE Careers' list of information interview questions for ideas of what you can ask the alumni.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend checking back on this listing on the day of the event if you plan to attend.
Please note that all event dates and times are in local UK time (GMT).