2021: The year I shifted my career path and started an MBA

By Francesca Leo

We can all agree that 2020 was an incredibly difficult year. Despite the abundance of anxiety that comes with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year was the first time that I sat with the possibility of changing my career path. After many years of experiencing performance-related pain and injuries, the question about whether pursuing a full-time career in music performance was something I would be physically capable of has come up frequently. This year marked a huge turning point in my artistic life, and also opened the door to countless possibilities that had always been outside of my realm of expectation. 

I’ve always had an interest in entrepreneurship and business skills for performing artists. I received a minor in Entrepreneurship during my undergraduate studies, and worked as a Graduate Assistant in the Center for Music Entrepreneurship when I was pursuing my masters degree in music performance. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and we collectively spent many months in lockdown, I began picking up a lot of freelance work in music administration and digital marketing. I also participated in several digital musical projects during this time, which I found great enjoyment in doing. 

At first, I tried to “capitalize” on this opportunity to practice and enter as many competitions and digital auditions as possible. And then I got super burnt out, and realized I had been burnt out for years and had never really taken the time to acknowledge it or do anything about it. I also experienced a pretty severe injury flare-up during this time - I had to get an MRI and was strongly advised by my doctor and physical therapist to take a long break from playing to heal. It is incredibly difficult for me to take breaks and rest, but once I came to terms with the fact that I was doing a lot of damage to myself mentally and physically by continuing to ignore rest and “keep the momentum going”, I began to prioritize it much more. I took two months off of playing as I continued to receive treatment for my injury, and I spent a lot of time resting and reflecting. It was during these periods of rest that I finally sat with my emotions and slowly began to figure out what I really wanted to do in the future. 

At first, it was difficult for me to consider the possibility that music performance may not become my full-time career. After 6 years of being in school for music performance and training to win auditions, imagining a career shift to a performance-adjacent field kind of felt like the end of the world. I felt like a total failure, and I gave into my inner critic. 

“Of course you won’t pursue a full-time career in performance because you’re not good enough and you never were. I don’t know why you even wasted time trying.” - Francesca’s very mean inner critic voice

It took a long time for me to process this and realize that not pursuing music performance full-time did not make me any less of a musician, and it actually allowed me space and time to rekindle my passion for music that I had lost touch with.

Pursuing an MBA had always been in the back of my mind. At the beginning of the pandemic, I had a strong gut feeling that getting my MBA was what I would do next. I really enjoy working in arts administration, and my work in performing arts health advocacy with my website www.playingwithoutpain.com has led me down this administrative path as well. I felt myself being drawn to the music administration world, and realized that I wanted to create a nonprofit organization for my work to develop performing arts health and wellness programs in collegiate music schools. In early January of 2021, I decided to take action and look into MBA programs near me. I found that my undergraduate university offered an accelerated one-year program, and I was already connected with some of the business faculty there from my minor in Entrepreneurship. I applied right away. 

During the time of my application, I also auditioned for several orchestral fellowship programs and concert management competitions. After countless rejections, I felt like I wanted to give it another try. In the past, I had held on so tightly to the results of these auditions, and I wrapped a lot of my sense of self worth into the application decision. This year, I let go of expectations and decided to allow the cards to play out for themselves. I ended up being accepted into the MBA program with a scholarship and receiving another round of rejections from absolutely everything else. 

I knew that pursuing the MBA was the right next step for me, so I enrolled in the program and I never looked back. The program has certainly been challenging - I hadn’t taken a math class before this in years! However, I have absolutely no regrets. My program advisor has been so supportive, and I’m meeting a lot of really amazing people. I know this is the right path for me, and after starting the program, a lot of musical opportunities began to present themselves in the area. I started teaching flute at a local middle school, my private studio grew, I got onto a few sub lists for local orchestras, I have a consistent church gig most weekends, and my recital proposals have been accepted at upcoming music conferences. I’ve picked up work assisting many musicians with administrative tasks, and I’m fortunate to remain connected to my local music community. My performance-related pain has reduced significantly, and I no longer feel anxious about upcoming performances - I feel really excited. This confirmed that it is indeed possible to pursue music performance and business, and not pursuing music performance full-time doesn’t mean it can’t still be an important part of my life. I continue to remind myself that even if I stopped pursuing music altogether after this, it would not make me any less of a musician or a person. And sometimes, we just need a really long break from our craft to remind us why we got into it in the first place. 

It can be incredibly difficult to pursue a career path outside of what we are trained to do. We are often biased to view individuals who do this as not being “good enough” or “dedicated enough” to make it in music performance. After many months of battling with this inner dialogue, I am choosing to embrace my decision. I am so grateful to be where I am now, and I am so much happier because I know I am staying true to myself and following my intuition. I hope that if you are reading this and considering a career change yourself, that you know that you are not alone and I will be cheering you on all the way. 

About Francesca:

My name is Francesca Leo and I’m a flutist, private teacher, performing arts health advocate, and MBA candidate. I’ve received two degrees in Music Performance from Bowling Green State University and the Manhattan School of Music, and I’m the founder of www.playingwithoutpain.com. I’ve struggled with anxiety my entire life and have experienced several bouts of performance-related injuries. I love the work TMDTA is doing and I’m grateful to Hattie and Rebecca for creating a supportive and community-oriented space for these discussions to take place.