Strategy Profile: Allison Lickley

Allison Lickley

Age: 27

School: Desautels Faculty of Management (McGill University)

Allison Lickley began recording music at the age of 16. After graduating with a major in chemistry from Mount Allison University in 2006, she gave herself five years to build a career as a singer-songwriter. Acting as her own manager, there were many moments that made her want to throw her arms up and apply to an MBA program: the show in New York when five people showed up, leaving her $25 in the hole; the 17-hour drive across Canada; having to set up and tear down her own equipment. There were also high points, such as playing for an audience of 10,000 in Bhutan on a month-long tour in the Himalayan kingdom, and being nominated three times at the 2009 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards. But during that time, one thing remained consistent-Lickley had a head for the business side of the industry. "I hadn't considered business as career option," she says, "but once I started working as an entrepreneur, I got really fired up about it."

After touring her first full-length album across the U.S. in 2010, Lickley returned home to Montreal and decided to give the artist in her a rest. This September, she entered the MBA program at Desautels, where she plans to focus on finance in the hopes of finding a career that combines her creative and analytical skills, such as management consulting. "The work and glamour of being a starving artist was starting to wear off," she says. "Being your own boss is tough and can be lonely. I enjoy being part of an office community."

Read full profile: Canadian Business, October 20, 2011