 "Photo: Devin Maloney ’13, Assistant Photogaphy Editor")
 "Photo: Devin Maloney '13, Assistant Photo Editor")
Exploring a lesser-known angle of the business world, Wellesley Women in Business hosted Marsha Malinowski ’82, senior vice president of Sotheby’s, and Jayoon Choi ’02, former employee of Christie’s in New York and current graduate student at MIT Sloan School of Management, at the Art Auction Panel held this past Thursday, Nov. 12. Students had the opportunity to hear Malinowski and Choi share their insights on working in the art world.
A French and Latin double-major, Malinowski went on to receive a M.A. in European History from Brown University. She has been Sotheby’s specialist in European and literary manuscripts since 1986. After years of exploring historical studies and studying five languages, Malinowski finally stepped into the real world, unsure of her next move after leaving the classroom environment. “I decided that maybe I didn’t want to stay in academia,” Malinowski said. “What was I going to do, being over-educated in languages, history and art history, and how was that going to be part of my life?”
Malinowski originally considered a teaching career before landing her first job at Sotheby’s. A book manuscripts position was open and Malinowski’s resume matched every one of the job requirements. Her interviewer said it was the first time that this had happened.
“I was so competitive because of a strong liberal arts background, which is something you can’t underestimate,” she recalled. “My boss told me that you are over-educated in everything which I know nothing about, but you know nothing about business, and that, I can teach you.” Twenty years later, Malinowski went from catalogue trainee on probation to senior vice president of one of the world’s most notable auction houses.
A generation after Malinowski, Choi also attributes her success to her Wellesley education. She fostered a love for Asian art after taking a variety of courses in art history. Unlike Malinowski, Choi was very involved in internships during college. She started working at the Davis Museum and went on to intern at Sotheby’s. After graduation, Choi was hired by Christie’s in New York and remained at the company for a few years before switching to a private contemporary art dealership.
Choi drew a distinction between the quiet, don’t-touch-the-artwork galleries from the high pressured, time-based auction houses. According to Choi, the auction house requires the integration of various departments and strong communication. From answering phones to dealing with sales, Choi got the “bird’s eye view” of the whole process as a Christie’s assistant. Noting the different dynamics, she advised students to “use politics and understand how to navigate.”
Choi also emphasized the importance of being in the right environment for any career: “You need to be practical. It is about how smart you are. [Whether] you are an administrator or an assistant, a monkey could do your job. Even as a paralegal, a monkey could do your job. It’s how well you work with your team.”
Whether through good timing or meticulous planning, both women entered a field for which they had a passion. For Malinowski, art started out as simply eye candy. Having spent much of her time in the visual arts library at Wellesley, she always felt a special inclination toward the pictures on the wall. Now, with the occasional Michelangelo floating across her desk, Malinowski finds her work more than exciting.
Yet, precious manuscripts have also played a large part in Malinowski’s Sotheby’s career. She recalls the purchase of the Magna Carta as one of her biggest accomplishments. “The seller was a true American who believed the United States should have its own Magna Carta,” Malinowski said.
Choi has also observed similar emotional back stories in her work with art, especially with Joseph Cornell’s Medici Prince and Princess. The collectors were a couple that decided to donate the work in order to support the Jewish Communal Fund. Choi described the development of personal relationships between the collectors and their piece: “It was really beautiful to see the couple who had loved these works of art and then see them willing to let them go…I remember the wife crying. To see it go for such a good cause was heartwarming,” she said.
Just as a career in the auction house involves more than selling valuable art to the highest bidder, the event revealed that the business world has more angles to it than finance and investment banking. Wellesley Women in Business hopes to have brought in a fresh approach for students interested in business.
Publicity Chair Xintong Rong ’11 spearheaded the event. “We wanted to renew opportunities for the Wellesley Community [and] to bring in ideas for people to explore,” Rong said. Jennifer Lee ’11, who helped to organize the event, said, “[It’s] a great opportunity to branch out and get a new audience, a different type of people than those on the finance track.”
Students responded well to the panel, as many appreciated the value of a liberal arts education through the alternate lenses of the speakers’ experiences. “Wellesley does a great job of showing you many facets of the job market by hearing about opportunities firsthand from alumnae,” art history major Ariel Nathanson ’10 said. “Their accomplishments showed a very personal and different aspect than what a job catalogue can show you,” Dana Cho ’13 said. By including art into their events, the pre-business organization successfully attracted an audience that crossed departments and interests. “I’m an art history major and was just curious,” Avril Kuo ’10 said.
The parting message from the panel suggests that passion, willingness to learn, and a Wellesley degree are keys to opening the door of opportunity. “It is an amazing thing to say that I am using every morsel of my education and every morsel of a liberal arts education,” Malinowski concluded.
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