Hayek_ClaireLast month, a new business was born that can trace its roots in part to the McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA Program. Claire Hayek, a 2015 EMBA McGill-HEC Montréal alumna, launched her new start-up ‘My Studio Party.’ “It’s a company that offers the ‘recording artist’ or ‘Pop/Rock Star’ experience for birthday parties, office parties, as well as special events and corporate team building,” explained Claire. “We provide a mobile studio with a backdrop, a red carpet, VIP passes, accessories and all you have to do is sing your heart out with your friends and have fun. Our packages include photos and an audio mix of your song(s) as well as fun vocal coaching.”

Claire explained that two elements of the EMBA program, in particular, were very helpful to her as she set about building her business:

“First, the New Business Challenge, (a team project where the class develops a start-up idea and takes it through to a pitch to a panel of angel investors/venture capitalists), taught me how to research an idea at a pre start-up stage, evaluate it, develop it and bring it to life. This project was also very helpful in learning how to create a financial and business plan.”

“And my final paper (The art of juggling multiple ventures simultaneously) brought everything together as it helped me identify key patterns and strategies that portfolio entrepreneurs umspse for running multiple ventures. This resulted in the successful launch of ‘My Studio Party’ while I was working at my existing job as well as managing my cake design company ‘O’Clara’. I learned that the key secret in successful portfolio entrepreneurship resides in myself, in my focus, my clear objectives and a macro vision. It also taught me that good reliable long-term business partnerships are essential ingredients to the recipe”. (The final paper is a 4 month research project, under the supervision of a professor, to study an issue of interest in depth)

While the EMBA helped give her the confidence and tools to take her idea and turn it into action, it is definitely Claire Hayek’s passion for music, herself being a professional singer-songwriter, and her desire to bring people together that are at the heart of her new start-up ‘My Studio Party’.