I didn’t know I’d be doing both at the same time. I got into Harvard Business School in March and then was hanging out a lot in the summer playing drums and traveling and then I got asked to play a couple of shows on Maya’s tour in July. Then I got asked to play a couple more. I have trouble saying no. I love finding absurd ways of making impossible things work. I don’t like having to make choices – perhaps it’s a discipline issue – but I believe that if you take a “by any means necessary” approach, you can make wild dreams come true. It has all been manageable thus far, but this week is a different story. This week is going to be nuts with midterms at Harvard and two of our most high profile shows in New York with MIA.

On Halloween day this Thursday, I finish classes at noon and then will fly to NYC for the dress rehearsal. On Fri Nov 1st morning, I fly back to Boston at 6am, have classes all morning, take my marketing midterm, and then fly back to NYC at 6pm to play the first NYC show at Terminal 5 at 9:30pm. On Nov 3rd, I go back to school, have classes Nov 4th morning, fly back to NYC, play Terminal 5 again Nov 4th night, and fly back to class Tues Nov 5th morning. It will be batshit crazy and exciting at the same time. To make things even more complex, we are changing the setlist entirely from our previous shows, so I will have to be on my A game at Thursday’s rehearsal or none of this is going to work.

We had “career and professional development day” today, so while many of my peers at school are going to banking and consulting meet & greets, I am home going through the setlist with my drums and working on all of the next songs off the Matangi album that drops next week. And I’m using the day to read cases ahead for the next few days. And prepare my notes for the marketing midterm. And working on the short doc Cioffi and I are making since it’s her last day here with me in Boston.

There are pros and cons to the way I have been living the past few months. The cons are not giving enough time to developing my start-up ideas at Harvard’s incredible Innovation Lab, or not studying hard enough for the cases, or not hanging out enough with my sister who lives only about an hour away at Brown University. The pros are pushing myself to new levels of achievement, learning even more about what I am and am not capable of, studying alongside smart inspiring people and traveling the world as a drummer.

I don’t know what will happen next year and beyond, but so far, there have been a lot of blessings in place to make this whole thing work. Most shows have been scheduled for weekend dates and one of the few weekday shows actually falls on a school holiday.

I feel excited and empowered to drum for my favorite artist and to attend one of the most prestigious business schools in the world at the same time.

My goal is to have my parallel passions of feminism and music be bolstered by an education in business so that I have the tools I need to contribute to the world in a unique and meaningful way.

MIA Poland Photos – Burn Selector Festival, Warsaw, Sept 7th, 2013