Arjun Ohri
My life kicked off with a bit of globe-trotting, moving between Delhi, Paris, London, and San Francisco, after which I returned to Delhi at the age of 8. Surprisingly, in a cricket-crazy country like India, I found my interest in football and tennis. Playing these sports allowed me to build friendships and discover my competitive side.
Fast forward to my teenage years in Bangalore, I was juggling soccer and tennis tournaments with the demands of a rigorous academic program. It was clear I had to make a choice, and as hard as it was, I had to take a step back from competing at a high level and started to concentrate on my academics. This decision marked the end of my athletic dreams but set me on a new adventure in the world of Economics.
I came to UCLA for my undergrad, where I pursued a degree in Quantitative Economics & Econometrics. I had always been interested in mathematics in school, and I was eager to tackle macroeconomics with a quantitative lens. Beyond my academics at UCLA, those four years were a journey of significant personal growth for me. I pushed beyond my comfort zone, embracing friendships with people from diverse cultures, considering various perspectives, and mapping out a career path that played to my strengths. Each summer, I had the opportunity to explore a different industry to get a taste of solving real-world problems using data.
Post-college life saw me stepping into the world of turnaround consulting, helping companies navigate through restructuring periods. It was extremely fast paced when I first joined, and I enjoyed being challenged on a day-to-day basis. But as fate would have it, visa issues nudged me towards a role at Vytalogy Wellness, where I got a closer look into the operations of a private equity owned business. In early 2023, the company faced financial challenges as the demand for vitamins and supplements diminished with COVID-19 receding, and between a declining P&L and a layoff period, my time at Vytalogy came to an end.
Having time to reflect on what the next steps of my career would look like, I stumbled upon Columbia’s Sports Management Program. I never thought of blending my love for sports with my knack for business. Months later, I was admitted and started a new journey that took me to the East coast.
In terms of life after my program, I want to find myself at the intersection of sports and analytics/finance where I’d have the opportunity to work on projects that will have a significant impact on the growth and future of the sports industry.