Anastasia Papadimitriou, MMAI’25

Anastasia Papadimitriou was only days into her Smith Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence (MMAI) studies when the value of the degree fell into sharp focus. In a lecture about natural language processing, her mind started to flood with ideas about how she might apply what she was learning to her day job at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, where she works as a Product Analyst for Digital & Mobile products. “It was a kind of ‘aha!’ moment for me,” she recalls. “I started to think about all the different things we could do with our fan surveys and data. I was ready to talk to my manager about it the next week.”

Anastasia is a builder, the kind of person who has always loved the process of creating things from nothing. When she chose an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, she envisioned a career in the technical trenches. But as time went on, she felt drawn to a slightly different path. She’d minored in business and loved the classes—especially those related to marketing and building innovative organizational cultures—and when she landed in her first role on a product team (as part of a two-year post-graduate technical rotation at CIBC, where she’d previously interned in process engineering), she felt something click. “The design element of product was really interesting to me, but I really enjoyed the analytical piece, too,” she recalls. “Our team was using data to justify some of the designs, and I found that was where my skillset was, because I came from such a technical background and because I like to problem-solve.” A year later, when a Product Analyst role opened at MLSE, she jumped at the opportunity: “It was a perfect combination of all of my interests.”

Anastasia had been closely following the increasing capabilities and prevalence of AI in her work at the bank, so as she began her job at MLSE, she decided to get ahead of the curve. “I knew AI was becoming a major topic of conversation, and I wanted to learn more about how to implement it within my role, so I could use it to enrich my analyses,” she reflects. “I wanted to become a decision-maker about AI.”

That’s what led her to begin the Smith MMAI program in May of 2024. It was a big workload to take on—especially for someone acclimating to a new role—but Anastasia felt so captivated by the subject matter that it all felt manageable. “You’ll always find time to prioritize what you’re interested in learning,” she reasons. “I’d have been spending the time trying to learn about AI anyway. The program gave me a structured and credible way to do it.”

Anastasia was especially impressed by the depth of the technical coursework. “AI is a space where you really do need to understand the technical side of things before you can discuss it from a business perspective,” she reflects. “If you can’t critically ask your engineering team about, for example, the kind of data that is fueling your models, and if you can’t understand their answers, you might run into some serious problems down the road.”

She also loved how collaborative the curriculum proved to be—both inside and out of the classroom. She and her classmates would spend hours sharing how they were incorporating AI into their jobs, workshopping real-world problems together, and brainstorming how they might build careers in the space. She found the cross-pollination fascinating, especially since her cohort included students at diverse career stages. “To be able to have conversations, as peers, with vice-presidents about this technology we were all learning to use was a really great learning experience,” she says. “And the encouragement of classmates with whom I shared ambitions was really valuable.”

At MLSE, Anastasia’s mandate is to better understand how fans engage with the organization and its franchises in the digital realm. She gets chances to harness the skills she developed during the MMAI every day, whether she’s analyzing the data behind a new loyalty program or working with UX researchers and other stakeholders to develop data-supported recommendations. “I now have more credibility,” she explains. “I’m able to share more insightful data analysis with my leadership, which allows me to be more involved in decisions.” 

Perhaps more valuably, the MMAI has equipped Anastasia with the ability to keep up in a space that is evolving at a dizzying pace. “AI is moving so fast: You have to be adaptable and constantly keep up with the trends,” she reflects. “The MMAI program has given me a better toolkit to do that.”