Katherine Axt ’01

Name: Katherine Axt ’01 Current Title/Profession: Senior marketing manager, Amazon.com City: Seattle, Washington Major(s): English, French Additional/Advanced Degrees: MBA, Columbia Business School

What was your first job after MHC?: ESL teacher in Japan

Favorite class/professor and why: Mary Jo Salter (English). She opened me to new genres of literature and writing and encouraged me to become an English major. She also became my advisor.

Talents and/or passions discovered at MHC: Volunteerism. Traveling. Debate.

What do you value most about your liberal arts education?: Strategic thinking—this is a skill that many college graduates lack, whether it is writing an email at work or planning out a future career. Liberal arts provided a framework that I can take into any career, and I feel fortunate to have studied a wide variety of important world issues and topics rather than having been pigeonholed into one “trade”-like path of study.

Why is a women’s education still relevant today?: Women’s education provides an environment that showcases women in positions of leadership and power and that encourages and supports women achieving whatever they set their minds to. This environment was absent from my coed business graduate school.

What do you want the world to know about MHC?: Feminism is not a bad word. Women’s colleges consistently turn out world leaders in a variety of topics.