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Introducing Novo Press & OppyArts Spotlight3 min read

This is an interesting year to be a grad student. We’re reworking how we study, network, and collaborate. A sense of purpose is hard to come by- many feel they’re just going through the motions until they either get their degree, or this nonsense finally ends. Personally, I refuse to let my MBA experience be anything less than a biopic-worthy epic, which is why I was so excited to speak with Suhayb Zarroug about Novo Press and to introduce the Oppy’s new series aimed to connect Sternies with writers and artists to help create art and explore meaning and purpose. 

Suhayb and I met at a local gallery, Palais Rock (@theloftsoho), run by the Oeuvre Group, which aims to build community through collective projects, showcases, and parties. The space features a life size disco ball lion. It’s a scene! I wanted to find a way to get involved in the art world. I don’t need to hold a paintbrush to help make art happen and to support creative talents I care about and believe in. A similar desire drives Novo Press.

Novo Press is reimagining the book buying experience by making it immersive and involved through accessibility and representation. Supporters can interact with, and influence, a book throughout its creation. Novo Press incorporates one-of-a-kind covers, mini-docs for project investors, and sculpted book holders by local artists. Readers become stakeholders in their favorite books-to-be, and can engage and support the network of artists involved in making these projects happen. All materials are sustainably sourced and all projects support a cause tied to the title and its contributors. Owning a book by Novo will be a statement piece. Novo will bring the Taschen experience to the millennial generation for a quarter of the cost. 

In light of Sternie’s “limited exposure” to extracurricular activities this Fall, The Oppy will run a new series interviewing artists. It will focus on the causes they support and how a partnership with MBAs could bring about positive change in their networks. Andy Warhol said, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” Now is the perfect opportunity to engage with the causes we believe in, to play to our strengths, and to help others find success in these vital artistic worlds. 

There is so much opportunity to help create something spectacular during your MBA experience. Hang out with artists, solve problems, help create something beautiful, and become thought leaders the fun way. Have you ever networked with a room full of stuffy MBAs? Those Wharton kids are so boring. New York still has its glorious glitz and grime, let’s make some plague art that we can tell our grandkids about from our days “back in the 20s.”

Marketing, branding, design, distribution, financials; all of the facets of business that we claim to be experts at. So let’s put your skills to the test and apply them in a real way. 

Check out my interview with Suhayb in this edition’s OppyArts Spotlight. Please contact the Oppy to learn more about how to get involved, or if you would like to nominate an artist to be featured in an upcoming OppyArts spotlight. 

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