Alumni Spotlight - Isabella Murgu, BBA '10

Sometimes losing your job can be a blessing in disguise – for Isabella Murgu it opened up a world of possibilities. Now she’s breaking down gender barriers and winning awards while doing it. As the first female Jazz Club manager in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, Isabella and her team have recently won the Qatar Choice Award 2014 for the best live music venue in Doha.

Isabella was a member of MU’s first graduating cohort in 2010, and shortly afterward was hired by the luxury hotel chain Shangri-La in their pre-opening team for a new branch in Vienna. However, after a few months of training, the Shangri-La decided not to follow through with their plans and closed the hotel before it even opened to the public. Isabella was left without a job – but not without a plan.

She decided to set her sights a bit farther east, and take on a new challenge in a new country. Having experience in luxury hotel operations, she began as Club Manager at the St- Regis Doha, and after only a year in Qatar Isabella was promoted to Restaurants and Bars Manager, and now manages the hotel’s 120-seat club and restaurant ‘Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha’ as well as the ‘Vintage Lounge’ hotel bar. The venue is the first of its kind in the country, with a rotating line-up of jazz musicians under the artistic direction of legendary musician Wynton Marsalis, with whom she spent time in New York and Paris learning about jazz.

Coming from a family of opera singers and musicians, the position is the perfect place to meld her passions for music and hospitality, and to meet people from different cultures from all over the world.  Not only does she have the dream job for her personal enrichment, she’s proud of the impact it’s having on improving Doha nightlife and the accessibility of live music for jazz fans in the region.

Congratulations to Isabella on her continuing success!