Antonia Murad grew up in Brazil, and her early years were marked by creative pursuits: “Something most people don’t know about me is that until the age of 14, I worked professionally as an actress and singer!” she said. “I’m also into music. I’ve played the piano since I was six years old.”
When it was time for university, though, she embraced a rather different path, opting to study nanotechnology and materials engineering. It is that diverse mix of passions that continues to mark her career trajectory and which allowed her to thrive throughout her time at IE School of Science & Technology and beyond.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Antonia joined business consultancy firm EloGroup in her home city of Rio de Janeiro. Despite enjoying her role, she soon became aware of a knowledge gap she was eager to fill. Data analytics teams were still developing, and often operated separately from the business side. That’s where Antonia noticed the potential of bridging the gap between technical understanding and corporate decision-making.
Why Antonia chose the Master in Business Analytics & Data Science
Antonia realized early in her career that she needed deeper technical expertise to complement her consulting background. She wanted to build stronger skills in areas like data engineering, machine learning and AI. That’s precisely what led her to the Master in Business Analytics & Data Science at IE University. It offered her the combination of strong technical training and a clear business focus that she was looking for.
Reflecting on her time in Madrid, Antonia emphasizes that the experience provided far more than just a qualification. “The technical side was essential, studying data engineering, architecture and coding, but the cultural experience was equally profound,” she says. Being immersed in an international environment exposed her to a wide range of perspectives and ways of thinking.
“You start to understand that people are built differently. They had different experiences, and that leads to them being the way they are.”
This helped Antonia learn the importance of listening without judgment, recognizing that different cultural backgrounds lead people to approach problems in unique ways. Armed with a newfound global perspective, her career journey took her through a startup in London focused on building AI agents, and a remote role for a Spanish company focused on building data pipelines for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) verification.
Today, the broad training that she received is central to her role. “All of the themes that I learned during the master’s, [like] data engineering or architecture or coding or data science… can be part of my work at one point.”
The analytics translator: leading a data-driven team for business impact
Antonia’s path has recently come full-circle, with a return to her native Rio, and back at the same consultancy firm where her career began. After broadening her experience across consulting, product and AI-focused roles, she now heads a dynamic data-driven team, juggling project management, client guidance and problem-solving across diverse industries. She describes her current role as a bridge between two worlds that often speak different languages: the technical team and the business stakeholders.
“You need the skill of being an analytics translator,” Antonia explains.
From starting out as a business consultant to diving deep into the technical side of analytics, Antonia now leads multiple projects simultaneously, moving seamlessly between high-level business strategy and the granular details of Large Language Model (LLM) architecture.
On any given day, she might be helping a client build AI agents in Copilot Studio or detailing the data flow for a custom LLM solution. This ability to ensure that technical solutions actually solve business problems is what makes her leadership so effective. Those are skills, she says, that were honed on her master’s program. “It merged the technical side of the curriculum with business, which helps me achieve my professional goals,” she says.
Authenticity and leadership in a male-dominated field
Antonia acknowledges that the technology sector, and particularly AI and data science, remains a male-dominated industry. In her early career, she explains how she was so driven by her passion for analytics that she focused solely on the work, doing all she could to fit into the restrictive environment.
But her approach to this challenge has evolved as she has matured in her career.
Discussing how she considers authenticity a powerful trait in a leader, she says she now makes a conscious effort to bring her personality and feminine side to work, and encourages others to do the same. She strives to be an example to other women, showing they don’t need to curtail their personal style or identity to be taken seriously. “I want to be an example that you can have [authority] and be good in this industry while remaining feminine,” she underlines.
This commitment to fostering a supportive environment extends to her involvement in “Ella,” an internal business initiative aimed at promoting a better workplace for women. As a key participant, Antonia works to build initiatives that make women feel more comfortable and empowered within the organization. While she feels confident that the industry is shifting, with far more women in data science and AI than five years ago, she remains committed to accelerating that change.
Antonia’s advice for the next generation of data analysts
For current students or graduates just starting out in their careers in data science, Antonia offers a clear strategy: “Follow your passion early on.” She encourages young professionals to put all their energy into something they enjoy: “Because you have a lot of time, so in the beginning, just follow what you like to do.”
It’s that energy and enthusiasm, she feels, that will open up a greater degree of choice later on. There will come a time to be more rational, to build on solid career foundations and think more strategically, whether that means a higher salary, a better work-life balance or a complete switch of industry. Whatever that evolution looks like, Antonia is clear that the best way to lead from the front is to have tangible experience in your field: “For me, the best way for you to be a leader is to have done what you are trying to lead people to do.”
As a final thought, Antonia underlines her gratitude for the “open doors” provided to her by a global education at IE University, and subsequent experiences.
While she is currently happy in Brazil, she’s well aware that her skills are globally sought after, and credits IE University with keeping the doors open to her for international opportunities. “IE University really opened doors for me to stay in Europe. If I want to go back, I can.”
Antonia also pursued international experience through an exchange semester at Imperial College London. She described it as an opportunity to step into a new academic culture while expanding her network.
*During Antonia’s studies, the program was called the Master in Business Analytics & Big Data.
