From Culinary Arts to INSEAD MBA ($35K Scholarship): Ishita’s Success Story

About Ishita

Ishita comes from a unique and non-traditional background as a pastry chef and consultant. She began her career as a Sous Chef with The Oberoi Group and later went on to run her own business in Bangalore, gaining hands-on entrepreneurial and client-facing experience.

While she built a strong career in the food and beverage industry, Ishita wanted to transition into strategy roles within retail, luxury, and consumer sectors. This led her to pursue an MBA to broaden her career opportunities beyond hospitality.

However, coming from a creative, non-corporate background, along with limited awareness of the MBA process initially, made the journey particularly challenging.

Why LilacBuds? The Need for Professional MBA Consulting

When Ishita started her MBA journey, she had very little awareness of the process from GMAT to school selection.

After speaking with multiple consultants, what stood out about LilacBuds was:

• A deeply personalized first interaction
• Detailed understanding of her background and goals
• Honest feedback, including encouragement to retake GMAT for improvement
• Strong support despite her unconventional profile

Unlike generic consulting approaches, LilacBuds focused on:

• Understanding her unique journey
• Positioning her non-traditional background effectively
• Building confidence in her candidacy

The Winning Strategy

The strategy was highly tailored to Ishita’s unique profile:

• Targeted School Shortlisting: Focus on top global schools with strengths in diversity, retail, luxury, and consumer industries, primarily in Europe.
• Story Pool Development: A detailed exercise to build multiple stories across leadership, collaboration, and impact—helping structure essays and interviews effectively.
• Reframing Non-Traditional Experience: Her culinary and entrepreneurial background was repositioned to highlight: Leadership, Team management and Cross-cultural collaboration
• Career Clarity & Positioning: Significant focus on defining post-MBA roles and goals, including industry research and role mapping.
• Interview Preparation: Extensive mock interviews, video interview practice, and timed response training for INSEAD’s format.
• Recommendation Strategy: Carefully selected recommenders (former boss + client) and structured guidance to ensure strong, consistent narratives.

The Result

Ishita achieved admits from top global programs:

• INSEAD - Admit with $35,000 Scholarship
• ISB (Indian School of Business) - Admit (Preferred Campus)
• HEC Paris - Rejected
• SDA Bocconi - Rejected

Despite coming from a non-traditional background and a moderate GMAT score, Ishita successfully secured admission to INSEAD, one of the world’s top MBA programs.

Candidate Feedback on LilacBuds MBA Consultation

"Coming from a non-traditional background, I was unsure if I fit the typical MBA applicant profile. What stood out with LilacBuds was how they helped me embrace my uniqueness rather than change it.

My mentor helped me understand how to balance my essays showing both impact and the human side of my story without overcomplicating it. That clarity made a huge difference.

The process was very structured from building my story pool to refining essays and I was encouraged to write and rewrite until my story truly reflected who I am. What I appreciated the most was that nothing felt generic. Every part of my application was personalized, and I was guided to present my journey in the most authentic and impactful way.

From interview preparation to even small concerns during the process, the support was always there. This journey would not have been possible without that guidance."

Key Learnings for MBA Aspirants

• Your Background is Your Strength: Even non-traditional profiles can stand out if positioned correctly.
• Storytelling is Everything: Your success depends on: How clearly you present your journey and How well your story connects
• Don’t Underestimate Interview Prep: Even strong communicators need structured preparation to succeed in MBA interviews.
• Start Early & Stay Structured: Starting early helps with: GMAT improvement, Stronger applications and Better recommendation management