Lana Walker-Wilson (GABELLI ’24) Selected for the 2025–2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Program
Graduate | Jul 30, 2025 | Gabelli School of Business
Lana Walker-Wilson (GABELLI ’24) has built a thriving career at the intersection of creative strategy and advanced technology. As the founder of Lava Studios and AISTHETIC Studio, Walker-Wilson has leveraged AI-driven applications and e-commerce solutions to enhance brand engagement and market presence for clients like Amazon, AstraZeneca, Cartier, Chanel, Google, NBCUniversal, and Range Rover. And now she has a new title to add to her resume: Fulbright Scholar.
Selected for the 2025–2026 Fulbright US Student Program, Walker-Wilson received a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Research Award and will be conducting research on how start-ups in the UAE use artificial intelligence to drive business decisions.
“I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to marry my interests,” she explained. “Dubai is notorious for being the sort of city that everyone flocks to for business. I’m really excited to see the AI landscape there, not only for small business, but also with regard to entrepreneurs and how the technology is being utilized in everyday life.”
Born and raised in Kentucky, Walker-Wilson moved to New York after completing her undergraduate degree in fine arts at the University of Louisville. She started her career in photography and worked her way into production management and advertising before deciding to pursue an M.B.A. Her boss at the time suggested that Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business might be a good fit for her–and it was.
At the Gabelli School, Walker-Wilson found the professionally relevant coursework and experiential learning opportunities that she was seeking and went on to earn a Professional M.B.A. with concentrations in finance and communications. She cites courses in Blockchain, investor relations, and entrepreneurship as having been particularly impactful, along with Professor Sertan Kabadayi’s marketing class, which provided an inspiring finish to her M.B.A. program. “It was literally my last class at Fordham, and it really made me say, ‘Hey, I really should pursue my own independent business ventures,’” she recalled.
During her time at Fordham, Walker-Wilson completed a venture capital externship at HP and participated in start-up and business plan competitions, which she believes helped pave the way for her success. “The Ram’s Den competition– and others like that– were integral in forcing me to learn how to shape pitch decks and concepts, and how to think about the various components that go into building applications,” she said.
This fall, Walker-Wilson will launch an AI-centric app to foster the holistic production of creative assets. Like many creative professionals, she was concerned about how AI might eliminate jobs in her field. “I figured I should try to build my own platform to get ahead of that, drawing on working knowledge from my recent work with various agencies,” she shared. “I feel like fear mongering is something that really happens in the creative community especially, but there are a lot of protections. At this point, it is still a tool that requires human interaction, and I think that it’s great for creators to have access in that manner. But we do have to be responsible with AI as to how we’re leveraging it.”
After finishing her Fulbright year, Walker-Wilson is looking forward not only to developing more apps and start-up ideas, but also to getting involved in community engagement and training. “I’d like to show youth and early twentysomething communities how they can leverage these tools and learn new skill sets for personal enrichment and for use in their careers,” she shared. “I want to help upskill the community.”
Written by: Kimberly Volpe-Casalino, Freelance Writer
