“My boss used to always say he loves hiring people from UVA, because they’re very smart, but they’re also really interested and well-rounded,” Harvey said. “They speak well, and they’re professional, and it just is an all-around great school to hire from.”
And being able to work with fellow alumni, like Mananzan, has been wonderful, she said.
Mananzan not only found an unexpected community at Sotheby’s, but she also connects her auction-house work with her student experiences.
At UVA, while working at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Mananzan gained an appreciation for the kind of objects she would be working with in the future at Sotheby’s. Although the things she worked with in Special Collections weren’t exactly Americana furniture pieces, all of them had at least one trait in common: being old and historical.
“I loved old things. I loved the opportunity to handle books, manuscripts, materials, ephemera that were, I mean, frankly, centuries old. It was such an honor to work in that collections holding,” she said.