Lessons on Fearless Curiosity: Fall Fellow Andy Huszar ’91 Returns

If you had told Andy Huszar ’91 he would work in the fashion industry one day, “It would’ve been a preposterous idea,” he said. Yet, there he stood on November 7, 2025 before the Hopkins community as the CEO of Marcella—a successful global designer fashion brand committed to female empowerment.

Huszar is living proof that accomplished careers don’t always follow conventional paths.

During a speech delivered at an all-school assembly, he explained just how unusual his path has been, from working at the Federal Reserve and on Wall Street to launching a clothing company at age 40 with his wife, Siyana Huszar. He credits his career trajectory to a fearless curiosity he says Hopkins helped nurture.

“Hopkins helped me become the type of person who was willing to make that [career] jump and have the confidence that it would work out one way or the other,” he reflected. “I was going on a path that I was confident would lead someplace meaningful, interesting, and hopefully good.”

Huszar returned to the Hill to be honored as the Fall 2025 Alumni Fellow, and to speak to the community he says channeled his early curiosity into a series of bold, meaningful, and diverse vocations.

Huszar, who attended Hopkins from seventh through twelfth grade, described himself as a student hungry to learn and be challenged. A first-generation American whose parents came from Hungary, Huszar cites Hopkins as the place that guided him during his formative years.

“In many ways, the world opened up for me at Hopkins,” he explained. “Hopkins served for those six years as a way to learn a lot about myself through exploring my curiosity and being challenged.”

Huszar said he appreciates how, for the first time in a school setting, he was intellectually and academically stimulated by so many opportunities. “I was the type of student who had too many extracurricular activities going on and wanted to do everything I could because the access you had to all these things was so inspiring,” he reflected. “It was a privilege to be a student because the teachers were masters of the classroom. They just had so much experience and knew their craft.”

Following his time at Hopkins, Huszar received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, and his MBA in corporate finance from Columbia Business School. From there, he spent thirteen years working at the Federal Reserve and on Wall Street.

After a stint teaching graduate students at Rutgers Business School, he stepped outside his element of finance and into fashion, an unknown enterprise to him at the time. This transition was sparked by his wife, Siyana, who had initially launched Marcella on Etsy while she worked as a product manager at a major insurance company. As the company gained traction and began its journey toward becoming internationally recognized, Huszar joined Siyana to help grow the brand. Eventually, they both left their respective careers to commit to the company full time.

This change of occupation proved to be a life-transforming decision.

“I stepped away from the path I had been on, and I started on an entirely different path,” Huszar said. “That was the best move of my career so far.”

Although the fashion industry is fundamentally different from his previous financial endeavors, Huszar found his skills transferable.

“There is a line through that entire experience, and a lot of it is not necessarily the exact substance of what I was doing, although much of what I was doing in each of those jobs, and to this day, is the same,” Huszar shared.

“It’s about people, it’s about process, and it’s about doing a good job executing your product,” he said.

Marcella is more than a designer fashion brand; it is a mission-driven business centered on advancing women and girls. Huszar pointed out that every major aspect of the business advances that objective, whether it is Marcella’s affordable pricing, production approach, sustainability, or social impact. At Marcella’s heart is the School Days Project, a program launched in partnership with the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) nonprofit, which ensures that each Marcella order placed by a customer supports three days of education for an underprivileged girl. This means that for every 66 Marcella orders placed, another girl will be able to attend school for an entire year.

“From the beginning, [Siyana and I] both shared this idea that the future of the world will only benefit from advancing women and girls,” Huszar explained. “The knowledge that we’re actually making a larger social impact has been a daily fuel for us in building a business from scratch. It provides much more meaning to the day-to-day lives of our whole team.”

Marcella has supported over a million school days for girls across sub-Sarahan Africa in the last five years. The curiosity that drove Huszar at Hopkins is now making an impact on the world.

“It was about not being restricted to one conception of what my career could be,” Huszar reflected. “I feel like that was a lesson I learned and experienced at Hopkins.”

In his speech, Huszar reminded students to embrace curiosity and collaboration as catalysts for growth.

“I learned [at Hopkins] to ask better questions, to surround myself with people who challenge me, and to keep learning no matter what room I walk into,” he said.

Following the speech, Huszar reconnected with the community by touring the campus and attending a brunch in his honor. He also visited U.S. History and 21st Century Democracy classes to discuss his time at the Federal Reserve, providing insight into the 2008 financial crisis and his role in developing the quantitative easing programs still used by the Fed today. Huszar noted that the highlight of his day was the time he spent with students.

“It’s really fun to see the energy and the enthusiasm, and obviously the intelligence and talent of all the students,” Huszar shared. “I have a lot of affection and gratitude toward Hopkins, so this experience was super meaningful for me.”