Abby Bangser, Director of Major Giving Programs at LACMA

What exact duties does your role encompass?
"I oversee and cultivate the growth of LACMA's patron groups. These groups provide significant funds for our general operating budget, as well as allow for the museum to purchase art our curators are interested in acquiring. As an encyclopedic museum, we have patron groups for a wide range of interests and we organize various events that connect our supporters with these subjects. In a given week, I might organize a cocktail event at a trustee's home, take a group to an emerging fashion designer or visual artist's studio, or tour one of LACMA's great exhibitions."

How did you score your job?
"I studied Art History at the University of Chicago and did a wide range of internships at contemporary art spaces, including SITE Santa Fe and the Renaissance Society. After graduating, I spent time at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice where I gained experience in all of the museum's general operations. In moving to New York, I wanted to continue with the Guggenheim network, and the right position happened to be in Development. It was at the Guggenheim that I worked with all of the museum's collectors' groups and became fascinated with connecting the appropriate art experience with a museum patron's interest. We would go to all of the most exciting artists studios, private collections, art fairs — everything. At LACMA, I have had the opportunity to continue with these types of experiences and connect with a dynamic art community that has come to mean quite a lot to me."

What's your most prized piece of art you own?
"I grew up outside of Washington, D.C. and would often go to the National Gallery of Art where I fell in love with Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Young Girl Reading. I'm lucky to have an abstract work by the really talented L.A.-based artist, Julian Hoeber, that references this painting through its palette."

Vanessa Bruno Dress, Manolo Blahnik Shoes, Necklace From Mexico City

Abby is photographed with Chris Burden's outdoor sculpture "Urban Light."