AM Trading Exit ops?

Starting at an asset management firm somewhere not in NYC, Chicago, or SF within their derivatives trading group. The firm has a rather niche specialty but is considered top tier for this area of AM and is one of the largest derivative overlay managers in the US. I went to a no name school but graduated top of my class and want to eventually move into the fixed income/macro/arbitrage HF space. I don't mind staying in AM also if I can eventually move to NYC or Greenwich. Getting out of my current city in ~2 years is my main goal.

My general questions are how do NYC HF's and AM's view traders with experience in niche fields coming from "tier 2 or 3" cities? Or compared to IB candidates?

Would an MBA, Masters or CFA be the most useful to break in? Or a combination of the three? How are my chances with the M7?

Would it be relatively possible to break into AQR, Balyasny, or Ares type firms? Should I rather pursue sell-side S&T first then pivot over?

Any general advice would be much appreciated.