What do Equity Strategist do?

Hi folks, a college sophomore thinking about working in finance here. I just started to build my network in this field. So I successfully connected to an alumni who worked in MS HK office in Equity Research division, his title is Equity Strategist and we'll make a phone call next week. So before our talk, I would like to get some background info so that I won't look stupid. What does this kind of role do day to day? Is that a front desk/mid-desk/back-desk? What are the ex-ops? I also realized not all firms have Strats roles, only GS, MS and a few other so this makes me more confused. While GS strat is in its Securities division and is somehow a synonym for Quant trader(from what I read in this forum), I have absolutely no idea about what MS Strats do. Would love to hear some insights, thank you.