A time of reflection

What a strange time to be alive! I’m not much of a blogger and so it’s been nearly two years since I last posted. I definitely did not think that this would be the environment in which I’d write this, the last time I posted. Well… here we are.

This week, I have been doing a lot of self-reflection. Partially, it’s a way for me to avoid homework, but I also have come to realize how valuable self-reflection is. I like to think about what’s going well, what’s not, and what I can do to change my behavior to be a happier and more fulfilled person.

2020 has been a hard year for so many. For me, it’s been a pretty good year, and it feels strange to say that. Before the pandemic, I moved onto the Business Intelligence team at Toast, only to be laid off shortly after. It wasn’t long before I started a new job, which wasn’t quite the right fit for me. I am shortly about to start another new job this year, one that I think is a perfect fit for me. In this sense, I am so lucky - I know that several of my colleagues from Toast have not yet found full-time positions since being laid off.

In addition to these changes, I graduated from the University of Chicago - Booth with an MBA, with Honors - a goal I have had for so long. I even started a new degree, a Master’s in Analytics from Georgia Tech. I feel so lucky to have the ability to continue learning outside of work, and being able to use what I learn at work.

I hope that one day, I can be in a position to hire others, so that in the event this happens again, I could directly help someone who is looking for work. My goal is to do the best job that I can do, to continue learning in my new master’s program, and find happiness outside of work and school on a daily basis, by pursuing hobbies I love and staying connected (virtually!) to family and friends.

A New Chapter

I have just left Northern Trust, my employer of 3.5 years and two jobs, and am about to start a new role at StratEx HR as an FP&A manager.

A wonderful aspect of going to school with other part-time students is that it was a constant opportunity for self-reflection. When listening to others speak about their jobs, it gave me the chance to think about my career and what I wanted the next step to be. Taking so many quantitative and analytical classes made me realize that I missed being in that numbers mindset. I’m also taking my second entrepreneurship class, and love it - so I am excited to create my own models, and have the ownership I have been thinking about!

While the past several years in financial services have been a great source of learning for me, I believe that the financial services industry is quite troubled. Fees continue to come down to pennies or less, and it’s difficult to see where innovation comes from - there are already incredibly niche products within asset management. Wealth management isn’t safe from this, either -

I look forward to beginning this new role tomorrow. It will be challenging, and I think I will need to accelerate my learning process as much as possible. I am incredibly excited to have full ownership over some processes, and to be able to hire a few of my own down the road. I can’t wait to get started!

A Year of Booth

I can’t believe I’m about to start my second year at Booth. What a year it’s been!

• I’ve made the MOST incredible friends & supporters - simply the most inspiring group of people I could ever imagine.

• I’ve participated in a non-profit consulting project for One Million Degrees - my first attempt at consulting, and for a non-profit I love!

• I’ve challenged myself with classes (Financial Statement Analysis) and taken some fun ones too (New Venture Strategy)

• I was a LAUNCH (orientation) mentor a few weeks ago - the most fun I’ve had thus far!

• I’ve gotten the Dean’s List recognition - twice

• I became a co-chair for Graduate Women in Business

• And so much more!

A theme of my time thus far at Booth is self-discovery. I’ve learned I’m more interested in some things than I had thought I was - statistics and strategy - and less interested in other subjects such as finance.

I’ve learned at least as much from my classmates as I have learned in the classroom. I’ve learned about industries and job functions, and what some workplaces do well and not so well. Chatting with my classmates at events, before/during/after class, and on Saturday-night bar nights has helped me to better understand my own goals and what I want out of my Booth experience and out of my career afterward. What a journey so far!

This upcoming year, I hope to continue to challenge myself academically, as well as challenge myself to have more fun - starting with the Boat Cruise in a few weeks, followed by Ski Trip in March 2019.

My first time as a LAUNCH Mentor!

A Non-Techie Learns About Agile

This year, I am a mentor for the Advancing Professionals Resource Council Case Challenge Competition. The group’s question asks how Northern Trust can become more agile, speedy, and adaptable. The team came across several articles regarding the Agile process. As someone who has only heard this word many times from my software developer boyfriend but has never utilized the framework, I figured I should learn more about it.

Agile is an iterative approach, mostly used for building software, in which the product is built in steps, incrementally. The process is broken down into two-week chunks based on user stories. Teams are no longer siloed, but work cross-functionally. Teams can often manage an entire process, rather than relying on many specialized experts in different areas of a business. Often, teams utilizing Agile adopt a daily standup meeting to ensure the team is on the same page. A/B testing is also frequently utilized.

Agile can be used to non-software products. Established firms should take the time to adopt these processes now to ensure long-term efficiency. One Boston Consulting Group article says that “[Agile] encourages face-to-face meetings, transparency, brainstorming, course correction, and a shared sense of ownership in a project.” That seems to be a great project management framework for any firm!

The article goes on to articulate how Agile teams have ownership over their products, and so they are incentivized to reduce complexity. I’ve never worked on an Agile team (and have never worked on a customer-facing product), but my experience in several jobs has shown that having a sense of responsibility and purpose is the most important quality of motivation. More responsibility leads to greater sense of purpose.

First Quarter at Booth - almost done!

I am about 8 weeks in to my first quarter at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It's been crazy. 

I am taking two classes: Business Statistics and New Venture Strategy. New Venture Strategy is an entrepreneurship class in which I have learned how to evaluate whether or not an idea is good enough to become profitable, and how to strategize in order to make the idea succeed. I have enjoyed the class immensely! It's my first time working with a group. In college, working in groups meant working on our problem sets together, but handing them in separately - probably the reason my college grades were mediocre. 

The University of Chicago is different. Everyone is so smart and hardworking, it makes me want to keep up and do my part. Not that it's hard - everything I've learned is new and fascinating! 

I am looking forward to taking a couple of more challenging classes in my second quarter - Financial Econometrics and Financial Statement Analysis. 

Even more interesting than the classes are the outside-of-class events. This weekend, I attended a social impact investing seminar, followed by a quarterly graduate women in business event. My favorite events so far have been the Investment Management conference, the Booth Women Connect conference, Networking like a Rockstar, and the Fine Art of Small Talk. I have come out of each of these events with one or two things I think I can remember and take with me to work and for future networking opportunities. 

Just one final stands between me and the holiday break - then on to quarter 2! 

How Helping Others Can Impact Your Career

My boyfriend Brian and I gave a webinar presentation on Friday 8/4/17 to the Northwestern community. We spoke about how volunteering can not only have a wonderful impact on those whom you help, but also on yourself. Click to see the slides of our presentation, or below for the link: