Please give a brief background on yourself and your career.
While at Wellesley, I was an American Studies major and economics minor. I was a House President and a member of SBOG, and I worked two jobs on campus. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do after Wellesley, but I knew I wanted to be busy. A wise Wellesley professor (Ann Velenchik) told me to get a job where I was happy and I could learn the most from the people around me. In addition, it was really important to me to stay in Boston. My family is here and I wanted to be able to live at home and save money. So I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew where I wanted to be and that I wanted to have a good work environment, so I looked up “the best places to work in Boston”. The company I work for now, athenahealth, was high up on that list, and I looked up any jobs I thought looked interesting. athenahealth had an opening for an entry-level Financial Planning and Analysis Associate and I applied. I was interviewed by an incredibly smart, dedicated woman who I clicked with immediately and I knew I had to work for her. She is now my boss and the rest is (very recent) history. Since I just graduated in 2014, I don’t really feel like I have a “career” yet, but I am on the path to a career in Financial Planning and Analysis for a healthcare technology company. So far it has exceeded all of my expectations, I love my coworkers and I learn something new every day.
How has your career changed since you originally envisioned it at Wellesley? What other careers did you consider as a student?
I had many career ideas while at Wellesley. For a while I thought I wanted to go straight to grad school and work in education, then I thought I wanted to work in marketing or human resources at a company.
The summer before my senior year at Wellesley I worked in data analysis for TripAdvisor (I actually found this internship by googling “best paid internships in boston” haha). I never really thought I would be good at an analytic role, I wasn’t a math major or anything. But what I found out was that a lot of my role had to do with editing, presentations, and meetings which my American Studies major excellently prepared me for, plus I had an interest in business from my economics minor. Just a classic liberal arts story!
So then I felt confident I could do things in many different fields, but what it really came down to was a job that had training, mentorship and support within the role. So I made sure to ask interviewers if the role I was applying for offered some sort of training or support, and evaluated that when I made my final decision where to work. So far, my role at athenahealth has offered role specific training to help me understand finance and the business more, as well as company training to learn more about healthcare in the United States.
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
Wellesley has done everything for me. From improving my writing when I was a first year (thank you Paul Fisher), to editing multiple copies of my resume and helping me with interview skills (thank you Irma), to giving me the opportunity to take an accounting class without leaving Wellesley’s campus, to creating the support system that helped me pick which job opportunity to take. Wellesley gave me the skills to succeed and the training to get past difficult interview situations. I am the only person who went to a liberal arts college in my 20 person division. At first that intimidated me because people had actually majored in “finance” at other schools. But Wellesley taught me how to learn and how to ask good questions, so even if I didn’t know something at first, I quickly learned it and applied it to all facets of my work. Also, Wellesley taught me how important it is to surround yourself with other smart women, which I continue to do in the workplace.
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
My days vary depending on the time of the month/year. Every month I do a monthly close and meet with our accountants to go over the expenses for the different groups I partner with. I also do different projects for our business partners if they request some specific form of analysis. I also meet with my boss daily and I edit whatever project she is working on, and run financial reports. Fall is budget season, so we have many meetings with the directors and with our larger team trying to see what changes we need to make for next year. It is exciting because I feel like I get to see changes happen before the rest of the company does, and I see a lot of the planning that goes into events from the financial side. In addition, there are happy hours, lunch-and-learns, trainings, and Women’s Leadership meetings. We also did a daytime paint-nite event!
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to get into your area of interest and expertise?
If you are interested in working in finance but don’t want to wear suits, then definitely look into working for an internet or technology company. Every company has an internal finance department with many different job opportunities. If you are specifically looking for a Financial Planning and Analysis role I recommend being good with excel and other computer programs. Also be comfortable talking to superiors. They might be higher up that you, but you have the data, so sometimes you have to tell people they are wrong. I took an accounting class while at Wellesley which was definitely helpful because I could understand the financial language coming into this role. But don’t just be a numbers robot! A lot of my role has to do with meeting with people and explaining data to people in other roles. I have to be able to present information in a way that many different people understand.
For any job, do things that you want to do and then explain to the job why they make you a good candidate. I worked two jobs at Wellesley because I liked them (and obviously I wanted to have money), so you can use that to show that you can multitask and time manage. I liked reading and writing and even though I applied for a finance role, I talked to one of my interviewers about my Ernest Hemingway class. Another interviewer asked me about a research paper I did for my American Studies independent study. In my department, we want to hire people with a desire to learn and work really hard and that can be shown in many ways, you don’t just have to have a previous background in finance.
What do you wish you had known as a student?
I wish I had gone to CWS earlier. I know this sounds like a plug on their website, but I honestly feel that way. Irma was extremely helpful through my entire job application process and I do not know what I would’ve done without her. Even if you think you can find jobs on your own, definitely utilize the resources that CWS has, either by teaching you some interview tricks or connecting you with alums, or something else. I really wish I had known that before January of senior year.
I wish that I had known it was okay to not know what you want to do. And also that it was okay to admit that you want to make money. For awhile I felt embarrassed that I didn’t have an ideal job choice, and embarrassed to say that I wanted a job that paid well. I think sometimes at Wellesley we get obsessed with the idea of the “perfect job” or being “Women Who Will Make A Difference in the World”. But you don’t have to find a “perfect job” or “make a difference in the world” right away, you can start by being able to pay your rent, or, take yourself out to dinner. It’s okay to want some comfort. You could also make a difference in your department or role, just a stepping stone to making a difference in the whole world. Also you don’t always know what job is right for you. I never had an interest in healthcare, but I’ve learned so much in my role and it is such an interesting time to learn about healthcare. As a kid, my grandma always said that you don’t know if something looks good on you unless you try it on. I feel that way about finding a job, definitely try many things, and who knows, it might not look like the Perfect Job on the surface, but it could end up being the perfect job for you.
If you could come back and take one class at Wellesley what would it be?
Literally anything Paul Fisher teaches. He could teach a class about dirt at 6:30 am and I would happily go.