my journey here

One week in Vancouver, I am slowly getting myself comfortable with my new surroundings, a new city, and new people. I am both excited and nervous of the possibilities and challenges that I will face in the next sixteen months of the program. As I start the program, I tell myself this is an opportunity that cam sculpt the rest of my career.

Panoramic view from Stanley Park, looking towards North Vancouver

My journey here is a common story to others entering the program. Since graduating from my undergraduate studies in Toronto, Canada, I pursued a career in line with my degree focus in accounting and finance. From my first position, I looked to gain as much work experience to align with my education. As my career progressed, it became increasingly specialized, focusing in a corporate treasury function where I was able to oversee banking related aspects of the organization. To complement this new specialization, in 2011 I became a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and am currently a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 2 candidate.

At the beginning of 2013, I reflected on my career thus far, how I reached my current point and started to look to the future. My career had been within the administrative side of a corporation, focusing on the accounting and finance concentration I have worked towards. My years of experience in progressive roles have allowed me to fine tune my understanding of the corporate treasury functions as well as the accounting aspects of an organization as a whole. I was in a comfortable but silo situation, where I had become confident in my abilities but also turned off by its general repetitiveness. I have long sought for a role which can provide me frequent challenges in an environment where I am exposed to the business as a whole rather than a specified function. Through mentorship, I also came to realize it is essential in today’s evolving workplace to have a well-rounded knowledge. From these individuals, I have taken away the importance of understanding the broad picture in a business, thinking strategically, and connecting various functions of a business to its vision.

I now start the MBA program hoping to broaden my business knowledge beyond the financial aspects, to be able to understand a business from multiple perspectives where I am able to put the different pieces together in one picture. I hope in broadening my business knowledge to other areas of concentrations, I am able to take on a more challenging and satisfying career.