In today’s class, we were fortunate enough to hear from two successful Sauder graduates. This experience helped me truly recognize the potential value of my Bachelor of Commerce degree. The first guest, Nolan Watson, is the CEO and founder of Sandstorm Gold, a publicly traded gold streaming company on the NYSE. Listening to him discuss the trials and tribulations he faced early in his career only to become one of the youngest CFOs of a company on the NYSE was incredibly inspirational. He specialized in accounting at Sauder, but always knew that he would head in a more innovative direction. Sandstorm Gold was what emerged from this entrepreneurial spirit.  The second guest was a more recent Sauder graduate named Tina Lu. When she graduated in 2010, she had yet to line up a job let alone a future career. From this daunting uncertainty sparked creativity. Tina used the networking skills she had procured over her 4 years at Sauder and was able to land a job at Lulu Lemon.

Listening to these alumni speak about the many challenges and uncertainties they themselves faced over the course of their undergraduate education and in their early career came as a huge relief. It’s nice hearing that what you’re currently experiencing, self-doubt, increasing pressure, uncertainty, etc is a normal experience. You can’t always plan out exactly what’s going to happen next. But what I really took away from Tina’s and Nolan’s stories was that if you absorb and learn from those around you, you will have the tools to handle whatever obstacles get thrown your way.