I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and keep going back and forth about what I want my life to look like. My whole life I have had the privilege of being able to say, “I’m not really sure yet” and have been able to try a lot of different things. Coming into the end of my junior year the realization that soon I am going to have to figure that out is hard. I have always had a clear interest in finance; learning about how the system works and figuring out ways to optimize and grow business performance has been so interesting and empowering. I have had so many amazing opportunities in the past 3 years to learn and talk to such intelligent individuals and see so much potential for me in the finance world besides just earning a steady paycheck. I love the challenge and the constant changing dynamics of business and how that intersects with the geopolitical state of our world. But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t wonder if there was something bigger that I could be doing, using my passion to really make a difference in the world.
In my second year at Bentley, I became a Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Educator on Campus where I have had the opportunity to educate myself on a lot of really important issues and use that knowledge to help other students. It has genuinely been one of the best experiences of my life and I feel like I have grown so much as a person working with this team. The thought of leaving that work behind when I graduate college is one that breaks my heart. There is so much more that I want to do to help prevent and provide aid for victims of gender-based harassment. The outreach we are able to do on campus is small because 1. Not everyone knows about our work and 2. Not everyone wants to listen. I was lucky enough to hear a talk from Nancy Hogshead who is an Olympic Athlete that now does civil rights litigation in areas surrounding Title IX like gender-based violence. Hearing about the work she has been able to do, and the people she has been able to help was truly inspiring and made me realize we need more people in the world like her who are willing to fight for change. So, the question of how I can do that while still pursuing a career in finance has not left my brain. This need to do something more ‘meaningful’ with my life has only grown stronger since college where I have been able to hear from so many amazing people from places like the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, REACH, or the Emma Coalition, who are doing such amazing and impactful work; changing the lives of the people who need it most.
There are so many pathways in life where you can make a difference, and maybe mine is in the financial sector. The possibilities are somewhat endless… which is both exciting and terrifying. I would love some advice from others, but I think for now I am just going to keep taking opportunities as they come and continue to learn and grow as I go.