From studying Economics & Politics to an Accounting Trainee
I completed my undergraduate at the University of Birmingham, where I studied Economics and Politics.
After completing my undergrad, I took a gap year, in which Covid hit, so I went back to do my Masters in Financial Management.
Whilst completing my postgraduate degree, I was involved in the Student Venture Capital Fund and interned for 10 weeks in Private Equity which I got through the 10,000 Black Interns programme.
Then I started at Lloyds in 2021, on the Finance grad scheme, and have worked in Group Finance Support, the Commercial Bank, Retail Finance & now in my final placement in Group Strategy and I am currently studying towards the ACA qualification!
Trainee Accountant working in the Fintech Investment Team
Understanding the fintech market and the investment process end-to-end
I am very new to the team, but learning about the different investment companies in our portfolio, the rights we have as investors, and some of the new innovative tech that is emerging from the fintech space has been interesting to learn about.
Definitely looking forward to attending more events and meeting more people
Every rejection is just a redirection
During university, and even up until doing my Masters, I was met with several rejections - rejections from spring weeks, insight days, internships, part time jobs etc and it was quite demoralising when seeing your peers bag these opportunities so effortlessly.
What I learnt from this is that what is for me, would never miss me and those opportunities probably would have stopped me from accessing opportunities that were better suited for me!
For example, I really hoped for a summer internship in my second year of uni and didn't secure one. So, I looked for alternative ways to gain work experience. As a result, I managed to get a 4 week summer job which allowed me to travel twice that summer, but gain transferrable kills, as well as two 2-week work experience placements in Finance, including a fully funded placement in the Finance department of the Tourism authority in Saint Lucia (which meant I travelled 3 times that summer!). If i had secured a 10 week long internship, I probably wouldn't have been able to travel three times, and have 3 different experiences to add to my CV.
All that is to say that any rejection is a redirection!
Completing my Masters with a Distinction during the pandemic
Studying for a degree isn't easy, and doing it during the pandemic made it much more complicated due to not having face-to-face contact and all lectures being online.
Not only this, but I also contracted Covid whilst doing my dissertation, whilst interning full time. This made it difficult to focus on my dissertation and give it my full attention as I was unwell but also tired from finishing work at around 6:30 each evening and then having to work on my dissertation.
However, I ploughed through it and managed to secure 75% in my dissertation, and a distinction in my degree overall!
My next greatest achievement will be to hopefully complete the ACA qualification next year as it has not been an easy journey at all!
