How Did You Get Your Start?

I attended community college for 2 years, then transferred into McIntire. I was a pure finance bro, infatuated with that culture, and thought “duh, I’m going to work at Goldman or Morgan Stanley.”

I was getting rolled in my finance classes 4th year spring. 

I realized my desire to work in finance was only for the prestige, title, and social pressures. I thought I was supposed to work in finance. 

I took a data analytics class, fell in love, and took a data analyst job at a mortgage company. I only stayed for 9 months – I didn’t like the location, especially since my contact said I’d be working elsewhere. 

I moved back to Virginia Beach, unemployed. One day, someone from our church emailed my mom that the Navy command worked for was hiring. My parents said, this is all you got, you’re working for the government. Reluctantly, I accepted.

I was not thrilled. Typical government job, 80 year old building, not lots of young people – I was in a slump. 1 ½ years in, I met the Director of Policy and Contracting. She told me that working in the government can be really prestigious. You can go very high, very far, and do some really cool and impactful work.

2 years later, she forwarded me an email about a Program Analyst position in the Pentagon. The description was:

• Responsible for overall planning, direction, and success or key agency programs

• Develop processes and policies for effectively identifying risk from foreign investment

• Manage and develop metrics for the portfolio

I applied and got the job. So, now, I’m the risk management lead for the Navy’s Foreign Investment review team.