Amanda Lewis, MBA

I will say there's some luck in it you're at the right place at the right time, you answer your phone at the right time, a company grows in the perfect scenario so that you're able to move up quickly. But for me personally, I think being able to work hard and prove that I'm dependable, I can produce results, I'm efficient, I'm accurate - that's helped me. When special scenarios or teams come up that are kind of like that once-in-a-career team placement, I've been able to explain the results that I provided and describe the assets I could bring to a team. I think being able to be dependable, accurate, efficient, and able to work together as a team has been key. I can normally walk into any room and work with others, even if I've not met them. I think also just having faith in yourself to do it, knowing your ability, and knowing that you can execute whatever's being asked of you. You have to have confidence in yourself. I know when to admit when I'm wrong and when to ask for help, and I think being able to do that is important.

The best career advice I received is to advocate for yourself. There have been plenty of times where I felt that in my position, I maybe didn't have a strong enough voice to voice a concern or a problem, or bring an issue up, but I received advice earlier in my career that it's better to place a concern or a problem and find out that it's not actually an issue and someone's already handled it, than to think that you don't have the right to bring up the issue. Especially in my field, accounting is based on having good ethics, good morals, having integrity, and that's something I've prided myself on - making sure that I'm not going to compromise my own integrity for a job. There have been times in my career where I've had to say no and say I'm not doing this, I need more information, because I didn't feel comfortable. I wasn't willing to sacrifice my own integrity and my professional reputation because I didn't understand what was being asked of me. Being able to advocate for myself and know that if there are consequences, I'm willing to deal with it. I'm not going to sacrifice my integrity to advance my career or to pacify whoever is asking the question of me. I would rather stand my ground and be confident in my ability and know that I respect the decision that I made than regret making a different decision.

I would say that you need to work hard, and also, not so much find a mentor, but when you encounter other women in a professional setting, kind of observe how they interact with others. Being able to see how women in positions of authority and power carry themselves in meetings, prepare for different tasks, and run meetings helps you see the things you need to do where it doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman. Just have confidence in yourself and don't let someone question you. I've never allowed someone to question me based on my age or my sex or anything like that. I walk into a room and say, these are the skills that I provide, and this is how I'm going to make this team better. It has nothing to do with who I am as a female or as a young professional - it has everything to do with my ability and what I bring to the table.

I think the biggest challenge in my field as an accountant is just making sure people understand that AI is not going to eliminate accounting. That is not the case. You're always going to have to have someone there that actually understands and interprets the figures. A computer can eliminate a lot, but they can't eliminate a person's critical thinking skills. I think that's a fear people have, especially in school - oh my gosh, I'm going to spend all this money on a degree and there's not going to be any jobs. But accounting is one of those fields where there's always a job. Having an accounting degree is so versatile. I learned in college that you can almost hold any job in a corporation with an accounting degree, but you can't hold an accounting job without an accounting degree. So it's a very versatile degree. I think an opportunity is just realizing that - realizing that having an accounting degree and being a young professional in corporate America, there are so many opportunities. You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone to take them, take the risks, and not let people hold you back. As long as you do that, you aren't going to be put in the boxes that people try to put you in. I'm a young professional, I've gotten very far in my career already, I have two small children at home, and I don't miss out on things, I don't miss deadlines. I'm able to contribute to the overall success of the company without compromising my professional and my home values. Accounting lends to that because you're able to balance work and life at the same time, as long as you understand what's important to you.

I would say being accountable is extremely important. Being thoughtful and understanding that people have different perspectives and ideas, and being able to listen to them and hear them out. I think collaboration is extremely important. There's a big difference between being able to work with someone and being able to work with them effectively. I've worked with plenty of people where it's their way or the highway and they have no ability to compromise. To be able to collaborate well, you have to be able to compromise and understand that people have different opinions. I'm really good at understanding when I'm working with someone that can't compromise with me - I find ways to compromise with them without jeopardizing the project we're working on or the task. I think just having respect for people is key. I'm never going to intentionally walk into a room and demand respect. I'm going to be polite and respectful and understand that I'm entering a room and I don't need to demand respect from people because my results will show how I'll earn the respect. I don't judge people based on other people's opinions of someone. I let people show me who they are. Everyone deserves that same respect in return - not having their prior representation or a prior interaction on a bad day determine who they are. You can't judge people based on a bad day they had because you may not know it was a bad day, and it could have been the worst day of their life. I think being able to communicate well is important because a lot of misunderstandings happen with poor communication.