Her Story
About Debra
I started my career working in the hotel industry as a night auditor and worked my way up to become a general manager. I love people in general, which is why I gravitate toward what I'm doing now. I went back to school late, in my late 20s, because I really didn't know what I wanted to do. When I took my first accounting class, I fell in love with it, and that's what birthed me being an accountant. What started me becoming a consultant was when I would go to tax preparers like H&R Block, and the last time I went, I was actually helping the staff member complete my tax return. She didn't know how to do it, and I was walking her through the steps, and then I had to pay for it. I said, well, I might as well do this for myself and help other people. When I started doing it for myself and helping others, I realized that people just did not really understand how taxes work. So as I'm doing people's tax returns, I'm educating them so that even if they use me next year or if they don't, they'll be able to ask intelligent questions and understand what's happening on their return. For me, it's all about education. I also volunteer as a guardian ad litem, and one thing that bothers me is that if a kid is in foster care and going through the court system, as soon as they turn 18, everything stops. They fall through the cracks and experience homelessness. I wanted to be some kind of bridge to make sure they're successful too. That's why I created my nonprofit called Impossibly Dream Again, because if you have a dream that you think is impossible, it is possible. It just takes some planning and support to make it come to fruition. I love children in general. If I could help all children, I will. I just want to see them win.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Debra
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Whatever is passionate for you, find a business that fuels your passion. Make sure you're very organized. Create a vision board, and do something toward making that business come to fruition every day. Even if you're just thinking about it, write your vision plainly. You may make changes and adjustments as time goes on, but make sure you stick to it. You're gonna have some hard, rough moments, but make sure you stick to it. Try to find people that you can put on your team that's going to help enhance that. Not people that are alike you, but people that are different, where they can enhance your weak areas, your weak moments. You're not perfect or good in everything. Try to surround yourself with people that are good in the areas that you're not.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in the nonprofit field right now are trying to connect with different organizations to get your nonprofit out there and let people know who you are. Networking is a big challenge when you're out there trying to apply for grants and things like that. You have to have some knowledge and experience in getting the right teams, getting the right board members, and getting the right team to help bring that thing to pass. Another challenge is when the administration shifts, the requirements shift, so you have to make sure you stay on top of all of that and make sure your policies and things you put in place are applicable to the times. For example, when this current administration came in to the presidency, we had to go in and change the language in a lot of our policies when it came to DEI and different things like that. We had to do that on the fly. So you have to make sure that you stay abreast of all of that to make those changes. The work doesn't change, but the way you word things changes.
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