Her Story
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth Zagel serves as Director of Budget and Finance at the University of Colorado in the Athletic Department. She began her career with a bachelor's degree in accounting and a minor in sports management, initially working at an accounting firm before pursuing a master's degree in athletic administration to enter college athletics. After roles at two other universities, she advanced from Reporting Accountant to her current position over seven years, bringing nine years of accounting experience overall. Zagel is a member of the College Athletic Business Management Association and attributes her success to her work ethic, flexibility, and strong support system. She values strong empathy, logical reasoning, and a sense of loyalty or belonging in both her professional and personal life.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elizabeth
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say it's a three-fold thing: my work ethic, my flexibility, and a good solid support system. I am a very hard worker, however I also know when I need to take a break or look at things a different way so that I can come back stronger and better. I have a great community around me in terms of friends, my boss is great, my sister is great, and just so that you have that venting space.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Give yourself the opportunity to fail. My first job, this was what I was according to my major, this is what I would want to do, I hated it and I decided to leave and try something else. I think especially as you graduate college and nowadays you should have a plan, it needs to be the perfect plan, and I think that you need to fail in order to succeed and really figure out what you want as a human not just what society is telling you to do, and being okay with failure. Especially in your 20s, failure is actually success because you have that freedom to fail.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges is just making your own path especially as a woman in a kind of double male-dominated industry. I'm in finance very male-dominated and then also being in athletics also very male-dominated. Making sure you use your voice in the room while also being respectful, knowing how to portray your voice to be heard not just so that your voice is there. However with that it also creates an opportunity to look at it from this perspective being a kind of minority in some of those talks and meetings. If you learn how to use your voice you can really add a different perspective that is very beneficial and helpful to the bigger picture.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Strong empathy, strong logical reasoning, and a sense of loyalty or a sense of belonging. I think those are my top 3.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.