Her Story
About Esin
I came from Turkey, where I studied Turkish literature and history at the University of Istanbul, graduating in 1992. When I came to the United States to visit my siblings in Kansas, where my brother was studying aerospace at the University of Kansas, I fell in love with this country and decided to stay and become part of it. I realized my Turkish literature degree wouldn't provide enough opportunities, so I decided to study accounting. I moved to New York and completed a two-year Business Office Management diploma program at Centurion Institute in Brooklyn, where they hired me as an accountant. I worked there for 7-8 years until they shut down and decided to reopen in another state. I continued my accounting career with different companies, including construction companies and Tommy Boy. Later, I moved to Houston and started studying forensic accounting for a master's degree for one year, but I received a really good job offer from a Turkish-German-Finnish corporation partnership to open their company in Houston. I had to choose between studying or working, so I dropped school and accepted the position. I worked for them from scratch to end until they shut down. Throughout my journey, I have worked and studied simultaneously. I come from a very poor background without educated parents, and I worked and studied at the same time to support myself. During my master's years, I would work until 7-8 PM, come home and study until 1-2 AM, wake up early, and go back to work. When I was in New York studying accounting, I worked for the school and studied at the same time, sometimes having classes until 11 PM. My hours were completely packed with working all day and studying all night, plus weekend classes, laundry, and cleaning. Now I work at a research center in Tallahassee, dealing with federal, state, and city grants, handling accounts payable and receivable, general journal work, grant preparation, monitoring expenses, working with project investigators, generating monthly reports, and managing invoicing.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Esin
01What do you attribute your success to?
I question what success really means. Is success being famous and rich, or inventing something important? Is it having a happy life and being content? First, we have to answer that question - what is success? I don't define my success by traditional measures. I come from a very poor background without educated parents, and I worked and studied at the same time to survive in a foreign country with a foreign language. My goal is not to be a rich woman or a famous one. My goal is to leave this life with honesty and confidence. Integrity is really valuable to me - thinking and saying the same thing, not saying something and doing another. That's what matters most to me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
When I was in college, I was working and studying at the same time. I worked at a pharmacy on weekends and sometimes during the day when I had time. The owner of the pharmacy was a lady pharmacist, and she came to me and asked, 'What is your goal in life?' I looked at her face, and I didn't have an answer. I had goals like paying my expenses, needing a little bit more money, maybe passing my exam, but I didn't have a real goal. I had never thought about it until that day. I come from a very poor background without educated parents, so I never thought about having goals in life. In the country I'm from, especially being a woman, what is your goal? It could be getting to marriage age, getting married, having kids, continuing to live like your mother and grandmother did before. There was nothing out of the house that I could adopt as a goal. I didn't have a goal. It hurt me very deep. I said, I don't even have a goal. I'm living, but I don't want to get married, I don't want to have kids now. My goal is not to be like my mother. If not, then what is my goal? That question really made me think about what I wanted.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I cannot stand seeing women as a caged bird that was created by men thousands of years ago. Women should see themselves as individuals with virtues, with integrity, with dignity, with honor, with skill, and capacity. Use your brain, not your body. That's what I would tell young women.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Artificial intelligence is very powerful and coming, no doubt about that. It's taking over many jobs, and one of them will be accounting. Our jobs will be taken over by AI. So we have to adopt that skill. I already enrolled in computer classes, AI classes, and cybersecurity courses. At this age, I am about to learn computer artificial intelligence. I already have the class scheduled. We cannot be left behind. It's not just tragic - it's happening, it's coming. We have to adapt or we'll be left behind.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is the most important value to me. Thinking and saying the same thing - saying something and doing another makes me uncomfortable. I like to live my life in integrity. Sometimes, in some parts of the world and some eras, integrity is a problem, but my goal is not to be a rich woman or a famous one. My goal is to leave this life with honesty and confidence. Honesty is really valuable to me.
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