Lucia Valenzuela
I'm a first-generation American - both of my parents are immigrants - and I was the first one in my family to go to law school. I finished my undergrad in legal studies online around 2011, which was pretty unique at the time because not a lot of folks were doing that. It's out of a school out of Chicago that's now known as Purdue. I was working full-time in a sales role while going to school. I went to Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and earned my Juris Doctorate. After law school, I started working at the Big Four, KPMG specifically, one of the largest accounting firms in the entire world. I was really depressed the first 6 months of working at KPMG because I thought, oh my gosh, I went to law school and this is what I'm doing for my legal career. But then I realized that there's so much opportunity for non-accountants, non-CPAs in the accounting world, because so much of it is professional services-driven, advisory work. The profession really needs people who think bigger and move them forward. The opportunity to be part of a big-scale transformation in this industry has kept me in it for so long and so excited about it. I made partner in about half the time that it takes an average person - I got promoted every year of my career for the first 6 years and made partner in my 6th year of practice. Now I'm a Chief Innovation Officer at James Moore & Company where I spearhead AI enablement and transformation for the firm and also serve as a consultant to other CPA firms and accounting firms. I'm a newer mom trying to juggle being a mom with having a big C-suite role and keeping my family together.
• California licensed attorney
• Juris Doctorate (JD)
• Juris Doctorate (JD)
• Thomas Jefferson School of Law
• San Diego
• Bachelor's degree in Legal Studies (online)
• School out of Chicago now known as Purdue
• Completed around 2011
• Project Youth
• OCBS (Orange County) - mentoring and counseling at-risk youth
What do you attribute your success to?
So much of my success is because of amazing mentors throughout my career - I can't even name them all. I would also say I have 4 older brothers, and my family has been incredibly important. I think when you're first generation, you're kind of cut from a different cloth. I also played college basketball, which gave me a level of grit that has really served me well. So probably those three things - mentoring, sports, and just my family - are what I attribute my success to.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say be super bold and speak up, be confident, don't be afraid to put your thoughts out there, even if they're kind of third option thinking. Take up a lot of room, and make sure that you advocate for yourself, because you're your best advocate.
Locations
James Moore & Co.
Portland, OR