Melissa Russo

I would definitely say my parents, just striving for me to get a good education. They always stressed to get a degree that kind of makes you unique, so like, get the accounting degree to fill that specific position - you know, now I'm an accountant. I think people get a little lost with what their goal is, like their end goal. I would definitely just say my hard work, because I graduated and then applied to a whole bunch of jobs and got the first opportunity, and I've just been trying to work my way up and get as much experience as I can, learning things and adapting to just excel in my career and move up as much as I can.

Just try your best and listen to your heart and your gut. It's definitely tough, but you have to just focus on what you know, and kind of the rest, you can't plan everything, because you plan stuff and then it just ends up not coming out the way you want it to. But I think as long as you are trying your best and having a positive attitude, I think you can achieve kind of anything. And as long as you're hardworking and determined, you can achieve your goals. Just stay kind of focused and not get too distracted by all the outside people trying to influence you to do maybe other things that you don't enjoy.

I would just say probably the amount of hours the accounting field demands. That's definitely a struggle, as I said before, kind of managing your work-life balance. I feel like a lot of the industries demand just work as much as you possibly can. So I try to just do the best I can, work as hard as I can, and make sure that I'm prioritizing some free time so that you can show up for your best at work. I think that's an important thing everyone should prioritize.

I would say honesty and communication - making sure, I guess, personally and in work, just the more communication, the better, because you have to be on the same page with people, or else things just get kind of lost. And organization is important too.