Her Story
About Mikayla
I've been in finance for about 2 years and currently work for Republic Finance in Branch Operations, where I deal with loans, loan closing, and consumer lending. I also work at Georgia Southern University managing a portfolio worth about $200,000 for the whole university, investing in stocks and similar instruments. What first drew me to economics and finance was understanding how the world works through numbers. I've always been a person that loved numbers and the analytical side of things. I love the fast-paced environment and watching how one stock can go up and down based on how the economy is doing, who may be in office, or what's going on day-to-day with market uncertainty. With my economics major, I'm focused on how the world is changing in different ways and staying on top of that, being able to read everything and measure how things are going in the economy. I'm currently balancing multiple roles including internships and school, and I'm constantly getting certificates in finance and economics to build my knowledge. My next career goal is to open a couple of investment properties, invest more into myself with things like Airbnb, close on my first house to be able to sell it, and generate a lot of revenue.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Mikayla
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would definitely say myself, just working hard, being a consistent worker, and driving myself. I always tell myself every day, you have to give 100%. Every day you get up and you know you have something to do, either if you have to go to work, no matter what you're doing, you have to give 100%. You can't give 99%. Give 100% each day, because that can be the day that you level up. You don't know what's gonna happen the next day, so just being a consistent person, hardworking, and just pushing myself, knowing that I am going to be successful, and I'm going to do great, and also just continue to learn and learning new things like that.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be get a lot of knowledge, go into it very curious, wanting to know a lot, ask a lot of questions, speak to people, try to get a mentor or anybody that has been in your position before. Speak to people like that, be curious, ask a lot of questions. Also, get those certificates. One thing I always did was, you know, I've been getting certificates in finance and econ and things like that, just building my knowledge and learning more and more each day. You're never going to learn too much, you know? You never know everything, so just learning more and more, and just being curious and stepping into the world. Take the risk, you can do it in finance. Watch those YouTube videos, get those certificates, learn more each day, and just push yourself.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would definitely say my responsibility, that's a great value. You always have to be responsible, no matter what, whether that's day-to-day tasks, and that's not just on the job site, that's in my personal life. Anything that I do, I make sure I take full responsibility for everything I do. Also, just being compassionate, just being nice to people, being around people. You never know who you're gonna meet and who you're gonna talk to. That first interaction that you have with somebody, just be compassionate, be nice, you know, lend a helping hand. You never know when you're gonna see them in the future, where you'll see them, anything like that. My other values include accountability. That kind of goes with my responsibility. Just saying, like, day-to-day, if you don't get up today, you're gonna have to take accountability for tomorrow when you know you were supposed to do something today. So just always keeping myself accountable, that keeps me going, just keeps me moving and wanting to be a better person.
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