Rachel Sullivan, MAcc CGMA

I attribute my success to my personal drive to constantly keep going. When I grew up, my life expectancy was only 28. And then I got this amazing medication called Trikafta from Vertex, and now my life expectancy is probably around 80. For me, it's just taking every day as it comes, and my drive to just keep fighting and keep going. That's led me to have more drive to want to help other people. I don't take a single day for granted. I focus on taking life as it comes, while continuing to push forward and fight for more. That experience built a level of resilience in me that I carry into everything I do. Now, that same drive fuels my passion to help others, especially those who may be struggling, because I know firsthand what it means to keep going even when the odds feel stacked against you.

The best career advice I have received is to stop thinking about jobs as isolated steps and start thinking about your career as something you’re deliberately positioning.

Instead of just chasing salary increases, focus on building leverage… skills and experiences that multiply your impact and aren’t tied directly to time.

The more your work influences decisions, revenue, or strategy, the more valuable and secure you become.

Alongside that, aim to develop a rare combination of skills rather than a single identity. It’s the intersection of abilities - like finance, analytics, and storytelling - that makes you stand out and opens doors others don’t even see.

It’s also important to stay close to where money flows.

Roles connected to revenue, cost savings, or financial risk will always carry more weight in an organization, which translates into better opportunities and faster progression.

But doing great work isn’t enough on its own - you need to make your value visible.

Document what you do, share insights, and build a body of work that speaks for you.

That’s how you move from chasing opportunities to attracting them.

At the same time, be intentional about the environments you choose.

The right manager, team, and company culture can accelerate your growth far more than a title ever will.

Protect your energy just as seriously, because burnout quietly limits your potential more than failure ever could… and instead of thinking about your next move in isolation, zoom out and consider where each decision puts you in five years - every role should build skills, increase your earning power, or expand your options.

Above all, put yourself in rooms where you feel slightly out of your depth, but where your future self belongs.

That’s where real growth happens.

First and foremost, do what feels right for yourself.

Don't let other people, whether that be parents, friends, peers, don't let them pressure you into doing something that you're not really sure you want to do, especially with education. You know, college can be fantastic. If you don't think that's something you want, that's also okay. There are other avenues to getting qualifications than just that. Be proud of who you are. Don't let anybody dull your shine. Don't let anybody tell you that you're not worth anything, or you're not worth something, because you're worth everything, and you are amazing. And you're beautiful inside and out, always. If I was younger, I would tell myself to follow my actual dreams.

One of the biggest challenges I see is that so many people grow up without ever talking about money. A lot of people tend to find that their families never talked about money, whether with parents, grandparents, etc. And so people are not always comfortable discussing their money with, in a way, somewhat a stranger. With me coming from that sort of background, where in my family we didn't really discuss money when we were growing up, I completely understand that, but I do think that's one of the biggest challenges - getting people to open up about their finances, their financial life, and their financial goals. Money was always, I suppose, somewhat a taboo subject to talk about. Being able to help people overcome that and be able to openly discuss and talk about that is something I've really loved, being able to help people in that way. There's also a lack of financial education in schools. A lot of people don't even understand the kind of loans they've signed up for, or they come out of college and they're like, well, I don't know how to save. No one has ever taught me anything about money. All the way through the education system, there is not enough, there's pretty much no focus on financial education. That's something I'm really passionate about - I would love there to be more education at an earlier age.

Respect is probably one of the most important values to me, along with loyalty, both in my personal life, like with friends and my partner, but also with clients, so they know they can come to me, and they can trust me, and I'm not just gonna pass them off to someone else. Happiness is something that's huge for me, and happiness comes in many forms. Definitely also, a big thing for my life is taking care of your mental health and your physical health, but they're both intertwined. Helping other people to understand that too, and how valuable that is in your life, is something I really hold dear.