Her Story
About Sabrina
Sabrina Victor is a mathematics and economics major at Amherst College, where she is also a student athlete competing at the Division III collegiate level in the NESCAC conference. She is currently working as a mathematics research assistant at the University of Hawaii following her sophomore year. Sabrina passed an actuary exam this past winter and is a member of the Society of Actuaries. She is also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. In addition to her academic and athletic pursuits, Sabrina volunteered as a tutor in high school and continued a tutoring business afterward. She attributes her success to accepting criticism and remaining open to curiosity, noting the importance of staying humble while learning and not being afraid to ask questions. Sabrina values community highly and advises young women entering her field to trust themselves, surround themselves with uplifting people, and not let environmental factors hold them back. She plans to explore opportunities in actuarial science, such as roles with insurance companies or consultancies, before narrowing her career path.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sabrina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to accepting criticism and being open to curiosity. As a student, it's really important to stay humble while you learn, and just be curious and accept the fact that you don't know what you don't know. Not being afraid to ask questions and not know things is one of the only things that's allowed me to grow and progress, especially in math. Also being open to criticism, like wanting your work to be better.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is allow yourself to get stuck. One of my professors told me, allow yourself to struggle with this, allow yourself to get stuck, allow yourself to work through it without being mad at yourself for not getting it immediately. It's the best advice I've ever received, because I learned so much from being stuck and working through my own thoughts. It's really difficult to do that with the accessibility of AI. Learning the hard way that it is extremely effective to be inefficient sometimes.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say trust yourself and don't let surrounding anxieties dictate how you feel about yourself and your work. Allow yourself to surround yourself by people that are going to uplift you, and that will help each other out, rather than trying to compete and compare yourself to the people that are doing similar work to you. It's really important to take criticism, but know when it's helpful, and when you have to trust yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It's a predominantly male-dominated field, and it can be intimidating sometimes as a woman. I understand what it feels like to not have a lot of other women around you. It's important to not let that keep you down. Keep chasing what you're good at, and what you like, and not letting the surrounding current environmental factors dictate what you do. Change is coming, and it's on the rise, and there's no reason to let things like that hold you back.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My sense of community is probably one of the most important things to me. I think that I've always sought to surround myself by people that inspire me and want me and make me want to be better and learn more. By uplifting my community and helping others around me, we can all find ways to inspire each other and make each other better.
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