Her Story
About Shadia
I have been working in finance for about 10 years, and it's been a journey of continuous learning and growth. I started my career with a bachelor's degree in accounting and worked as an accountant for about 6 years. After graduating with my Master's of Business Administration in Enterprise Resource Planning in 2024, I moved on to being a financial analyst and was promoted to Senior Financial Analyst, which is my current role. I am now in the last semester of my Master's in Data Science, which I will complete in August of this year. My vision is to bridge the gap between the finance department and the data science department, because I feel there are lots of things that need to be injected into finance that come from data science. Day to day, I majorly handle budgets, creating robust budgets for the next financial year that we present to the executive team and hand out to field users. We get input from the team on the field and from high-level executives, putting it all together to create projections that can roll into the next 5 years. I've also been working with GIS (geographical interface systems) to locate where our stores are, map out trade areas, and get analysis to understand our customers' spending habits, lifestyle, and things like that to provide better service to them in the storage facilities. This has been a new thing for us, and I've been supporting the teams that need that input.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shadia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my mentor and my ability to never give up. My mentor has been instrumental in guiding me throughout my journey, and my determination to keep pushing forward no matter what challenges I face has been key to where I am today.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to never stop learning. There's lots of things out there, so you have to keep improving yourself. That's pretty much the best I've ever received, because it has helped me keep up with the changing work environments and changing technologies. It helps me keep up to date with whatever I need to do to be competent in whatever I'm doing in my mode of operation. It has helped a lot.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't underestimate yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Currently, it's about really balancing work and personal life. It's a struggle, because I have to kind of find time for everything. It kind of chips away at my personal time, because I spend a lot of time working - I do the normal 40 hours a week, but then school demands a lot. Data science is a whole different field. I need to learn coding, I need to learn all these data management skills, so it's pretty intense. I don't get enough of my personal time. I'm also trying to balance these two fields without necessarily bending onto one or conflicting with the other departments, being that I want to come off as a bridge between the two departments.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is one of the most important values to me. Teamwork and being a team player does a lot of good. Being personable and being able to communicate with all the departments is essential. And being empathetic is also very important to me.
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