Her Story
About Syeda
Syeda Firdaus began her career in e-commerce, starting as a catalog analyst at Amazon and advancing to team leader at Groupon. After six years, she pursued a Master's in Business Analytics from Arizona State University, graduating in 2019. She then transitioned to the financial industry, joining PayPal as a data scientist focused on collections, including loss forecasting, revenue analysis, and recovery strategies. Drawn to the measurable impact in finance, she later joined Mercury Financial as a fraud strategy manager, where she developed scientific models for automated credit fraud strategies. She has since moved internally to the credit risk side, analyzing customer portfolios to maximize revenue while mitigating risks. Mercury Financial was acquired by Atlanticus in September of the prior year. Syeda attributes her success to her husband and her former manager at PayPal, Jason Pirate.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Syeda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would credit that to two people. One is obviously my husband, who keeps pushing me to learn... And the other person that I would credit would be my manager at PayPal, my ex-manager... Jason Pirate.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice is before digging into technical skills... know the business, know the company, know what the company does, know what metrics matter the most to the company. And then everything else would just kind of fall into place.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do not get intimidated, even if you're new... just don't hesitate to ask questions, and don't hesitate to put your ideas forward... once you crack that first big feel-good project, and then everything else is just a piece of cake.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now... is AI. With AI, things have gotten so much easier... But it also comes with its challenge... the pressure and the time crunch that it brings with it... more expectations, more competition, and there's just so much pressure.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being open to feedback and constructive feedback between peers... collaboration... don't hesitate to ask questions, no matter how silly it sounds.
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