Her Story
About Teresa
Teresa Martin serves as a Manager in public accounting in Glen Allen, Virginia. She began her accounting career in 2014 and transitioned to public accounting to pursue and obtain her CPA, which strengthened her accounting background. Teresa earned her bachelor's degree in accounting from Hunter College after initially attending Penn State and transferring. Prior to public accounting, she gained hands-on experience progressing from accounts payable to accounting manager in industry, which now supports her work in auditing, non-for-profit accounting, and various client systems. In her role, she manages client engagements, often remotely, coaches team members, and values learning new positions thoroughly before making changes. Teresa advises balancing work and personal life, especially as a mother of three and wife, and encourages young professionals to pursue internships, obtain the CPA early, and explore diverse areas like forensic or management accounting beyond traditional paths.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Teresa
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Try not to take it home with you every time. Learn that balance. It's not always gonna happen, but as long as you don't do it all the time, then it'll make your load a lot less stressful. Always be willing to learn first when you go into a new position. Learn the company first, learn the position first, learn why things are done first, before you even try and change anything.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Try as soon as possible to get into an internship, but don't feel like you're behind if you don't do an internship during your college years. Truly consider the CPA as it opens up a lot of doors. Get it knocked out as soon as you can. Be open to not just public accounting, there's so many other things you can do with the field like forensic accounting, management accounting.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge is finding the type of accounting that you want to do. A lot of people assume there's only maybe two types of accounting, controller or tax. The accounting field is so varied, there's a lot of diversity within the accounting field that people don't realize.
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