Be Ready to Pivot: Alumna Rhonda Grant Shares Education and Career Advice with Students
A graduate of The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS) of Queens, Rhonda S. Grant reconnected with Student Leadership Network through volunteering and sharing advice with students at the network’s Future Success Symposium and a career day event with TYWLS middle school students.
Rhonda’s educational and professional paths took many turns before she landed her current position as a Senior Consultant at Ernst & Young (EY). She took some time to share her journey with us!
Reflections on the College Application Process
What is one highlight of your TYWLS Queens experience that helped shape your growth?
One of the most transformational experiences I had was in 12th grade, when I worked with our director of college counseling at the time, Paula Dofat. I saw how dedicated she was to ensuring that we had the best college application experience. The majority of the students came from lower/middle-class homes, and a lot of us, including me, would be first-generation college graduates. We were in the dark about how the college application process works. Ms. Dofat made this daunting process so much simpler and more manageable.
We had trips to different college campuses so we could get a feel for the campus and imagine ourselves being there. It gave us a great deal of insight into understanding what we wanted in a campus, what we didn’t, and how our classrooms would be structured. She also helped us tremendously with the FAFSA and financial aid application process. I remember she hosted a parent meeting after school, and my mom couldn’t make it, so I attended with our family tax information in hand. I had never seen a W-2 before, so I remember feeling very anxious and overwhelmed. Paula promptly reassured me and the parents, and she sat with me the entire time to finish the FAFSA. It was an experience that made me realize I can conquer these challenges, and that just because something is hard, it doesn’t mean it can’t be accomplished.
Normalizing Nonlinear Paths to Education and Career
What inspired you to return to Student Leadership Network to volunteer?
I wanted to give back as much as possible to the upcoming generation of young leaders. I love seeing young people striving and excelling in what they are passionate about and taking their journeys seriously.
My own journey has not been linear, and I want students who are graduating from high school or just starting college to understand that it doesn’t have to be a straight path to achieve their version of success. Often, their journeys will have lots of peaks and valleys, and that’s normal. It does not mean in any way that they are ‘failing’ or ‘not good enough’; thoughts that can often plague our minds when we see our journey looks a bit different from everyone else’s.
It was my pleasure to assure them that they are right where they need to be.
Often, their journeys will have lots of peaks and valleys, and that’s normal. It was my pleasure to assure them that they are right where they need to be.
You had the experience of starting as an undergraduate at a public college, then finishing your degree at a private university. What advice would you offer to students who are worried about finding the right place or program for themselves?
College can be a wonderful time, and you can have fun, but it needs to be strategic to long-term goals above all else. Think about where you see yourself in a few years post-grad. Do you see yourself working in the corporate world at a well-known company or starting a business? Are you taking your art and creative passions more seriously? Make sure that vision is clear, even if you don’t exactly know how you’re going to get there yet.
My start at City College gave me the time I needed to get my grades up so that I could transfer to Boston University, a school that had access to resources and experiences that I was looking for. I thought I was going to be a corporate lawyer in business law. I ended up working in business technology and consulting, not law, but I knew I needed to be at a school that would offer more opportunities to break into that space or similar ones that were just as valuable.
Whatever you decide to do, put yourself in a place that can offer you the best access to resources such as internships, student organizations, or companies that come to their career fairs to get to where you see yourself in the future.
What do you do in your current role at EY? What kinds of experiences do you need to have for this industry?
I am currently a Senior Technology Consultant at Ernst & Young. I work with technology as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Specialist, meaning I build out operating systems for companies across many industries to manage inventory, transactions with vendors or manufacturers, accounts receivable and payables, and other tasks that need software to manage almost every aspect of a company’s business.
My Masters of Science in Management from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business built the foundations for entering the business sector. For example, Accounting & Finance courses helped me understand the movement of money behind what I was building, and computer science and systems classes taught me to create code to customize systems to each client. My negotiations class helped me advocate for myself and ask the right questions when going for interviews at top companies.
Lastly, what helped me the most was attending my college’s career fair. Preparing and taking it seriously helped me secure my first “Big Girl” job at Oracle, which led to me being recruited for my current role at EY.
These examples show how a variety of experiences and resources complemented each other to get to where I envisioned myself. I’m so happy to share my journey in hopes that it can help someone else feel more confident in their own.
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