My grandparents didn’t earn university degrees, and neither did my parents. My generation was the first to have that opportunity.
I did my undergrad in Accounting, then applied to McGill’s School of Continuing Studies. Once I earned the Graduate Diploma in Public Accounting, I wrote the CPA exam and became an accountant – it was a natural progression for me.
My instinct was to reapply to McGill and get a second graduate degree in taxation. I was interested in law, and I thought being a tax accountant was the closest thing to becoming a lawyer; after all, income tax act is a law unto itself. That’s what brought me back to McGill for my Graduate Diploma in Taxation.
Graduating from McGill put me at an advantage. The McGill name has a great reputation, and it’s a world-renowned school. After my two graduate degrees from McGill I worked at Deloitte, which allowed me to put the accounting and tax degree into practice and helped propel my career.
My family name automatically makes people think that I’m an entrepreneur and a businessperson. But instead, I am a professional. My degrees from McGill put me on the path to my professional designation and to my credibility. McGill’s reputation also helped me, as a woman going up the ranks back in the nineties, to be recognized as such!
Once you graduate from McGill, you know what it’s like to work hard and to be dedicated. It feels like you can accomplish anything, because you’ve been able to go through the rigor of studies at McGill.