My path to third level could not be described as conventional or straightforward. Post completion of my Leaving Certificate, driven by economic necessity, I accepted a job offer in finance and moved into full-time employment. I wanted to continue along the academic route when the timing allowed. I needed to prove to myself that third-level education can be pursued at any stage of life if the desire and determination are there.
So, two years into my job, I decided to pursue my accounting qualification with the ACCA, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. While pursuing my accounting qualification, I noticed the Oxford Brookes/ACCA option to attain a BSC in Accounting. I pursued this route and was successful.
Having a full-time career in addition to marriage, children and life in general did not make this path simple, but the challenge made the end goal worthwhile.
In 2019, I wanted to pursue future career options, and I decided the route for me was to pursue an executive MBA at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). The aim was to try to bring a strategic lens to developments in the financial services industry and to focus on some of my passions, encompassing equality and social justice, technology for good, and continued learning at any age or stage in one’s career.
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It was necessary to look at several routes for funding and this involved a lot of networking, which was not natural for me. TCD helped me to identify possible funding routes, and my family made sacrifices for me to move forward.
My children were now teenagers, and I had to put a lot of thought into how I could complete this intensive programme and balance my home life.
Covid forced me into a year of online learning which was difficult for a demanding programme, but I had great support.
I graduated in October 2022 with an EMBA and was immediately offered a partial scholarship by UCD Smurfit to pursue a higher diploma in corporate governance. This was quite exhausting given the proximity to completion of the MBA; however, this programme summarised succinctly what I had learned in the MBA and really helped with direction and perspectives.
The MBA also pointed to one of my greatest assets as being my presentation skills, which came as a complete surprise to me.
I recently moved from a US organisation to HSBC Ireland, which has a more expansive view of Asia and the Middle East, in the role of head of account management for Ireland securities services.
I can say without hesitation that my education was instrumental in giving me the courage and confidence to do this. I use the skills that I learned in these programmes frequently in my career, but also in my everyday life.
