In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re proud to feature four of our incredible team members who have made a significant impact on our organization and beyond.
How did you get your start in your current role and what do you enjoy most about it?
I was hired at Banyan as a result of my prior M&A experience. I originally started my career off in audit at one of the big 4 accounting firms and was volunteering for a group the firm had that helped early stage female entrepreneurs find mentorship and scale their businesses. Through this group, I met a VP of the firm’s M&A group, who had reached out to me when the M&A group was hiring, which is how I obtained my prior M&A experience.
What I enjoy most about my current role is getting to meet the business owners. I find entrepreneurs so fascinating. Although they have all found success, every single ones’ story is so different, and each business is different. I like that I am constantly learning about new industries. I also love that I get to model away in Excel in my current role, as nerdy as that sounds!
What skills or qualities do you think are essential for success in your role?
The obvious one is having an analytical mindset to be able to work with the financial information and come to a valuation. But maybe even more important are: 1) curiosity, and 2) interpersonal skills.
As an investor, we want to learn as much as we can about each business that we are evaluating and during diligence we want to understand what the true go forward costs of the businesses would be and all of that requires asking the right questions which is a by-product of being curious.
Interpersonal skills are so important in this role as you have to be able to understand the emotions of the business owners. They are selling their business, something many have worked on their whole lives to grow. So to them, their business is more than just that, it’s essentially one of their children. Being able to understand what they are going through enables us to work cohesively and build a strong relationship that goes beyond just the acquisition period.
What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
This is a hard one because I’m an open book, so I’m not so sure there is anything people don’t know about me (i.e. my love for baking and being physically active)! I think my fun fact would have to be that I am extremely persistent. Whether that be training for a small triathlon after getting hit by a car while riding a bike and needing stitches, to applying to Amazing Race Canada for the fourth time and counting. There is never a goal I will give up on if it is something I want to achieve
Can you share a personal story or experience that has been particularly impactful for you as a woman in your industry?
When you work in a male-dominated industry you sometimes wonder when the next female will be hired, but I think what is so important is the realization of the strong relationships and mentors you gain that are males and their level of emotional intelligence and empathy they display when working with females. Quick anecdote: the team was subwaying back from a closing dinner one night in which there was someone on the subway that gives you that bad gut feeling. A colleague forwent his stop and rode the subway until my stop just to make sure I felt safe, and then he got off and rode the subway the opposite direction back to his original intended stop without making a scene about it, just a simple look in the stranger’s direction and a mutual understanding.
