Transcript
Speaker: The Falk of Peace.
Speaker: What's up and welcome to the Conquer Peace podcast.
Speaker: I'm D'Angelo Platt Friday.
Speaker: In the Conquer Peace podcast, we'll be exploring ways for creatives to overcome creative block.
Speaker: This season is dedicated to the gift of information and how that could lead to the releasing the stigma of something being too big or unobtainable.
Speaker: Today, I'm joined by a special guest, someone I've known for goddamn 13 years since we were 17.
Speaker: I guess we're old.
Speaker: My homie Ashley, what's up?
Speaker: Hey, everybody.
Speaker: Nice to be here with you, Dee.
Speaker: Thanks for the invite.
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: So we've had this conversation a couple times, but like, Ashley... All right, I'm going to gas you up.
Speaker: But Ashley... This is near y'all, so I'm going to listen.
Speaker: Look, I'm working on growing and giving words of affirmation, Black man trauma.
Speaker: Anyway, I am always impressed with how Ashley can kind of make her mind up for something and then follow through on doing it.
Speaker: So she's had a really diverse work experience.
Speaker: She's been an educator.
Speaker: She's worked on the capital.
Speaker: She has obtained her MBA in social entrepreneurship.
Speaker: And now you're like pretty deep in being a business consultant in D.C.
Speaker: So you've already had like a really diverse work experience.
Speaker: So you're going to we're going to kind of talk about like business consulting and what that actually is and what kind of inspired you to go into that direction.
Speaker: Is this something that you enjoy first, though?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I think to your earlier point, I've done a lot of different things.
Speaker: And one thing I've learned about myself is that not that I get bored easily, but I like challenges and kind of being able to see something and kind of make it happen.
Speaker: And with this job, it's like every three months, you know, it's a totally different job, new client.
Speaker: So, so I enjoy it.
Speaker: The work-life balance could be better, but I feel like most of us probably feel that way about work.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I,
Speaker: We'll get into that a little bit too, and I'm glad you said that, but I was very curious about the before, right?
Speaker: Because if I remember correctly, me and Ashley went to college together.
Speaker: We both went to Pepperdine.
Speaker: you were studying, I know you bounce majors, but you graduated with, what was it, sociology or psychology?
Speaker: Yeah, that's right, sociology.
Speaker: Sociology, right.
Speaker: Which, you know, look, that's part of life.
Speaker: Like we're always kind of figuring out what we want to do.
Speaker: But you studied, got your major in sociology and you went to Teach for America and you became an educator.
Speaker: and then you did work on the capital.
Speaker: How did those things point you in the direction of social entrepreneurship and getting your MBA?
Speaker: So I think like right away, if anyone here, I'm sure people are taking a sociology class or just like watch the documentary.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's like you learn about the different structures and systems and kind of all these different things that are at play.
Speaker: And when I was a teacher in Baltimore and then later in D.C., you know, you just see that you feel it.
Speaker: You're a part of communities.
Speaker: And you also see kind of the lack of resources to do the things that everyone around you wants to do.
Speaker: Like everyone wants to improve the systems.
Speaker: Everyone is working hard to do it.
Speaker: And it's just like often, you know, there aren't people there to think solely about like, how can we improve this and how can we fund this, all those different things.
Speaker: So then that was kind of what pushed me to work on the Capitol, right?
Speaker: and kind of do policy work.
Speaker: And that was very different.
Speaker: I did it during like right before COVID, you know, we were like dealing with the crazy division of the country, all that type of stuff.
Speaker: So I think it was just like, it, it helped me feel more connected to community and like understanding, but it also was a lot.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: A lot in the sense, the policy work was just a lot in the sense of what?
Speaker: It's like very heavy work.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I think it's,
Speaker: It's something that you have to do in group and like in coalition.
Speaker: And so I'm still pretty like involved and I have a ton of friends who still do the work every day.
Speaker: But I knew that my particular skill sets might be better suited, you know, in other spaces, hopefully to make impact.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: That's interesting.
Speaker: So it sounds like in that you kind of gained your voice on what, what were the things that you were naturally good at or naturally drawn to?
Speaker: What were some of those skills that you like were just starting to realize like, okay, this is, these are my skills.
Speaker: These are my passions.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So it's funny because I think I more so realized what I didn't like before I realized and like maybe what I wasn't what wasn't as fueling for me.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Like who knows if you're like good or not at something.
Speaker: All that's always subjective.
Speaker: But for me, it was like I knew research and like sitting and researching all day was not necessarily my forte.
Speaker: Like I wanted to be with people and I wanted to talk about things.
Speaker: some of the problems and like listen to people was a big listening to people, facilitating conversation was always something that I felt like fueled me, energized me.
Speaker: You know, I could get better at like no one comes out the womb good at this stuff.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So something I felt like I could teach myself and not get bored with it as quickly.
Speaker: So yeah, the things I realized I wasn't as great at though, or didn't really like was like the, the sitting behind the desk thing was really hard for me, especially having been a teacher.
Speaker: The,
Speaker: kind of researching for hours on end.
Speaker: Also the like inability to see the output or like outcome and not saying that every single piece of work I do, I have to be able to like tangibly see it.
Speaker: But I think that's something I value is like being able to see my work alongside like the work that I do with others.
Speaker: And we feel like we can see a change.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Hopefully a positive change.
Speaker: And so those are things that was something that was super interesting coming into consulting, because most times people say you don't get that.
Speaker: And so that was something kind of coming in that I was really seeking out.
Speaker: And it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker: I think that I mean, I think that that point is really important, too.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Because.
Speaker: We already know, well, at least my perception of college, like with me and you both have our bachelor's degree and like, there's almost this perception of like, by the time I get my degree, I have found that like, I know what I'm gonna do and like, there's a pressure there.
Speaker: But I hear you, one, in your journey of finding your voice, what helped you find what works for you was you experiencing what you didn't like first.
Speaker: And I think that's like really important to keep in mind because that might be easier to notice other than, as opposed to the opposite.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no, totally.
Speaker: And I mean, just to take it back to college, one of the jokes I always tell, and I know you know this already, but it was like, I was almost every major at Pepperdine except for like biology, right?
Speaker: And literally if someone were to pull out my transcript, I'm always joking, like just get past the first two pages, which are like all major changes and then you'll see good stuff.
Speaker: But that was like, that's always how I've been.
Speaker: I'm like,
Speaker: I'll try something.
Speaker: And if I don't like it, like that's a data point for me and I can kind of keep moving.
Speaker: But I've always met great people trying something like so there's really no reason for me personally not to try it.
Speaker: It's like either way, I'm going to figure out something.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think the phrase business consulting is like very general.
Speaker: Like, I don't know if you like if someone says I'm a surgeon, you're like, OK, what exactly is a business consultant?
Speaker: What do you do?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So I think because it's so general and literally even in my own company, my friends who have the exact same title that I do, we talk about our experiences and they're very different, right?
Speaker: But to kind of like put it under a very large general umbrella, it's like as business consultants, we work in partnership with our clients to address whatever key challenges they've identified.
Speaker: And
Speaker: what's unique is that we kind of get the chance to really like zone in on that problem and figure out kind of with an outsider perspective, but also doing a lot of interviews to understand the insider perspective as well.
Speaker: We really help the senior leadership typically understand the problem and like their options.
Speaker: And sometimes, right, like most times probably we're recommending a certain course of action and kind of laying that up for them.
Speaker: A lot of like,
Speaker: analysis, a lot of talking with individuals, talking with experts, talking with people within a company or organization, and really trying to streamline and clearly communicate like the root causes and some of the potential solutions.
Speaker: So and then take that and put it in any industry, right?
Speaker: Any kind of, and it'll look a little different, but that's how I would generally talk about it.
Speaker: No, that makes sense.
Speaker: So, and one thing that I thought was really interesting, you said in contrast to working in policy, which obviously policy has its pros, just like business consulting probably has its pros and cons too.
Speaker: You talked a little bit about in policy, you're not actually seeing the growth of the end product, like I've been working on this and I can see that change is happening.
Speaker: And as opposed to business consulting, it seems like you're saying you do kind of get that gratification a little bit quicker.
Speaker: Is that kind of your experience?
Speaker: Well, so it's funny that you said that because I know people who probably work in policy and in consulting are like, I feel the exact opposite way.
Speaker: My experience was that like for policy in order for like, which it makes sense, right?
Speaker: It takes time.
Speaker: Like if you're coming up with something, it's a hugely like collective as it should be like process process.
Speaker: And it takes like all these like people have been working in policy and advocacy for 20 years.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And they do amazing things.
Speaker: But it is a longer you have to, you know, be there and see it with consulting.
Speaker: A lot of times what happens and where it's gotten some pushback is that kind of previously people have focused on like, OK, we're going to leave this deck or this like booklet of information to the company and say, like, here you go.
Speaker: You know, this is what we would suggest, like hope, hope it gets done.
Speaker: What I've seen be really cool about at least my firm and others that I believe is that people are now focused on like, how do we really partner with our clients and like actually help them implement the suggestions and help them like make it successful, right?
Speaker: Because at the end of the day, that's what everybody wants.
Speaker: And so how can we be in partnership?
Speaker: And that's something, I mean, I've heard my leadership talk about a ton.
Speaker: So I do feel like I've seen
Speaker: more of that.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: So for me, yeah, that's been the case where it's like consulting.
Speaker: I think I see a bit more of like, even the next day, sometimes, you know, we cut down on some things that make people's lives easier.
Speaker: And I'm sure there's also the opposite where people are like, Hey, this isn't it.
Speaker: Either way you get feedback right away, which is probably it, right?
Speaker: Like you get feedback right away.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: So, I mean, and I hear you saying that, you know, this is not a universal opinion, but this is my kind of experience.
Speaker: And it sounds like you're getting gratification because you're measuring in a specific way, almost.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's cool.
Speaker: So, I mean, your journey, I kind of talked about this, but, you know, you decided that you're going to go to Northwestern, you're going to get your MBA, become a social entrepreneur.
Speaker: Is that what you have seen is like getting a business degree the way that you've become a business consultant?
Speaker: Is that the only route or are there other options for people?
Speaker: I mean, I think it depends, right?
Speaker: And even when we talk about like business consulting in general, like there are a lot of different types of consultants.
Speaker: Like really the word consulting really just means like you advise someone.
Speaker: So you could be a creative consultant, right?
Speaker: And like you really don't... Now this is where the entrepreneurship part comes in is like there, if you decide to be a creative consultant, like you're going to have to understand how to make money, how to like market yourself, how to like
Speaker: figure out your books or you got to pay somebody to do it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But usually at the start, like you're doing everything.
Speaker: So I think it's useful.
Speaker: I do think though, it's not, I don't think it's necessary by any means.
Speaker: Now, if you, if you're aiming to be a business consultant in very particular firms, then like, yeah, most times a grad degree in general is the way to get there.
Speaker: Especially if you're, if you've had work experience, just because it's an easier pipeline, like they recruit that way.
Speaker: But if you're interested in, you know, I'm surprised.
Speaker: Like, people teach themselves how to do stuff all the time, right?
Speaker: Like, I'm not as adept with, I'm like a visual learner.
Speaker: I have to, like, do it.
Speaker: So it's really hard for me, which is why school has always kind of been my route, where it's like, great, I have two years of business school.
Speaker: Like, I'm just focused on what the heck is accounting?
Speaker: Like, how do I do that?
Speaker: how does operations work, business stats, all that type of stuff.
Speaker: And I can just focus on that because I get distracted otherwise.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it sounds like for you, it was like, I understand what's the best environment for me to learn.
Speaker: Some people probably could go, my dad calls it YouTube University, go on YouTube, teach themselves.
Speaker: And that's, hey, a cheaper way, but it also might not be realistic for your learning style.
Speaker: So it was kind of like you knew your learning style, what you excelled at best first.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And as a teacher, like I already knew that I wasn't even trying to like fake like I was going to sit on YouTube and figure it out.
Speaker: I was like, no, let me let me start applying for schools instead.
Speaker: So, OK.
Speaker: And I love that you said that because I've struggled with that, you know, in an ideal world.
Speaker: you want to do the route that's cheaper, but then sometimes like, you know, if you want to get to your end goal, you're betting on yourself.
Speaker: Like maybe going to school is the route.
Speaker: So since that is the route that you kind of have expertise in, what was the journey like getting into grad school?
Speaker: I'm guessing you had to take
Speaker: Another standardized test.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What was that like?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So also because of my background, I didn't study business in undergrad.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I didn't necessarily have connections who had also been to business school because I wasn't in like corporate America or anything.
Speaker: I really I joined this program called MLT or management leaders for tomorrow.
Speaker: And they like come in and give you the toolkit.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They're like, all right, you got a test.
Speaker: You got to like get your essays right.
Speaker: you got to look up these different schools and like, they basically give you all this homework essentially.
Speaker: But it was helpful for me as someone who just didn't even know where to start.
Speaker: And it was so yeah, I did like five, six months of test prep, took the test several times.
Speaker: And then literally on the last one, I was like, all right, let's make this happen.
Speaker: And thankfully,
Speaker: You know, it was good enough and went to some of the schools, understood the different, understood why I was pursuing an MBA.
Speaker: And then, you know, therefore, like what programs might be best for me, so on and so forth.
Speaker: So it was a whole process, to be honest, especially on top of working.
Speaker: But again, with the kind of end goal in mind, I feel like you're motivated to do it, which is great.
Speaker: Yeah, you said so much.
Speaker: I love, you said it so lightly.
Speaker: And I think that each of these things are so difficult from the standpoint of you're in the middle of a career and you're deciding to leave it, essentially, to pursue something else.
Speaker: As an adult, going back to school is not easy.
Speaker: How did you persevere through the mental challenges of that journey?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that's a real good question.
Speaker: I think, yeah, all those things that you said, like, throw me right back into that time.
Speaker: And I think a lot of it is like, you got to find your, if you're a community person, which was my case, like, you have to find your people.
Speaker: And sometimes I was like finding my people who knew nothing about business school, so I could like not talk about it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And then it was also like finding people who were very ready and like motivated to do it, who I could like learn from and, you know, work and study with.
Speaker: So, and it's hard to think about creating both of those communities because usually we're just focused on like one or the other.
Speaker: And I'm a person I just like always need balance somehow.
Speaker: So for me, Perseverance was really about like creating those spaces where it's like, yep, I'm gonna go ham on this because like, this is my goal.
Speaker: And also like, I'm gonna step away from this for a little bit because I want to be excited about it.
Speaker: I don't wanna just like feel like it's consuming me and creating more stress.
Speaker: as opposed to like, it's a goal that I want to reach.
Speaker: So yeah, that balance was key for me.
Speaker: What was that the biggest challenge or what was the biggest challenge kind of specifically in the season of getting ready to prepare to go to Gretzky?
Speaker: That test, to be honest.
Speaker: Yeah, the test, right?
Speaker: Especially when you've been out of school for so long, like you're just not used to testing.
Speaker: You're, you're not used to studying in the same way.
Speaker: Um, again, you're working and now this is like another job on top of that.
Speaker: Like at least when I was studying in college, like that was all I was doing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That was like a job, um,
Speaker: Well, that's not true.
Speaker: We all had like three jobs or whatever.
Speaker: We really did.
Speaker: So yeah, the test was honestly it.
Speaker: And I took, I think I told you this before, but I took like prep course and then I retook the prep course, like, because I was like, okay, I really need this to sink in, in a way that like it didn't previously.
Speaker: And once I did that, so you just gotta be willing to like stretch yourself a little bit, you know?
Speaker: But yeah, that was definitely the hardest part for me.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So, and you know, look, I told everybody this at the beginning and it's really true.
Speaker: I feel like you're the type of person that when you make your mind up for something, you've set the vision, you've connected with it, you're gonna follow through on it as hard as you can.
Speaker: But was there ever a point
Speaker: in that specific season when you were like, what the, what the fuck am I doing?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: No, literally.
Speaker: So, and it takes me back because I mean, a part of it was like, I was trying to decide because I'm not the most, the angels make me sound very decisive.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But like I'm characterized by a lot of my friends being indecisive, but,
Speaker: I was deciding between like whether I was going to pursue a like master's of public policy, because again, I was like in the policy world, I enjoyed it, respected it.
Speaker: I was like, yeah, if I'm about to be about this, like I need to be about it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Or whether I wanted to do an MBA, which are like two, they're not night and day, but very different paths.
Speaker: And so I was talking to people and trying to understand like,
Speaker: What is it?
Speaker: So I had a lot of those, like what the, like all those moments, just about every single step, including when I got into schools and I was like, am I really about to leave my job for two years to like go pursue this?
Speaker: And like, what does that mean?
Speaker: I'm about to like go move to a whole new city, like with all these people, it was the height of COVID.
Speaker: So I was like, why?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So yeah, I mean, and even in this job, right?
Speaker: Like I have those moments constantly, but I think I've always had those moments, which is why they don't fluster me.
Speaker: as much anymore.
Speaker: You used to, you've kind of accepted this is part of who I am.
Speaker: This is kind of how I contemplate.
Speaker: And that just is.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And it's kind of a part of the journey, right?
Speaker: Like for me, it would be weird to start something new and not be like, what the hell?
Speaker: Like, like, what am I doing?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And not question it a little bit.
Speaker: So I've gotten used to doing that and being okay with doing it.
Speaker: So it sounds like, and it sounds like in your
Speaker: being confronted by the challenges of that season, what was really essential to you was community and like having people to process with, to kind of, um, bounce your ideas off of.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like my family probably, I mean, still even now I'm always like, you know, in consulting, you switch cases and like your projects all the time.
Speaker: And so you're constantly kind of thinking about, okay, what do I need to learn next?
Speaker: What do I need to prove next?
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: What industry am I interested in like leaning more into?
Speaker: And so you're always kind of bouncing ideas off like, or even teams, you're like asking about how other teams function and it's just like a constant process.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: I think that a lot of people can feel like community is not accessible or showing up for them where they're got, like when you were,
Speaker: going to these places for safe places, did you already kind of like, was it moments where you're like, I don't need advice.
Speaker: I'm just struggling and I need you to give me your thoughts.
Speaker: Or are you the type of person that you're just, you share and you don't care how they respond.
Speaker: Like, did you ever have like expectations on how those communication points needed to go?
Speaker: Like was I in therapy?
Speaker: Yes, I know.
Speaker: I mean, no, I don't know that I necessarily had expectations.
Speaker: I think if anything, like
Speaker: And I've always been this way, even kind of in undergrad, where it's just like when I'm around people and I've made them a part of my tribe, like I respect their opinions and I feel like people can see things in me that I can't see and vice versa, hopefully, right?
Speaker: But I think the more kind of information, I'm always the type of person, it's like the more information I have about something, the better I feel about moving forward, right?
Speaker: Versus kind of like going into the
Speaker: Even back to our earlier point around, you know, if you know what you don't like, like, again, just the more information I have from people around me or from my own thinking, like the better.
Speaker: That is also, though, an ad to not overthink all of this because it's really easy to get in that space, too, where you just like overthink and you kind of can paralyze yourself.
Speaker: And I think I've been there a few times where it was like, thankfully, being in community dragged me right out of it.
Speaker: But it was very easy to get into that space.
Speaker: Okay, I love that.
Speaker: So, all right, that was before grad school.
Speaker: You're in grad school now.
Speaker: You made your decision, you're in the program.
Speaker: What was the biggest challenge in that specific season of life?
Speaker: Honestly, that season was great and I wish I could go back.
Speaker: And that's why I always tell people when people are interested in it, I'm just like, yeah, no, it's great.
Speaker: I remember one of my professors or somebody I was talking to once described it like a sandbox.
Speaker: where it's like you just get to go there and like explore.
Speaker: And there aren't any risks to it, really.
Speaker: Like you're coming out with a degree that's great at the end of the day.
Speaker: You have all these resources.
Speaker: It's like you're meeting really cool people who have all kinds of different backgrounds.
Speaker: Like it was just dope.
Speaker: So I think like the hardest thing for me, and this is probably more a...
Speaker: a reality of my school, which I loved in my school, right?
Speaker: Like Northwestern when I went to business school, but always I'm like a fan, right?
Speaker: And often there was so much to do and so you can't say yes to everything.
Speaker: So I think one of the hardest parts was like learning to say no or choosing to say yes more explicitly to some things over others.
Speaker: And that's really hard, especially when you're still trying to be like, well, I'm trying to explore, right?
Speaker: Like I should say yes to everything.
Speaker: And I was spent and I learned like, okay, there's a balance to that where it's like, you can try things, but also like you need your self-care routine or you also need to be able to like, be like, nah, I don't even think that'll be interesting to me.
Speaker: So I'm just not even gonna like look into it.
Speaker: And you have to feel comfortable kind of flopping back and forth in those spaces.
Speaker: And this was to say no, so that you had the bandwidth to do the schoolwork or saying no for other reasons.
Speaker: Good, good question.
Speaker: For me, a lot of it did come down to doing the schoolwork because like I said, I did not have a business background.
Speaker: So when I was looking at accounting, that was the first time ever in life.
Speaker: Like I had to think about accounting.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so whereas a lot of my peers were business majors or they had like so they were like coasting, you know, they were like, I may or may not go to class today.
Speaker: And I was like, what do you mean?
Speaker: I need to go because I'm going to see this word and not know what it means.
Speaker: So it was a little bit of both for me, which I think made it.
Speaker: a harder challenge for me, maybe that was more explicit than perhaps some of the other folks I was around.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And classes were hard.
Speaker: I ain't even gonna lie about that either.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cause it took, like you said, you didn't have the four or I guess upper div classes, two years worth of upper div background on business.
Speaker: So you're learning it for the first time while you're around people who might've already been engaged with this for a while.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So how did that work on the GMAT then?
Speaker: What was your, the math part of it, was it very difficult?
Speaker: Yeah, so at first for me, and that's where I really leaned in, like when I told you I took that course a second time, I like just took all the math classes again.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: And the good thing is, I mean, the GMAT is less about like business topics and it's math, right?
Speaker: So it's your, and so as long as you can critically think, again, it's just like building your brain back into that, like study cycle, looking at it this way and knowing some of the, like, sometimes too, these tests have just,
Speaker: if you learn some of the tips and tricks of how to do something faster, we might talk about this later, but if not, like people who are considering consulting and like are going through the whole casing process, it's like, there are a lot of ways you can learn how to just be more efficient as you do something that has very little to do with your like intellectual ability.
Speaker: And it's more of like,
Speaker: oh, I didn't even think about doing it that way.
Speaker: You start doing it that way and you do it 10 times faster, right?
Speaker: Or you always get the answer right.
Speaker: So there's just like a lot of those small things I learned that I think keep a lot of people away from the work because they think it's difficult or more difficult than what they're used to.
Speaker: And I think it's just like, no, half of the time, it's just learning from someone else who's done it, like how to go about doing it.
Speaker: And once you got that down, there's a couple reps, you know, you practice and you're set.
Speaker: That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker: It sounds like that's interesting.
Speaker: I mean, you said a lot of interesting things just now, but in the sense that it's not that you might not know how to do this or you're just not naturally good at it.
Speaker: You haven't learned a system that works for you to engage in it almost is what I hear you saying.
Speaker: You got it.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: I feel like in your journey, I'm hearing a lot of
Speaker: Acceptance in the sense that it's not, because someone could be like, oh, I need to learn this way.
Speaker: Even your decision to go to grad school, it was some people might feel like they need to go and learn the way they've seen other people learn, like, or self-taught themselves.
Speaker: But I feel like you did a lot of inventory and admitting, this is what I'm good at, this is what comes natural to me, and this is what doesn't, and I'm going to lean into that as opposed to trying to fix what isn't working.
Speaker: And it seems like that's self-awareness one, but that kind of really helped you persevere through some of the challenges in your journey.
Speaker: Yes, yeah, definitely.
Speaker: I think like self-awareness is something you get through time, but before I was very much so just like letting things happen to me.
Speaker: And I was wondering why I wasn't feeling like as passionate or excited about the work or what I was doing.
Speaker: And granted, if you don't feel
Speaker: there was one part you said, and it's like, if you felt passionate about something, but perhaps it wasn't like coming to fruition, like that passion is the reason to keep going.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But I started learning there should be a reason to keep going down the path.
Speaker: And like, I had to be more brutally honest with myself about like, what is the reason?
Speaker: And I still do that every day.
Speaker: Like I wake up and I'm kind of like, you know, because I want to put my best foot forward in everything I do.
Speaker: It's like,
Speaker: I have to connect with that reason every day.
Speaker: When I was teaching, you connect with the reason.
Speaker: Like when I was, you know, working on the Hill, when I was in grad school, it's like you have to connect because the stuff is challenging.
Speaker: Like I feel like sometimes I look back and I'm like, dang, you did that.
Speaker: Because it's like a lot of challenging stuff, right?
Speaker: Like being an educator is very, very challenging and totally undervalued.
Speaker: I think teachers are some of the most important people on the planet.
Speaker: And then I also think working on the Hill, especially in the time we were, was just very... And if anything, being around people who persevere in those challenges helped me learn my problems aren't that big.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: And I started to be more self-aware of the fact that, okay, this is just something I am or am not good at or am not passionate about or
Speaker: It have a strength in, and this can be useful to other people.
Speaker: And I just kept following that path, no matter how kind of windy it got.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: That's so good.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So now you have graduated grad school.
Speaker: You've accomplished that goal, which is, we're not going to discount how momentous of occasion that is.
Speaker: Where is your brain?
Speaker: Has your brain gone?
Speaker: I mean, obviously, you've probably already started looking for jobs at this point.
Speaker: Oh, wait, did you go, you went to Spain or something?
Speaker: You paced out for a little bit.
Speaker: That's a sad trail.
Speaker: Well, but from a career standpoint, what were you looking for and how did you know that that's what you wanted?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So they can be like, yo, this girl, what is she talking about?
Speaker: So even when I joined and like got into school or you're talking about when I graduated or when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do after graduation.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Second question.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What I was going to do after graduation.
Speaker: So right when I got into business school, basically you start recruiting kind of almost automatically specifically for consulting.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So right off the bat, it was like, what do you want to do?
Speaker: And I was like, yo, I just got here.
Speaker: Can we not like, you know, I just got here because I was interested maybe in healthcare or I was like, maybe marketing, who knows?
Speaker: I hadn't even taken my classes yet to figure it out.
Speaker: So what drew me to consulting was the fact that like,
Speaker: People joke and say it's the like extension of business school.
Speaker: So, you know, in business school, you're taking all these different like subjects, you're learning all this stuff, you're trying to apply it.
Speaker: And then the idea is like in consulting, you're still learning about all these different industries.
Speaker: you're using and applying kind of the different business concepts you've learned across your classes.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, great.
Speaker: That could be exactly what I need, right?
Speaker: Because two years, Loki didn't seem like enough for me.
Speaker: So, yes, I started going through that process.
Speaker: It is a very rigorous process.
Speaker: Again, very challenging process.
Speaker: Yeah, it's not a time necessarily you want to run back to all the time at all.
Speaker: And yeah, I just went through that process.
Speaker: I kept talking to other people who were consultants because I was like, what is this consulting thing?
Speaker: How does it work?
Speaker: Like, what do you all do?
Speaker: And started to learn more and then got an offer for the summer and then ended up summering and then got the chance to come back full time.
Speaker: And I was kind of like, at that point, I was like, all right, great.
Speaker: I'm excited for it.
Speaker: I'm ready to start working.
Speaker: But then I took my little time and was like, when's the latest I can start?
Speaker: And when they said February, I was like, okay, great.
Speaker: I'm gonna go travel and do some other stuff and then come back, you know, rested and like ready to work.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Was that the need to decision to do that?
Speaker: Was it because you just kind of did an inventory and you're like, I need a break or what?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, okay.
Speaker: I hope, I mean, maybe this is a good thing, right?
Speaker: Cause it hopefully,
Speaker: is a plug for the career, but I went from being a teacher and working in education, right?
Speaker: Which is a very different kind of look than working in business consulting.
Speaker: And one thing I realized was like, okay, in consulting, you have these unique opportunities.
Speaker: Like they basically, I had applied for this particular fellowship with the firm I'm a part of, and they gave you the chance to like go learn a second language.
Speaker: in another country and they would like give you a stipend for it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I'm pretty good with my budgeting.
Speaker: So I was like, this stipend could cover the whole thing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And to me, it was kind of like, I never had a job that had offered me that opportunity.
Speaker: And so I was kind of like, why wouldn't I take it?
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So yes, I just like seized the chance to do it.
Speaker: And it was, it was great.
Speaker: I would do it over again.
Speaker: To conquer peace, peace, peace.
Speaker: What's up, guys?
Speaker: I hope you're enjoying the podcast.
Speaker: Thank you for listening thus far.
Speaker: I want to give us a little bit of a mental break.
Speaker: We're halfway through the episode.
Speaker: Just a couple of thoughts real quick, and then I'm going to give you about 15 seconds to get your mind right.
Speaker: If you have any questions, any thoughts, anything that you would love to hear, please jump on YouTube.
Speaker: This is also a video podcast.
Speaker: I would love that to be our space for Discord.
Speaker: I'll be on there responding, replying to comments, anything like that.
Speaker: I would love to have that as a space for community for all of us.
Speaker: But in the meantime, take a second, take a breath, and we'll be right back.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So you have your...
Speaker: You are where you are now.
Speaker: And how long have you been doing this now?
Speaker: I just hit my one year anniversary.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So one year in.
Speaker: So fresh.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like you got your legs a little bit, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, got my legs.
Speaker: What would you say from what you've seen is needed to be successful in this industry?
Speaker: That's a good question.
Speaker: That's a good question.
Speaker: I think one of the things that people downplay that you need to be successful here is just like adaptability.
Speaker: Because like I mentioned, I've worked on three different projects in my year.
Speaker: And that's actually, I don't know the average, but I've had longer projects.
Speaker: So a lot of people do shorter projects.
Speaker: And so that means that they do more projects in a year.
Speaker: And I think you have to be able, what we call it is like ramping up, which is like you basically, you can join something and like,
Speaker: very quickly start to understand the concept of like what's going on so that then you can start to think about like potential solutions.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I think that comes with like, once you're in a new space, feeling comfortable asking different questions, like, you know, spending comfortable taking that time at the beginning to like really dive in and understand stuff more.
Speaker: So that's one thing I think is like the adaptability in that kind of ramp up
Speaker: skill.
Speaker: And then the second thing I think is you have to actually, you have to like people, right?
Speaker: I think people don't think about this as much, but this is very much so a people business from like externally working with clients to even internally, like the way that you network with your colleagues and like learn about the work that they do, especially the bigger your firm is.
Speaker: Like my firm's huge, right?
Speaker: And there are people all over the world doing different practice areas.
Speaker: And it's like, you have to feel comfortable
Speaker: reaching out to people and asking for advice or like asking to meet with them.
Speaker: And you also ideally want to give that back to people kind of coming up behind you.
Speaker: So those are the two biggest things I would say is like the adaptability and networking, which I think surprises people probably because most people are like, oh no, I need to know how to like, you know, figure out how this financial model is like going to break or something.
Speaker: And you learn that.
Speaker: And the firms ideally give you the skills, at least mine does.
Speaker: Like they give you the content, they continue to train you, they invest in you.
Speaker: So it's less about like day one having those things done.
Speaker: It's more so day one, like, can you be adaptable and can you like figure it out quickly or ask quickly?
Speaker: And then can you, you know, be a people person?
Speaker: So those are kind of the two things I think that I would say.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I want people to feel like really equipped with understanding what they're taking on as much as one can, right?
Speaker: Like there will always be something you just didn't know was involved.
Speaker: But for you, I know you've talked a little bit about work-life balance being a challenge, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Are there that, I mean, I don't know what your days and hours look like, but I know that's one thing.
Speaker: Are there other things that you just really didn't know or challenges when it came to
Speaker: doing this?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So definitely the work-life balance.
Speaker: The good thing is I think people are very transparent talking about the work-life balance.
Speaker: So like, you know what you're getting into, or maybe you don't know exactly what, like, cause you haven't experienced it, but you know, it's not, you don't go into this job for work-life balance.
Speaker: Let's put it that way.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So that would be the main thing.
Speaker: I think something else though, to the people part,
Speaker: I think the level of networking surprised me.
Speaker: And thankfully, it's something that gives me energy so it doesn't drain me.
Speaker: So I've been OK, but I've definitely seen how, you know, some people like are very much so they're great and they're like, I want to come to work and I want to do my job.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I want to do it well.
Speaker: And I think that's a great place to be in.
Speaker: I think it gets a bit harder to like, unless you're just spectacular at your job, right?
Speaker: Like everyone at this place is good at their job.
Speaker: And, you know, can, we've all had to push through and pass these like different bars.
Speaker: So no one's like not good at the job necessarily.
Speaker: So I think,
Speaker: the people piece.
Speaker: It's like every time you're trying to get yourself staffed on a new case.
Speaker: So you're trying to, and I think also this has to do with the economy and the way it is right now.
Speaker: That's something real to talk about is just like, there are fewer opportunities potentially, or there may be like, it might be harder to get on the thing that you like really want to get on.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: there are probably like fewer clients who are just like, yeah, let's do this project and this project and this project.
Speaker: Maybe they got like one main one and that's kind of it.
Speaker: And you have to be able to navigate that.
Speaker: And it can be kind of anxiety inducing to be honest for a lot of people, myself included.
Speaker: So I think you just have to be ready for that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, there's a lot of, it's not a nine to five or three like stable in that sense type position.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, one, thank you for sharing and pulling the curtain back a little bit about your journey.
Speaker: I think this is so valuable to hear the ins and outs and the mechanics of it.
Speaker: I think what I'm going to, our last question, it's a very practical one.
Speaker: In the sense that, you know, everyone should know the answer to this question, but these answers and these things are not necessarily always accessible.
Speaker: What kind of money should people be expecting if they graduate and pursue business consulting?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: No, that's a that's a real good question.
Speaker: And it hopefully it should be Googleable, I think.
Speaker: Everywhere.
Speaker: It varies a ton depending on the firm that you end up at.
Speaker: So you can expect, I think, anywhere from like 120 if you're like in a more niche, smaller space to like 200 potentially.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Which I know is a pretty big range.
Speaker: But at that time I was like, I think those all sound good.
Speaker: Hopefully that's how most people feel here.
Speaker: But yeah, typically,
Speaker: And I would say probably more so the 150 to like 200 range is more so, especially once you consider like there are signing bonuses, right?
Speaker: I didn't even know those were things like, I was like, oh, great.
Speaker: This is like, this can push me through the rest of my year of the MBA program.
Speaker: And I think people sometimes forget that one, okay.
Speaker: The other thing I have to say, if people are pursuing an MBA, there are a lot of opportunities to get your MBA paid for.
Speaker: And hopefully, you know, not 100% in full, like totally, but there are a ton of scholarships.
Speaker: There are a ton of like programs.
Speaker: Ideally, you don't have to come out of pocket in full for your MBA.
Speaker: So that's the first thing too.
Speaker: And then it's like, yeah, you should, a lot of the jobs after you, the MBA, I mean, to be transparent, made my salary three times what it was before my MBA.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Somebody can try to like play around with the math if they want.
Speaker: But like, yeah, then, you know, and I had a decent, I guess, salary before most people, when I went to business school, they were like, that's all you made.
Speaker: I thought it was decent at the time, but it's like, you know, everything is relative.
Speaker: I learned at the end of the day.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And look, guys, I am trying to ask Ashley as many questions as possible, but also,
Speaker: If you guys have any questions, you can hit me up on the socials and I can follow Ashley because I just definitely want you guys to have resources.
Speaker: But the idea that grad school does not have to be fully loan based, I think is huge for people to know.
Speaker: It's extra homework, but it's obtainable.
Speaker: And keep that in mind because we all know how expensive grad school is.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: When you came out of grad school, did you negotiate in your first job?
Speaker: So no, my job that I have currently, they are very transparent, like everyone, which I personally, you know, speaking as a black woman too, like we all know the realities of like how some people get paid more and less and all that type of stuff.
Speaker: Like my firm is very transparent.
Speaker: They're very standard across the board.
Speaker: You know what you're making, you know what,
Speaker: people in your tenure are making.
Speaker: You know how that'll progress as you keep going.
Speaker: So I've been blessed in that way.
Speaker: I know plenty of people, though, who did.
Speaker: And so most people are like, yes, you should.
Speaker: Consulting is one of those, at least most of the firms, I think it's pretty standard when you come in and do
Speaker: there's like cohorts of us that come in together.
Speaker: So like they'd be up for a lawsuit if like somebody got something different, right?
Speaker: Versus a lot of other jobs, you're going in tech, like other things.
Speaker: My friends were negotiating their butts off and I was like, that's what's up.
Speaker: So I did negotiate though for the MBA, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah, I remember you telling me for the scholarships, how much money they gave you were negotiating with that.
Speaker: Yeah, and that was actually a friend who pushed me to negotiate because
Speaker: I was not a negotiator and I can't believe I almost didn't negotiate after negotiating.
Speaker: I was like, I'm never not negotiating again.
Speaker: This is crazy.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think that's huge for everyone.
Speaker: I mean, you've dropped a lot of gems, but remembering when you're taking on financial costs,
Speaker: You know, everyone's school, jobs, they're all looking at you as an asset, right?
Speaker: Like they're bringing you on because you they believe that you provide value in a way that someone else might not.
Speaker: So that gives you some leverage, you know, to understand and know that you can negotiate how much money they're offering you because you know that you're an asset to whatever organization you're going into.
Speaker: And you can do that for your scholarship.
Speaker: And I learned that from you.
Speaker: So I think that's so dope.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the last thing, this is one of the biggest things I learned in my MBA too.
Speaker: I took a negotiations class and it's like, if you think about it, the school or the business is always going to try to get you for as little as they can.
Speaker: Like that's just their incentive, right?
Speaker: It kind of makes sense.
Speaker: It's like, if you, if someone said you could pay $5 or $50 for like a book, which one would you choose?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Doesn't mean you don't value the book anymore.
Speaker: It's just like, yeah, I'm gonna pay $5 for the book.
Speaker: And it's like,
Speaker: Until you so they're always going to kind of anchor you potentially in that space versus like you coming back and being like, hey, I really want to be here.
Speaker: But like, I know five out of the book, you know.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, that's good.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: I get really excited about this because I just feel like, again, a lot of people take themselves out the race due to the financial aspect, which is very real.
Speaker: But I think there's ways around it for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, it's extra work and you would have to take the time to do it.
Speaker: But it does not mean that isn't possible.
Speaker: Like, I think that's huge.
Speaker: That's huge.
Speaker: You know, we've been spoiled by school and how they've compensated us.
Speaker: But
Speaker: that's an option.
Speaker: And it sounds like you're even saying that it's not even that you need to have like a super high GPA or it's just all about research and confidence.
Speaker: Now, especially in business too, what I also learned is like being able to show your potential means a lot, which comes into your confidence.
Speaker: It's like people come from all sorts of backgrounds.
Speaker: Like it's just about how do you make that group or that place feel that you will be that asset.
Speaker: And they'll kind of be like, oh, this is actually, yeah, like I'm feeling like what you're giving.
Speaker: Yeah, like let's do it.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: That might be another episode I might talk to you about, just specifically about the process of getting into grad school.
Speaker: Because I think that there's, that's a whole, we could talk about that for another hour.
Speaker: We really could.
Speaker: We really could.
Speaker: And it's deep, yeah, and it's helpful, hopefully.
Speaker: I did that program, like I told y'all, that I spent money on and it was very helpful.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: So, I mean, look, I might have to get in your schedule because I know you all busy or whatever, but we'll hopefully be able to offer that to you guys.
Speaker: But I do want to respect your schedule and your time.
Speaker: And thank you so much for taking some time to spread the wealth of wisdom to everybody.
Speaker: No, thank you for being the artist to put it together and make it happen and get it out to folks.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So Ashley, thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker: I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast, this episode.
Speaker: If you have any questions, follow-ups, you liked anything, please, first of all, share, but also hit me up on Instagram at D'Angelo.
Speaker: That's D-E-A-N-J-I-L-O.
Speaker: Shout out to my mom.
Speaker: She's creative with that spelling.
Speaker: So until then, I'll see you guys next time and you'll hear so much more.
Speaker: We got a lot of fun stuff in store for you.
Speaker: So see you next time.
Speaker: To talk a piece.
