By Sadei Suarez, Fellow Class of 2017
University of Colorado at Boulder
There exists no ambiguity that 2020 has proven to be one of the most difficult and worrisome time periods in my lifetime. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused the world to abruptly come to a pause, my junior year was particularly challenging. There were a number of serious decisions to be made that would impact me for the rest of my life. Not for my mentor, not for my family, not for my friends, but for me.
“It’s okay to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave” were the words my mentor, the honorable Judge Kathy Delgado told me. I had to declare my major at the start of this school year. Undoubtedly, I knew it would be accounting. The pressure from advisors and mentors within the business school led me to seek out career options within the accounting field. This, however, was an intimidating thought as I aspired to go to law school from the beginning, but all of a sudden, I’m being bombarded with the idea of becoming a CPA. I love accounting and it was a field I wanted to explore; however, I didn’t know if getting an internship with a firm would be the correct plan. What if I changed my mind on law school? What if I lost motivation to go to law school? These were all questions that criss crossed my mind for months. After having dinner with Judge Delgado, she encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and just do it. “You may hate it, you may love it, but regardless, you will learn a lot during the experience,” she said. January 2020, I accepted an offer from a wealth management firm in Denver and I fell in love with it.
Not only did the internship teach me a million different sectors of accounting, but it also proved that I would have no problem intertwining a business degree with a JD. A thought that previously seemed impossible. Stepping out of my comfort zone this year provided immense clarity. I owe it all to the great support team I have in my network who encouraged me to do so. Not only will I be graduating a semester early, I also signed up for the LSAT prep course in June, as well as already having a full-time job offer lined up. Coming out of my comfort zone was scary in the beginning, chaotic in the middle and awesome in the end as in the end, it showed me a whole new world.
