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My MBA Journey - From personal motivation to a professional calling in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Graduate Perspectives series
January 20, 2021
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By Touraya Laghmari, MBA ‘20

Source: John Molson School of Business

Graduate Perspectives is a series of blogposts about the John Molson School of Business graduate programs experience from the perspective of current students and alumni.

This week, Touraya Laghmari, MBA ’20 tells us about her daunting career change and the opportunities she seized through the John Molson MBA and her involvement in the Women in Business Club.

June 2017 –  that’s when I had the unsettling feeling that I wasn’t meant for the career path I had chosen and always thought I wanted. If you’ve been there, you know how distressing it is. Knowing that you can’t let life pass you by and spend your days doing something that doesn’t fulfill you, and yet not knowing what your next move is. The only thing I was certain of was that my profession was no longer aspirational enough for me and I needed to look for other opportunities. That was the pivotal moment when I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my job to pursue a full-time MBA.

My thought process was simple: first, I needed to acquire new skills. I had a bachelor’s degree in actuarial mathematics and I wanted to complement my heavily-quantitative background with the practical business skills I knew the MBA would provide. Second (and most importantly), the MBA would offer a clean slate for my career and the opportunity to reinvent myself. My criteria to choose the right program were the following: I wanted to stay in Montreal, I wanted a flexible program, and I wanted networking and experiential learning opportunities. The John Molson MBA ticked all the boxes.

Getting involved with the Women in Business Club

My involvement with the Women in Business Club was the highlight of my MBA experience and it set me on the path I am on today. Not only was it a great place to meet amazing women and make lifelong friends, but it was also a great reminder of my yearning desire to promote equality and make an impact.

As soon as I started the program, I decided to get involved with the club. As VP Conference, I spearheaded the club’s flagship event, the annual (and 10th edition) of the Women in Business Conference. In addition, our club organized a yearly weekend trip to attend Harvard’s Dynamic Women in Business Conference, which I made sure to attend every year. On my second trip to Harvard, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion where the Estee Lauder company’s Global Director of Inclusion and Diversity spoke. It was the first time I heard of someone doing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work for a living and it was a turning point for me. I was stunned – the work I willingly did during my spare time happened to be a career path to some!

The John Molson Women in Business Conference team. From left to right: Harshita Nigam, Andreea Neagu, Anza Khan, Christina Sooklall, Katie O'Keefe, Touraya Laghmari

I came home eager to research opportunities in DEI and map out an action plan for my career.

This initial excitement was followed by a series of missed opportunities and months of confusion, reflection, and exploration. DEI openings were not very common in Montreal specifically or in Canada overall. I started wondering whether I was willing to move to pursue this work or whether I was just getting overly attached to a job title.

With all these questions in mind and given the limited opportunities in the job market at the time, I figured that the wisest course of action was to look into other opportunities while continuing my involvement in DEI on a volunteer basis. Then, 2020 happened.

The turning point

The year 2020 brought along a wave of staggering events: a deadly pandemic, a polarising election in the United States, the shocking murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests all around the globe. The case for diversity, equity and inclusion became overwhelming – it was now obvious to companies that DEI was, all at once, a moral, legal and business imperative.

This awakening across industries led to a surge in hiring of DEI professionals and that is when the opportunity for me to embark on this journey came. In November 2020, I joined Deloitte Global as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Project Manager! In my role, I get to support various cultural transformation initiatives and DEI activities across multiple disciplines. The biggest blessing with my new profession is the privilege of waking up in the morning knowing that our team and other similar teams across industries are making history and that the work we do has a positive impact on people’s lives.

Key takeaways

Changing careers can be a daunting task. It’s not easy to leave your comfort zone. To anyone wanting to change career paths, I would say this: trust your instincts and embrace your unique, imperfect journey. Everything may not seem to happen exactly when you want it to, but, in my experience, things will definitely fall into place if you are resilient and open to different opportunities.

 

For more information on the John Molson Full-time and Part-time MBA, visit our website. Then connect with a recruiter to ask a question or arrange a one-to-one meeting, or you can participate in one of our many online information sessions.

You can find other stories from our students and alumni across all John Molson graduate business programs at the John Molson Graduate Blog landing page.

 

 
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