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Current Job: As a business analyst at INSIGHT2PROFIT, Conway is helping companies survive the pandemic and avoid layoffs. She analyzes reams of data to find patterns that can be used to help companies improve business practices and gain new cash influxes. The long-run goal is to use Conway’s Russian background – which includes working as a student ambassador for the U.S. Government in Kazakhstan – to work directly with clients that have Russian or Eastern European areas of interest.

Degree: Conway earned bachelor’s degrees in finance from the Fisher College of Business and Russian Language and Literature.

Pandemic life: Unlike many who graduated in August 2020, Conway understands her company’s culture pre-COVID because she was an intern at Insight2Profit in the summer of 2019. In fact, the daily interactions and informal mentorships are facets she loved about working there. It’s an aspect of the company other new hires haven’t experienced because everyone’s been working from home.  

“That sense of community is lacking in an online environment. It was easier to start with the company because I already knew the environment and I wasn’t afraid to reach out to people,” Conway says. “It’s been harder for some new hires so I’ve been reaching out to them, putting 30 minutes on their calendar to just talk because they’re trying to figure out what’s going on.”

How Ohio State prepared her: Along with her education, Conway highlighted the close friendships and mentorship she received as an Eminence Fellow through Ohio State’s Honors and Scholars Center. She also gained research opportunities and mentorship from professors in the Fisher College of Business.

The size of Ohio State helped her become comfortable contacting busy professors for advice or speaking out in large audiences.

“I’m a new hire in the organization and I’m young, but I’m comfortable speaking out in groups of 100 or so because sometimes those are the class sizes at Ohio State,” she says.

Final thought: “When you’re new in a company and speaking out about issues that are relevant, like diversity or inclusion and confronting systemic racism or classism, if you can articulate your views in a way that is non-offensive, people will respect you for standing up for your beliefs and asking hard questions. Trying to help bring about changes in a company can make for a better, more strategic business as well as a kinder future.

“You should be willing to use whatever status you have as an Ohio State graduate to talk about these issues.”