Where Does YOUR Life Begin?

Written by Selin Terzi
Tax Intern
Stamford, CT


Just some light reading...

Friends, family, classmates and coworkers often ask me how I manage balancing the demands of school and my internship. As one can imagine, balancing school, work, and most importantly a social life can prove very difficult. As a fulltime student, my course load can, at times, seem overwhelming. However, it has also permitted me to develop skills necessary for working in challenging situations. While I wasn’t always good at time management, my first semester of college quickly taught me that to successfully abate unwanted stress, I needed to develop such skills. I previously believed I was busy just going to school and working on the weekends, but during the fall semester I took on an internship at a boutique investment firm in NYC while attending school as a fulltime student. This semester I’m following a similar schedule and concurrently experiencing the tax ‘busy season.'


My Dad, sister and me
before HS graduation!

I guess I have realized that life does not slow down; you get busier as the years go on and the complexities of your life increase. However, I can confidently say that I’m enjoying the ‘busyness’ of my life. I’m constantly learning new things, challenging myself and growing professionally. As a newly turned 20 year old, I believe I have experienced more than others in my age group and I look forward to continually learning. I always tell myself that I have no reason not to be successful. I have been given all the tools to make something out of myself, thanks to my family. Sometimes I take a step back and realize how lucky I am to have all of these opportunities. If it wasn’t for my father’s courage to come to the United States from Turkey at a young age of 25 and to chase his dreams, I would have never accomplished any of the things that I have thus far. As Neale Donald Walsch once said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” My father stepped out of his comfort zone when he left his home country and with a lot of hard work, and even more dedication, became the man he is today.


My cube at McGladrey! Yes, I use ALL
of the monitors. Sometimes I wish I
had another 3!

Sometimes McGladrey seems like a foreign country to me, but choosing to work here required less bravery. I chose to come to McGladrey because I knew the firm could provide me with all of the tools necessary for success. The partners all have an open door policy and I find it astonishing that our leader of Northeast Tax always stops to talk to me when he is in the office. This is the type of environment I see myself in the future. An environment where growth is encouraged not deterred; where all of your peers want you to succeed and no one steps on another’s toes to get ahead.

In all I am eternally grateful to my father for instilling in me the virtues and beliefs necessary for success and to McGladrey for investing in me, guiding my professional pursuits and giving me the opportunity to use my inherited values to obtain success in the accounting field.