As an English major, I never thought I’d end up loving operations & finance. Turns out, all those years of parsing novels (here’s looking at you John Milton’s Paradise Lost) honed my analytical abilities & my enthusiasm for thinking through situations, identifying key issues, proposing solutions, & seeing them through. Time & again I had to state my case, my opinions, & viewpoints, creating & framing strong arguments. Business world bliss. You’ll find flourishing English majors everywhere if you look hard enough.After my MBA, I found my career north star as a project analyst. No training/guidebook; A jungle of discovery - it took wit, research, listening, tenacity, & a complete knack & love for knowing what others needed me to do to deliver results. Solving project puzzles, digging into data to decipher trends & figure out ways to solve issues – nirvana. I’ve gained exposure to many areas of business & have a strong grasp of the finance driving operations strategy. I've contributed to sustained organizational value. From developing & facilitating training programs & sophisticated processes to being a key leader in standing up a new business unit. Stepping out of my proficiency area is thrilling. If I have a pit in my stomach, I must be doing it right, challenging, & growing. I rose in ranks & added supplemental value via training, facilitation, leadership presentations, & strategic initiatives. The crowning achievement of this synthesis of finance & operations was authorship and implementation of my companywide “What right looks like” initiative. The goal of this plan was to better define the roles of our finance managers, making it easier for the teams to use their talents. I spent a year in discussions with leaders from offices around the country & lead a virtual workshop with office managers to convey our vision & use the concepts to strengthen their teams. The results were outstanding. Our finance teams utilized staff more efficiently, provided opportunities for growth, & realigned staff to fit their expertise. I’m obsessed with digging in, deciphering, & developing plans to drive outcomes, enhance organization, & get stuff done. Those who know me aren’t surprised to hear my Top 5 Clifton Strengths are in the Executor & Relationship Building realm. Mom. Wife. Fitness enthusiast. Foodie. Explorer of mountains, canyons. Summer & beach lover. Fiction & non-fiction devotee. Podcast fan (a fav during dog walks).Align with my work values? Want to chat about podcasts/books? Let's connect. DM or email: smalinowski07@gmail.com.