Harpur Edge hosted an “Econ-nect” event this past Friday with Citibank’s vice president of data project management.

“Econ-nect” is a series of events that connects students majoring in economics to Binghamton University alumni currently working in the field for career advice and preparation. Harpur Edge, the professional advising service for undergraduate students in Harpur College, first launched the program in January 2020. On March 17, Maya Reid, ‘18, vice president of data project management at Citibank, spoke to Harpur College students through Zoom about her professional journey from being a student to working for a global financial services corporation.

While attending BU, Reid double-majored in economics and human development. During her junior year, she attended a campus-wide career fair and secured a summer internship in the Risk and Compliance Department for Protiviti, a management consulting company. After graduation, Reid returned to Protiviti before getting her current job in product management for Citibank.

During the virtual event, Reid discussed her initial experiences when transitioning to a full-time career in management consulting, which she said did not exactly align with her economics degree from Harpur College.

“Going right into the field of consulting made me feel like I had impostor syndrome for a little bit,” Reid said. “But I was able to adjust into my role by networking internally when I was an intern, as well as working on training courses outside of work to help improve my technical skills.”

At the event, students were curious to know about the similarities and differences between Reid’s experiences working in consulting and product management. Reid said her current role in product management was more tailored to skills she obtained from her economics degree.

“I get to work with a lot more data in product management, which ties into a lot of my economics classes I took at [BU],” Reid said. “The analytical side of economics helps me make better decisions when it comes to deciding about what opportunity costs a project I’m working on will have.”

Megan Konstantakos, assistant director of Harpur Edge, first connected with Reid in January over Linkedin to arrange the “Econ-nect” event. They had an initial Zoom meeting to discuss ways in which her background would help Harpur students, specifically those studying economics.

Konstantakos explained that Reid’s established background in product management can point students toward a potential career path they didn’t think of before.

“Reid’s successful career in data product management also happens to be an area of growing interest for our students and can be relevant to many jobs they hope to seek after graduation,” Konstantakos wrote in an email. “Engaging with recent alumni allows students to have direct insight into the job market that they are entering into.”

Richard Saunooke, a senior majoring in political science, said he is interested in a consulting career and learning about the steps needed to get there.

“It was nice to know that Reid was able to take advantage of courses that can help us become proficient at stuff like Tableau and SQL, which are definitely becoming important to know in many fields of management,” Saunooke said. “I can see myself trying out an external professional course in the future.”

Other students were curious about what Reid’s career experience was like in terms of life outside of the office environment. Nicholas Wines, a junior double-majoring in economics and business administration, said he had not considered the perks involved in a consulting job.

“It was cool hearing about how much traveling around the country Reid could do when working for a consulting firm,” Wines said. “I always like to see new places and work on a variety of different projects, so financial consulting is something I have my eye on.”