Unlike some of her fellow iSchool graduates, Mia Perry hadn’t always known that she wanted an education in information and technology, or even a career in data analytics. Despite her strong background in math, she had fed her early passions for design and writing in Corning, NY by contributing to her high school’s yearbook. When the time for choosing colleges came around, Syracuse University stood out as a promising path towards her ambitions, due in large part to its prestigious journalism program.
At some point during her freshman year, Perry went through a re-focusing process which led her to the iSchool and a second major – this time in data analytics. What she fell in love with most about her newly adopted curriculum was that she could exercise her design and creativity muscles, but the scope of practice was still framed within the rules and bounds of math and science. Perry recognized early what was going to make her tick professionally, and she went for it. “Data analytics was a way for me to incorporate both my natural aptitude for math and creativity. It’s all about finding patterns and driving insights, and there is a little bit of choice, and discovery, and exploration, all involved within that process.”
As an upstate original, Perry is still a little surprised that she had never stepped foot on Syracuse University’s grounds until the walking tour she attended during her senior year of high school. Over the next four years she certainly got in her steps around campus while undertaking a double major; each stride proving to be excellent preparation for the beginning of her career in NYC. After graduating in May 2024, she headed to the big city, and began working for the consulting firm CohnReznick.
CohnReznick is one of the top 15 largest accounting firms in the US. They focus on providing clients with tax solutions, helping to identify business development opportunities, and are uniquely positioned to anticipate emerging market forces for which they generate strategies and guidance. According to Perry, they are a welcoming, accommodating, and genuinely helpful organization to launch a career with. In many cases, it can be a rocky transition from college to the workforce, but with CohnReznick, she found it to be as smooth and turbulence-free as she could have hoped.
Perry has learned a lot on the job in her role as a Data Analytics Consultant over the last five months. She is also a member of the Data and AI team, which is an advisory group working on a broad array of projects, often outside the scope of traditional tax and audit services. At times it has been an intense and rigorous learning curve, requiring her to understand and internalize huge amounts of information all at once, but she felt well-prepared and confident by the time she had both feet planted in her new role. Her day-to-day work exposes her to many of the background operational systems needed for this type of organization, while also giving her opportunities to work directly with clients in various environments and capacities. The medium size of the firm allows her a lot more diversity in her job description, and she is able to learn many parts of her industry simultaneously.
Her transition to the professional workplace was aided a great deal by the small, tight-knit team of consultants Perry was placed with. They share a lot of the workload, so the vibe among the team members is one of collegiality and cooperation. With all of their work intertwined, they are as invested in each other’s success, as they are in delivering the best possible solutions to their clients. One critical element of her (and her team’s) role, as she harkens back to some of the fundamental lessons she took from the iSchool, she says, “it’s really important to define what my generated insights do tell people, what they don’t tell people, and to really clearly communicate to the stakeholders of the report, what decisions they can make from the report. Context is super important.”
Perry is currently working on projects ranging from database architecture and reporting, to meeting with clients and walking them through potential solution sets and demos, to facilitating open discussions about where they see opportunities and should be focusing efforts. She also spends time working on AI research projects. The breadth of experience and discovery she gains through her job is invaluable for helping her navigate future career ambitions.
Perry is the type of person that likes to have a plan for herself. Ambiguity, she says, “really freaks her out.” So when she found herself drawn to the education offered by the iSchool, and a slight departure from what had long been her plan and vision, the pangs of ambiguity flared up. However, an interesting thing that she discovered on her journey through the iSchool was how to live with and embrace the uncertainty. “It’s ok to not know exactly what I want to do, or what my job is going to look like. We work in an evolving industry, so the landscape and the definitions of our roles are always changing. That can be intimidating for people- I know it was for me, but the curriculum and environment of the iSchool prepared me not only to understand the technical needs of the job I do, but also how to address the dynamic needs of a business while considering the ethical implications of technology in decision-making.”