Life at Deloitte |
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A selection of people from the member firms share the stories of their lives, their work experiences, and everything in between.
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The mentor
Satra Sampson-Arokium
Tracking & Trading specialist, Ethics & Compliance, Deloitte United States
When Satra Sampson-Arokium was applying to graduate school, she knew what she wanted to write about in her admissions essay: life lessons from her father.
“He always told me the sky’s the limit,” Satra says. “He inspired me to get the best education possible.”
Now Satra is inspiring other students as she coaches them in writing their college application essays.
Satra’s efforts are part of College Summit, a nonprofit program that works with high schools to help raise college enrollment rates among low-income students. Deloitte United States has worked with College Summit since 2006 and provides the largest number of corporate volunteers to their annual weekend workshops on college campuses.
Satra has helped lead these workshops for the past three years. She is motivated by her belief that young people—including her own children—will be our future leaders. “I’m tired of seeing students fall by the wayside,” she says. ”If I don’t help, what will the future be like for my daughters?”
Satra shares a strong connection to the students she helps. “My story is not that different,” she says, referring to her upbringing in New York City after emigrating from the Caribbean. “They can relate to me. This is my way of showing them I’ve made it, and they can too.”
While spending time in college dorms may be different from how Satra usually spends her weekends—“At times I can’t believe I traded my king-sized bed for a twin, and my air conditioner for a fan!”—she plans to participate again and again.
The whiz kid
Tomas Jones
Consultant, Deloitte United Kingdom
At 13 years old, while most of his friends were playing video games, Tomas Jones was running his own Web design firm. At 18, after selling the business to help fund his higher education, he moved on to semi-normal adolescence as a student and an avid beatboxer, with his tutorial video on YouTube gaining viral attention. At 18, Tomas was named one of the UK’s Top Young Entrepreneurs by the Sunday Times.
After graduating from the London School of Economics, Tomas joined Deloitte United Kingdom, where his talent was recognized early on. He was the youngest person to win the Deloitte UK Technology Integration Consulting Entrepreneur Award in 2007, and in 2008, Tomas gave a presentation on Web 2.0 to more than 600 people at the UK firm.
What was it like to own your own company at 13 years old?
It was a great extracurricular activity! It brought to life many of the subjects I learned about in school by helping contextualize the material. Many of the age-related challenges were overcome by conducting business online, but I still faced some unique obstacles, like the banks closing before school finished.
Why did you choose to work at Deloitte United Kingdom?
I wanted to combine my interest in technology with my passion for solving business problems. Deloitte United Kingdom gives me the opportunity to work with some of the largest, most prestigious organizations.
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received?
There are two, actually: become famous for being passionate about whatever interests you, and always set long-term career goals.
So now that you’re an entrepreneur, beatbox champion, and successful consultant, what’s next for you?
The UK firm continues to supply me with interesting and challenging work. I am particularly interested in strengthening the firm’s relationship with the technology start-up scene in London and developing the firm’s online service capability.