Turning numbers into opportunities
Sade Meeks is using her leadership and career skills as an accountant to impact future students through scholarship.
As a senior associate at KPMG, Sade Meeks is no stranger to solving complex problems and navigating high-pressure environments. But her work extends far beyond the office. With a knack for numbers and a heart for service, New York City-based Meeks has channeled her expertise into building The Scholarship Collective, a platform aimed at helping students overcome financial barriers to education. Meeks sat down with The Net Gains to share how she's using her career skills to impact future students. - Bianca Prieto
How has your accounting career shaped your approach to problem-solving and leadership?
The most influential aspect of my accounting career surprisingly has nothing to do with numbers, policy or regulation. It's people. Mentorship is both an upward and downward gift. The mentorship of the associates on my team allows me to open my perspective to the bigger picture and evaluate my approach from different angles. This elevates the quality of my assessment and increases the scope of what I am able to learn from a problem or experience. Mentorship from the managers and partners above me allows me to challenge myself to think differently and pass that knowledge on to those below me on the team. Leadership is about empowerment and the leadership that mentorship teaches is that you can learn just as much from giving guidance as you can from receiving it.
What skills or insights from your career have helped you in build The Scholarship Collective and reach an online audience of over 400,000?
KPMG can be fast-paced and deadline-driven so each element in the overall "system" to provide client services must serve a purpose and be documented. Early on when I was the only one working on growing The Scholarship Collective, I documented everything I did. This habit of documentation inadvertently created my own "system" for growing my online audience that I can now delegate to my team. Public accounting is a continuous learning journey that warrants me as a professional to pivot and shift as the rules and regulations governing my clients' tax strategy change. The adaptability I rely on daily at KPMG mirrors the agility needed to grow an online audience amid changing social media algorithms. The habits and processes I’ve developed at work help me create a more efficient and effective system for The Scholarship Collective, enabling us to better serve students and families with our resources and services.
How can accounting professionals use their expertise to help reduce the financial barriers to higher education?
There are many organizations out there that have opportunities for accounting professionals to mentor students in various ways. An organization I love to volunteer for is Junior Achievement USA. Volunteering ranges from young students in elementary school all the way to high school so that professionals can touch each piece of their journey in financial literacy, career and more.
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