5 Under 5

Our Five Under Five column features a Q&A with a Whitman School graduate of the last five years. In this issue, meet Tamara Seredneva ’19 MBA, a native of Baku, Azerbaijan, who now resides in New York City. At Syracuse University, Seredneva earned an MBA from Whitman with concentrations in marketing and business analytics. Today, she works as a financial analyst at Google. In this role, she is responsible for financial data analysis and reporting. The position combines Seredneva’s academic background with her prior data-science work experience.

Were there particular resources at Whitman you found particularly helpful?

Whitman has many on-campus career resources, including frequent career fairs. I found having a point of contact at the Career Center particularly helpful, even if it was for something as small as proofreading a promising networking email correspondence. I remember that, as a job-seeking student, it made me feel like I wasn’t alone in the challenges I was facing. In fact, many professors and staff members at Whitman made my experience feel more welcoming than they probably realize. It means a lot as an international student to have a feeling of home away from home.

Is there a Whitman class that you especially draw from in your career?

Yes! I’m very thankful for the Business Analytics for Managament Decisions class taught by Professor Donald Harter. It served as an introductory course into the world of data analysis with an overview of various tools that are currently required in the workplace. Having an understanding of the various tools allowed us to determine which would be most relevant to our intended career path and ways to further hone our skills to be more marketable.

As a member of the Orange alumni family, how do you stay connected and give back?

I do my best to stay connected with fellow alumni despite our busy schedules. Additionally, I stay in touch with the Career Center and academic staff to help current students by sharing my knowledge and experiences. For example, I recently assisted in organizing a visit to Google with other Syracuse alumni for Whitman students who were on a career exploration trip to New York City.

Do you have any advice for students in their last year at Whitman before joining the business world?

In the age of social media and working from home, whether hybrid or fully remote, LinkedIn and other professional websites are your online “face.” Make sure to utilize these tools and your online presence to your advantage to share your strengths and successes and build networks.

What do you do to destress or keep balance in your life?

I try to keep one day a week to mentally “fast,” meaning to not consume any information — no emails, shows/movies, books or even music. With so much information around us on a daily basis, I find this practice to be helpful to be more present in real life rather than digitally.