After proving her decisiveness and smarts to her family, Laura was off to discover the world at only 17. Amsterdam was an accidental discovery; she came for a touristic visit but instantly fell in love. “I saw the Zuidas and was amazed by the way the businesses were set up”. She knew Amsterdam was going to be her next home. “This is such a cool city, it has both things I want, I love the business world and I also really love the cultural, international, artsy vibe.”
The studious adventurer wanted to do another master to develop her analytical skills and found exactly what she was looking for at VU, just a few steps away from her beloved Zuidas. “The SBE master Finance was (and still is) the best rated finance master by students, but I also I looked for diversity and the multicultural element. Important considerations”. Laura also valued the fact that the course program at VU contains interesting electives, especially on the payment industry: “Payment really is my thing.”
During her studies Laura’s focus was always on the innovation of financial services. “My heart lies with technology; I want to be where the new things are happing in finance.” In 2020 Laura started working as a compliance officer at Adyen, her dream job. “As a tech company we are always developing new tech tools. It’s super interesting to analyze them from a compliance and risk management perspective. This job intellectually challenges me, and I like that.”
Her main focus is on the payment industry rules and regulations, on how the game plays between the payment providers and the card networks. “Working at Adyen allows me to apply what I learned about the payment industry at VU. For me, it was really interesting to learn more about the European payment landscape in detail. Especially the Dutch payment industry.” “The professor of the payment courses is a very knowledgeable practitioner in the field, that was very beneficial for me.”
Diversity in the boardroom
Laura has strong ideals for the future of finance. “I really want to make an impact on the female role in finance. There need to be more role models for women to join the industry, we need the diversity and the balance in the boardroom.” Laura thinks finance is still a very much male dominated industry. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think a better functioning team will come from a more equal force, where both genders well represented as well as with people from multinational backgrounds.”
Tips
The SBE master Finance is a demanding program, Laura has some valuable tips to help pull you through: “Be curious, always put your mind into the learning, if you stay curious you will always find the motivation, it will help you not to feel the pressure. Second: Think wisely on the elective courses, what direction do you want to take? And last but not least: It is very important to always really network, with the students in your group, with the companies, really put yourself out there, talk to the companies. Don’t be shy.”
