Favorite Parts Of Being A Director Of Strategic Finance At Tala
Zu, a Director of Strategic Finance, finds the most rewarding aspect of the role to be its cross-functional nature, acting as "the connective tissue for the company" and offering a broad skillset applicable to various career paths. The most enjoyable recent work involved collaborating with the product team, using "that whiteboard" to help design new products and strategies, highlighting a shift from earlier career focuses on modeling and data analysis to a more strategic, collaborative approach.
Cross-functional Teamwork, Strategic Thinking, Data Analysis, Product Design, Leadership Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Zu Daya
Director of Strategic Finance
Tala
University of Toronto
MBA, University of Toronto
Biology & Related Sciences, Economics
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Finance
International Student, Honors Student, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. The role involves cross-functional collaboration and requires wearing many hats, acting as a connective tissue for the company by bringing together insights from various teams such as marketing, product, accounting, and FP&A.
2. The career path is versatile and not limited to CFO; strategic finance provides broad learning and understanding across the entire company, opening various career opportunities.
3. The most enjoyable aspect is contributing to product and strategy design, collaborating with teams like product, engineering, and UX design to make data-driven decisions and improve customer experience. This includes using analytical skills and strategic thinking to influence product development and company strategy
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your current role?
In my biased opinion, strategic finance is one of the best functions out there. You truly get to work cross-functionally and wear many hats; it's how the role is designed.
You are the connective tissue for the company. You're the person or team bringing together what's happening with marketing, product, accounting, and FP&A. Having the privilege of being in such a function is the most fun part.
You get the idea of being essentially a CEO. Students or candidates who want to break into strategic finance often ask about the career path and if it leads to CFO. Honestly, it doesn't.
Strategic finance can lead anywhere; it sets you up for so much learning and understanding across the entire company. That's the most fun part of it for me.
Looking at it more granularly, when I was younger, modeling and data analysis were great. But in today's world, what I find most fun is helping design products and strategies.
For example, in the past few weeks or months, working with our product team to understand and help design a product has been a really fun experience. When I say design, I don't mean coding.
I mean using a whiteboard to say, "Design this product this way." It's about figuring out how to allow our customers to do A, B, and C, rather than X, Y, and Z. Getting exposure to engineers and UX designers has definitely been a lot of fun.