The next item of business is topical questions and we start with question number one from Monica Lennon. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that two patients have died in the Queen Elizabeth university hospital after contracting a fungal infection. What advice has been issued to NHS boards on the matter? Cabinet Secretary, Jean Freeman. I hope that you will bear with me. I want to just go through some clear factual points in response to this answer, which I'm sure members would appreciate. In November, the bacteria Cryptococcus was identified in one patient. That patient was discharged for palliative care and sadly subsequently died in late December, but Cryptococcus was not a contributing factor in their death. In December, a post-mortem of a child who had passed away confirmed that Cryptococcus was both present and a contributing factor in their death. I know I speak for the whole chamber when I say for both families our thoughts and sympathies go to them. The identification of two cases acts as the trigger for additional infection control measures by the board. That was undertaken. That includes the provision of prophylaxis antifungal medication to the relevant group of vulnerable patients and the provision of additional HEPA filter machines to ensure clean and clear air and air monitoring. In visiting the Queen Elizabeth University hospital this morning, I had detailed briefing and the opportunity to speak directly with the medical director, the senior nurse, senior board members and a family. From the external advice that the board has sought, including from Health Protection Scotland and from the clinical advice that is available directly to me, I am confident that the board has taken all the steps that it should to ensure and maintain patient safety. To provide further independent assurance, I have also asked the healthcare environment inspectorate to fully review the incident and to make recommendations on any further steps that should be taken. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response. I also extend our sympathies to the families of the patients who died. We now know that one of the patients, indeed a child, has died. Sadly, we have now learned that that contributes to the fact, and I think that people will be quite shocked and upset to hear that. The cabinet secretary says that she is confident in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, but she must recognise that over the weekend there was a complete lack of clarity from the health board in response to very legitimate media inquiries. I have to say that we had no update from the Government at a very worrying time. We have had some further information about the outbreak of this back in November, but it is not quite clear when the Scottish Government was first made aware, so perhaps the cabinet secretary could confirm that, because yesterday we learned that an outpatient and his wife wrote to the former health secretary about the pigeon infestations last March, but the Government is saying that this week they cannot find that letter. This is a very serious public health concern. Two people who contracted the infection are sadly now dead, and the public needs to have full confidence that this Government has a grip on the situation. Can the cabinet secretary confirm if she was made aware of this issue at the Queen of Azuboth when she took over as health secretary last year, and if not when exactly was she first notified and what did she do? I am grateful to Ms Lennon for her additional points. Can I be clear on a number of matters? What I said was that I am confident that the board has taken all steps that it should do to ensure and maintain patient safety in the light of the incident. The query with respect to no update from the Government—I hope that I am making it clear to members that I treat such matters exceptionally seriously, but I want to work on the basis of factual information, so I have come to give that factual information today. The Government was first informed of the Cryptococcus infection in two patients on 21 December. That was the right time for the Government to be informed, because it was the post-mortem following the death of the child that identified the second case. As I said, that second case is the trigger then for additional infection control action, and therefore we were rightly informed. However, in order to progress, so we maintained an update, but in order to progress and understand the factual situation, we have to first of all be sure about patient safety. We then have to be sure and take the time to identify the source and the manner of spread of the bacteria. That takes time, because plates have to be cooked—I cannot think of another word if you forgive me—and incubated. Thank you very much to my health minister—that is very helpful. We have to be incubated in order to ensure that you have the right form of cryptococcus, so that you are taking the right steps and so on and so forth. In terms of the letter, Scottish Government has always had—so not just this Government, all previous Governments—a very robust system of recording all communication to ministers and cabinet secretaries, whether those come in writing by email via social media. We undertook a thorough search of that system, the MAC system, using a number of different ways of spelling people's names, of using different keywords over the past few days and have found no record of the letter. In addition, Ms Robinson's constituency office also undertook a search of its system and found no record. Although the letter predates my appointment as cabinet secretary, my constituency office also undertook that search. We have found no record of the letter, but we have made it clear that, if the authors of the letter want to advise us of what they said, then I am very happy to deal with that seriously and to respond directly to them. In the absence of that information, that is not something that I can do. I think that the people of Scotland will feel that it is absolutely extraordinary that, in a modern hospital, Scotland's flagship—and apparently superhospital no less—we have a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients. The health board, quite frankly, has struggled to get its facts straight over the weekend. Even in times of reporting concerns have been known about for two years, and two people are dead. We do not know what health secretaries have been doing. That is the latest in a catalogue of public health concerns, not just at the Queen Elizabeth, but also at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. We have had the closure of two cancer wars at the Royal Hospital for Children over a bacteria outbreak, and there has been the temporary closure of the Cowlayers facility, which led to over 1,000 operations being cancelled. The public are right to be concerned about patient safety. If this unthinkable and deadly infection can happen at the flagship Queen Elizabeth, what is to stop it happening at other hospitals? Can the cabinet secretary comment further on what steps she is taking to support the families of the deceased and what she is going to prevent this from happening at any other hospital ever again? Let us be clear, because it really is important that we deal in factual and accurate information here. The concerns that were raised two years ago, as I understand them, were very different from the incidents that happened in this case that has led to one patient dying as a consequence of cryptococcus infection. The concerns two years ago were acted on by the board. They put in a number of additional anti-pigeon or anti-bird measures, including spikes and a version of hawk prevention and other means. Those concerns were dealt with at that time. That is a new instance. If I can explain to members in investigating the source of the bacteria and infection, the estates staff at the hospital and on the board, including the director of estates, traced it to one plant room on the 12th floor, the roof top of the building, where, invisible to the naked eye, was a very, very small break in the wall of the plant room. In that small break, pigeons had entered the plant room, and excrement was found there. That was found by smoke detection, because, as I say, invisible to the naked eye. What they continue to work on is how the bacteria from that excrement could enter a closed ventilation system, and that work continues, and we will continue to be updated on it. However, Ms Lennon is right in as much as there is concern—concerned by the board, concerned by me, but much more importantly concerned by the people of Glasgow and Wider—about what appear to be a number of instances in the fabric of the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, which are less than satisfactory. Today, in the discussion that I had this morning, I have agreed a review with external expert advice that will look at the design of the building, the commissioning of the work, the construction of the building, the handover of the building, and the maintenance of the building in order to ensure that we identify where issues were raised that should have been addressed and where maintenance programmes now should be perhaps more robust and more frequent or whatever that recommendation will come from. In addition, there will be independent expert advice sought for that review and independent expert advice to me on the progress of that review and its recommendations. I intend, by the end of this week, to make available to members of this chamber and to publish the remit of that review and the expert advice that will be sought in the various technical areas that it is required. It is right that we consider whether or not in its totality the fabric of the Queen Elizabeth university hospital is for purpose as we require it and that if there are lessons from that, we take those and apply those across the rest of our health system in Scotland, in particular where we have the commissioning of new builds. We had quite lengthy questions and concomitantly detailed answers, but I have at least five members who would like to ask further questions. If we can be brief, we will try to get through some of them at least. Alex Neil will be followed by Annie Wells. I very much welcome the cabinet secretary's statement and, in particular, the review, which I also hope looks at the issues around the closure of the children's cancer ward in the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. It is also very welcome that the proper procedures that appear to have been carried out, but a great deal of anxiety has been unnecessarily created by the way in which the communications externally have been handled by Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board. Had that information been made available more timuously, I am sure that much of the anxiety that has been created in recent days could have been avoided. I ask the cabinet secretary if she will make sure that the health board learns the lessons of the need in such circumstances for effective and timuous communications and transparency as part and parcel of the strategy of handling outbreaks of this kind. I take Mr Neil's point absolutely. I discussed internal and external communications. I should have said in answer to Ms Lennon that the board immediately discussed and had conversations with the families of the two individuals who had died. There is on-going communication between clinical staff and the families affected in the areas of the hospital right now. I have taken the opportunity to discuss both external and internal communications with the board this morning, and I understand and expect to see a number of improvements in those areas in addition to other improvements that they have made themselves. We need to understand, too, that in order to be sure of your facts, you cannot always work exactly to the timetable of the new cycle. There will be times when either I or a health board are not able to answer exactly at that point questions from our friends in the media, but I think that it is a fair point that, in terms of external communications, improvements have been sought and I am confident that improvements will be made. Annie Wells will be followed by Anas Alwar. I, too, wish to express my sympathies to the families involved. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answers to the previous questions. What other concerns, if any, has been raised to the cabinet secretary with regard to the major problems at the Queen Elizabeth? Can the cabinet secretary ensure full transparency when it comes to the publication of the review? We know that there have been a number of issues at the Queen Elizabeth University hospital, covering water hygiene, external cladding, the ventilation system, glazing failures and the most recent incident in terms of the ingress in the plant room and the ventilation system. All of those are the areas. Others, including the impacts of access to healthcare and so on, I will expect the review with that external advice to be looking at. It needs that external advice, because some of what we will be talking about will certainly be beyond my expertise in its technicality. The review's recommendations will be public and I will respond to the chamber in terms of our response to those recommendations. By the end of this week, I hope to be able to make public to all members the remit of the review, the nature of the external advice thought, the nature of the additional independent advice that will come to me, an idea of timescale—although we have to see what those experts tell us—and then I absolutely undertake to keep this Parliament updated and that the recommendations from the review will be made public and I will respond in this chamber to those. Given the series of events that have taken place at the Queen Elizabeth University hospital, I welcome the review announced by the cabinet secretary today. Can she give a guarantee that it will be a genuinely independent review, i.e. that those people involved in commissioning doing the work and delivering the hospital won't be part of investigating what has gone wrong at the hospital? Will the review commit to looking at the history of the reports from the consultative microbiologists at the hospital, which I believe have been raising concerns about the safety and security of the hospital for a number of years? Yes, I can give that commitment. Obviously, those individuals who will have been involved at various steps along the way will be providing information to the review and perhaps comment an opinion, but we need to discuss with those who will be charged with the review exactly how they want to undertake it, but they will have that very important independence and expert advice available to it. Can the health secretary advise on the current hospital-acquired infection rate for NHS greater Glasgow and Clyde and how that compares to the rest of Scotland? Since 2007, 85 per cent fall in the cases of C. difficile infection in over 65-year-olds and 94 per cent fall in levels of MRSA in line with the national average. The national point prevalence survey record of the Queen Elizabeth University hospital has it as an overall rate of hospital-acquired infection of 4 per cent compared to the rate for Scotland, which is 4.9 per cent. Of course, we should not ignore the successful track record of our patient safety programme.  In those circumstances, in this hospital and elsewhere, then infection arises. The key is to understand what you need to do to improve patient safety and to get to the source of that infection. We know from today that I have been advised that there has been a fungal infection, not connected to the one that we are discussing. There has been further information given to me. More information is to come. Again, I am very happy to keep the chamber updated on that. It affects two patients, both of whom are being treated. The source of that infection is being pursued. Additional safety measures have been put in place, including air sampling, enhanced cleaning and, as I said, it is unrelated to the infection caused by pigeon excrement. However, as I explained, I will come back and update members on that in due course. Thank you very much. I apologise to James Kelly. We don't have any more time for questions on that subject. Question 2, Bruce Crawford. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Prime Minister's latest statement and how she plans to proceed with Brexit withdrawal agreement. Presiding Officer, firstly, it is clear from yesterday's statement that the Prime Minister has simply not taken on board the crushing scale of the 230 votes defeat in the House of Commons. Yesterday, the Prime Minister could have ruled out no deal. She didn't. She could have called for an extension of article 50. She didn't. Instead, still failing to understand the EU's position, she intends to return for further negotiations armed with plan A. Given the Prime Minister's approach to engagement with the Scottish Government to date, her offer of an enhanced role for devolved Administrations like lacks credibility. Indeed, this morning, the UK Government cancelled a meeting of the joint ministerial committee that deals with EU negotiations, which was due to take place on Thursday, a decision that flies in the face of the Prime Minister's rhetoric. However, the Scottish Government will continue to do everything that we can to protect Scotland's interests, and the First Minister is due to meet the Prime Minister in the coming days. The Prime Minister should now focus on securing an extension to article 50, during which arrangements can be made for a second referendum, which includes the option to remain within the EU. I would also like to congratulate the 3 million campaign and members of this Parliament who voted in December to call on the UK to scrap the settled status fee. All members, of course, accept the Conservatives. The UK Government should never have introduced it in the first place, but this U-turn is welcome. However, it does not change the fact that EU citizens should not have to apply to retain rights that they already have. Thank you, cabinet secretary. Last week, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister calling for a meeting of the GMC for urgent and meaningful discussions to agree a way forward, which would command the majority in the House of Commons and, crucially, have the confidence and support of devolved Administrations. Obviously, the cabinet secretary just told us the information about the GMC, so what does the Scottish Government now see as the best way forward of resolving the current impasse? The joint minister of committee is not meeting on Thursday as part of the European negotiations, and neither I understand the meeting in the next few days. Neither is that at a joint ministerial committee plenary level, although I understand that the First Minister of Wales will also meet. It is important that there is some consensus on the way forward, but in the absence of consensus empowerment, the best resolution would be a second EU referendum. The Prime Minister's statement refers to improved discussion and consultation with Westminster, the Parliament and the devolved Governments. However, yesterday's statement made clear that it is simply to set future negotiating terms on our current deal that has been rejected by 230 votes. Her offer for talk to set out in her statement is just about implementing the political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the EU and the UK, not about changing the political declaration terms in future arrangement. It is important that there is greater engagement, but it has to be meaningfully about trying to address what could command a majority position. That is why, obviously, the debates that will take place in Westminster over the next week are important, and there will be opportunities for members there to put forward different suggestions. Bruce Crawford The cabinet secretary has already mentioned the scrapping of the UK's proposed EU settled status fee. Will she agree with me that the disgraceful policy should, frankly, never have been in place to begin with, that no citizen should be expected to pay to secure the rights that they already had ever entitled to because they had made their home in the United Kingdom? Cabinet Secretary? I welcome the scrapping of the settled status fee. The pay-to-stay was never appropriate in the first place, but I think that the anxiety, the sheer anxiety that so many EU citizens have faced and, indeed, continue to face with this application system is of real worry, particularly in a country where we need to ensure that we can attract those from the EU and beyond to help in our work places and in our universities and in our care sector and in our health sector. I think that it is a very serious point that, in terms of what the UK does in the future, it should address the concerns of the UK's application system. One is that the pilot that was launched yesterday has many, many questions about it, but what kind of message does it say to people if you are actually asking them to apply for something that they already have? I think that this Parliament can come together. I think that, even on the other benches, as far as the Conservatives are concerned, if we want to address the real issues in terms of population and migration in Scotland, I think that this Parliament coming together can make a difference. We made a difference in the discussions on Ben Macpherson in particular. We made a difference in terms of the arguments in relation to the scrapping of the fee, and I think that we can do more in this area if we as a Parliament come together and work together and put forward common-sense proposals. Adam Tomkins The cabinet secretary does not want a no-deal Brexit, and I am with her on that. So can I ask what detailed, concrete, positive proposals for a deal to resolve this crisis has the cabinet secretary's party brought to the discussions with the Prime Minister in the last week? Well, the member will be aware that we have spent the last two and a quarter years arguing for a compromise position, a single market membership and customs union membership, and that you are starting to see an opportunity for other parties coming to that. However, the clock is ticking, and that is why we have to stop the clock. Unless we rule out the no-deal, the no-deal is the default position. In terms of where we go forward, we have to ensure that the opportunity is there to ensure that we can remain. If we scrap freedom of movement, whether it is under this deal that the Prime Minister has or a no-deal, that will be absolutely catastrophic for Scotland. In terms of what has been put forward to date, we have been diligent. We have been patient in putting forward our proposals, and our First Minister again will be able to engage with the Prime Minister. However, we are now at this very last minute, having spent 15 months for the UK to try and get a resolution on the hard-border risk in relation to Ireland and Northern Ireland. 15 months and no progress. What makes her think that, with the EU's position as it is standing full square behind the Irish position, how does she think that she is going to get some movement in the next few weeks? As I said, that is facing down a ticking clock, and we need to stop the clock. We need to make sure that there are opportunities for a common sense proposal, because the consequences are very, very dire indeed. Thank you very much, and that concludes topical questions. We are going to move on to our next item of business, which is a debate on motion 15493, in the name of Michael Matheson, on a city deal and regional economic partnership. I would ask all members who wish to contribute to this debate to press their request to speak butons as soon as possible.


The Challenge of the Yukon! HONKING! HONKING! The Wonder Dog King, swiftest and strongest of Eskimo Lee dogs, blazes the trail through storm and snout for Sergeant Preston, as he meets the Challenge of the Yukon! Sergeant Preston was typical of a small band of Northwest-knotted police who preserved law and order in the new Northwest country, where the greed for wealth and power led to frequent violence and bloodshed. But in spite of the odds against them, Sergeant Preston and his Wonder Dog King met that challenge, and justice ruled Trumpen! It was a lighter part of winter in the Yukon. Food was getting scarce and starving wolf packs could be heard, howling in the wilderness. Sergeant Preston and Jean de Valle were hunting caribou to replenish their meat supply. Early darkness was approaching when Jean called to the mountain. Look, Sergeant! Over here! Bloody tracks! Something has been wounded! They look like dog or wolf tracks. Let's follow them, Jean. They're quite fresh. The agely wolves have not found it. These tracks, they look like animals this week. Almost at the staggering stage. Careful. Must be under those spruces. Look at his wolf! Not all wolves. He's part dog. Hello, boy. Yeah, he is more wolf than dog from where she acts. He's been shot in the leg, boy fella. And he's weak from loss of blood. Hey, if I'd have shoot him, put him out of misery, no? Maybe we can save him, Jean. His leg may not be broken. Hmm, he'd make a good slut dog here, fella.  His former master must have been pretty cruel. With scars around his head and shoulders, he's been beaten often. Maybe it is better we do not try to save him, the poor animal. A dog like this is always a challenge to me, somehow. I'd like to see what kindness and good treatment can do. You've tamed some bad ones, Sergeant, I know. This fella's too weak to put up much of a fight, Jean. I'm going back to get my sled and dogs.  I will watch him, yes, Sergeant, but I don't make any friends with him. Jean DeVal, interested in the progress Preston was making with the wolf dog, came to his cabin the following week. Well, how you get along with this wolf dog, will he catch, Sergeant? He is much better? His wound is better, but his disposition is still the same. He hates everything human. Someone's been terribly cruel to him. Yes, such hate. It's hard to cure. I'd bet him every day and talk to him, and get nothing but snows from my trouble. Maybe it is better you do away with such animal, huh? I thought I'd let him out of his pen today. Maybe that's what's bothering him. Better you set up in the tree if you do. He'd make a fine sled dog, and he's been used that way before. You know, if he weren't unusual strong, he'd never come through all the punishment he's taken.  Uh, whoever owned him before was a beast. The dog's been badly mistreated. That's why I want to get him out of that pen. You know, I think someone penned him up and deliberately tortured him. What does King take in here, right? I haven't tried to find out, but I think I will. Come on with me, Jean. We'll take King with us and see what happens. Maybe I should watch from the window. If you sit on top of the shed, Jean, you'll be slaved there. Come on. King, where are you, boy? Here, fella. Come on, King. Maybe you'll have to teach Thunder a lesson. When will I climb on the shed before you open the door to the pen? All right, Jean. You old thunder cloud. You're growling at me, eh? A good name for you, Thunder. Oh, Thunder, we're gonna let you out of there for a while and see what happens. Get back, King. That's a boy. All right, Thunder. Come on, old boy. Here, Thunder. I got you! Get him, King! Thank you for you! King can take care of him. We'll let him fight. He has to find out that King has bought. The dog's growled in the swelling heat. King, bigger and stronger than the wolf dog, could easily have killed him, but King was taught him to the dog in his charge. Soon, Thunder was at his mercy. King, he's had enough. Put him up. Get him back in the pen, King.  You can come down off the shed now, Jean. I think we'll be able to put Thunder in harness tomorrow. Two weeks later, Jean was telling the story of how Thunder became Preston's sled dog when Preston came into his store. And now the thunder! He is good sled dog. He is fine. Oh, Jean. Hi, John. I am just telling John about your new dog, Sergeant. I should call him King's new dog. I doubt that I'll ever be able to call Thunder mine. What do you mean, Sergeant? He hates everything human. But he's accepted King and obeys him. Just the way a wolf obeys the leader of the pack. He's half-wolf, isn't he? Maybe more than half, John. The only time he seems to show any interest in life is late at night when the wolf's howl. He answers them, and if I didn't have him tied, he'd be away like a shot. Yeah. Someday you will lose him. He will go back to them, I think. I keep hoping he'll respond to kindness. He's a good strong dog in harness, and as long as King's around to boss him, he's easy to handle. Sergeant Preston. Hello, Kulik. What's wrong? New Jack. He murdered an Eskimo village. New Jack murdered? Why would anyone murder him? Man, kill him. Steal his first. Take wife. Go away and blow. New Jack, you're a good piece for Eskimo. Come on, Kulik. My dog team's all ready. Go back to the Eskimo village with you now. This cabin of New Jack. This one. Oh, you're right. Oh, Kulik. Yeah, stop that. Come there. What's the matter with you? That dog. He mad. Come there. Stop it, I say. King, stop him. You're mad upset. Look. Him call whole team in river. Come there. Come back here. Look. He has all the dogs in a tangle. He mad. Look how hair stand up on back. What's he so excited about? He'll follow tracks to riverbank. Are these the tracks of the murderer? Yes. Him leave that. So that's the answer. Thunder knows the man who killed New Jack. Whoever he is, he's the reason Thunder hates men. Jack had hidden his trail well. The Eskimos could give no description of him. And New Jack's wife, the only witness, was gone. It was three weeks later that Preston drove his team into the village of Twin Queets. There's a crowd gathered at one end of the street. Hey there. What's the crowd gathered for? Bill James is holding a dog team auction. He's going back to the stage. Stop it, Thunder. What's the matter with you? You must have a vicious husky there. Why do you muzzle him? Have to be careful with him in a crowded town. Why, Thunder? I guess I better take him out of harness and tie him up. He's acting strangely. Come on, Thunder. You're going on leash for a while. You're going on leash for a while. Come back here. You got away after him, King. Before King could catch him, a huge, woke dog rushed into the crowd. With blind fury, he leaped at the throat of a half-brain in its midst. Do not hurt this dog as muzzled. Where are you? You mean you wound him at one time? I healed him once. This time... I've got that gun. I've got that gun. These dogs are both like a trance to you now. What's your name? Do any of you people know where this man comes from? I think he lives in a shack at the edge of town. He ain't been here long.  Are you sure he won't... He can't bite you with that muzzle on. All right. Come on, you... Go on, Thunder. That's a good boy. Now, Blackie, I want you to take me to your cabin. I... I not pick you to cabin. Would you like to have me take that muzzle off of Thunder and let him pay back some of the treatment you gave him? No. No. All right, Blackie. Lead the way to your cabin.  You're going, Blackie. Open the door. King's right behind you and this gun is loaded. Your sister, that's not true. She's an Eskimo and you're part Indian. Who are you? Father, marry my mother. No sea long time. Oh, a step-brother. Do you have any chance, the wife of Nujak? Nujak? Nula. Don't be frightened, Nula. He can't hurt you now. Tell me, are you the wife of Nujak? Him with me, if I tell. He won't get a chance, Nula. Nujak, him my man. Tell me, Nula, did Blackie kill Juck? No tell. Him beat Nula. He'll never beat you again, Nula. I promise you that. Now you must tell me what happened that night in your cabin. You... You take Nula back home? Yes, he'll be safe from now on. Nujak catch fine first. Him big hunter. Yes, I know he was. Blackie comes. No see him long time. Him want first from Nujak. Hit Nujak with gun. Were you there when it happened? They see him. Him make Nula go with him. Beat her. Make her work. Me afraid. Well, so you beat women as well as dogs, Blackie. You're under arrest for murder. Get your things back, Nula. We're taking you home to your family. As for Blackie here, he'll be put where he never hurts anyone again. Wash him clean. Darkness had closed over Sergeant Preston's cabin, and a bright moon painted the frozen land with a brilliant glow. The dead silence reigned over the valley. Suddenly it was broken by a weird cry. Sergeant Preston stirred in his chair as the cry was answered just outside his cabin. There goes Thunder again answering the wolves. Let's go out and see him, fella.  Hello, Thunder. You want to go back to them, don't you, old fella? I guess you never will like humans. All right, boy. You earned a reward for catching Blackie. I'm going to let you go. Now, you're free. Look at him streak through that snow. Good luck, Thunder. Hear that, King?  Those originated in the studios of WXYZ in Detroit, and all characters, names, places, and incidents used are fictitious. They are sent to you each week at the same time and reach you from our transcription studios. How, Neil, speaking, at WXYZ's permission, radio network.


وأقول في القرآن ما جاءت به آياته فهو الكاريم المنزاله وأقول قال الله جل جلاله والمصطف الهدي ولا أتأوّاله الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على عبد الله ورسوله نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته مرحباً لكم في رمضان أخرى يوضى ديلي دروبلت اليوم نحن نتحدث عن رمضان كتابة ورشب ليس كتابة ورشب الله عز وجل سير صورته الأعراف في آيات number 31 أول باني آدم تأخذ حدودكم وكل مصطفة here means every time you pray and adorn yourself every time you pray and eat and drink but do not go to excess for Allah does not love those people who go to excess سبحان الله ما نرى is that people in the month of Ramadan often it is a month of excessive eating and drinking and that's really strange because it's a month of fasting where nobody eats and drinks during the daytime except those who have a valid excuse but still you see that people make up for it in the evening by eating and drinking excessively and Allah عز وجل told us وَكُولُوا وَشَرَبُوا إِتَنْدْرِنْكَ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا don't go beyond don't become wasteful in it don't go beyond the limits that have been set for you that have been set for you in it and Abu Huraira narrated رضي الله عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال من لم يدع قول الزور ولا عمل به والجهل فليس لله حاجة أن يدع طعامه وشرابه Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said whoever doesn't leave false testimony and acting upon it and statements of ignorance and actions of ignorance then Allah has no need for him to leave his food and his drink and the reason we brought this hadith here is this hadith shows you that eating and drinking is not the purpose of Ramadan eating and drinking is not the purpose of Ramadan it's not about what you eat and what you drink and whether you eat or whether you don't eat that's not the purpose behind Ramadan if a person doesn't leave false testimony and acting upon it and statements and actions of ignorance then ultimately them leaving their food and drink that wasn't the purpose of it so it's not a month that's connected to eating and drinking أنا المقدام ابن معد كارب رضي الله عنه narrates سمعته رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول ما ملأ آدمي ويعا أن شرر من بطر he said that no human being ever filled a vessel worse than his stomach no human being ever filled a vessel worse than his stomach بحسب ابن آدم او كولات يقمنا صلبة it's enough for the son of Adam to have كولات some a few mouthfuls that will keep his back straight فإن كان لا محالة فالسلوص لطعامه وسلوص لشرابه وسلوص لنفسه and if it is them and a muster he has to eat more than that then let him have a third for his food and a third for his drink and a third of air a third to breathe سبحان الله what a lot of people misunderstand about this حديث is they actually understand that the goal is to eat a third the sunnah is to eat a third and if you look at the حديث the third is the upper limit the prophet Saism said فإن كان لا محالة if you've got no other way out if you've got no escape except to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls then eat no more than a third for your food and a third for your drink and a third for the of air that's not the sunnah to aim for a third so how about the one who fills their stomach full to the point where they can't stand in prayer and they can't worship Allah and there is a statement about this from أمر رضي الله عنه that أمر he said أيها الناس oh people إياكم والبطنة من الطعام he said keep away from be wary of filling up yourself with food البيطنة it is الإمتلاع الشديد to fill yourself up till you're full he said be careful of filling yourself up with food until you're full فإنها مكسلة عن الصلاة because it's going to cause you to be lazy about your prayers مفسيدة للجسد and it's going to cause harm to your body it's going to ruin your body مور ريثات للسقم and it's going to bring about sickness سبحانه لك at the wisdom it's going to make you lazy from the prayer it's going to make your body it's going to ruin your body it's going to ruin your body and it's going to make you sick it's going to make you sick ولكن عليكم بالقصتي في قوتكم فإنه أدنا من الإصلاح وأبعدوا من السرف وأكوى على عبادة الله وإنه لن يهلك أبد حتى يؤثر شهوته على دينه he said but you should be moderate in your provisions moderate in your eating because this is closer to إصلاح this is closer to making things right and it is further away from wastefulness and it makes you stronger in worshipping Allah and no servant was destroyed until he preferred his desires over his religion no servant was destroyed until he preferred his desires over his religion and some of the salaf they used to say لا تأكلوا كثيرا فترقوا كثيرا فتخسروا كثيرا don't eat a lot for you will end up having to lie down a lot and then you will lose a lot you lose a lot of opportunities and no doubt that from the greatest of the opportunities are the opportunities that you have in this month of Ramadan how sad is it that so many people waste the opportunities of this Ramadan because they fill themselves up with food سبحان الله عت صحور عت إفطار after إفطار and they fill themselves to the point where they miss out on the opportunities and that is really a really sad situation and something we must be very careful to avoid that's what Allah made easy for me to mention and Allah is what most best والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين السلام عليكم if you're enjoying these videos and you'd like to keep up to date with all of the courses we're going to be running make sure you head over to amauathome.com


the UMass class of 2021, where Ashley earned her BS in managerial economics with a minor in English. And she currently works remotely for a global risk management company headquartered in Chicago. And she'll tell us a little bit more about that when she shares a bit more about her bio. Then we have Nima Chatterjee. Nima is from the class of 2020, graduating with a BS in resource economics on the natural resource and environmental track with us. And she currently works for Liberty Mutual Insurance as an associate in the Analytics Development Program. The last participant or our last presenter is Samari Ijezi. She is an economics major from the class of 2017 and is a spokeswoman, financial analyst, model, writer, and founder of the Female Economist. Close to five years of experience leading financial analysis in custodial banking, entertainment, and the advertising industry for companies like State Street, Spotify, and the Publicus Group. Awesome. So as you can tell, this is going to be really exciting. So what I'm going to do is just hand it over in the order that we read the bios off. And so Ashley, you'd like to just share a few more words about what it is you do, maybe how you landed in the position you're in now that would be wonderful. And then we'll hear from Nima and Samari. Sure, thank you. First of all, I'm really excited to be here. I just graduated last May, so it hasn't been too long since I've been at UMass, so it's been really awesome. Super excited to be here, but I'm Ashley. I know a couple of you on the call. It's nice to see you again, but it's nice to meet those of you that I don't know. I work for a risk management group under commercial risk solutions. It's called Aion. We have a variety of different solution lines like retirement, health solutions, reinsurance, but I landed under commercial risk. And I work in the transportation industry, so it's managing risk for large transportation companies, so AK trucking companies. Really interesting. I actually interned for the company last summer and then joined full-time. I think I accepted in late October, so about a year ago, and I've been there for four months. It's been really great, but outside of that, I interned in the big tech industry this summer going into my junior year at UMass, so I have some experience in that as well. And that was great, but just having different internship experiences really showed me what I wanted out of a career and what I didn't want. And I chose the Resource Economics major when I was a sophomore at UMass, and I cannot say enough great things about it. And I also can't say enough about how relevant it is to the work that I do today. So just really great program, really great faculty and professors and support. So yeah, I can talk a little bit more about how my degree has helped me in my career and the things that I've learned a little bit later on, but that's a little bit about me. Wonderful, thank you, Ashley. Nima? Hi guys, I'm Nima. Just like Ashley, I also graduated pretty recently, December of 2020. So basically I was a junior and on handshake I got a message from Liberty Mutual Recruiting and I interviewed and interned at Liberty Mutual in their Analytics Developmental Program. And at the end of the summer, I received an offer and I accepted it in late August, early September and I just started up. So I kind of had like a year to just chill and now I've been working for a month. I'm still in training. So basically the Analytics Developmental Program is a rotational program. So it's three months of training and then three rotations and then you eventually place out into one of the departments in analytics. So yeah, pretty new to the whole working life, but I definitely learned a lot and I also just had a great time at UMass and with just being in Razak. So I'm excited to talk more about how my experiences have helped me now. And hi everyone, my name is Samari. I actually double majored while at UMass. So I studied political science and economics. I completed my degrees in 2018. So I've been out of college for a couple of years now. Currently I work at Publisys Group, which is an advertising agency. I work as a finance manager. So I oversee like 18 different clients, a budget of like 10 million right now. And kind of where I wanna go with my career is becoming my own boss. So I started my own business teaching financial literacy to nonprofit individuals and low income individuals. And it's been great so far. And I definitely wanna just continue becoming a girl boss and just working for myself and helping others while doing it. Wonderful. Thank you so much for jumping in and sharing a little bit more about yourselves. You've done some wonderful things so far and excited to hear more. So this is designed to be more of a Q&A session. And so I'm inviting anyone who'd like to from the audience, you are welcome to post questions either in the chat or you're welcome to raise hands, jump in or try whatever. And if it doesn't work, we'll rearrange. So feel free to post questions in any way, shape, or form that you would like to and learn a little bit more about our panelists that way. About this, to get us started while people are thinking of all those pressing questions that they have. This being a women in economics panel, we'd be remiss to not ask the question about being specifically women in the field. So are there ways in which being a woman in the field of economics has shaped your interests or experiences? And if so, how? Anyone and everyone can jump in. I can start us off. I have learned pretty quickly working in risk management and specifically in the industry I'm in right now. It's very male dominated. And so in a lot of client meetings, I am the only woman in the room or in the virtual room currently. So definitely it's been a unique experience and some of my other female colleagues that have worked at the practice a little bit longer than me have recalled experiences of being called out for being the only woman in the room and wanting to hear what the woman has to say, things like that. And so I think for me, I've just always been a little bit more prepared, not necessarily feeling like I'm being looked at a certain way but just knowing that just because I'm a woman doesn't mean that I have anything less to say. And my practice in particular is split very 50-50 between genders. And so I've always felt really supported to be active in client meetings, to share new ideas that I have, things like that. And it's just been a really positive experience for me. My manager is also a woman. So I think we have that sort of a bond as well. And we know that the industry that we work in is very male dominated. So I've just felt a lot of support and also the firm that I work for has a lot of initiatives to involve women. So we actually have what they call as a business resource group. And they have one that's called the Women's International Network where women have the chance to interact with one another across all geographies. So that's been very positive for me as well just to be able to connect with other females across the globe that work for the same firm in different areas and share experiences that way. So definitely I've seen people lead by example and I've just had a lot of support going forward. Tamari, I see you're, yeah, go ahead. Sorry, I can agree to that. I feel like ever since I started in the financial realm, I started out at State Street, which actually was in Hadley, Mass.  So for me, it definitely sparked an interest to continue working in finance because I felt like I wasn't represented in that industry. And I felt like, and just overall felt like, when you don't see yourself being represented in an industry or in a department, I felt like the need to continue down that road and definitely just uplift as I kept growing. So trying to recruit more African-Americans into finance and accounting. And I worked in different industries. So I worked at a college, I worked at Spotify and there wasn't people that looked like me. So it definitely just gave me the drive to continue to work hard and just become like a known face in the financial realm. And that's why I'm here to definitely just continue to inspire others that you can do it too. And even though that economics is a very male dominated field, there's definitely room for us. Yeah, I think similar to what Ashley and Samori said, I did notice early on like in classes and even interview settings, like it is male dominated and coming into liberty. I think just like interning, I kept in mind that I do wanna be at a company that values diversity. So right now in my analytics developmental program, it is split up pretty evenly like with males versus females. So I think that is really important and I definitely appreciate that. And we also have this resource group for women at the company. So I think that's really cool. And it's actually something that kind of drew me to the company is last summer, my internship team was all women, which was just super empowering. But in situations where you are kind of the one where maybe you feel like your voice is a little bit smaller or things like being interrupted or not feeling like you're as well represented, I think like as Samori said, like you can look at it as something to empower you and inspire you to stay in that field and still pursue like what you're interested in. Thank you. Oh, John's got a question, so. Hi, I'm just gonna lower my hand before I forget. So my name's John Spraggan and I'm the chair of the Resource Economics department. And so really the reason I'm here is to look for ways that the department can be more inclusive of women and can do a better job of getting more women in to our program. And so to the extent that any of you have thoughts about that, that's really what I'm doing here. I'd like to hear those kinds of things. So I do hear Nima talking about resource groups for women. So that's a great idea, right? And perhaps we can do more things along those lines. But really any suggestions that you have along those lines, I would really appreciate hearing. And it's great to see you and it's great to see the alumni in my back. I remember both Ashley and Nima from my 202 class. And you know, I'm really thrilled to see you doing so well. So congratulations and thanks for joining us. I took one of your classes a few years back as well too.  To answer that, I would say from my perspective, I would think advertising because I know that I completed my political science degree as a sophomore and I needed like more credits to kind of walk. So I just picked up economics because it was just a hassle to get into Eisenberg. I was going to study either accounting or finance. And then I was like, ooh, what's economics? So I feel like if it was advertised more and then also showcased like kind of the career opportunities that you can get with this degree, I think people would be a little bit more informed because I was, I didn't really know what economics was, but then I think I spoke with my guidance counselor and she was just like, you know, you wanna be a financial journalist, look at economics. And then I was like, wow, this is really cool. So I feel like advertising definitely like showcasing the career opportunities could also help. I would agree with that. And I think along with advertising the major itself and the careers, I think one of my biggest takeaways from the REZAC department was how much leadership skills I took away from it and how much of a team player it made me in terms of project work because that is immediately what I was thrown into in my first job. And so when I found the major, I was actively seeking a new major to go into. And I kind of inferred from the courses that were featured on, you know, these are the courses you would be taking if you were in this major. Those are really appealing to me. And I kind of inferred that if I were to take these courses I could make the career that I wanted to out of it. But I think especially highlighting that you can become an incredible team player through taking team-based courses through the REZAC major and that there's major opportunities to become a leader. That would have been something that would have been even more appealing to me. And I don't think necessarily that in other majors where the classes are so incredibly large that that is necessarily possible in other courses. I really like that idea that you just brought up Ashley because I'm trying to think back when I was looking into the REZAC major, I don't think I knew, like looking at the website and like those general like course sheets that give you an overview on like the tracks that you can take going to managerial or like natural resource. I didn't know about that either. And I do think that like now in probably all of our careers, like it's just so important. And yeah, I would agree with that. If that could just kind of be like pushed out more and like the benefits of TVL be talked about more. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the audience at this time? Also feel free if you don't want to turn on your camera or raise your hand, feel free to use the chat to pose questions as well. If you were feeling a bit shy, but we're all friends here. So, you know, don't feel any kind of pressure to, you know, to speak up if you'd like. So, I can ask another question is, you know, since we do have, I can recognize some, oh, we've got a question in the chat. So what were your experiences like finding your first internships? It's a really good question. I remember I was really determined to find an internship pretty early on in college. I knew some people that had internships, the summer going into their sophomore year, but I didn't even have a major at that point. So, you know, I wasn't ready quite yet, but once I chose the REZEC major, I was really determined to find a career that I could start experimenting with and seeing if it was something I would like. My experience finding an internship, I'll be very honest, was really difficult. I applied to at least 30 internships, like definitely at least 30 and I got two interviews and one of the interviews was the job I got. So it's really difficult and I'll be very transparent about that. It speaks to the amount of people that apply to these internships and the caliber of the people that are applying to the internship. So it is tough and that's why my biggest suggestion would just be to apply to as many as you can, but also to be organized with it. It can be very overwhelming when you're just bookmarking and bookmarking application over application. So my biggest suggestion is just to make a master spreadsheet of different internships and separate them via the industry or if they're remote or if they're in person, what city they're in, the role, the job description and then also having different columns that have the application due date, things like that. Just the more organized you are, the more prepared you feel. And then when I only got two interviews, I said I have to give these two interviews everything I have because I don't know how much more I'll get. And so other tips I would suggest for that is if you can find who you'll be interviewing with, I would try to see if they're on LinkedIn, see if you can find any background information on them, where they went to school, how long they've worked at the company that they're working at right now, what their different interests are, things like that, just another thing to help prepare you. And then also there's a wide variety and even in the Reset classes, even I know we talked about this, but there's a wide variety of resources that can tell you what the most popular interview questions are, either for internships or for certain industries, what they might ask you. And I practiced my answers to those questions many times. I remember practicing in Colby's office for the job I literally have now. So practice does not go unnoticed. So it's very tough and it's very time consuming, but I think if you're organized, you have a very high leg up on getting an internship and you just need to keep applying and practicing. And I ended up getting an internship going into my junior year and that was the one in the big tech and that was a great, great experience. So yeah, those are my thoughts. I don't know if anyone else can speak to that too. Yeah, I also was super determined to get an internship early on in college. And for me, I started, so sophomore year going to junior year, I applied to a bunch and I didn't even get emails back. And like at this point I wasn't, I was just kind of sending in my resume, but I hadn't heard about, I don't know if any of you guys know about how like systems like basically pick up your resumes on keywords. Like it's not a person actually looking and reading through. So definitely being mindful in that. But I also was like, okay, like I am a sophomore. Like I know that it's a lot harder when you're younger. And I ended up just like calling a couple of companies that I hadn't heard back from and like sometimes just talking to somebody even to see like the status of your application is really helpful. And the internship I ended up doing for sophomore year going to, or sorry. Yeah, sophomore going to junior was at this public agency firm. And it was really nice. It was part-time, it was more casual. I did a little bit with like Google ads, Google analytics, and then that helped me like get a more specific internship that was like more like serious. It was a lot more casual. Like I wanted like a full time, like, okay, like this is where I actually, you know, I'm thinking about like, you know, taking my career. So junior year I got a message I think I had mentioned on Handshake. And I had was, I was kind of going through my Handshake and I had a couple of messages and I kind of were just, I was just like, oh, like, they're just sending this out, like copy and pasting to everybody. But usually when you get a message on Handshake, it is like very highly likely that you'll get an interview cause they look out for like certain things that, you know, they want like your GPA, your major, all that. So I would recommend if you see one of those, like to try to go for it. Cause yeah, I ended up just getting an interview after seeing the message on Handshake. And it was honestly like, like really nice to just, it was like a pretty easy process, like after that, but also just like going to like different events. Like I think that SPS has a couple of like networking events where you walk around to like, like companies like Target, TGX and Liberty too, also goes to those events. But I don't know how they're doing it now, but just like trying to pick up like contact cards or just like, I guess now and like with everything being more digital, like reaching out to recruiters specifically is really helpful too. Yeah, I agree to all of that. I was very determined to like land an internship while in college as well. And I just utilized my resources and also my network. So when I was in college, I was actively on LinkedIn connecting with like thousands of people as well as like, what is the word? Just maintaining great relationships with my professors. So I know one of my professors submitted me for an internship at the Rachel Maddow show and I interviewed, didn't get it, but it was still huge in my career. And what else could I say? I would just say definitely just be on it. So whether that's like making a spreadsheet and reviewing everything, keeping it organized, but I would also say definitely just like using your network and reaching out to people that you know, finding companies that you wanna work at. And actually I got an internship like my sophomore year at PBS and how I got that internship was literally just showing up to PBS. I actually landed a job in canvassing and I knew I did not wanna be a canvasser. So I waited outside of a network studio until all of like the executive producers were leaving work at like five o'clock. I waited outside for like two hours and I spoke to someone who had her own show and I was like, hi, I'm looking for an internship and they literally hired me on spot. And yeah, it was a great experience. I was working in the newsroom. So definitely just think outside the box and like, you know, if you're determined and you're adamant on landing something of your dream like it will happen. Yeah, that's all I could say. Thank you. There's two related questions in the chat that I'm gonna share and you can address one or both parts of it. So one question was about what networking do you do in general? Do you think networking has helped you with getting an internship or your overall career so far? And then another related question was do you use your LinkedIn, department's LinkedIn alumni to connect within the field as well? I can start again. Networking is something I didn't touch upon in my last answer, but that is incredibly helpful. It definitely helps with getting an internship. I can say that the first internship I had, I knew someone that worked in the company I ended up working for and that kind of helped separate you from the thousands of other applications that a company may get. So it's definitely something worth investigating. And networking doesn't have to necessarily be someone that you know, and this kind of refers to the department alumni LinkedIn page. I was very known to go on LinkedIn and to look up just UMass alumni in general and to see if they worked at any of the companies that I was interested in. And I would just try to connect with them and send them a quick message with my connection invite. And I would introduce myself and I'd say I'm this major and this year I'm really interested in working for your company. Do you have a couple of minutes just to talk or so that I can learn more? And also just seeing what they have to say and then that's a new connection for you that lives on after you're even applying for an internship. And people are usually very willing to talk about the work that they do and their experiences which is always a plus for someone who's looking for an internship. So networking can go far beyond just a career fair. You can take it virtual, you can make it in person and you can also network within UMass which is really nice too. You never know who knows who. But also one last tip I'll share about that is you never know who your family knows. Like I mentioned the first internship that I had was through someone that I knew that was working through the company and that was a connection that one of my relatives had. So if you know someone that is part of your family that works in corporate America, works in the industry that you want to be in just ask around and see if they know anyone that works at the company that you're interested in and you never know. But networking is very helpful especially when you're an intern especially when you don't have as much experience it can just can help give you a leg up. Yeah, I think just like not being afraid to tell anybody what you have going on. So like, yeah, you can tell like, I remember one time I was in Alicia's office, my advisor and we were doing class stuff but I just like happened to tell her like, oh yeah, like I have an interview at Liberty like, I'm so nervous. Like I just like just by telling her that like I walked out and then somebody else had walked in for their appointment after and then she emailed me and was like, oh like the person who had an appointment after is also interviewing at Liberty. So if I had not mentioned that and we just talked about class stuff or just something else then like we wouldn't have, I wouldn't have been able to connect to that other student and like collaborate and like now we're still like we both work at the company and we're still like a connection. And also just like what Ashley was saying about talking to family, like even at like family events like just be like, oh yeah, like I'm, this is what I have going on. This is what I'm interested in.  So just to hear about other people's experiences. So just like not being afraid to just talk to literally anybody. But yeah, I would say so that was an example probably of how networking was helpful prior to my career but now starting out like I'm still in training. I have two months left, I'm a month in and the program I'm in like we definitely have a lot of time and like it's up to us how we want to use it and they push like trying to like reach out to people for coffee chats. And I think that can be really helpful just because for me personally, like it is a rotational program I'm going into. So talking to people from different departments and being like, oh wait, like that sounds really interesting and just like for the future, for knowing where I want to go, rotate and place out is really nice. So just like, yeah, even like networking once you start working with like different people and organizations in the company. And sometimes that can help you like with what you're currently doing and what you're working on too. And also another thing I forgot to mention about the last question about interviewing tips was I forgot to mention timing. So when I was a junior, I like, I was kind of like, well, when do I start applying for the summer? The earlier, the better. I would say I guess it's different for every company but I think I interviewed in the fall and cause I know when it gets like later to spring they're like kind of like finishing, finding their people. So I would say start as early as you can. But yeah, I just wanted to add that in for the last question. Awesome. Are there other questions? I think we've captured everything in the chat but stop me if there's a question we've missed. Are there any other questions the audience would like to ask? Okay, what sort, what did you want to pursue your major or field you're in now? I was very drawn to Rezicon for the analytics portion that I felt I would take away from it. There were a lot of classes that kind of mimicked the field of consulting. That was like the big thing that I had in my head especially when I became a junior in college consulting was huge and that was like the big prize at the end of the tunnel for me was I wanted to go into consulting. And so that was kind of where I thought that resource economics could, it could help me be go into consulting but I also wasn't really locked into any sort of industry. I could apply to the same jobs that a finance major would or a marketing major would or an OIM major would. I wasn't necessarily locked into anything that was really appealing to me but like I said I interned for a big tech firm and it was great but I quickly realized that it wasn't really what I wanted to do. And the best way to find out what you wanna do is to figure out what you don't wanna do. So I learned that really quickly. And so that was really when consulting became a big interest of mine. I didn't land any jobs in a consulting firm but I landed in risk management which I didn't really know too much about but I was very fortunate to be able to intern for the company that I work at now. And so why I decided to stay was I really do think that risk management is a great gateway into consulting if that's something that anyone's interested in the future but also just aside from that, I'm really interested in the strategic thinking and the strategic planning that goes into all the work that my team and I do. So that's why I've stayed and that's why I've been really interested but really through your time in the Resec major, there's so many different things that you do that either involve planning, involve teamwork, involve data analytics, involve presenting, involve really any sort of area that you might be interested in. I just think it's applicable to so many fields but I see Natalie is on the call and her class actually Resecon 452 was a really big one for me that I really, really enjoyed and that really kind of solidified what I thought I wanted to do if anyone here has taken her class before. I don't know if she still does the case studies but we did a massive case study in her class and that I really enjoyed that. I said, this is the kind of work I want to be doing. I really enjoy this. I really thrive in this sort of project work and so that's kind of an example of just how Resecon really helped me figure out what I wanted to do because I think it still stands. So yeah. I kind of fell into my current career. Like I said, I was working at State Street while I was studying for my undergraduates but while I worked at State Street and was just working with a bunch of numbers I really liked it and I didn't know what the economics major was going to really take me. I thought I was actually going to be in politics and continue down that route but with Econ I was able to work with Excel and just be a master in Excel and just be really analytical and from there I'm a finance manager now. So I don't know, I feel like sometimes like you don't really know what you want to do but you have kind of like an idea or like the realm of that you want to be in and like the more you just like Ashley said the more you know what you don't want to do you get closer to knowing what you do want to do and that's kind of what I did and here I am still learning still trying to achieve and like grow but yeah, I feel like having my degree in economics definitely got me to where I am now so just having like the picture and the mapping of like the realm that you want to be in and like the impact that you want to make definitely helps. Yeah, there's a Resa class called Foundations to Frontiers I don't know if the Econ department has like a similar equivalent but we basically like learn about technical programs Microsoft's access I think is one, Excel and then SAS and now being at Liberty the three technical programs we use the most are SAS, Excel and Power BI actually. So just starting from that class like I definitely was like it was I had never really like you know like even Excel like I was just not really proficient in any of those and starting there and like trying to see like what data analytics is and like how many different companies use it like I was like okay like if I try to learn this little more like I think that I would you know have a lot of options and like different companies that I could work at and I wasn't too sure about insurance starting out I was like you know it could be boring I don't really know how I'm gonna feel about this and like being here I can absolutely say like I really do like this industry it's so different and just honestly like really like fun to me like there's so many different departments that I didn't know about like it's not just like claims and like the I don't know based off that you think about so yeah I would say just like figuring out like like there are just so many different fields that you could go into from Econ or Resac Ashley mentioned like consulting, analytics, project management, data science like just trying to see like what you know interests you and like even like looking up like what is like data science like watching like little crash courses and like seeing what you can do and just like knowing what different fields are like I feel like it's helpful too. Neema you started this but I saw that there was a question of recommended classes so I just wanted to see if any of the panelists had other classes they remember by title or number that stood out to them as great experiences and then we'll come to the other question in the chat. One class that I remember to this day was price theory I was gonna take game theory or either price theory and I took price theory I think that I forget was that with you John? Oh, okay, so there it is. It was a great class cause I feel like I still like reference a lot of things that I learned in that class to this day. So that would be one class that I definitely remember that was incredible. I will never forget price theory and that was probably the hardest class I took at UMass I really won't lie. That was like one of the classes I was like can I do this major like am I supposed to be here but I will never forget that class. I made some really good friends in that class too we were doing all the OWL homeworks together I'll never forget it, but yeah I Bresley con 202 price theory. I love Nima that you remembered foundations to frontiers I talk about that class all the time and I don't remember what number it is I could never remember the name but I was like there was one class that I swear I referenced to all the time because it taught me Excel, it taught me SAS it taught me so much and I tell people all the time that I think that should be a class that everyone at UMass should take like it has helped me so much and the team that I'm on right now you've either been there for five years or you've been there for 25 years and there's a lot of people that don't know all the things that you can do with Excel so it's helped me stand out that's been an incredible class I'm really lucky I got to take that one and then like I said, Bresley con 452 Bresley con 453 once you get up there those are really great classes Bresley con 453 is all about antitrust laws and my firm was going through a merger with another large firm and so I was like connecting all these dots and it was really, really interesting to see there's a lot of classes I can mention but also I believe if it's if we had a junior year seminar or whatever the course was that I took with you Colby that was also incredibly helpful where we were working on resumes, cover letters because I already had an internship the year before but I was nowhere near ready to apply for internships again it takes constant revision, constant help and so those classes are all incredibly helpful. Yeah, another class I don't know if they still have it because I know the Resac department is a little bit different now but when I majored in it I was like managerial the natural resource and environmental and I was on that track and it's funny because now I'm obviously out of insurance I'm not doing anything with environmental science but this class by Nathan Chan it was advanced topics and natural resource economics and that honestly like I can apply that to so many things that I even do now because it was like we would read like science reports like stuff about energy usage and stuff and learn about regressions but like one of the assignments he had assumed was like we would like read through the whole report and come up with three questions and they were really confusing reports and just like that whole concept of like now being in the work field and like having something big and like trying to like drive insights from that like I feel like it's just that was really helpful it was a really challenging class but it was also really interesting. So yeah, it's just I guess funny how now I don't do anything with environmental but like so that class was so helpful. So yeah, I don't know if they still have it or anything similar but that as well. Yes. Great, thank you. So there was another question in the chat that says what is some excellent advice you either received or wish you had received while you were a student that was that has stuck with you early in your professional careers? I feel like for me, I wish that people told me more that just obtaining a degree doesn't mean that I need to jump into the workforce because I'm naturally very creative, I'm an innovator and I feel like because of society I definitely just dive right into working right after college and I wanna just remind people and students that there are other options and there's ways to create a job on your own and like that's kind of still what I'm working towards is just creating my own dream job. So I definitely just wanna encourage students that if there's not a job out there that you feel like resonates to your soul definitely go and create it and I wish someone told younger me that. I think some great advice I got when I was younger and I was looking for an internship was that you're a lot more qualified than you think you are and you have a lot more experience than you think you do. A lot of jobs, even full-time jobs, internships require you to have some sort of experience than if it's your first professional job you might be thinking, how am I gonna answer all these questions? How do I recall a time when someone made a mistake and I fixed it or what am I gonna talk about when I led a team of people? But you have so much more experience based off of the classes that you take, experiences that you had in between semesters in college at part-time jobs you have in college, really anything, the organizations that you're involved in you have so much more to go off of than you think you do and it might take some extra time and effort to think of those creative answers but I used to get really hard on myself and say, oh my gosh, am I even qualified to do this? I don't even know what to say or I feel like my answers aren't good enough but also preparation speaks so loudly to an interviewer so if they know that you've put time and effort into thinking of your answers, that also shows and at some point everyone needs to start somewhere so your answers don't have to be perfect either and the more interviews you do, the easier it gets but really good advice that I got that's always stuck with me is that you just always have more experience than you think you do and you're always a lot more qualified than you think you do kind of going off of what Samari says if you're reading something and you're like, I don't know if I can do this or if I'm qualified, if I like this still just apply, you really never know and could end up being something that you could be really great at Yeah, I think, yeah, that's great advice and also going back to what Samari said about like not getting stressed out if you're not doing what you think you're supposed to be doing as long as you're like actively focusing on your development and like keeping in mind what your larger bigger picture goals are, you're fine like if you don't get a job like right out of college or if you don't get that internship like just do other things that like at least like help you and like you're just like at least putting time aside like to focus on your interests like for me it's like, okay, yeah I started the corporate nine to five route but it doesn't mean that I'm stuck here forever if I don't want to be like I'm learning what I like right now you know, like whether it be working with people and talking about career stuff or maybe I wanna do be an entrepreneur or something like just like keeping yourself in check and like knowing that it's okay to like not do what everybody else is doing and yeah, so I actually really like that what you said earlier about also like being a girl boss and just like, I don't know just trying to, I guess just like know what also like your strengths and weaknesses are and like if there's something that somebody else that inspires you like, well, okay like what about that inspires you? So yeah, I guess just like bigger picture just like it's okay if you're not you don't have that job or internship right away too. Yeah, I agree and I feel like one last thing I kinda wanna just add to that is like I feel like I always had to prove myself and prove how like smart I was prove my Excel skills and just how knowledgeable I was and I feel like I would just tell someone that's younger than me definitely just always have your ducks in a row and always like just be enhancing your skills and constantly learning cause you never will know when you have to actually prove your skills and actually showcase like the work that you've done so I feel like just always just always be ahead of the curve and that's through knowledge that's through your skills and that's whatever resonates to you definitely just always be ahead of the curve and yeah, just keep learning definitely always stay learning and continue to grow. I would be remiss if I didn't ask the next question oh wait, I see one here from John did you find it valuable to talk to your professors go to their office hours? So if you can answer that and then I'm gonna pose a question about possible opportunities that people in the audience might have to connect with you around your employers. Yes, I went to office hours for probably every professor I think naturally I'm just like shameless and asking questions like even if they're like little ones like if I have like the smallest thing I'm like, no like I need this answered like I would go in all the time and I think that's even it is valuable to connect with professors and just like talks to them and gets to know them and it like helps you feel like you're trying and lets them know you're trying and it's just like honestly like really nice to just like get to know everybody and like that like, you know can create like lasting connections with your professors and also just like transitioning into the workforce like keeping that same mentality like kind of what Samara you were saying about being inquisitive and curious like you need to be coachable like it's okay if you're not that person that knows everything like a lot of times the players don't really want that like you just you have to be willing to like adapt and receive feedback and like work with your boss or superior, whoever so I feel like that's kind of similar to like the whole going into office hours things but Yeah, I agree I feel like it's definitely valuable to keep in contact and just make sure your professors know who you are know your name, know your face I still keep in contact with a few of my professors from UMass and they're still rooting for me and it's been great like I definitely recommend keeping in contact and just a great relationship with anyone you meet throughout your professional trajectory whether that's at UMass at like previous employers that you used to work for definitely just remaining remaining in contact and just establishing a great relationship and I think that just sets you off in life just to you know, follow up and you know, be a great person and just remaining contact with people Yeah, I agree with everything that's been said I actually believe it or not I was incredibly shy especially when I was younger in college like freshman sophomore Ashley would like not say a peep ever and I actually that was when I met Professor Spraggin John who's on the call I actually I did not go to office hours for some reason I went to his office to pick up an exam that I don't remember for price theory but I don't know if I did very well on but I went to his office to go pick up an exam that was great and he was super welcoming and just started talking to me and that kind of made me feel a lot more comfortable going up to him and asking him questions and like I said, I was very shy so I didn't dare ask a question in class so if I ever had a question I went to office hours and so that was really where I started to build my relationship with professors again, I mentioned Natalie for Vezicom 452 I was a junior when I took that class and that was when I sought out office hours and I went to her and I said, listen, it's early and I feel like I'm already falling behind like I wanna make sure I know how I'm doing in this class and what I can do to do better and so definitely it takes some time to build that confidence especially if you're a bit on the shire side or you don't necessarily know what questions to ask and that's okay but I think if you're young and you're seeking new relationships and new connections with your professors and you don't necessarily know what questions to ask you can always just stop in and just introduce yourself especially when you are in a class that may have 40 to 60 people in it I know that they always appreciate when they get to know their students on a more individual level so even if you just go in and you introduce yourself and you stand really interested in learning more about this class I think it could be relevant to what I wanna do in the future after UMass or I chose this class because I need the extra credits but I'm really liking it so far those are some easy gateways just to kinda get your foot in the door because trust me, I was nervous in the beginning and that was one of the things I was hearing people say all the time is talk to your professors make sure they know you you don't wanna be just a random face in a class of 100 people but it definitely takes time and you'll get there for sure I definitely did and similar to what Neema and Samari said I still have connections at UMass for people that I know that I can always reach out to and talk to so yeah, it's extremely beneficial I see Natalie was referencing that it helps a great deal on the professor's end too so when you're looking for a reference knowing that person having met with them in office hours is a great it works well for both parties in a lot of ways and John, I see your hand up yeah, I just wanna point out that we're professors because we like students we want to help students this is great for me to see these former students who have gone off and done really well for themselves there's really no better part of the job to me than meeting the students and then feeling like I'm helping them go on to succeed right and so don't be shy to go and talk to your professors I think it's a hugely valuable part of the experience and I think that that is another one of the strengths of REZAC that we are a smaller department that you aren't one of a thousand students you're one of a much smaller group of students and so our professors do have more time to talk to you the individual anyway, thank you I was just gonna echo that clearly you all figured this out I mean, you're here for a reason right we made these amazing wonderful connections with you as undergrads and this is some of the fruit of what comes of that too as we get to see you in these spaces invite you back in and have you share your wisdom so it kind of all comes full cycle if you've made those connections during your undergrad years I wanted to ask if it's okay if the answer is no but I'm sure there may be some students in the audience who are curious about internship or job opportunities and so I wanted to ask the three of you are there internship or job opportunities that you'd like to discuss and or do you want to share contact information in the chat for students to inquire further with you or maybe just make those individual connections so throwing all that out there my company is actually hiring right now so I was just on a call so yeah, I work at a media advertising company and we're actually we just like acquired another company so we have like $4 million that will be allocated so we're hiring like a ton of staff so if anyone's looking for a job and advertising media definitely reach out and then if you guys would like to connect with me I'm on LinkedIn yeah or you can email me yeah, same with the ADP the analytics developmental program at Liberty I have nothing but good things to say I will put in some information the website to go to for applying and also just like my email in the chat but it's honestly has been really good for just like fresh out of college like it's okay if you have that base level understanding like not so good at Excel yet like all of those it's been just like really like they definitely like take time to train you and all that so yeah, if anyone has questions feel free to email me but yes, we are hiring for interns and also full time yeah, same for my company as well I feel like a lot of companies are looking for talent right now but both for interns and full time I know my specific group that I work for it's the transportation and logistics practice for Aeon that was the group I interned for and I now work for they usually hire two interns every summer and so they're actively looking for interns and I believe the internship will be virtual I know that if you look for other opportunities throughout the firm some of them may be in person or hybrid but I know that ours will be virtual and so if you are interested in working in risk management or commercial risk solutions I'll put my email in the chat and you can send me an email and I can kind of get you referred but in terms of other opportunities in the firm just take a look and if you need a reference I'm happy to help out I'm also on LinkedIn too Awesome, thank you I think speaks back to the networking question that was posed far earlier in our panel this is how you do it right so you all happen to know about opportunities you can give people insight into these departments make that personal connection and so we appreciate you paying that forward and being willing to chat with students who might have some follow-up questions we're at 455 the event is scheduled to go until five unless there's pressing questions that extend beyond that where an individual can stay on and we'll try to get into more detail but in those last five minutes are there any questions or curiosities from the audience that we haven't addressed yet? Valerie, yeah Hi, so you guys when you started out said I was determined to get an internship like you had motivation kind of you hit the ground running at UMass knowing you wanted to do that I feel like I talk to a lot of students you're like where I have to convince them that doing that early work is what's necessary you know that like what do you mean you know it's like well handshake yeah you know whatever I don't care about handshake I don't need to set up my profile it's not that they're naysayers so much as they I think they don't realize the resources UMass has to offer right you know but SBS career services office the counselors are going to help you with the resumes the classes you can take to help you get better at interviews like you know we have all these classes and all these services and you all use them and took advantage of them so I'm just wondering when I'm talking to students I need like the elevator pitch for how those help so that I can encourage other people to use them does that make sense you guys can help me with my elevator pitch yeah that's a really great question I guess one thing I would include I don't necessarily have a pitch ready just yet in my head but something I would try to include is at least if people don't necessarily know what they want to do or they don't know why it's necessary eventually it will be and no one's great at it when they start and so this is something that kind of gets your foot in the door and gets you acclimated to situations like that and it gets your name out there and the sooner you start it's the better it's kind of like if you start investing young you know everything starts compounding even sooner the sooner you get your name out there and the more you put yourself in those situations the better equipped you are when you do figure out what you want to do or you do realize that you want to start getting an internship and start experimenting in different industries it teaches you a lot and I think that if students are struggling to see the value in it if they start using these resources they're going to find someone that does and then they can take after them yeah and like being in Colby's class to do something I like to like Colby like you would throw out like oh yeah there's this event happening or like we would just like kind of hear things through word of mouth cause I know sometimes people miss things like through an email but like it also does take like a certain amount of self drive from an individual so it's like just reminding them like if people are like oh yeah I'll do it later or like okay I guess like it's like well like the sooner you start like kind of going back to what I said like start applying in fall instead of scrambling in the spring you know just like emphasizing that I feel like is the most that you can do and then like from them the rest comes on their end I can ask one kind of follow up to that because a lot of you said you know you applied 30 you know internship 50 internships how do you what is the what is the thing that keeps you going amid the rejection because you gotta have a lot of times I'll talk to students about having a thick skin what keeps you up was it self determination was it did you have you know draw a team behind you a tribe behind you was it a single person what was it that kind of you kind of motivated and going in that midst of internship search and job search and that sort of thing I feel like knowing that something better is out there for you like when one door when one door closes another one's gonna open so just you know staying motivated and staying encouraged and inspired that you know if something's for you it will be you'll have it and that's kind of how I live my life like I just know that there's something out there for me so if you don't land an internship just know that there's something better an opportunity is yet to come and just keep continuing to like work hard for it and yeah just don't give up and also just like trying to get answers from those rejections it's like okay well why aren't I hearing back am I missing those keywords in my resume or oh am I not hearing back because I'm a sophomore applying for like you know internships where they're seeking juniors going to senior year like just trying to see like what it is like you're missing or if there's anything you can do differently and you know work with like advisors for that and if there isn't anything you can do differently like then what Samari said like huge believer that everything happens for a reason so yeah I would echo both of those to a T and the other thing too is I was very close with people that I knew had had internships and had gone through the process before and something that they all said to me was they all got rejections too even the people that get accepted to an internship very early on like some people go into their senior year already with a job lined up and you're like I have no clue what I want to do everyone has as my family used to call it like the shoebox full of rejections like it's just part of playing the game almost and so even if you feel like you're the only one that doesn't have a job you're not everyone goes through that sort of rejection and not understanding necessarily why you didn't get the job or why someone got it and you didn't but if you stay close to people that have done what you want to do and you also keep in mind that everyone else is going through the same struggles that can kind of give you a peace of mind as well but again what Samari said in a nice you know nicely tied bow everything does happen for a reason and what's meant for you will come to you yeah I would also just like to say using and utilizing what is it like the alumni connection platform is so helpful I was out in LA like two months ago and I connected with alumni as I graduated like 30 years ago and they just helped me with so much in Los Angeles and they met with me and they were just being like amazing resources and also my current role my boss actually graduated from UMass Amher so definitely utilizing you know the resources at UMass and you know just making connections while like while there and even postgraduate just you know remaining in contact and just utilizing all the resources the platforms that we have because you don't know who graduated from UMass Amher and you don't know if someone can help you with whatever you're seeking out in life so yeah. Wonderful I think that that's a great note to end on to know that there's all these options out there there is rejection out there but there's an end you know there's that the outcome at the end and everyone has to wait until they get to that point you don't know if it's gonna show up tomorrow or a couple months from now when you're in the application process I love the chaos theory of career that's my shameless plot if you haven't learned about chaos theory of career like it's great I feel like it speaks the language of economists in some ways too and it helps you just understand it's like a butterfly effect right and so every little thing you did including coming here as an attendee tonight may result in something that you would have not anticipated otherwise and with that I just wanna tell everyone thank you this has been wonderful we're at time so we're gonna close the program here but it was really great hearing from all of you it was a wonderful meeting you Samari and getting to see some familiar faces again so thank you and we hope you'll join us again for future talks and yes panelists you're welcome to stay on for a minute as we close but you do not have to and thank you everyone


Greetings! My name is Pierre Chiang, I'm a chef, a cook-and-gatherer, a restaurateur, a social entrepreneur, but most importantly I'm from West Africa and that's where I get my inspiration through the tradition, the food of my memory that culture. And through my company Yolele, we open a global market for crops that are grown by small farming communities in the Sahel in West Africa, crops named for you. So I'm going to show a dish to you that's easy to prepare, that's inspired by that tradition. So today we're cooking Kowloon, it's a dish that's very simple, it's a fish that's boiled and in an onion, tomato and fish sauce, and that has a little bit of scotch tape in it.