Article by Kathryn Weiland (QUEST GA)
Jessica Danyluk is a prime example of a world traveler. Having grown up in Easton, Pennsylvania, Jessica has launched herself far from her small-town roots in order to embrace a life of international travel. Her exciting career path, accompanied by her zest for embracing the unknown, makes her the ideal candidate for this month’s alumni profile.
Jessica joined QUEST (known then as IBM/TQ) as an international business and French major and a member of Cohort 4. One of her first memories of QUEST relates to her first day in BMGT190, which was held in a large teaching theater with computers at each station. “Before my first QUEST class, I didn’t know how to use Microsoft Windows, and here I am sitting at a computer station and I had no idea what to do,” Jessica remembers. “The classmate I was sitting next to, Barry Kaplan, noticed that I was struggling and helped me get through that first class. It was very humbling to have come out of high school thinking I know what I’m doing and realizing I still have a lot to learn.” Since that day, Barry and Jessica became good friends and stayed that way throughout college. Jessica also made another life-long friend in QUEST, Saquib Chowdhury, which allowed her the unique opportunity to visit his home country of Bangladesh after college.
Another way in which QUEST helped Jessica was through her participation in the BMGT490 capstone project. Her role on that project was to work as the liaison between her team and their corporate partner. During a career fair in the spring before graduation, Jessica had a mini-interview with some representatives from the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Coincidentally, the prospective job involved working as a liaison, and once Jessica mentioned her experiences in QUEST to the interviewers, the meeting took on a whole new life. “My experiences with the QUEST capstone project was the thing that got them interested in me,” says Jessica. She accepted a full-time job with the SEC following her graduation in May 1999, where she worked as a liaison for the Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA offices.
After spending six and a half years at the SEC, Jessica was ready for a change, but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Up to that point, she had been living in Annapolis, Maryland with a roommate who had just relocated to Sydney, Australia. Shortly after the move, Jessica flew to Sydney to visit her friend and had an unexpected revelation: she fell in love with Sydney, and soon was packing her things to relocate permanently to Australia. “I was there for several months, traveling around the country and having a great time, when finally I started to interview for jobs,” Jessica says. She accepted a position at Goldman Sachs working in Compliance covering Australia and New Zealand, and remained there for approximately five years. Although she still loved Sydney, Jessica felt herself itching for another change. After considering several possible locations, she found herself relocating to Winchester, England in June 2011. Each day, Jessica rides the train about an hour into the city to her job at Macquarie Group, a firm specializing in international banking and finance. Although she only has two months in her current role under her belt, she reflects on her experiences thus far: “I’m really enjoying it, but it’s definitely the hardest job I’ve ever had, aside from the fact that I’m new and still learning the ropes. I work in investment banking compliance, covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, so it can be high-risk work with a lot more responsibility than my previous roles.”
When asked if she had any advice for current QUEST students, Jessica pauses for a while to figure out what to say. Finally, she realizes that her own experiences provide the best advice. “Don’t be afraid to move overseas. It’s really a wonderful experience. Your family might not appreciate it at first, but once they realize how exciting it can be, they will be supportive. When I lived in Annapolis, I was very settled; I owned a house, and I had my responsibilities there, but once I realized that I wanted to move to Sydney, I was able to just pick up and go. It is so easy to stay in the house you have always lived in, in the town you are comfortable in, but it’s really worth going and seeing the world.” When asked if she would like to relocate elsewhere in the near future, Jessica says that she is happy where she is now. Although she doesn’t have any plans to move back to the states, she is leaving her options open and seeing what opportunities may come her way.
When Jessica is not busy working, she enjoys running, and obviously, traveling. She also sailed frequently while in Australia, but hasn’t had the opportunity to enjoy that hobby since moving to England. True to her friendly nature, Jessica ends our conversation by making a very generous offer: “If anyone decides to travel to England in the near future, please get in touch with me! I would be happy to make travel recommendations and even show them around.” And considering her connection with QUEST, her knowledge of international travel, and her warm personality, walking the streets of London with Jessica for a day sounds like it would be time well-spent.