A twenty-eight-year-old Peruvian woman, I was lucky to have had the best education possible in Peru, with various work experiences ranging from retail to banking and finally, my passion, mining.
Actually, I had the job I could have only dreamed about just before deciding to do an MBA: I was Assistant Manager of Commercial Planning for one of the biggest producers of zinc and silver in the world. My job involved traveling to different continents, meeting people every week, participating in crossed-division logistics projects, negotiating sales, shipping and warehousing contracts. And as if these responsibilities weren’t enough for me to feel satisfied, I was also blessed to be in charge of an amazing, diverse and highly capable team of fifteen people.
It may sound incredible, but I resigned from that amazing job to come to McGill.
It was a hard decision, probably the hardest one I’ve ever had to make. If you (yes you! reading this post) have ever had to make a million-dollar decision at work, you may know how it must have felt for me when came the time to make this decision for myself. I can assure you that in comparison, the million-dollar choice appears to be easy. Now, having already been through the first three months of the MBA and having lived for a few months in Montreal, I can say that thriving through this experience is worth every effort, every sacrifice and (maybe not as important, but worth mentioning) every dollar spent.
While doing my research and because I wanted to continue my career in commercial mining after graduating, I chose Canada as my first option for an MBA. Canada is not only one of the biggest mining countries in the world, its population is also quite diverse. There are lots of job opportunities and it has flexible immigration policies for people coming from all around the world. For me, it was the perfect match. This being said, moving to another country is not necessarily easy, no matter how welcoming this country might be. You need to be surrounded by the right people and to find yourself in the right environment for you to accomplish your goals.
Two things I was sure of: I wanted a personalized approach and a diverse cohort. That's why I came to visit Montreal, having learned that McGill University could offer me both. I asked to sit in a class and the one that fit my travel schedule was a finance class. Even though I was not particularly keen on studying finance, I still attended, out of curiosity. Little did I know that I would feel like home just walking inside that classroom, as I was warmly welcomed by everyone, including the professor. More surprisingly, I enjoyed the finance class! At that point, I heard that this professor was one of the best of the MBA faculty but now, I know for a fact that ALL the professors at McGill share a true passion for teaching and also for their specific field of knowledge. In such an environment, knowledge and passion are contagious.
However, not everything is about studying at McGill.
Living in Montreal will make you want to learn French, if you haven’t thought about it yet. And it’s not that you can’t manage to live here without speaking French. It is rather what the city inspires you to do. Have you ever heard the expression “the city is alive”? Whoever said it first must have been talking about Montreal, because there is no other way to better describe it. There are not enough hours in the day nor days in the week to do all that there is to be done in the city, and the opportunities of meeting people in Montreal are endless. From an encounter in the supermarket to the one done while apartment hunting, you never know who you might meet next.
In the past few months, I have realized that as a cohort, our potential and our responsibility as business leaders are as big as we want them to be, and that McGill will allow us to accomplish all that we expected before coming here and so much more.
I can now say we instead of I because I know I share this feeling with the rest of my MBA team members. I see greatness in every single one of the people in my cohort, and I feel proud to be part of the #DesautelsFamily. And I know that the relationships I’m building here will be part of the rest of my life.
About the author
Sire Martinez studied Economics at the Universidad del Pacifico in Peru. She worked for 2 years at Scotia Bank Peru before finding her passion for Mining and joining Volcan Cia Minera SAA (the fifth largest zinc, silver and lead producing company in the world) where she became the Assistant Manager of the Commercial Department. In 2017, Sire decided to start an MBA at McGill and is planning to pursue her career in the mining industry in Canada post-graduation. Stay tuned for more stories!
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