If you are interested in consulting, or a student in McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, you may have heard about the Being Black in Consulting event on Tuesday, September 12th. The event was hosted by the McGill Social Business Network (MSBN), the Black Students’ Network (BSN), and JED Consulting, a student-run consulting firm, at Le Mount Stephen Hotel. This year, the three student-run organizations worked to bring together Black students with an interest in consulting from across McGill. By recruiting Black consulting experts to form a speaking panel from a wide spectrum of companies, including Accenture, McKinsey, KPMG, and Deloitte, among others, the event proved to be a success, with its attendance doubling in comparison to the year prior.
The evening began with the MSBN organizers, Avery Sabeta and Zachariya Sow, introducing the panelists and outlining the goals of the event. Sabeta and Sow noted the importance of the MSBN as McGill’s premier social impact pro bono consulting club, with over 1,400 students. Meshama Eyob-Austin, the President of the BSN, spoke soon after, highlighting the importance of events like Being Black in Consulting, as they “sensitize the administration and other students” to Black initiatives. In future years, Eyob-Austin hopes to expand the event to include Black students from other universities around Montreal. Sabeta and Sow then introduced the panelists: Evan Pitchie from Accenture, Ruth Knox from Mckinsey & co., Alex Noether from Bain & co., and Benjamin Dalusma from BCG.
The panelists’ primary message emphasized that anyone can go into consulting, no matter their academic, socioeconomic, or racial background. Furthermore, the panelists highlighted their experiences navigating the industry as people of colour. Dalusma discussed various initiatives that firms nowadays have implemented to become more inclusive, and Noether confirmed this perspective by explaining that diverse consulting teams thrive when solving complex problems together. Noether further explained that while change does not happen overnight, and management teams need to be more proactive in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, Black consultants also need to remember to stay confident and believe in their own capabilities. Noether emphasized that Black consultants should not doubt their presence because while they might not be proportionally represented, they earned their position and deserve to be there. Knox confirmed that – to a certain extent – all employees determine “how [they] fit in and how [they] want to be perceived by others.”
… the best skills to have as an incoming consultant are proficient business-level communication, effective task prioritization, confidence, knowing when to ask for help, and setting boundaries to maintain a work-life balance.
After sharing their experiences surmounting racial barriers, the panelists went on to discuss why they made the career switch to consulting. For Noether, it was being “mindful of what gives you energy” – he likes working with people, giving back to communities, and developing strategies to help solve problems for those communities. Pitchie, additionally, shared that he felt that he needed to give back to his parents, develop solutions for complex issues, and “[bring] order to chaos.” Referencing her switch from analytical chemistry to consulting, Knox highlighted the importance of teams having diverse knowledge bases and a range of skills. Further, Knox explained that coming from a specialized educational career, consulting taught her a set of skills that have helped her better determine her own interests and how she wants her career to progress.
After the panelists spoke about their experiences being Black in consulting, Sabeta and Sow opened the floor to questions, which ranged in topic from job application processes to necessary skills. Most of the panelists’ responses provided general advice about how to become a consultant and what skills to prioritize developing. They emphasized that there is no one ‘correct’ background you should have, since diverse sets of problem-solving and reasoning skills can be utilized in the consulting industry. However, they all agreed that the best skills to have as an incoming consultant are proficient business-level communication, effective task prioritization, confidence, knowing when to ask for help, and setting boundaries to maintain a work-life balance.
… there is no one ‘correct’ background you should have, since diverse sets of problem-solving and reasoning skills can be utilized in the consulting industry
After the event, the Bull & Bear spoke with Avery Sabeta and Zachariya Sow, who shared their dual passion for helping marginalized communities and working in the field of business, which they have been able to combine at the MSBN. Looking back on his time at the MSBN, Sow recalled how grateful he was that he stepped out of his comfort zone and found a community of students who wanted to work with real companies pro bono. Sabeta shared similar sentiments with Sow and said the MSBN was a “great starting point” to getting into consulting as a career post-graduation.
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To stay informed about other upcoming events like Being Black in Consulting, look for new Instagram posts on @BSNMcGill, @JED.McGill, and @MSBN_Consulting!
