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In this installment of Willis Weighs In, Tax Notes contributing editor Benjamin M. Willis talks with DiAndria Green of Bennett Thrasher LLP, Amie Colwell Breslow of Jones Day, and Nicholas Kato of Leo Berwick about the twists and turns they encountered as tax professionals.
From a lack of diversity to work-life balance to job shifts amid the global pandemic, you’ll surely relate to some of the career changes and challenges discussed in this video.
Here are a few highlights . . .
These have been edited for length and clarity.
On Career Changes
Amie Colwell Breslow: At this point I’ve been in house, in government, worked at an accounting firm, and in early 2019, a friend had said, hey, would you consider coming to work for Jones Day? And that is where I ended up.
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DiAndria Green: After receiving my LLM at Boston University, where I had the pleasure of meeting this guy, Ben Willis, I spent my entire career in accounting firms. I started my career off at EY’s Times Square office in New York. After a couple years I wanted to do more legal writing and moved to PwC’s national office in DC. A handful of years later, I returned home to Atlanta and joined Bennett Thrasher.
Nick Kato: After grad school, I started my career at Deloitte in San Francisco. After a couple years there, I moved to KPMG in New York City. I then moved to KPMG’s national office in DC. Then I moved back out west. I got asked to move to Canada, of all places, to lead their cross-border M&A tax practice. After eight years leading the practice from Toronto, I moved back to California to start my own firm, Leo Berwick.
On Career Challenges
Amie Colwell Breslow: One of the biggest challenges that I face is taking my type A personality and pushing it aside at times to make the decision that is best for me as a person, as a mom, for my health, and what is best for my family. That may not be the best move for my career. I got married, had a child, moved from New York City to DC, lost my mom—who I was incredibly close with—and suffered my own health challenges.
I’ve needlessly worried people may think I’m a slacker, I can’t do the work, or I’m not good enough. Sometimes the right path is not always the easy path. Many things in your life are out of your control, and being able to ignore people who might judge you for taking a path that they may not have taken, because it did push you back, is a huge challenge.
DiAndria Green: One key challenge is speaking up for yourself and knowing your worth. A lot of people will say surely if I do a good job and keep my head down, someone will promote me. But I have found in my career that’s not always the case. A lesson that I learned is to be flexible in your career. We’ve all changed and pivoted in our career, whether we wanted it or not. But sometimes if it is not a perfect fit for you, the sooner you get off the bus, the better.
Nick Kato: In life there are constant challenges. I looked different when I lived in Japan, and in the U.S. I’ve been different my whole life. And my career has been different, too. I’ve moved a lot for work, including to Canada, which was very different. Then leaving the firm as a senior partner to start fresh and open my own firm, it is different. My whole career I’ve done things a little different, and it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong or right— it’s just different. My advice is to not be afraid to be different. You should embrace it and do what your heart tells you to do. Don’t worry about following the herd or doing what others are doing. Embrace it.
The most important part of my life is my partnership with my wife, and she’s been critical to my professional success.
DiAndria Green: What Nick said really resonated with me about being different. I now am one of the leads for our diversity and inclusion. I grew up a military child. So I was always around different people, but in corporate America, I’ve almost always been the only black woman in the room. But we’re bringing more diversity. Like Amy, I want to mentor and help people.
Amie Colwell Breslow: The biggest challenge is sometimes you have to sit back and think, all right, in making this career decision, how will this affect my family. Ben, maybe you want to take this next. Not to tell your story, but if you want to share.
Ben Willis: I was adopted at 5, and I went back into state custody at 12. In adjusting to and appreciating work-life balance, I didn’t really have role models to look up to growing up. One of the things that really hit me hard in my career was parental guilt. When I had my son, I was working and traveling a lot as a partner. But my son is able to center me in a way that almost nothing else can. My family can really bring me into the present moment. And I love that, especially in the world of tax where things are so analytical. So, finding my fantastic job here at Tax Analysts was a blessing. And I feel so lucky for that.