Career growth across cultures
Career growth across cultures
Senior Consultant Chinar Verma finds her strengths while facing the challenges of adapting to a new culture.
Senior Consultant Chinar Verma is used to big changes. Born in India, she moved to Tanzania with her family at the age of eight.
“The move to Tanzania was dramatic, but in many ways Tanzanian and Indian culture are similar. There is a great emphasis on respect and deference to your elders, and, especially for girls and women, the expectation to be agreeable,” she said.
At 18, Chinar came to the United States for the first time to attend college. She envisioned a future in the medical field and studied biochemistry as an undergraduate. Her graduate degree, from New York University (NYU), was in healthcare management. When she joined a consulting club as a student, she began to discover that many of her strengths were suited to the field.
“My culture emphasizes listening, putting others at the center, being nonjudgmental and adapting to the needs of others," she said.
Chinar pursued a consulting career and joined Baker Tilly’s life sciences consulting practice in Manhattan in 2019.
The world of work
Adapting to the work world was a challenge. “As a consultant, there were things others took for granted that were awkward for me, including the simple practice of calling people by their first names,” she explained. “That would not be done in my culture, particularly when addressing someone older.”
She also found the expectation of pointing out her own successes to be painful. “In my culture, humility is particularly important. You would never say something good about yourself; you would wait for it to be pointed out.”
Chinar's coach, John Finan, supported her. “A lot of consulting is trying new approaches, even if you’re not sure if they will succeed,” Chinar said. “John told me to go ahead and take risks, he’ll back me up even if I fail.”