Viktoriia Kolpashchikova

Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business

“What I am to be I am now becoming” Extroverted introvert and explorer.

Hometown: Yoshkar-Ola, Russia

Fun Fact About Yourself: I enjoy all things helping to reach your potential and live a happy life – meditations, practicing self-awareness and mind-body connection, and building meaningful connections in life 

Undergraduate School and Major: MS in Business Management, Oil & Gas University, Moscow, Russia

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Head of Department of Budgeting and Analysis, Gazpromneft-Center

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the school’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? It was important to me to go to a strong school in New York, as this is the city where I want to build my career after graduation. Gabelli School of Business is a well-known and reputable school here in New York. Aside from a strong curriculum for Finance concentration, the MBA program at Fordham has a small class size and provides students with an opportunity to receive practical knowledge.

What has surprised you the most about the Gabelli MBA program? I was surprised how supportive and engaged the faculty, administration and career development center are. During these challenging times, I noticed how hard the faculty and administration of the program were trying to make this experience more useful and rewarding for us students.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Ambitious, intelligent, focused, and supportive. NYC environment is very competitive, and I’m glad I was lucky to meet so many talented students at my school who are always ready to help with advice. For me, as for international student, these interactions help to better navigate in the job market. This is truly one of the best aspects of MBA program. We all have different backgrounds, but many of us have similar goals. I am excited to learn what my classmates will achieve in their future careers!

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My big accomplishment was getting promoted to head of department of budgeting and analysis at Gazpromneft, when I got to lead a team of 15 people for the first time. I was promoted during the period of the latest reorganization in the Retail branch of Gazpromneft, and there were a lot of uncertainties in new processes – and even top management at first didn’t have a quite clear vision of how things should be done within the new structure. Also, that year the practice of board of directors was implemented in our company, and I took responsibility to prepare report for it. All of that was new to my team and me. I took that period as my personal challenge, as I was a new team leader, and we all got excited about the opportunity to take the initiative in this process. Later, we repeatedly received high praise from the management company for high-quality results.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I would say that adjusting to living in a new country and city. I would add networking, studying, and searching for internship – all in a foreign language is a bigger stretch for me than I expected. Plus, as I want to switch a career path, I need to develop new professional skills and gain new knowledge.

I consider my stepping out of my comfort zone every day an accomplishment. Breaking down bigger goals into smaller attainable goals is what helps me to move forward.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career?  It took me a long time of consideration about leaving behind the successful career in a respectable Russian Oil company – something that is considered the job for life in Russia, especially for a woman.

Before starting my studies I’ve reached that point in my career when I felt that it is the time for me to push myself and challenge myself because it is important for me to feel that I am growing.

I wanted to go beyond my position and my industry and expand the base of my knowledge in field of portfolio management, investment banking, and entrepreneurship.

I think that an MBA can be a very useful investment and can be a very nice productive transition to a new role in my target career.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? There were numerous moments during past two years when I was consciously choosing to be where I want to be now and where I want to be in the future. It has been a great number of times when I tried and failed. But the failure doesn’t scare me, as the most important thing is to know who you are and where you want to be. I’m a female professional from finance in Oil Retail in Russia, who wants to work in one of the top private equity firms in the USA. I truly believe that I can break the glass ceiling. I am feeling excited about the challenge that I have chosen for myself for the next several years.

DON’T MISS: Meet Fordham Gabelli’s MBA Class of 2022