Resolverite Spotlight: Mala Niane
The Resolverite Spotlight gives a glimpse into our culture through our Resolverites!
Alexa Sutton, our People Ops Specialist, virtually connected with Mala Niane, an Accountant based in Toronto, to learn about her journey at Resolver.
Alexa: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Mala: Everything! I was interested in history, gastronomy, finance – I just wanted to do everything!
Alexa: What finally drew you to the Finance field?
Mala: Honestly, I got tired of getting conned out of my money by my older siblings as a child! In Senegal, my siblings and I were given money for every holiday. My older siblings would trick me into giving them one of my more valuable paper bills for two of their less valuable coins. I was getting two for the price of one – this made sense in my little kid brain! Once I figured out what was happening, I vowed to get this “money thing” down… and I did!
Alexa: You’ve been in Canada for about 10 years now, what made you choose Canada?
Mala: I actually spent some time first learning English in the United States after leaving Senegal. I decided I didn’t want to stay in the US permanently, but I knew I wanted to move somewhere where I could continue practicing my English skills, since I had already taken the time to learn. I Googled Canada and thought it looked so nice and I loved that it was bilingual since French is my native language. After being accepted to a university in Toronto, the rest was history!
My only concern about moving here was the winter weather, but I thought to myself “could it really be that cold?” I quickly found out it really is that cold!
Alexa: Why did you choose to join Resolver?
Mala: I was really interested in the backgrounds of Resolver’s Finance team. I noticed most of them had public accounting experience and there was a high concentration of CPAs. I didn’t have any public accounting experience, so I figured I would have a lot to learn from the team! Resolver seemed like the best place to be for my growth.
Alexa: What makes Resolver’s Finance team unique?
Mala: The environment is so different! In my previous companies, the Finance team was very siloed. At Resolver, I have more visibility into other matters outside my day-to-day and they’re all very supportive in my learning. We also have a lot of fun together! The Finance team in Toronto is famous for our chocolate stash and we also team up with our other Shared Services friends (Talent, Legal, and IT) to host food competitions!
I reopened a cooking channel in Slack, now it’s used by Resolverites to share recipes! I like cooking things that I’ve never made before. I really enjoy the challenge of not knowing how to make something and having to figure it out for myself. Once I’ve successfully made something, it’s on to the next recipe!
Alexa: You joined Resolver about a year ago – how has your role changed over time?
Mala: The Finance team uses a lot of different systems and I had an idea that I would be involved in some aspects of systems integration, but I didn’t think it would be to this extent. It’s been a pretty cool experience because they tell us about all the different accounting systems in school, but the specifics of these systems remain a bit of a mystery until you get the opportunity to work with them directly. Systems integration was previously out of my comfort zone so I’m grateful to be able to gain experience with it at Resolver.
Alexa: What’s next for you, both personally and professionally?
Mala: Professionally, I want to gain more understanding about how everything at Resolver works and relates to Finance. Moving forward, I want to learn more about the business and how Finance supports it directly. Personally, I want to travel back to Senegal more often to visit my family. Life always seems to get in the way, but now that I’m more settled in my life and career, I definitely want to take advantage of Resolver’s open leave policy to spend some more time in Senegal with family.
Alexa: What’s the best thing about Resolver?
Mala: I’m so comfortable at Resolver. The culture here really allows me to come to work as I am and be comfortable without having to spend energy on presenting a separate version.