Success Story: Sophie Yazdı

Sophie Yazdi took a 20-year break from her career to care for her children and a parent. She always wanted to restart her career and so was thrilled to be accepted into and to complete the return to work program at T. Rowe Price. She is now an associate vice president, senior sales consultant.

In this engaging video, Sophie appears with Mary Helen Donovan, a regional sales manager – vice president,at T. Rowe Price. They discuss how even a long career break is no longer the end of your impact in the workforce and how flexible employer policies are making it easier for the next generation to balance career with family.

 

 


Transcript:

Sophie: I’m going to go again. I’m Sophie Yazdi, Associate Vice President and Sales Consultant at T. Rowe Price, based out of the San Francisco office.

Mary Helen: I’m Mary Helen Donovan, Vice President, Regional Sales Director for T. Rowe Price, based out of San Francisco.

This company walks the walk and talks the talk. We are willing to really extend beyond any boundaries and talk to organizations such as Path Forward that really put forth a focus on helping women get back into having a career in any specific field that they want.

I believe in what Path Forward does in supporting women who have had careers in the past and want to get back into the workforce. And I don’t believe that you have to come to the table with all of your licenses, having been in the asset management industry.

You have to have an intellectual curiosity, you have to ask a lot of questions. And when you talk to people who have gone through the program who are at T. Rowe Price, these are people who want to learn, and they want to help their advisors learn and that’s the kind of environment that we want to cultivate.

Sophie: I actually feel proud. My kids feel amazingly proud. My daughter just cannot believe it and then all her friends… I hope the stresses that my generation went through is not something that this generation goes through.

And I hope things will be even better for my daughter when she decides to have a family, if she decides to have a family. I think it’s very different. And the fact that people can work from home, that was definitely unheard of. It was unheard of five years ago, I think. And I think to be able to do that, that makes life a lot easier.

I’m back in the workforce. Don’t hold me back. I want to work.