From Health Sciences to Tech and an MBA Internship at Google – Finding Her Own Path with Marsha Fils

The reason Marsha first pursued her Bachelor’s in Health Sciences was because of her Haitian immigrant parents who thought being a doctor was the only path to success...

Now, forging her own path, she has since worked in HR, D&I and Strategic Planning at companies like WeWork, LiveRamp and Google… even though, to this day, her parents still ask: Are you sure you’re not going to go and be a doctor?

As Bob Iger quotes, “The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.”

Marsha landed her first job after graduation from her school's career fair – an opportunity in a healthcare insurance software company, where she got her introduction into information systems, data analytics and software implementation while travelling to different client sites! But she soon learned how insurance companies made money off consumers… 

Hey Lizzie Ann: What an interesting start! So after your first new-grad role, how did you decide on where to go next – pursue tech and your MBA?

Marsha Fils: I’ve been groomed to go into healthcare for as long as I can remember and wanted to try something different. After seeing the way insurance companies managed billing, I decided to pivot to another industry and one of the first companies to reach out to me on LinkedIn was a HR software startup called Namely (and this is why I say that LinkedIn is amazing). From the first interview onward, I just loved the company and their atmosphere – seeing how passionate people were about the product, and how everyone was very open about their thoughts. At that point, I got sucked in and thought, tech is where I want to be.

It was here, where I learned how much I enjoyed the people side of things. I also realized that being on the back-end for a lot of these HR system implementations that I wanted to understand strategy more deeply. So, that’s when I figured that an MBA would be a great way to pivot into that area! Plus, I’ve always been curious about the aspects of business I haven’t been exposed to such as marketing, finance and supply chain.

Hey Lizzie Ann: It’s incredible hearing you discover your own path! How were you able to land your first MBA internship?

Marsha Fils: So, it's actually a funny story for LiveRamp in particular because I wasn't looking for a Spring Internship at the time. I attended AfroTech, which is a conference for predominantly black professionals in the tech space and a whole slew of tech companies – Amazon, Google, Facebook, Salesforce and more were present. There, I also talked briefly with the Head of D&I at LiveRamp. 

The following day, the Head of D&I sent out an email inviting students to reach out if you have any questions – which I took as an open door. That’s when I messaged him on LinkedIn with  “Hey, I would love to have an honest conversation about D&I initiatives.” Luckily he responded and we had a 30-minute chat, which then turned into an internship. 

Hey Lizzie Ann: Love how proactively making that ask really helped you land your internship! What projects did you work on at LiveRamp?

Marsha Fils: I co-directed the company’s first diversity and inclusion video that's currently posted on their website, conducted virtual interviews with ERG members to understand why D&I is important to them, and more. 

It’s interesting to think that this opportunity would have never come about if I didn't express genuine interest in the topic itself...

“so when people ask me how I landed my Spring Internship, I would say you have to just start doing, start reaching out to people that are in spaces you could see yourself in and share your genuine passion – you never know what could come out of it!”

Hey Lizzie Ann: Love that advice! Now let’s hear about your Strategy, Planning & Analysis Internship at Google – I know you mentioned earlier you wanted to be more on the strategic side of things as well!

Marsha Fils: Of course! 

My role was to understand the various recruiting processes for different roles, where the gaps are, and make recommendations on how we could make it more efficient and structured for Google Cloud. This involved interviewing recruiters, analyzing data and creating process maps so there’s a better experience for both the recruiters and candidates. It gave me an opportunity to leverage my technical skills while applying the strategies I’ve learned throughout the MBA program. It was a challenging summer that took me out of my comfort zone but it helped me grow immensely.

Hey Lizzie Ann: Wow. Thank you for sharing those fascinating insights, Marsha – absolutely love how proactive you are too!

Friends, feel free to follow Marsha on LinkedIn and keep an eye on her journey!