Cara Du Boulay has known business was in her blood since she was a budding teenage entrepreneur back in the Caribbean.
“Even growing up in St. Lucia and going to high school, I was always into business activities and selling stuff to my fellow classmates,” laughed the 2018 Bachelor of Business Administration alumnus.
“So, you could say business has always been in my blood, really.”
After graduating from high school, Du Boulay went on to earn her Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in Morne Fortune, St. Lucia.
From there, she worked in accounting and administration at her husband’s building supplies company for the better part of a decade.
Du Boulay was about a year and a half into a Business Administration program at The University of the West Indies in 2015, when she and her husband decided to make the move to Canada. Unable to continue her studies online here, she began searching the web for similar programs she could take here.
That’s when she discovered Yorkville University’s online Bachelor of Business Administration program.
“I took the BBA program because I’ve always thought of myself as an all-arounder. The Business Administration degree at Yorkville University really captivated my attention in that regard, because of the diverse list of courses that was being proposed in that program,” she explained.
“I just thought that it would enable me to just further myself in terms of business administration and management.”
Not only that, but Du Boulay said Yorkville’s flexible online offerings also allowed her to juggle her family life and full-time work as a Senior Accountant at a successful property management company with her newfound studies.
And that flexibility soon paid off.
“My time at Yorkville University really enabled me to take my education one step further, and also allowed me the ability to advance my career even further,” she explained.
“Right now, I feel so confident to be able to have great discussions with all the business professionals in my field of work, and that has boosted my confidence in being able to interact with them on that basis.”
Earning her BBA also opened up the door for Du Boulay to pursue her Chartered Professional Accountant – something she couldn’t have done without a degree.
“It’s another stepping stone for me, to be honest,” she said. “Having gone through the program and all the courses that I had to go through and complete, it really helped me see that I’m at this stage in my career now, and I’m ready to take it further.”
If she were to offer advice anyone who, like her, once struggled with the decision of whether or not to go back to school to pursue a degree, Du Boulay’s recommendation would be simple: Just do it.
“If there are any people out there who are considering enrolling in the BBA program, I would definitely suggest that they do,” she said.
“With every career, the onus is on the individual to seek out opportunities to really help themselves grow…It’s essential to get some sort of degree to really help you spring forward in the career that you want to be successful in.”
