Talesha Christian isn’t shy to say it. She loves math. From the time she was in grade school, she has enjoyed working with numbers. Now, as an Accounting and Financial Investments major at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, she sees so many opportunities where she can channel her passion.
The sophomore from El Dorado says she decided on her major after taking Business Foundations, a course that offers a hands-on, interactive experience in the business process. Talesha says the class enabled her to learn aspects of debits and credits and, through simulations, management and human resources.
“But I really liked the accounting side of it,” she says.
With many of her required classes out the way, Talesha, who was accepted into the University of Arkansas Honors College last year, will dive into her first accounting class this summer. She already has a good idea of what she wants to do after graduation: to be either an auditor, a private accountant or a financial analyst.
“I can see myself doing this all day,” she says of her love for number-crunching. “I feel like the professors here really know what they’re talking about.”
When she’s not sitting in a classroom, Talesha is a resident assistant at Maple Hill South. She says she enjoys being a role model to the incoming freshman still unsure about their new environment. Her job also involves planning programs and decorating for special events. Perhaps, she adds, she may someday work for someone who appreciates her experience as a residential assistant.
Talesha is a mentor with Razorback Bridge, a program that began a year ago through the Office of Diversity and is coordinated by the University of Arkansas Multicultural Center. Through the center, she is also is a mentor with the Connections Mentoring Program, which pairs upperclassmen with first-year, underrepresented students. She says she can empathize with the freshmen.
“I remember how scared I was when I was first on campus,” she says.
If that weren’t enough, Talesha is also a member of Student Support Services, a program that helps navigate students through the university system with the goal of helping students in any way that they can, so that they may become successful upon graduation.
“They take you in and check with you to see if you’re going to class, and to make sure you’re doing well. They make sure you are taking the necessary steps on the road to becoming successful,” she says.
Yet, her involvement on campus doesn’t stop there. She is a member of the university’s Black Student Association as well as the Associated Student Government Judiciary, which is in charge of ensuring the adherence to the ASG Constitution and Code, and they administer the ASG executive elections.
Talesha says when she can find the time, she enjoys shopping for shoes and dresses – the flowing kind. She will also sheepishly admit that if she could have two professions, she would also open her own boutique. In fact, she has a name for it already: Fierce Beauty Boutique. The store would offer a variety of women’s clothing and accessories, she says. Though she’s still working out the details, she knows one thing for sure: “I want it to be affordable for everyone.”
