Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitzie Gates.
Mitzie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born to a Japanese mother and an American father. My dad joined the US Army and ended up in Japan, where he met my mom. Once my dad was discharged from the military, they got married and they moved to L.A. where my dad grew up, so he can finish law school. I was born in L.A. but as soon as he was done with law school, they moved back to Tokyo, which is where I grew up and where all my other siblings were born. We all went to international schools in Japan, where all the classes are taught in English. When I was in kindergarten, I skipped a grade because my English was more advanced than the other kids at the international school, which made me merely 5 years old when I started first grade.
I’m a CPA now, preparing financial statements for a public company I work for. You’d think I was always good in math, but to the contrary, I actually was pretty bad at it when I was younger. In second grade, they pulled me aside along with about five other students that were failing multiplication and put us in a special class. Maybe that’s what got my mom to put extra effort in advancing my math skills. By the time I was in junior high and high school, I was competing in the regional math contests and I was usually the best math student in my grade. When it came time to decide what to major in college, I asked my dad what his major was and he told me accounting. I had never taken any accounting classes so he gave me a quick overview of debits and credits on our dining room table, and I thought that’s interesting… I can do that… and that’s how I decided to go into accounting!
Given my education in English up until that point, it made sense for me (and most everyone in my school) to go to a university in the US or Europe. Given that my dad grew up in L.A. and my grandmother still lived there, I decided to look for universities in southern California. Once my dad and I drove up along the coast to the campus of UC Santa Barbara, I was sold! This was going to be my new home. I graduated high school shortly after turning 17 and moved to Santa Barbara that summer.
After graduating UCSB, I naturally went to work in L.A. as that’s the closest big city and I wanted to be close to my grandma. I started off working for a small CPA firm that did accounting for individuals in the entertainment industry. But after 6 months of working there, I decided to take a leap of faith and try to see if I can make this relationship work with a guy I met online (remember ICQ?) while I was still in college…. in Arkansas. It was a huge leap of faith, but I figured now or never, and if it doesn’t work out, L.A. will still be here to welcome me back… so, I moved there, having met him just twice and knowing nobody else. It was a pretty bold move, especially since online dating was not common back then.
So, I tried to make it out in this small town Arkansas, but it was hard being the “oriental girl” who didn’t have any connections. I was doing pretty well at the job I finally found as an accounts payable clerk for a property management company, but was not getting paid enough and the relationship didn’t quite work out as well either. And sure enough, L.A. was there to welcome me back after 16 months of being away. I moved in with a friend from college and I started working for an asset management company as a corporate accountant.
It was at this job that I met my friend Cindy, who was inspiring and a good teacher. It was just the two of us in the department so we became close friends. We decided to go for the CPA designation together, and enrolled in our review courses. However, due to medical reasons related to her younger son, she had to forego that opportunity to attend to him. Cindy still encouraged me to go through with it and gave me full support as well, so I did. I got engaged shortly before starting my classes, so I studied hard while planning my wedding. Thanks to the support from everyone, I was able to pass all four parts of the CPA exam the first try – which was paper and pencil exam for two whole days back to back in those times. I got married that summer, as well as earned my CPA designation.
Now, that I was a Certified Public Accountant, I wanted to advance in my career and with no real place for me to advance within the company I worked for then, I decided to join public accounting (i.e., become an auditor). Through a co-worker that used to work in one of the Big 4 accounting firms, I was able to land a job in her old company. For anyone who doesn’t know someone in public accounting, it’s a LOT of work. During the busy season, it was required to work 55 hours a week but most people did about 70-80 hours at least. No weekends and the only reason you went home was to take a shower and catch a few hours of sleep. The work was rewarding, but there was no life outside of work during those times. Eventually, that took a toll on my marriage and I felt like I didn’t have much of a connection with someone who was in the food industry and was not quite par with me on the intellectual front. Just shy of two years of being married, we decided to call it quits and go our separate ways.
It was one of the hardest times of my life, I was doing well at work but I needed a change. That summer, I went to New York for a training course offered by my company, and there an opportunity came up. The partner teaching the course (who was from the Salt Lake City office) asked if anyone with our background was interested in moving to Houston since there was a new audit there. He was mostly looking to the people from the Dallas and San Antonio office, but I went up to him after class and told him I was interested. Soon enough, he got me in touch with a partner from the Houston office and it was a done deal. I packed up my stuff and went back to the south again, but this time for myself and to a big city that had potential.
That’s how I ended up in Houston. At first, I hated it here. I missed my friends in L.A. and I couldn’t stop laughing at the “y’all”s and cowboy boots while they laughed at how I took “the 10” to get to work. But all I needed was time. I made my new set of friends and soon discovered all the charm this city has to offer. For one, it was definitely easier getting around town than L.A. and parking wasn’t always an issue (I know many Houstonians complain about these but trust me, it’s nothing compared to L.A.!) I met many interesting people, dated some good and bad ones, and eventually settled down with an amazing man who someone slipped through the cracks of the modern day online dating and miraculously didn’t get snatched up by a southern belle. Just 5 months after meeting on eHarmony, we got married 2.5 years ago and we’re now expecting our first child to join us in a few short months!
My career took off here as well. After going through another three busy seasons in Houston (after done three in L.A. previously), I had enough of public accounting and decided to answer one of the many recruiters’ calls about a job doing financial reporting in the financial services industry. It wasn’t a job that was easy, but that was exactly what I wanted and needed. I was able to challenge myself at work while still maintaining a life outside of work. I learned a lot at this company, but after 5 years of working there, my old boss brought in a new guy to be in between us and be my new boss. That didn’t work out well for me, so when the situation could not be resolved, I decided that it was time for me to move on.
And here I am, at another company doing financial reporting but a much bigger company and in the oil and gas industry (the bread and butter industry of this city). I could not be happier here. I’ve come to realize that there are 5 important factors for a happy job and I have them all – a good boss, a good team/co-workers, good compensation, interesting work and good work-life balance. To top it all, we currently live just an exit away from downtown so I don’t even have a commute to complain about!
I’ve lived in several places, had several failed relationships, and worked in jobs that were less than ideal. Now I am proud to call Houston my home, have a growing family (and a belly!) with a #winner husband and can honestly say that I love what I do for my job.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Moving around on my own since I was 17 years old, it was not always easy. I once was in too much credit card debt that my mother and my younger sister had to send me money so I can pay it off. Now I make enough money that I could go 50-50 to buy my sister a car with cash, and we are looking to buy a condo in Tokyo for my mom to live in. It’s not always going to be easy, but don’t be afraid to take chances. Even the failures lead to success one day, as long as you learn from your mistakes. I wouldn’t be here if I stayed in my comfort zone and was afraid of changes!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
I am a CPA. Most people think that means I do taxes but actually I don’t do taxes at all. I prepare financial statements for public companies. Public companies (that have stocks on the exchange or have debt owned by the public) need to file financial statements quarterly with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), and that’s what I prepare quarterly. At my current company, I lead a team with two other girls and we crank out 12 sets of financial statements a quarter. I’m proud of what we do because our work gets published on the SEC website for anyone to see so we put a lot of effort into making these documents as perfect as possible.
What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
Be proactive. Don’t wait for someone to tell you something but come up with ideas of how you can make something better. Don’t wait for someone to give you more work but go seek it and learn something new. Don’t wait for someone to ask you the status of a task but keep checklists and be organized so that you can be seen as being accountable and on top of things. And most importantly, believe in yourself. You can do this. You will do this. If you come across roadblocks, again, be proactive and remove them or find another way!
Contact Info:
- Email: mitzieg@hotmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitzggates/
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