August 2022: Amelia Kovalenko

Amelia Kovalenko graduated from the Professional Bachelor’s degree programme in Economics & IT in 2020. Today, she works as a Business Transformation Consultant for Financial Services at EY and is a former Associate Consultant at Danske Bank. We spoke with her about her time at KEA and her career.

The career-related part...

Q: What was your first job after graduating from KEA, and how did you get it?
A: “I worked at Danske Bank as an Associate Consultant, also focusing on process-related work, just as I do now. I was promoted to this position after working as a student assistant at the bank for six months. However, I knew that I wanted to continue studying and pursue a master’s degree, so I arranged to work full-time at the bank, and after seven months I would return to university to complete my graduate degree.”

Q: What did you want to be when you were younger, and how does that compare to what you do today?
A: “When I was younger, I was very creative and more artistic than I am now. At one stage I imagined myself becoming a singer or actress, and later in childhood I wanted to become president. My singing and acting career never took off, partly because I am a terrible singer and partly because, looking back now, I was never really a good actress either, although there may have been a little potential. A career in politics also never happened, so I ended up with a completely different job. Honestly, I do not regret it and I think I made the right choice, but I look forward to joining a theater club one day and continuing to dance in my free time.”

Q: What does a typical workday look like as an Associate Consultant at Danske Bank?
A: “Covid changed everything, but when I worked part-time, I was still at the office at least once a week. For my team, that was Wednesdays, when we all met at the office in Høje-Taastrup. I was usually there around 8 a.m. so I could have at least an hour before my meetings started. I would then grab a black coffee and go through my calendar and emails to understand what the day would look like. After that, I would start working on tasks or attend project-related meetings. At the bank where I work, we are all assigned to different projects, so you often never see the people you work with because they are located in another city or country. On Wednesdays, my team would usually eat lunch together. After that, I had a biweekly one-on-one meeting with my manager, where we discussed the status of my tasks or development-related topics. When the whole team was at the office, we also had a team meeting that day, where the meeting leader would bring cake. After the meeting, I would usually spend time finishing the day’s tasks and getting an overview of what would happen the next day.”

Q: What is the best part of your career?
A: “I like that I learn a lot about the bank’s internal processes, since my background is not strongly related to the banking world. I also enjoy that CoE [Process Delivery Center of Excellence] works on different projects across the bank, where I get to work with various banking areas. The areas I have worked with so far include property administration and pensions, real estate, anti-money laundering, and debt management.”

The personal part...

Q: Can you tell us something fun or unusual about yourself, and how you use it in everyday life? For example, a skill or something only a few people know about.
A: “I’m a pretty open book and tell people a lot about myself and my skills. I’m not sure if it’s quirky, but I can rotate my arms almost 360 degrees when there is only 20 cm between my hands.”

Q: What is your favorite book to read or podcast to listen to?
A: “My favorite podcast is Børsen Morgenbriefing because I can listen to it in the morning and stay updated on the day’s most important news. In terms of books, I have fallen in love with the novel about the Ukrainian Romeo and Juliet by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky called Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.”

Q: Which personal achievement are you most proud of, and why?
A: “My greatest achievement is very recent. After submitting my thesis, I dedicated a week to helping Ukraine, and it showed me how much you can do if you set aside time to help others. During that week, I volunteered serving food, collecting items to send to Ukraine, and helping facilitate dance workshops at the Ukrainian festival. In one week, I met more than 500 Ukrainians in the Copenhagen area and felt proud that I could do at least something to help my brothers and sisters.”

Q: If you could choose to do anything for one day, what would it be and why?
A: “I would love to have the ability to teleport from one place to another and travel through time. I think such a journey could expand my perception of present reality, make me appreciate more what I have now, and make me more knowledgeable about what our planet is and has been.”

Q: If you could share a meal with four people, living or dead, who would they be and why?
A: “I would share a meal with:

• Salvador Dalí, because I have always admired his art and I am curious to see what he would be like in real life.
• Madam C. J. Walker, to learn more about what she went through to establish her business.
• Homer, to hear more about his life, antiquity, and what inspired him.
• Finally, I would invite Bohdan Stupka, a famous Ukrainian activist and actor who was one of the most talented Ukrainian actors.”

Q: What advice would you give to KEA students or other KEA alumni?
A: “Always leave a door open to every workplace you have left or every person you have met. You never know when you will cross paths with them again or whether you will need those connections in the future. Remember to take time to reflect on where you started and where you are now — so much can happen in a year! I often think about myself in 2017, and what it would be like if I met her and told her all the things she still has yet to experience. I would tell her to be patient and to keep putting her heart into everything she does.”