There used to be a stigma (an absolute BS one, by the way) around women in accounting not being as successful as men. We are proud to say that at BlueRock, we have influential female leaders crushing it in their respective industries. Let's begin with an individual who has come a long way and overcome her fair share of challenges, both geographically and professionally. Her story begins in the coldest city in the world... we're talking about none other than our Accounting Director, Elena Kuzmina !
Elena was born in the small city of Yakutsk, located in the heart of Siberia and characterised by an extreme climate. Their balcony served as a freezer, and -40°C was a pleasant day in winter. In addition to the harsh weather, she grew up in an underdeveloped place with limited food options and a limited selection of seasonal fruit (mangoes were unknown and bananas were considered a luxury item). In addition to having a schedule for using mains water, the infrastructure was poor due to continuous permafrost, resulting in many houses and buildings being built on stilts. Above ground, water and gas lines snake around the city. In this part of the world, the bus is the only means of public transport and a quick dash to the corner shop can result in frostbite. Since Elena was a traditional Soviet Union child, she attended school, took piano lessons, and lived in a bare apartment with two small rooms and a kitchen. The concept of a living room was another unknown.
Moving to Study Accounting in Australia
Elena grew up in Yakutsk with her family until she was eight years old, before her family moved to Irkutsk, then to Novorossiysk, and finally Moscow. At 18, Elena moved to Canberra on her own to study and learn English as part of her English language studies. During this time, her family was spread across the world. Her father was working on an assignment in Russia's far east, her mother was in Moscow, and her sister was in San Francisco.
As Elena says, coming to Australia was a huge culture shock for her. "Not being able to understand the native language and being extremely different from back home is a feeling you'll never get over." On her arrival to Australia, the very first thing she did was buy a newspaper and start to deconstruct and translate it word by word with her electronic dictionary. The tool wasn’t super accurate, but Elena thought it was pretty awesome and her English skills improved word by word.
After three terms of English and a foundation course at ANU, Elena enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce. She says, "You can translate every word in the book and understand lectures by identifying keywords, but it takes a long time to get comfortable speaking in front of native speakers".
Navigating an Accounting Career Path in Australia
On her accounting journey, she took baby steps. Her first milestone was completing group projects with other students. Elena admits she wasn’t the most sought-after grad when she graduated from ANU, with average grades and no permanent visa. Still, she landed at a small firm in Canberra and that's where it all started. More milestones followed including her first business phone calls and first client meetings.
After becoming a Chartered Accountant, Elena moved to Sydney. While she didn't know anyone, this time things were different. Having honed her accounting skills and perfected her English, it was time for her first big career move. She worked for some medium-sized chartered practices before joining Deloitte.
Flash forward to 2019, Elena moved to Melbourne in search of a new adventure in a new city and soon found herself working at BlueRock. Reflecting on her adventures, Elena says, "growing up in a city with limited water supply, limited food choices, and being -60°C outside in winter, living in Melbourne and doing what I love is a pretty big contrast."
Working in Accounting at BlueRock
Elena has adapted well to life at BlueRock. She enjoys the community atmosphere created by colleagues and clients, and how fresh ideas are always encouraged. Having the opportunity to help her clients and team achieve great things is what she loves most.
Elena is a natural problem solver and strives to come up with the best solutions tailored to what a business needs to thrive. Her goal-driven and forward-looking approach makes her a valuable asset to her clients. In addition to her passion for all things tax, Elena takes an "outside the box" approach to deliver exceptional outcomes.
Elena is passionate about working with business owners in retail, e-commerce, professional services, property development and construction, health, personal care and the beauty sector, as well as high net worth family groups with complex affairs. So, if you need help to grow your business or manage your world , you know who to call!
