Why are we doing this?

Lured by thoughts of fancy dinners, first-class flights, and company AMEX cards? Welcome to the world of long hours, crippling imposter syndrome, and shoes that hurt.

After conducting a survey of Harvard seniors, The Harvard Crimson reported that while 15.43 percent of the graduating class goes into consulting, only 0.55 percent want to be in that field 10 years later. No other industry is skewed to that degree.

Both Erica and Rachel were going through college, unsure what they wanted to do with their lives. However, when junior year hit, management consulting became the golden ticket to success, happiness, and fulfillment.

We spent late nights preparing for case interviews, hundreds of dollars we didn’t have on business formal clothes, and evenings in conference rooms being wowed by fancy information sessions hosted by consulting firms.

We both ended up taking jobs in consulting.

However, those information sessions don’t tell you about the difficulties - especially as a woman of color in the workforce. We created Next Steps to create an alternative to the narrative in Hollywood that glamorizes high-powered men in the financial services industry (looking at you, Jordan Belfort). We wanted to show the unsexy life of young associates trying to find their way in the world.