Career summary

Building a diverse job portfolio, through work experience and displaying a varied skill set, Elysha was working in the Strategic Projects and Operations team at Walt Disney at the time of this interview. With a love of languages, and a drive to gain as much experience as possible, Elysha is on her way to finding her ultimate passion and specialisation. With an Arts and Commerce degree behind her, Elysha continues to impress with her knowledge and diverse perspectives, in her career and other occupational ventures. As of September 2022, Elysha has embarked on a new role as Chief of Staff at Vygo.

Career pathway

2022 – Present Chief of Staff, Vygo
2021 – 2022 Strategic Projects and Operations, Walt Disney
2020 – 2021 New and Emerging Channel Growth, The TOM Co
2019 – 2020 Marketing, Events and Project Management, Deakin University
2016 – 2019 New Brands and Business Improvement, MECCA Brands
2013 – 2016 Bachelor of Commerce and Arts, Monash University

Why did you choose to study a double degree, in particular an Arts degree, alongside commerce?

I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school and it felt like all my friends did. I was the only one that didn’t, so I thought about the subjects that I enjoyed most in high school. I picked a degree that allowed me to continue learning about those subjects that I enjoyed. I really liked languages, and including English I studied three languages in high school. At university, I wanted to study Korean and Monash offered that, as well as the Dean Scholar program for the Arts and Commerce degree. Getting a scholarship and studying languages was my dream, so that's why I ended up at Monash.

How did your Arts degree equip you with the skills you needed to enter your first full time role?

Because Arts is really broad, you need a level of intention and self awareness, but to also try different things and be resilient in your search to find your passions. Through studying languages, and going on study abroad to a place where I didn’t really know the language, I was able to build resilience and figure out what I was doing. As I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do after university, I was determined to keep trying new things and see where it took me. Having an Arts degree was really useful as it meant I could still keep my options open and know that I have the skills to be able to figure out what I wanted to do. That's how I landed my first job at MECCA as an assistant buyer. This was a very unconventional path as a lot of my friends went on to become consultants or bankers following their degrees but I knew that was not my thing. I wanted to do something more creative. I certainly had to fight my way into the industry though. By completing a lot of internships, domestic and internationally, which I was able to do through my Arts degree, these different career experiences sealed the deal when I got the job at MECCA. I had a unique approach when it came to creating my cover letter as it was in the form of a video, which was inspired by one of the final units I completed at Monash.

Did you ever feel pressure to go into those conventional roles after completing your degree, or did you always know you wanted to follow your own path? 

I was certainly influenced by my commerce friends, and their career aspirations to get into banking and consulting work. I joined different student clubs that encompassed these types of careers, but none of it was ever very inspiring to me. So that made me come back to thinking about what I like doing and about a more creative path that I can go down.

Part of this self discovery was starting a fashion and beauty society at Monash, which I initiated after studying abroad at Yonsei University in Korea. They had a fashion club there, which I joined and met all these local students. It was such a great experience and it got me wondering about why there wasn't something similar at Monash. It was a great way to talk to people with similar career interests, specifically in the fashion and beauty industry. So when I came back from exchange I started the club which was a really fun project during the final years of my degree.

What does your current role at Disney involve?

I am a part of what's called Strategic Projects at Disney. Essentially this role involves organising and analysing new parts of the business that have not been encountered before. I am a part of the team to assess whether it is viable, and then how to make it successful. We look at components like the kind of revenue we might need, building on strategies to achieve this, and how we play against competitors. Recently we launched shopDisney in the Asia Pacific, which is the ecommerce platform for Disney. Previously people were only able to shop from North America and the UK, whereas now that has expanded to serving those in the Asia Pacific regions. When this project came about, I was brought in to figure out the operations that sit behind the website, and how to get it up and running. My role in this project had a lot of variety, including talking to engineers across the world to figure out how to connect systems across four different time zones, last mile delivery, warehouses and pricing. But that is part of what makes it fun because you get to figure out different problems, and no day is the same.

What inspired you to enter the profession you're in?

The main thing for me was being able to do a wide variety of projects and tasks in a company that I was interested in. Disney as a company is one a lot of people can relate to and brings a lot of happiness and joy. It’s also a brand that I love personally. The fact that I was able to find a role like this that gave me the breadth of work that I wanted, in a company that I love, was how I ended up there.

You’re also a part of The Observership Program. What is your role in this program? 

This is a program that matches young people to a not-for-profit board for them to observe that board for 12 months. The reason why it exists is because boards typically are made up of older, and traditionally male members, with limited diversity. This program allows for a diverse set of people to start forming the next generation of board members. I have been selected to be a part of two boards which was a blessing. I have been able to see two very different boards, one is in arts and culture, and the other is involved with international development.

Being a part of two separate boards, I get to see how they run differently, paired with the theoretical knowledge that the program delivers, is a great way to see why boards exist and how they function. This program really suits me as I wanted to be able to volunteer my skills in a way that also inspired me. I have previously volunteered in many different ways, but nothing was as inspiring, and I felt that I wasn’t able to use my skills in the best way I could. Being a young person of colour and being on the board of a big organisation where I am able to contribute my perspective and ideas is an amazing opportunity for my career, and for my life.

Throughout your professional career, and time since studying at Monash, what have been some of the most valuable lessons you have learned?

One of the main lessons I have learnt is knowing it's okay to not know what you’re doing. It’s okay to be a generalist and that’s what I am. I was always so worried about being a generalist at university, as I never really found a specialisation that really resonated with me. I just leaned into the things that I liked; languages, and finance because I like numbers. I just did what I felt was fun, and is what I have continued to do in my career. I became a buyer because that was fun, then I worked at a university in their marketing and events team, and I have continued that way of thinking, which is how I ended up at Disney (2021-22). My journey felt very unstable for a long time because I would look around me and my friends were in very stable positions, and moving up the ranks, whereas I was on my fifth job in five years. However, something that one of my mentors said to me was I just need that someone to give me a chance. I need someone to see the unique value and diverse perspective that I can bring to an organisation, and that would be the right place for me. That really changed my perspective on the fact that I didn’t have a specialised skill set and I hadn’t been at a workplace for more than two years. I have a broad range of careers, but that ultimately led to meeting the best managers and mentors who all gave me a chance, because I had something different to share with the business and a way of positively impacting those organisations.

Would you recommend an Arts degree to other students?

Absolutely! I think an Arts degree really helps you to broaden your horizon, and think about the world from different perspectives. For me, specifically, as I studied languages, I had to step into different cultures and think about the way they expressed their world views. In many of the other majors that I saw my peers completing, such as Human Rights or Philosophy, they always had to exercise some level of critical thinking and be able to apply that in a multidisciplinary manner.

How would you describe your experience at Monash? What did you enjoy most about it?

I had a really fun time studying at Monash. I made some of my best lifelong friends, who went on to become my bridesmaids at my wedding. I also got to travel the world through my degree, so I feel like I did everything I wanted to do at Monash, and it just opened up all these different doors for me.

What is the most rewarding part of your job at Disney? 

My favourite part is being able to work with a regional team. Our team spans across Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan. I have been able to work with such a wide variety of people and it brings me back to my love of languages and different cultures. I am able to interact with people from countries where I learnt the language and a bit about their culture. It is really fun to be able to reconnect with such a diverse group of people across the regions that I otherwise might not have been able to.

Written by Arts intern, Lily McCure, 2022