10 Questions with Kayla Zigayer (March 2019)

1. What do you do at The Marquee Group?
I’m the Project Coordinator at The Marquee Group. I coordinate logistics for all of our training courses and ensure that all runs smoothly. I manage the chaos behind the calm!

2. How long have you been at Marquee?
I have been with Marquee for just under a year. I joined in July of 2018.

3. You are one of our newer team members. What was it like coming from a different industry?
I started my career in the not-for-profit sector. I was at the Make-A-Wish Foundation for six years, and while I had the transferable skills coming to Marquee, the world of finance and banking was very new to me. When I arrived, there were so many foreign acronyms: LBO, DCF, VBA… while I still sometimes have no idea what’s going on at least I can now speak the same lingo!

4. You recently moved from Montreal to the big smoke. How’s Toronto treating you?
The winter has been surprisingly snowy and cold – everyone lied to me saying it would be better than Montreal… and it’s not! But the winter aside, it has been a great experience. Having lived in Montreal my whole life, it’s been an adventure living in a new city and exploring everything it has to offer. I’ve been trying a lot of different restaurants and the food is delicious. There is also wonderful greenery in Midtown where I enjoy walking my dog when the weather is warm.

5. Tell us about the Project Management course you’re taking.
I’m currently enrolled in Foundations of Project Management through U of T’s School of Continuing Education. I started taking this course to work towards my Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. Marquee provided me with an opportunity for Professional Development and I decided to build on my organizational and logistical skills. I forgot what it is like to be a student – all of this reading and studying has been more challenging than expected!

6. What is your favourite snack to munch on while studying?
Cookies or grilled cheese. Actually, both are good – grilled cheese first, cookies after.

7. What is your favourite keyboard shortcut or modeling tip?
F2. I never realized how quickly you could edit a formula without double clicking!

8. It’s not possible to study all the time… what do you like to do outside of work?
Since joining Marquee, I learned we have a few avid spinners on our team. I got on the bandwagon and probably spin the most out of everyone now! Other than that, I like hanging out with my dog and binge-watching Netflix (no judgement please).

9. If you weren’t working at Marquee, what would you be doing?
I would be traveling! I have a few places on my bucket list: London, Greece, Vancouver, Nashville (I love country music!), and Bora Bora.

10. L-shaped Enter key or straight Enter key?
This is a very strange question. Only at Marquee would we ask each other this. My laptop has a straight Enter key, so I’ll go with that.