About
Hello! My name is Monica Lee.
I am a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University with a BBA in Finance and a BA in Anthropology. Additionally, I will be graduating with a minor in Creative Computing and International Studies. I am excited to take the next steps in my career and pursue a role that combines both my Finance and Anthropology degrees.
In middle school, I joined the National Junior Honor Society. One of the requirements of the organization was seven hours of community service per semester. My first volunteer experience was handing out programs at the local children’s theater. While the role was not glamorous, I still felt an overwhelming sense of belonging and support. So much so that I continued to serve my community throughout my time in high school. During the summer, I participated in service programs at my local science museum. By the time I graduated high school I had completed over 600 hours of community service.
In college, I continued my passion of community service and joined an organization where I could arrange service trips for other college students. A friend at the time was leading a group of students to volunteer at a community garden. I decided to join the group one day. Suffice to say, I found something I am now very passionate about. After my friend graduated, I took over the leadership of this community garden group. During this time, I experienced firsthand the struggles of engaging volunteers and the unique challenges that small, non-profit gardens face in order to survive. This experience enabled me to realize how social justice and food security issues can impact small communities that are living within larger urban settings.
In the classroom, I was a motivated business student. I have found a passion in operations management and serve as a teaching assistant for Dr. Angelika Leskovskaya (Clinical Professor, EMIS Department at SMU). After my freshman year, I had an internship at Deloitte LLP in their Audit division. This experience taught me a a great deal about what it means to work in a professional environment. Following my sophomore year, I studied abroad and interned at a startup consulting firm in Prague, Czech Republic. Through this experience, I truly understood the concept of cross-cultural communication.
My diversity in interests have led me to constantly seek ways to integrate all my areas of study. Alongside a fellow member of Alpha Kappa Psi, I founded the SMU chapter of Consult Your Community. This organization provides pro-bono consulting services to local businesses. The goal is to provide sustainable service to the Dallas community. Additionally, I currently serve as a research assistant to Dr. Maryann Cairns (Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology at SMU). My research for her focuses on corporate representations of sustainability in the fashion industry. Through my work in the lab, I have become proficient in various research methods including transcription, inductive and deductive coding, and literature review.
Following graduation, I will join J.P. Morgan in their private bank. My career goals include developing sustainable company policies for large corporations. My experiences and academic background make me adaptable to any work environment.
Resume
Why Anthropology
Anthropology highlights the scope of the human condition. Most people grow up in an environment where they are surrounded by people that are in similar circumstances. It is easy to make a definition of the world based solely on one’s on experience. Anthropology not only shows that there are different elements that make up the human condition but also there is variability within these different elements. Within culture, there are a lot of things that are social constructs. This highlights the power of humans not only to their physical environment but also their social environment. Humans exist in a complex system that is made up of governments, trade, and social rules. Studying humans through anthropology highlights this diversity and the large effort that needs to be taken in order to undertake studying such a large topic.
According to the American Anthropological Association, Anthropology is “the study of what makes us human”. The three main principles that guide Anthropology are cultural relativism, holism, and cross culturalism. These principles are the reason why Anthropology has so much potential to solve major world problems. Cultural relativism is the practice of studying a culture from its own context. This is important in understanding how to respond to a culture that may be unfamiliar. For example, during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, local cultures clashed with foreign medical professionals. Doctors were concerned with the spread of the virus and family members were disquieted to the impersonal methods of body disposal that these doctors would practice. From the perspective of the doctors, bodies were properly and quickly disposed due to the risk of infection even after death. From the perspective of the families, the doctors were preventing their loved ones from having a peaceful passage. The clashing parties created enough tension to hinder any progress to contain the virus. By understanding the journey that a family might go through when one of its members is affected by the illness through the eyes of the local culture, all the parties involved could be better prepared to work together. Once anthropologists were added to the team, a plan was devised with everyone in mind.
Holism speaks to anthropology’s interdisciplinary nature. The human is made up of many different parts and interacts with many different spaces and therefore should be studies with this in consideration. In a study of tattoos in South Korea, it is important to consider the artist that designed the tattoo, the tourism economy that can be created with the tattoo industry, the social media that helps artist gain new clients, the history that has led many South Koreans to shun tattoo wearers, and the government that writes the legislation that prevents anyone without a medical license from practicing the art form. Only drawing from one discipline is irresponsible and unfair to study’s participant. Additionally, there is a missed opportunity to contribute in a greater context such as public policy or company strategy. The individual parts cannot explain the whole but the whole affects how each individual part works. Anthropology combines all studies that pertain to humans like economic and politics. Applied anthropology is a growing field that has the promise to enact serious change in today’s society. The future of anthropology is as vibrant as the potential of humans.