Fox alumna Nicole Bezinski, BBA ’95, believes it might take some time to really know where it is you want to go in your career. As an executive in residence at the Fox School of Business, she helps mentor students who are exploring their options as a business professional. In this Q and A, she describes her career path and shares some hard truths about running her own business.
Can you tell me more about your path, from graduating college to now?
I studied finance at Temple with the goal of working on Wall Street. After moving to New York City for graduate school and working at internships and jobs in the field, I realized I wasn’t inspired by the work. I discovered I liked being in a creative environment and I pivoted toward fashion and advertising.
I started out in the advertising department at a fashion company and the role expanded into more traditional advertising. On the business side, I started out as a CFO and then graduated on to larger companies within the networks. I’ve held roles as a CFO and COO, both in the U.S. and globally before transitioning to CEO working on strategy and more client business. It really was a process.
What’s it like running your own consulting business?
I took all this experience leading teams for global companies and put it into launching my own venture. It’s fun. I still get to have team relationships because I’m working closely with clients and for long periods of time. I also get to have a diversity of the types of companies I’m working with. It really allows me to choose the types of companies that I want to work with. I’ve also opened myself up to nonprofits and companies that are really doing good in the world.
How did you make the jump from industry work to solo work?
I had a lot of people in my network who would always call me for advice. At some point, I had two people reaching out to me at the same time and I thought, “Oh, this is interesting.” It felt like there was potential to really start my own thing.
I made a big leap at that time and quit my day job to start my own consultancy. Since then, I’ve been getting clients through word of mouth. I’ve had a steady stream of interesting projects that I’ve been working on for the past few years now.
When you were starting your business, did you feel like you had any detractors?
When you’re making a change like that, you’re always going to have input from people. When I first quit my day job, it was a big cut in compensation. I had people in my network say things like, “Are you sure you want to do that?” and “Does that make sense for you?” I just leaned into my own instinct. I thought about it in terms of what really made me feel happy, which is working on the strategy side and helping companies grow. I wanted to take all the skill sets I had amassed over 20 years and use that to help people. This is the work I find super interesting and rewarding.
Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? How did you deal with it?
Yes, occasionally, it creeps in. It doesn’t happen as often now that I’ve been working on my own. When I was in big roles at agencies, I was oftentimes the only female executive, and I was younger than a lot of my colleagues. I think that sometimes plays on you in terms of thinking, “Should I be in this room?” “Can I use my voice to say what I have to say?” But I felt that I would say those things more in my agency days than I do on my own because my clients come to me for the very specific expertise that I have. They really trust that I’m the person who can help them with what they need.
Do you have any advice for students who want to start their own businesses someday?
Students ask me, “What are the one or two things you did to get a CEO role?” The reality is that it’s not one or two things—it’s more like 10,000 things! Success is really about leaning into your own instinct in terms of what makes you happy and knowing what inspires you. I think we’re all bombarded with these themes that you must run a company to be successful, and that’s not really for everyone.
Find out what you’re really passionate about and what type of environment you want to be in. I can guarantee you, there’s nothing worse than getting stuck in a job that you don’t really love. It’s so important to enjoy what you’re doing to really be fulfilled professionally—because then it doesn’t feel like work.
Need professional guidance? Portfolio advice? Help with your job or internship application?
Nicole will be on campus for in-person meetings from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 in Alter Hall. Email Mary Love at mary.love@temple.edu to schedule an appointment.
Not available Dec. 13?
Email Nicole to schedule a virtual appointment during her weekly office hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon to 3 p.m. These hours are by appointment only. You can also find her on LinkedIn here.