It’s fair to say there aren’t too many mergers and acquisition senior consultants who dabble in stand-up comedy but Louise Cook is one of them.
“It keeps me sane and balances out the finance,” the Western Australia-based EY mergers and acquisitions senior consultant says.
About a year ago Cook was going to comedy shows regularly and joked that she could do better so when one of her friends put her up to it, she accepted the dare and stepped up to the microphone.
“I started over a year ago and I really liked it,” she says. “It’s busy. I finished a show at midnight last night and then I am back here at 8am today.”
She didn’t actively broadcast her new hobby at work but the word spread. Last year when her co-workers discovered she was partaking in a large stand-up comedy competition RAW, a group from work went along to support her.
“One of the partners found out about it and talked me into doing it at a talent show at work,” Cook says. “They’ve been really supportive.”
Comedy and corporate finance might seem an unlikely combination but for Cook it works.
“My comedy content is pretty clean. If I wouldn’t say it to my Dad, who comes along to all my shows, I wouldn’t say it,” she says.
It’s the fact she’s ended up in corporate finance that surprises Perth-born Cook most.
“If someone told me I’d be working in corporate finance five years ago I would have laughed,” she says. “I probably thought I’d be doing more creative marketing work but I kept my options open and realised there were lots of things that I actually enjoyed. “
She studied marketing, finance and communications at university and used the holidays to try a variety of different workplaces. When it came to the end of her studies, a bit over three years ago, she deliberated over which path to take.
“It seemed like the biggest decision ever,” she says. “In the end Dad put it in perspective for me. He said ‘Right now it feels big but in the scheme of your life it’s just one decision. If it’s wrong you can change and if it’s not you’ll love it – either way you’ll learn’.”
It’s advice she now finds herself giving to prospective graduates often. Almost as soon as she joined EY LCook was invited to join in various recruitment activities.
“They wanted someone young and recent enough to be able to relate to potential graduates,” she explains. “I like meeting new people and the students are always so interested and engaged. Speaking to them is also really helpful for me because it makes me step back and think about what I’m doing and why.”
She is asked a lot about the day to day reality of her work, which she is more than happy to discuss. “It’s good to be told upfront what an average day is like,” she says. “It’s not positive for anyone to come in with unrealistic expectations about work. The way you get people to stay is by being honest and supportive so they’re fully informed from the outset.”
Cook works in a predominately male team, until recently she was the only female in a group of ten, but there is a push for more even representation.
“It never feels like it’s a boys club and I’ve never felt disadvantaged or treated differently,” she says. “It seems that not many women apply for finance in the first place. Is that because they’re just not interested or is it because of the “boys club mentality” that is portrayed in movies?”
The former is fine but Cook says the latter is troublesome which is why she’s keen to talk to as many students as possible about what working in finance is really like.
“We have to paint a realistic picture. If those misconceptions about culture make women think it’s not a career path they can take that’s a problem,” she says. “Part of that might also be that students aren’t sure about what’s involved or that it’s not on their radar for whatever reason.”
She can’t say with certainty how her career might look in ten years’ time but Cook is clear about what is possible.
“There is definitely the opportunity and potential to take on a leadership role if that becomes my ambition,” she says. “I think that throughout any career there will be ups and downs, and succeeding is about how you handle that reality. The main thing is that you enjoy the core of what you’re doing, have some balance in your life and approach everything with a positive outlook.”