When Vivian Vera, Senior Accountant in the Homes for the Homeless (HFH) Finance office, applied for college, her grandfather suggested that she study accounting.
“My mom was the only one who supported us, so my grandfather was like a father in my life.”
She took his advice, and the rest is history.
Born and raised in Bolivia with three brothers, her favorite time of year was always Christmas. Growing up with a single mom, it wasn’t always an easy time of year.
“To have a gift for Christmas was the most amazing thing,” Vera said. “That was the season when I started to work with hand crafts.”
She brings this holiday spirit to the HFH central office, decorating for holiday parties. Last year, she transformed an ordinary filing cabinet into a festive fireplace complete with garland, stockings, and a snowman.
“She often goes the extra mile,” Robinson Jimenez, Finance Controller, said of Vivian’s strong work ethic and morale.
In fact, this can-do mentality significantly helped Vera when she first arrived in the United States from Bolivia.
“I realized all of my [educational] background was nothing,” Vera explained. “So, I decided to go back to college and got a second degree in business administration.”
After getting her degree, Vera came to work in her current role at HFH where she is responsible for creating and maintaining the budgets for Childcare, Afterschool, and HFH Summer Camps, in addition to other tasks for the company’s operations team.
“To be honest, I love it,” Vera said of her position. “This job gives me the opportunity to combine my passion, which is accounting, with helping people.”
This has inspired Vera to keep challenging herself. She is currently pursuing a Master of Finance degree from New Jersey City University.
And her dreams don’t stop there. One day, she hopes to start her own non-profit in Bolivia.
With excellent analytical skills and an aptitude for problem solving, her supervisor sees her as a future leader in the field.
