Over the course of my first year I had the opportunity to work on case teams which dealt with analyzing various industries across Turkey, Spain, France and Italy.

During the second half of my first year; my case team leader had spent a substantial amount of time working at L.E.K. Bangkok. Within only a few days of communicating my personal and professional goals of working in Asia, I was exchanging e-mails with the Bangkok-based head of L.E.K. Southeast Asia. The flat culture of L.E.K. is truly impressive, particularly because it extends across the globe. To me, being a global consultancy is about being internationally accessible to not just your clients, but also your junior employees.

L.E.K. wants you to gain international work experience; they want to craft you into a more informed global citizen, indeed a more informed L.E.K. Associate. I can't say enough how easy the transition was. During the interview process I spoke to many firms, both in and outside of consulting, and had many friends who chose other international consultancies with ambitions similar to mine. But I'm confident when I say this opportunity would not have been available at other companies, particularly after only one year.

I was having conversations directly with partners between the U.S. and Thailand and explaining my personal interest in Asia. I was telling them about my studying abroad in Beijing and my year spent in the countryside of Taiwan. Those conversations are a testament to both the lack of hierarchy in L.E.K. as well as the desire for partners to help you develop professionally in a way that's important to you. In short, the U.S. and Asia partners listened to my personal and professional ambitions, took the time to understand my desires, and offered me a career-changing opportunity: the chance to work in Southeast Asia for a management consultancy only one year into my career."

I have also been able to take part in L.E.K.'s Swap Program by spending several months working from our office in Shanghai, China. This was a fantastic opportunity to quickly become immersed in a business culture that was quite foreign to me, while still doing growth strategy work that I am familiar with. It was fascinating to see up close and personal the dynamic Chinese business environment, in addition to getting to work side-by-side with some great people. My experience in China is not one that I will soon forget."

I have had the opportunity to travel a lot with L.E.K. I recently did some of the math and found it incredibly interesting. I was with L.E.K. for 58 months, of which I was based in Boston for 18 months - which means nearly the entire second-year Associates class in Boston had already spent more time in the Boston office than I had. I had spent a total of 34 months working full-time in clients' offices across the U.S. and in Bangkok. Adding that to a six-month swap to Sydney makes about three and a half years working outside Boston. I am profoundly grateful for the professional experiences I have had, some I never could have dreamed of before joining the firm."