Meet a WMSURE Scholar: Lauren Payne
Lauren Payne is a junior at the College of William and Mary majoring in accounting and a concentration in Business Analytics. As a WMSURE student fellow, Lauren has been given the opportunity to explore Community-Based research since the summer after her freshman year, due to receiving a research grant from WMSURE. Through this funded research experience, she captured oral histories of the Black community that will be used in the local education system. Her work was recognized and featured on the Village Initiative’s website who partnered with the school on the project. After completing two years of research through WMSURE she wanted to help other students find similar opportunities. Lauren finds mentoring fellow underrepresented students as a rewarding process.
This has inspired her to continue having a positive impact for the underrepresented communities on campus. In this current year she was a co facilitator of Brown Table Talk, a Center for Student Diversity initiative. Its goal is to provide a safe space for Black and Brown women to discuss the different obstacles they face and how to navigate professional spaces. Her work hosting one of these professional panels was featured in the campus newspaper the Flat Hat. She aims for her next big project to be creating a financial literacy program for underrepresented communities. “I hope to continue doing important work that will positively impact the next community that I’m a part of.”
Outside of being an advocate for minority groups on campus, Lauren is involved in organizations and internships affiliated with her major in accounting. Upon acceptance into the Raymond A. School of Business, Lauren was elected as an executive board member to the Gibbs Accounting Society. The work she did and continues to do in this position helped her get an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers; one of the Big Four Accounting firms. Through this experience she joined their Black Inclusion Network and worked with a mentor on navigating the professional space as an African American woman. Her success there landed her another position that she will be embarking on this summer with KPMG, another one of the Big Four Accounting Firms. This Summer 2023 opportunity will roll into a full time offer to work at their firm after graduation in May 2024.
