The global accountant/auditor as a performer
Photo provided by Clauie Valenzuela
How many of you have seen a fellow auditor dance on stage for a national competition in a country which is not even her home country?
Recently, I reconnected with Clauie Valenzuela, a fellow accountant/auditor, and listened to her story of dancing for Malta’s Got Talent (MGT). Clauie, wearing a simple cardigan and an easy smile, remains bubbly and cheerful as I remember her. We used to work together on audits. Aside from being an auditor, Clauie is also a talented singer and dancer. If you think you can’t literally dance your way through an audit busy season like Clauie did, think again after reading her story.
The performance began early.
Clauie’s passion for performing did not begin in audit. Her performances began at an early age. Growing up, she bonded with her parents through karaoke. Her dad plays the guitar and wants her to be a singer someday. Her mom enrolled her in ballet classes to become a dancer. Her parents encouraged her to regularly join school performances, from singing in grade school to dancing in high school. She realized that the activities meant something to her even as she took accounting during university.
Clauie described herself as a competitive person. After finishing her studies, she feared she might no longer have the chance to compete. She’s aware of how much time auditing work will demand. But to build a career as an accountant, getting into a public audit firm seems the right choice.
She recalled one of the company talks she attended during her university days. She listened to a company representative talk about their choir that joins competitions. For Clauie, that was the selling point. As it turned out, in her first year of joining, the employees inside were also starting to form a dance group. Both suited her interests, thereby validating her choice of the right firm. Thus, she launched her career in that audit firm.
The performance ended and restarted in another country.
Then, the pandemic happened. Clauie thought it was the end of her performances. Like other accountants and auditors who underwent transitions during that period, she left her home country to work in another. In 2022, she moved to Malta. She would never have imagined what happened next.
In Malta, she found and joined a K-pop dance class. This class was pivotal. Her dance teacher happened to be part of a group that auditioned for Malta’s Got Talent and qualified for the semi-finals. “They were looking for additional dancers. I was one of the people she suggested to the coach. She encouraged me to audition,” Clauie narrated.
She got accepted and soon joined the preparations that later brought her to the MGT finals. But for Clauie, the journey was not without obstacles.
The performance did not go smoothly.
Clauie’s first obstacle was the language barrier. She was the only non-Maltese speaker in the group. Her cultural upbringing makes her hesitant to ask everyone to speak English because she felt she’s the one entering their space. During dance breaks or dinners, she felt alone when she can’t relate to their conversations in Maltese.
When I asked Clauie how she overcame this obstacle, she recalled, smiling, “It’s dance. Even if they speak in Maltese, they demonstrate the moves.” Clauie recounted that most of the Maltese words she learned were dance instructions. “I’m grateful there are ways I can understand them. We’re bonding through dance even though I don’t understand their language.”
The second obstacle was time and energy. Clauie started her dance practices in the middle of December 2022, only a few months after she arrived in the country. On top of that, she has full-time work as an auditor, a profession that paved her way to work abroad in the first place. She’s the only auditor in their dance group of around twenty people.
Her work shift begins at 9:30 am and ends at 6:30 pm. Dance practice began at 6 pm and ended as late as 12 or 1 am. ”How come you’re still alive?” Clauie recalled that a co-dancer and former accountant teased her with this question because she too, can relate to the rigors and demands of the job.
But for Clauie, it was her motivation that kept her going. The idea that she can dance after her work hours excites her. She told me how it allowed her to shift her mindset to being fully productive during those work hours because that’s the only time she has. It was a huge change from the days when she often brought work home because she got nothing else to do.
After her dance practices, instead of lazing around to check social media, she went straight to eating to recover all the lost energy. Clauie recalled how physically exhausted she felt, because, unlike singing, dancing demands full body movements.
Clauie mentioned that her work manager was also instrumental in her dancing. “I don’t get anxious about work because I know my manager understood where I have to be and what are my activities. He respects that and he supports that.”
Thus, she’s able to literally “dance her way through an audit busy season”. That means that while her full-time job as an accountant/auditor sustains her daily needs and enables her to feed herself, dancing outside work feeds her soul. Work enabled her passion.
The last obstacle that Clauie has to deal with was the pressure from herself and other people. Clauie described the Malteses’ dancing style as more pleasant and feminine, the opposite of her aggressive style. “I felt I needed to prove something to them. It’s a learning opportunity for me…and I need to work harder in keeping up with them.”
She also told me about how the judges and the public expressed dissatisfaction after the semi-finals. “It gave us some sort of hunger…We had to prove everybody wrong…Everybody started working harder.”
Photo provided by Clauie Valenzuela
The performance that transformed her.
In two weeks leading to the finals, Clauie practiced hard with United Performers, the dance group’s name. One out of two weeks, she spent on pre-shooting cameos and rehearsals. When the MGT finals came in February 2023, Clauie danced with “passion and glory”. The MGT championship eventually went to a classical singer, but for Clauie, the entire experience already transformed her.
“There’s always room for growth when you challenge yourself to come out of your comfort zone. It made me realize that even [if] I’m comfortable with just being this kind of dancer, there’s nothing wrong with pushing yourself further. I felt I’m capable of so much more.”
“What’s for you is for you,” she told me, referring to her earlier experiences where parents and mentors mostly led her to opportunities. “Somebody found the opportunity and matched me to it. It felt very much like fate or something like that because I’m in a country very far away from home, and that’s not something I expected to find here.”
“Even if I feel I don’t fit in there…or maybe I’m not the kind of dancer they’re looking for, they still accepted me, and I still became part of the team.” Clauie explained that their group name “United Performers” meant that “regardless of your style, regardless of what dance school you’re attending or things like that, we want to unite the performers and put on a good stage.”
Photo provided by Clauie Valenzuela
The global accountant or auditor as a performer
When Clauie mentioned that her interests influenced her company choice, another insight is worth noting. Some get attached to people, some get attached to companies, and some get attached to their work—all because of one thing. They help us fulfill our life stories.
For an aspiring global accountant/auditor, here are a few more insights to inspire your journey.
A global accountant/auditor creates possibilities anywhere in the world, whatever the obstacle is, and whomever you’re working with. What elements fulfilled Clauie’s story that you can also seek inspiration from?
- First, clearly define what fuels you. You may or may not be a performer who dances on stage. But as you perform audits, think about what gives you energy and fulfillment.
- Second, embrace a mindset where career happiness is not limited to climbing ladders, but to fulfilling life stories and skills-building for the future. If you’re an accountant or auditor who views your work as a means to fulfilling your life stories, know that it is possible if you learn to set a good foundation and equip yourself with the right skills. Think long-term, not just temporary gains.
- And lastly, learn to thrive in discomfort and to spot opportunities when they come. Be ready to take these opportunities if they will help you move forward.
Starting today, what story are you fulfilling for yourself?
Comment below or reach out if you need help to reinvent your career with happiness and meaning.
If you can’t get out of toxic busy seasons yet to pause and reflect on this question, you might find it helpful to explore and discover insights from Less Than 60 Hours, a newsletter to help you build new mindsets around time.
Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.—Paul Hawken
