If someone told a teenage Silvana Wilker that she would end up working with numbers for a living, she would not have believed it. Growing up in Colombia and later attending high school in California, she struggled with math and often gave up when the material became challenging. But people can change under trying circumstances.
At the age of 19, Wilker moved back to Colombia and suffered a horrific car accident. She was pronounced dead in the aftermath but miraculously survived. During the medical intervention, doctors discovered that Wilker was pregnant, which was also news to her. After several years of rehabilitation and surgeries, she vowed to forge a future for herself and her son. She leveraged her bilingual skills to teach English in Colombia and eventually moved to Miami, where she worked as an administrative and human resources assistant for a car company. In the role, Wilker served the city’s English- and Spanish-speaking communities.
“I dedicated my life to raising my son," she said. "I held multiple jobs to support him as a single parent."
Wilker observed that in the U.S., unlike Colombia, advertisements for tax services abounded. Figuring the tax market could create stable income, she researched opportunities and was hired as a tax preparer by H&R Block.
By 2019, Wilker had relocated with her son to Atlanta to take a position as an administrative assistant at the firm where her sister worked as a CPA. Because she didn’t have a degree, she couldn’t grow within the company as an accounting or tax preparer. The limited advancement options prompted her to enroll in the associate of science in business administration program at Georgia State University’s Dunwoody campus.
Wilker's classes shifted online when COVID-19 hit. She found unexpected freedom in virtual learning and decided to pursue an online B.B.A. in finance from Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business.
The online class format allowed Wilker to learn in the way that worked best for her. She watched asynchronous course videos multiple times and studied at 3 a.m., making it all fit around her job and family.
The decision to major in finance surprised Wilker's family, but she found the challenge and support from her instructors motivating.
"I had to study three times as hard as my sister did because I'm not good at math, but I made a choice. I didn't want to just pass the classes; I wanted to be the person who actually knows the material inside and out," Wilker said. "I took Finance 3300 twice. The first time, I got a C. The second time, I earned an A."
More than a degree, Wilker's education gave her a new identity.
"My whole life, I felt like I was less than everyone else because I didn't have a degree," she said. "Now I know I can do anything I set my mind to."
Upon graduating this past spring, Wilker landed a role as a tax preparer at J. Bravo & Associates, where she handles both personal and corporate tax returns, trains new employees, and creates bilingual training materials.
But she's not done pushing herself. Wilker begins Robinson's MBA program in August.
"This next step is for me,” she said. “Just to know that I can."