Today we’d like to introduce you to Suvaleena Paul
Hi Suvaleena, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
So mine is a very unique story I feel in my field. I am an immigrant from India with a background of Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering. Even though I have a core background, however I was always very very interested in Computer Science, coding and I have a very keen eye for observation and analysis. After completion of my bachelors, I ended up securing an internship at Golden Sachs back in India. That is when I was first introduced to Data Analysis. I had no clue about the field before that. Working in the Finance sector was extremely exciting because of its various nuances like having to work on different cases on a daily basis and I am someone who easily gets bored by the mundane and monotony. Over the period of four months during my internship, I got to learn a number of tools and gotten an in-depth working experience as a data analyst. However, just after my internship had ended, I also had a full-time job offer through campus placement at Infosys Ltd. That is when the thirst of working full-time in coding and hard-core computer science became a reality. I worked at Infosys Ltd. for the next two years and quickly realized that I am really missing using the logical part of my brain to do any data analysis work. However, due to my non-computer science background during my bachelors it became more and more difficult to switch jobs and get a job in a data analyst role that is when I decided to move to United States to pursue my masters in Data Science and Analysis to finally venture into the data analysis field. By now, I had a clear picture of exactly the field I want to work in and the job role I want to be designated under. Fun fact, just before I stepped out of the house the night I was traveling to US, I had told my mother that I will not return back home till I land a job in Bank of America. I was extremely proactive in my job search I started applying for jobs and internships right from the first day after landing in United States my coursework kept going and my pursuit for a job search kept continuing after a couple of months I started receiving great interviews and offers from the top organizations like Google and Meta. However, because I wasn’t allowed to work full-time during my first semester so I could not pursue those job roles. Eventually, the pursuit of a job ended with my first full-time job at Ascentt Business Systems that I started as a Senior Data Analyst from May 2022. However, it still wasn’t Bank of America. It wasn’t the financial sector. Somehow my thirst was not quenched. I kept applying to Bank of America. There were were at least 29 applications that got rejected and did not pass through the first AI assessment. And then finally out of nowhere, I got an email from an HR at Bank of America saying she wants to set up a call with me. The call went really smooth. I guess it was the most personal and the most raw conversation I have had with an HR up until today. The story above is exactly what I told her when she asked me why Bank of America. I told her since when I had the dream and the vision and the focus of joining this company and why. And finally on December 2022 I started working full-time as an Assistant Vice President in the Fraud Detection team of Bank of America.
Well, many would say what is so unique about the story. I say the story is inspiring because it is of sheer resilience, focus, and utmost hard work, putting in day and night, chasing the one pinpointed dream for almost a year and a half, and this is exactly what is the journey of every immigrant in the US. When current graduate students ask me what do I do to get a job? The only answer I have for everyone who is diligently putting their 24 hours a day into this job search process is that you can have 1-2 years of sleepless nights and rejection emails overflowing your inbox. All you need is that one single email on a cold winter morning that says thank you, and doesn’t follow “for your effort and applying in our company”. You have been selected. Please find attached the offer letter.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Well, compared to the struggles the international students or immigrants for that matter are facing nowadays, I feel I did get it easy. Back in 2022, sponsorship for an H1B was not that difficult to get as it is today. However, since out of the two ways to get a job – networking and law of large numbers, I went for the second one, that was the only hurdle I had to pass.
I have been consistent in my efforts and relentless in my pursuit since the day I landed in this land of dreams! When I look at LinkedIn insights, it shows I have applied to 5k+ jobs in the span of 9 months. Facing innumerable rejections and coming face to face with self doubt. However, every morning I used to start off with the same zeal and same dedication.
Finding jobs with sponsorship, getting through the interviews were just the daily drill. Along with that came the financial struggles. Coming from a middle class family in India and having calculated the exact expenses required before coming to the US, it takes a toll on you when you are not aware about every single aspect of life here. The Suvaleena that landed here 3 years back was naive and overconfident without there required knowledge. However, navigating through every aspect of life has been challenging yet thrilling and probably brought out the best version of me. It humbled me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work as the Assistant Vice President at Bank of America, in the Emerging Fraud Strategies team. I work towards building new strategies and deploy them as rules to prevent digital authentication fraud and account takeover fraud from occurring. In case of a fraud already committed, I work towards debunking the thought process of the fraudster in layman terms. I analyze, strategize and mitigate the fraud committed and make sure this channel of fraud is burnt forever for the fraudster.
I specialize in automating processes and using business intelligence in innovating new ways of optimizing existing methods using reporting tools like Tableau.
Well, talking about accomplishments in my workplace, I have up until now worked on strategies and rule implementations that have cumulatively saved the bank a ballpark of 10+ million dollars on a yearly basis. I have worked on a number of automation projects, one of the recent ones impacting the entire fraud space within my organization and not just my team. I had the great opportunity of leading a project to automate a manual task of maintaining records and auditing them monthly with data quality checks. We successfully closed the project thus increasing an overall efficiency by saving more than 30 man-hours per month. I’ve been bestowed with the governance responsibility for overseeing this process going forward, as well. These would be some of the accomplishments I’m most proud of.
The greatest professional accomplishment of all time in my career would be getting added as an honored listee in Marquis Who’s Who 2025 and getting recognized as their Top professional. My biography got published on their website a couple of weeks ago and I am humbled by the recognition and validation! Today I’m also a lifetime member of the prestigious Golden Key International Honor Society and the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.
From my observation, what sets me apart is my innate skill of eye for detail and a natural ability for pattern recognition. It helps immensely in my analysis related work. Furthermore, my zest for delivering the most perfect work, in no matter what I do, makes my work stand out and get noticed, for sure.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Two very important things that I’ve learnt from living my life up until now would be something I would love my readers to know and believe for themselves as well.
1. I did my Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from India. Even though I was immensely in love with coding throughout my school life, my parents and relatives advised me not to take computer engineering since IT was getting more and more saturated back then. Fresh out of college, very few people know their calling and can definitively follow their passion to build a career. After 4 years of chemical engineering, I got an internship as a Data Analyst at Goldman Sachs. This trajectory shows no matter what, if you have the right intentions and have a defined passion, the profession will find you. It does not matter what educational background you come from, your skill set matters and eventually that will come to the foreground and help you shape your career.
2. After my stint at Infosys as a Software Engineer, I was longing to get back to my passionately favorite financial sector. However, due to my Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering I was facing a lot of rejections to my job applications. That is when I decided to pursue my Master’s in Data Science and Analytics from Georgia State University. Even before coming to the USA I had set my focus to getting a job at Bank of America. I had started applying even before my college had started. Finally, after 29 rejections, I got a call from the recruiter directly for this role that I’m currently working at and my 30th application was an accept. So the second lesson I learnt was no matter what, if you keep trying and keep manifesting and keep doing the hard work without losing focus and getting demotivated, you will reach your goal eventually, when the time is right!
In one of the executive dinners with other financial leaders that I had attended, I was called one of the youngest Assistant Vice Presidents in a banking sector in the USA. And it did make me realize that no matter what, age isn’t a barrier and nor is your experience. If you’re good at what you do, you will be duly recognized for your hard work and contributions. So, I just try to keep my head down and keep working towards a safer future for every single individual with financial assets and, well, the accomplishments and recognitions just humble me further and keep boosting me to achieve more and work better!
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