The Gap in My Resume

A Statement on my year-and-a-half-long sabbatical

The year was 2022… Wait, let’s rewind.

By December of 2019, I had reached a satisfying point in my career at SunTrust. I directed and executed flawless quarterly campaigns, I gained the respect of my colleagues despite being fairly young and new to banking, and achieved a status quo when it came to my work, results, and what others expected of me. I was a consistent top performer, earning higher accolades in my performance reviews than most others in the organization.

Then, a big change came. Executives at the top announced a merger with another regional bank, BB&T. When we returned to the office from holiday break, we were swiftly introduced to new executives, teams, colleagues, and ways of doing things. I was excited for this change! I love to be challenged, and working on the largest bank merger since 2010 would be that for me. I liked our new colleagues and was incredibly optimistic about the future of the organization.

In March of 2020, another change came. This one was bigger, scarier, and… unprecedented. Covid-19 had finally made its way to the U.S., and our newly merged bank, with its own set of merger-related challenges to tackle, had to react… and quickly.