Kristen Hill knows that an opportunity missed may never return, so she takes them when she can. This year she had the chance to change not only her job but also her residency as she took a position in Paris as a senior financial analyst for Disneyland Paris corporate business planning group.
Hill, who graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in business management in 2007, says although she passes the Bastille Monument every day on her way to work, there is more to life in Paris than croissants and tourist destinations.
“When you tell people you live in Paris, they picture you sitting under the Eiffel Tower eating a baguette,” she says. “I try to separate myself from the dream of Paris to actually living and working here.”
Hill had been working for three years in the Walt Disney Company’s corporate finance group in Los Angeles when she felt she needed a change. She had been itching to go abroad and came across the perfect position to work for Disney in France. As a senior financial analyst for Disneyland Paris’ corporate business planning group, she prepares financial forecasts for Disney’s executive teams in France and in the United States.
In her new position, Hill is able to see a different side of the business and is more involved with the everyday decisions that shape the company. She is learning and growing with help from her French co-workers and provides them with insights she learned while working for Disney in Los Angeles.
Transportation strikes, bureaucratic red tape, and language difficulties have been obstacles for Hill as she has adjusted, but she says she enjoys being immersed in the lifestyle of the French, both in her free time and at work.
As one of the only Americans in her office, Hill has learned that the French receive more vacation time than she had in the United States and also have a different rhythm in the workplace.
“There’s just a different mentality surrounding work,” Hill says. “They’re hard workers, but they try to balance work and other interests. In the United States work can be intense and competitive, while in France there’s more of a feeling of camaraderie. For an American coming from a corporate setting, this was a nice change of pace.”
In addition to growing professionally, Hill says she will take every occasion to experience life in another culture. Her time in France will be guided by an Arabian proverb her father shared with her: “Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.”
With that in mind, Hill has already learned how to make macaroons and has traveled to Amsterdam and Rome. Her next goal is to join a crew team and row on the Seine River. Her family is also making the most of her position on the other side of the globe: her parents and some of her siblings will join her in Paris for Christmas.
