“This is a big first step for me in helping create larger societal changes,” says Guillossou.

Guillossou is headed to Stanford Law School this fall to pursue this vision. She plans to study corporate law—a subfield of law focused on governing the rights, relations, and conduct of businesses—with the eventual goal of helping minorities build sustainable ventures.

Many entrepreneurs cite an inadequate understanding of business law as a top reason for failure, a trend Guillossou hopes to reverse by empowering them with accurate legal information.

“Businesses touch every facet of our lives and wouldn’t exist without the law and people’s ability to navigate it,” she says. “I wanted to touch what I believe is the foundation of business.”

She also endeavors to create more equitable opportunities within the field itself, which remains white male-dominated. According to the American Bar Association, nearly 90 percent of lawyers in the US are estimated to be non-Hispanic white, with just 5 percent being African American—the same amount as ten years ago.

“I want to put myself in a decision-making position to impact this process directly,” she says.

Guillossou graduated with her MS in Accounting in 2019 and is currently honing her business skills at KPMG. As a federal audit senior associate, she works to ensure government agencies use accounting to organize and report their finances accurately—and holds them accountable to the public.

Before joining KPMG full-time, she interned at the firm and with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a DC-based nonprofit that monitors public company audits to protect investors and further the public interest.

Practicing law was always Guillosou’s ultimate aspiration—a dream she says Kogod helped her realize.

By participating in the school’s hands-on opportunities, including groups like Kogod Women in Business and the Office of Career Engagement’s mock interviews and networking days, Guillossou gained critical real-life experience that helped set her apart when applying to law school.

“I think my greatest strength was having a lot of hands-on experience,” she says. “I will forever be grateful to Kogod for providing opportunities that helped me define my path and grow it substantially.”

She also credits Kogod’s network of professors and mentors as pivotal to her success.

“Having a support system that encouraged me and helped build up my resume really made a difference,” she says. “Community is what helped me the most.”

This September, Guillossou will begin her law school journey at Stanford. She’s eager to integrate her business knowledge with law to learn a more innovative approach to business development, a goal she says initially drew her to the Silicon Valley-based school.

Most of all, she’s excited to grow her skillset in a way that will equip her to lead change in both business and law. Access to equitable business opportunities is still a challenge for many, but Guillossou aims to change this for good through her pursuit of law.

“One of the best ways to break this trend is by equalizing minorities’ opportunities to build wealth through business,” she says. “Breaking ceilings in the field of law is an important means for change.”