Julia Mahterian

Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business

“Intellectually curious girl who loves life but feels stressed to make her description entertaining.”

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve been refined-sugar free since age eleven.

Hometown: Agoura Hills, California

High School: Agoura High School

Major: Finance, emphasis on investment banking

Minor: N/A

Favorite Business Course: Money, Banking and Business

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work, and Leadership Roles during College

• Co-president, BYU Investment Banking Club (one hundred-plus active members, thirteen hundred-plus alumni); led the club to place more than twenty-five students in junior internships across top Wall Street firms
• Vice president of External Relations, Aspiring Leaders Pursuing Higher Achievement (ALPHA); Designed business model with founding partners to increase graduation rates and to provide college preparation resources and personalized one-on-one mentorship to more than one hundred disadvantaged high school students across three local high schools
• Full-time Volunteer Representative, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; eighteen-month service mission in Miami; led fifty international female volunteers while teaching English, self-reliance, and addiction recovery to individuals and families from various Latin American countries
• Translator, translated Mexican immigrant’s life story from Spanish to English

Where have you interned during your college career? (List Companies, Locations and Roles):

• Peterson Partners (Salt Lake City, Utah), Private Equity Search Fund Analyst
  • Assisted in deal sourcing, marketing campaigns, industry and financial analysis for lower middle-market companies in wastewater management, compliance, billboards, cemetery software, and interactive journaling industries.
• Lazard (New York City, New York), Investment Banking Summer Analyst – Generalist M&A
  • Assisted in preparing marketing materials highlighting broader trends in consumer beverage and cannabis industries (Consumer & Retail Group).
  • Provided scenario analysis of outcomes of different court rulings of the financial health of a large California electricity provider (Power, Energy & Infrastructure Group).
  • Analyzed trading and transaction comparables to support the valuation of waste-management industrials target (Industrials Group).
• Riley (Costa Mesa, California)
  • Proactively created digital flowchart detailing strategic alternatives for inorganic growth following Luna Innovations $33.5mm cash sale to MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings.
• PFEEF (Oxford, England)
  • Developed business strategy for European start-up to promote financial literacy training for low-income European workforce

Where will you be working after graduation? I will be returning to work as a full-time investment banking analyst in Lazard’s New York office

What company do you admire most? GT’s Kombucha because I’m obsessed with its product.

What did you enjoy most about your business school? I’ve enjoyed the subjects I’ve learned, the relationships I’ve developed, and the sense of peace I’ve felt about my future as I’ve grown in my own sense of self.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? That there are many facets of learning that enhance life.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? I would tell every student, looking to major in a business-related field or otherwise, that relationships matter. My first semester in the finance program, I became good friends with the two girls in my class section. Since then, we have had breakfast together every week for the last year. We chat about a variety of topics, ranging from the personal to the professional, all the while inspiring each other to maximize our contributions in life. These two women, as well as countless other individuals I’ve met along the way, add a crucial dimension to my life.

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I don’t think there was anything that surprised me.

“If I didn’t major in business, I would be majoring in or studying…English! I absolutely love reading and analyzing thoughts and ideas. It’s tough for me to put into words just how much joy I feel from a good book that provokes my thoughts, expands my mind, and opens my heart.”

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? When I was a child, I remember sitting with my father in a local restaurant, inquisitively engaged in a conversation that would shape my life forever. I was eleven, and my dad was explaining the stock market to me. I still remember the excitement and determination I felt in that moment that one day I would participate in the world of business. So I did what I could at eleven years old and started selling Duct-tape wallets to my friends at school. As it turned out, my experiment with business was widely successful and fueled an even deeper desire to succeed in business and the other activities I pursued.

Which academic, extracurricular, or personal achievement are you most proud of? The quality of my friendships. At the end of each day, I walk through my day and think about all the people I love with whom I was able to interact. I am often blown away by the abundance of good people around me who enhance my character and add tremendous meaning to my life. I suspect that nothing I will ever achieve academically or professionally will be of much consequence if I do not feel a sense of fulfillment from those who matter most to me.

Which classmate do you most admire? There is an individual in my program who has a remarkable story of resilience and perseverance. She bought a one-way ticket from Nigeria to the United States and cleaned houses and washed dishes to make ends meet. Eventually, she was able to apply to BYU. Through the most remarkable work ethic, she was able to land an internship at a top NYC investment bank. I admire her because she is so intrinsically motivated to do good and to live gratefully. You should absolutely give this honor to her instead of me.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? Deborah Frank, an English teacher at my high school who taught me that there are two types of people in this world: those who go fifty yards and stop because they think they’ve done enough, and those who go the full one hundred yards before stopping. Thankfully, she taught me when I was young that the world has enough fifty-yard people and that I must be a hundred-yard person. She is particularly remarkable because she gave this advice to me as she was fighting cancer for the third time. She wore a chemo pack around her neck to administer treatment while she continued teaching. Countless lives were touched by this beloved individual whose impact on me cannot adequately be put into words. But her example and legacy of being a true hundred-yard person inspire me daily.

What are the top two items on your bucket list?

1. Visit North Korea
2. Teach a high school English class (I not only want to be a hundred-yard person, but I also want to be like my example, Mrs. Frank)

What are your hobbies? Making refined-sugar-free granola, reading in rooms with great natural light, chatting with my family, going to farmers markets, admiring flowers, listening to music, skiing at Park City, cooking with my mother who is a classically trained chef, sitting in the sun at the beach

What made Julia Mahterian such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2019?  

“Julia has been a fantastic co-president of the Investment Banking Club in providing direction to the club and in mentoring students from all majors who are interested in investment banking. She has also been a champion of women who are interested in studying finance at the BYU Marriott School of Business. Julia has participated on panels and has helped host several events in an effort to support the gender diversity initiative of the finance program. She is a positive, upbeat person who tries to lift all those with whom she comes in contact. She completed an internship at Lazard Investment Bank and has accepted an offer to return full-time. Julia is a phenomenal example of a caring and competent student of the BYU Marriott School of Business.”

Tina Trimble
Finance Career Management & Employer Relations Director
BYU Marriott