Public bio:
Erika brings a unique combination of strategic, analytical, and creative experience across multiple industries. She is an independent consultant for a broad range of startups and private equity portfolio companies.
Erika is a former management consultant at Bain & Company, where she worked with Fortune 500 companies on mergers and acquisitions, operating models, and growth strategies. She also launched a digital sampling product at Condé Nast for Vogue, GQ, and Allure media brands. Additionally, she worked on the early-stage build of a professional sports league, League One Volleyball, with a mission to empower young girls through sport.
Erika is a graduate of Ivey Business School and Cass Business School.
Public bio:
I am a Management Consultant currently at Altman Solon, the world’s largest TMT-focused strategy boutique. With a background spanning Strategy& (PwC) and Alvarez & Marsal, I’ve navigated the recruitment cycles of Tier-2 and elite boutique firms, securing offers by mastering the art of the case interview.
My professional experience includes leading high-stakes technical due diligence for GPU clusters and AI infrastructure, as well as building $1.8B valuation models. I specialize in helping candidates bridge the gap between "solving a case" and "thinking like a consultant." Whether you are a STEM major transitioning to business or a professional targeting TMT/Strategy roles, I provide structured frameworks and the "so-what" mindset needed to stand out.
Public bio:
João is a strategy consultant with experience in analytics and strategic advisory across energy, mobility, and private equity. He has supported high-impact projects including energy transition strategies and cross-border acquisitions, combining strong analytical skills with a practical, results-driven approach. He holds a Master in Management from IE Business School and a Bachelor’s degree from Católica Lisbon.
Public bio:
The following is from the Solitron Devices, Inc 2025 10k-filing with the SEC.
Mr. Pointer was elected a director on August 4, 2015. Mr. Pointer was named Chairman of the Board on July 22, 2016, and also serves as a member on the Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee. Mr. Pointer is the founder and managing partner of VI Capital Management, LLC (“VICM”). VICM was founded on January 1, 2008, and was the general partner for VI Capital Fund, LP, a value-oriented investment limited partnership, until its liquidation in November 2023. VICM offers strategic and corporate governance consulting services, as well as investment research services for a private investor. Prior to founding VICM, Mr. Pointer served as Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager for ICM Investment Management (“ICM”). Prior to ICM, Mr. Pointer served as a Portfolio Manager for Invesco, Inc., where he worked with a senior partner in managing two mutual funds with assets in excess of $15 billion. Mr. Pointer was a member of the Board of Directors of CompuMed, Inc., a healthcare services company, from January 2014 through June 2023 (and served as Chairman of the Board from November 2014 through June 2023). From March 2018 through January 2022, Mr. Pointer served as Chief Executive Officer and a Board Member, including Chairman from March 2018 through August 2021, of Novation Companies Inc.
The Company believes that Mr. Pointer’s experience as a director at other companies and his ability to relate to the broader investment community highly qualifies him to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.
Public bio:
Currently serving as a Director at Accenture, collaborating with industrial clients in energy, real estate and infrastructure sectors to lead enterprise-level transformation, digital and AI enablement, and strategy. Nearly 20 years of prior experience, and bring a wealth of expertise in project management, strategy, and engineering, leveraging a practical approach to consulting and stakeholder engagement. Aim to drive change and enhance project delivery in the Middle East region.
Public bio:
Coming from a non target background, I studied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and Finance at Wilfrid Laurier University, and completed my CFA Level I. I started my career in the public sector despite higher paying private opportunities, then transitioned into CIBC Capital Markets at the associate level.
Along the way, I built an edge by developing trading projects on the side and learning Python and automation tools to apply data driven strategies.
Happy to help with breaking into finance from non traditional paths, interview prep, and positioning your story effectively. Feel free to reach out.
Public bio:
Current Associate at a sustainability-focused investment banking boutique, advising on M&A and debt advisory transactions primarily in energy and infrastructure
Previously Senior Analyst in Capital & Debt Advisory at EY, executing LBOs (PE-backed and sponsorless), acquisition financings, refinancings, and project/asset-based finance transactions
Prior experience in project and structured finance at Canadian Solar (Recurrent Energy), supporting the financing of PV and BESS projects across EMEA, including financial modeling, credit memoranda, and lender negotiations
MSc in Management (Finance) from Bocconi University
Expertise
- Investment Banking
- Capital & Debt Advisory
- Project & Infrastructure Finance
- Financial Modeling & Valuation
Public bio:
- Current Founder / Entrepreneur
- Previous Investment Banking Associate
- Previously spent ~5 years at Morgan Stanley in their Investment Banking Division, primarily working on LatAm and Tech M&A and IPO transactions in the Mexico City and Menlo Park offices
- Graduated with a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
- Proficient in Spanish
Public bio:
Jalel Bouraoui is a CFA Charterholder and CPA (US & Canada) with over 13 years of experience advising financial institutions on M&A, valuation, and strategic transactions across firms such as Banque CCF (ex. HSBC), and Deloitte. He combines strong technical expertise with hands-on deal experience, having led complex projects for senior executives and shareholders. Passionate about developing others, Jalel mentors finance professionals to strengthen their analytical skills, navigate complex environments, and grow into leadership roles through a practical, insight-driven coaching approach
Public bio:
Raffaella is a senior corporate strategist and hands-on transformation leader with 25+ years of global experience across hospitality, retail, fashion, luxury, CPG, tech, travel, media, and financial services.
She partners with CEOs, boards, and investors to design and execute corporate strategies — covering organic and inorganic growth, market and business development, operating model design, ecosystem acceleration. She specializes in building cross-industry partnerships that enhance brand equity, expand customer reach, monetize guest journeys on a cross-industry landscape.
As Chief Strategy Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, she led the corporate development agenda: from multi-market strategy and divestments, to B2B partnerships with FS and delivery operators, to the launch of sub-franchising and online grocery partnership in new markets. Her strategic planning translated directly into execution — delivering +120% online growth, +2pp market share gains, and double-digit profit uplift.
Earlier, as Managing Director at Accenture Strategy, she built and ran a $30M+ practice across Middle East & Turkey, serving global Fortune 500s and regional champions across retail, luxury, hospitality, and consumer goods. She advised on ZBB/ZBO/operating model transformations, digital acceleration, and innovation-led growth.
Through her advisory firm, LIRA Strategy Partners, Raffaella leads high-stakes consulting missions focused on growth strategy, venture building, M&A, and partnership enablement — always linking corporate vision to real-world execution.
She serves on several boards and advisory councils (STS Capital Partners, VAB, Vivenda
Group, HBR Advisory), speaks at global summits (LEAP, The Retail Summit, Retail Leaders
Circle), and contributes regularly to Entrepreneur Middle East.
A firm believer in ecosystem thinking, Raffaella blends strategic clarity with operating
speed to help companies scale boldly and smartly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can’t find an answer? Please send an email to [email protected]
The WSO mentor service runs at a very slight profit (~5-10% net margin) in order to help motivate amazing professionals to provide great (free) advice in the forums (many mentors have green "mentor" buttons next to their usernames) which strengthens the entire WSO community. Luckily, there is a surprising number of elite professionals within the WSO community that love giving back to motivated candidates. We also recently automated the mentor matching with an algo that helps reduce the manual work needed on the backend should a requested mentor not be available. Prices range from as low as $57 up to $997 depending on the package you purchase and the mentor you select. Given the success of our service and the number of repeat clients we have, we know that we can afford to run on thin profit margins and serve thousands of applicants. We also know that many of you will follow the advice of our mentors and invest in additional courses and/or services from WSO.
After checking out, your request will immediately be sent to the mentor you selected. You will be expected to fill our some basic information (location, industry preference, etc) along with upload a Word version of your resume in order to help the mentor decide if they feel like they are a great match. As soon as they accept (usually within ~9-12 hours), an email will be sent making an introduction. Your mentor will introduce him/herself and then proceed to review your current resume and/or offer times when you can connect for a mentor session. Over the following days, you will schedule a time that is mutually convenient for you initial phone call to go over what you need help with (mock interview, career consultation and/or both). If you would like to continue with this mentor, you can schedule more hours anywhere from 1 hour to 3+ hours with him/her over the following weeks & months.
Typically the match happens within 12hrs. If your preferred mentor has not responded within 9 hours or they indicate they can't take you on as a mentor, we will notify other top mentors that have the most in common with the mentor you selected (based on our matching algo). These backup mentors will indicate to you if they are available and you have the choice to move forward with one of them, get a refund or wait longer for your preferred mentor. If for whatever reason we cannot match you in time and/or there are no mentors that are available that you'd like to work with, we will refund your purchase in full, no questions asked.
We have an incredible team of 1,000+ dedicated mentors across top firms all around the world. Our #1 goal is to make sure you are placed in the hands of the most competent and detail-oriented professional in your specific target industry. This coupled with our strict process ensures a smooth and thorough experience. Why do we use actual professionals? The answer is simple: they are the ones ACTUALLY SCREENING APPLICATIONS for their own firms! They know what it takes to make it out of the trash pile and into the interview pile. On top of this, since we have been doing mentor sessions for over a decade across THOUSANDS of clients, we are able to immediately identify a top mentor and feed them more clients to ensure happy customers like you (due to our strict screening process). Our team includes investment bankers at all the top bulge brackets and elite boutique banks as well as private equity, hedge fund and VC professionals at the most prestigious funds. We also have reviewers at the top management consulting firms in the world, elite prop trading firms, top corporate finance roles as well as other related finance careers.
Usually these are all self-limiting beliefs, but if you're unsure if we are a good match for you, please send us a quick email to [email protected] and we can send over some bios if we think there might be a potential good match for you.
Too Young / Too Inexperienced: We do NOT recommend our mentor service until you at least have at least some relevant WORK experience that we can leverage. For the young clients out there, this means an internship, ideally in your target or related industry. If you are still in high school, it is unlikely that you have this experience. The earliest we'd recommend doing a mentor session is early freshman or early sophomore year as you prepare for summer internship recruiting. If you have no relevant experience then it probably doesn't make sense to sign up for the service. Our mentors are amazing, but they aren't magicians. If you tell us you really want to be in Investment Banking or Private Equity (for example) and everything in your background points to law or medicine, it's going to be an uphill battle. On the other hand, if you have unrelated experience but you have started the transition process by taking relevant classes and joining relevant clubs and associations, we'd love to work with you. You may not be the most competitive candidate, but we will highlight the most relevant education and functions at your current job that would translate well across industries.
Too Old / Too Experienced: We DO recommend our mentor service for more experienced professionals that are looking to make a transition or have an interview coming up. We have several very senior mentors that can answer the tough questions and make sure you are up to date on the latest trends in your target industry. However, before you move forward, we encourage you to give yourself an honest assessment. If you are looking to make the transition and have not made any steps outside of considering this mentor program, you probably aren't ready. If you've taken steps (education, new degrees, courses, etc) and feel like you're ready, we're on board and eager to help!
Yes, but if you have a negative attitude you are unlikely to have success. If you think a mentor session is an automatic referral, please don't bother to hire us.
Yes, our mentors often do refer our clients for open positions at their firms (over 20%), however, this should not be asked of our mentors to avoid a conflict of interest and it should not be expected as part of the service. It is up to you to impress the mentor if this is your goal, however, we believe you can gain much more out of the experience by being honest about your weaknesses and concerns with the mentor so there can be an open dialogue on how to improve your chances.
The only discounts are for larger packages and more hours purchased at once. This is an incredibly labor intensive 1-on-1 service using finance professionals that typically make well over $200/hr and are doing this primarily to give back.
This is a personal question and the answer is naturally subjective. If you are serious about landing a job in investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, trading, asset management, management consulting or any other competitive industry, it's more than likely that the answer to that question is a resounding "YES".
Career services advisers at your school are not screening applications for interviews...neither are your classmates. If you do happen to have a friend in the industry, are they going to take the hours necessary to give you a realistic mock interview? Odds are that their time is limited outside the office and if they do give you some guidance, it won't be as thorough as our expert mentors. If you look at the competitive nature of recruiting nowadays, why would leave your application up to chance when many of these jobs pay well over $100,000?
Join the 1,000+ candidates just like you who have already used the WSO Mentor Service
If you’re reading this, you’re here for a reason: because you want to be one of the very few who gets an an elite job and because you need help doing it. The choice really is yours. And your opportunity really is limited.
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