Biography: Nika To is a fourth-year student at UCLA studying Economics and Accounting. She was born in Long Beach, California and is a proud first-generation student. From a young age, Nika was inspired by her father’s business acumen and sought to develop her skills independently. While she initially wanted to pursue real estate development, she found accounting to be much more practical and enjoyable and decided to pursue a career in tax. Despite this, Nika holds many interests–she currently works at the Center for Impact located within Anderson School of Management, where she engages in sustainability awareness and net-zero strategies. Outside of school, she loves to take part in creative projects such as photography and painting.

Future plans: After graduation, Nika is moving to New York to work as a Tax Consultant at a business advisory firm and hopes to attain her CPA license as soon as possible to expand her skills in business. After some time, she plans to go back to school and earn a life sciences degree so she can successfully transfer into biotech consulting. Somewhere down the line, she hopes to return to her community in Long Beach and guide low-income students towards higher education by promoting youth development.

What this scholarship means to me? I am more than grateful to have been selected for the Professor Harry Simons Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship for the Study of Accounting. With this scholarship, I will be able to relieve myself of the financial burdens related to attending school, and I am now more comfortable in pursuing a CPA license without having to worry about piling expenses. To the donor(s), thank you so much for making this opportunity possible and for contributing to this journey of mine.