Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

“Andra Lewis was so loud at lunch today!”

Depending on who you say this to, you’re most likely to be met with stares of confusion or praised for your comedic gold. The reason is quite simple. I am not the greatest conversationalist nor very loud. Though it is something I am working on, in most cases, I’m pretty reserved. But, there is one area where I don’t mind standing out—my style choices.

Expanding your circle at work is extremely important to your career growth. Connecting with your peers and having additional sources of friendship and support will help improve overall job satisfaction and give you a stronger sense of belonging.

I was raised with deep faith, tradition, and intentional communication as core family values. As one of 12 children—six boys and six girls—I grew up celebrating holidays with untold numbers of relatives, going to church and staying long afterwards just to fellowship and communicate with others, and staying up late Friday nights to celebrate the end of a school week. Some of my fondest memories, then and now, are of multiple generations of women in the house having a cup of coffee or tea and long conversations at the kitchen table. 

There are so many ‘first times’ in life that we will never forget. I certainly have experienced my fair share at HORNE and they have positively guided me to beBetter. I can remember my first complicated project and how it made me doubt myself; the first time I received good feedback from the team for hard work and good performance; the first challenge that I had to face as a foreigner and English being my second language; and the first time I was exposed to the client.

Not many people know this, but HORNE was the first firm to take a chance on me. I wasn’t the smartest student in the class. I wasn’t the most social. But I believe God gave me favor to connect with HORNE and convince them to give me a shot.

It is difficult for me to describe how the culture at HORNE has affected me without first giving you some historical context about me. I was born in New Delhi, India. I spent eight years working my way up to manager at a Fortune 500 company but then gave up my career in order to marry my husband, who lived in Houston. After we were married I got my first job in America and I have to admit it was not what I was expecting.

Growing up I attended the same school through eighth grade and then I moved to a different school for high school (well, almost all of high school, but that’s a totally different story due to Hurricane Katrina). I always felt bad for the new kids who started at my school and tried to welcome them as best as I could. I can remember always thinking to myself how hard it must be to come into a new environment where people have known each other for years, where relationships have already been established and how intimidating it can be to be judged just simply for being new.