Lavon Johnson

About Lavon

• Growing up wasn’t easy—I grew up in foster care and was never given much guidance on educational or career paths.
• No one wanted to take care of me and my siblings because there were so many of us, so my great-grandmother ended up taking us in.
• When I was in high school I wanted to be a nurse, but my school shut down the nursing course, so my basketball coach pushed the whole team to pursue accounting instead.
• Accounting clicked easily in my head and I was good at it, so I took an accounting internship at a foster care agency and then decided to major in accounting in college.
• I got both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan State University—I ultimately chose to go to college because I wanted to leave my unstable, difficult past.
• Advisors in NABA (National Association of Black Accountants) and MBS (Multicultural Business Students) gave me the insight and encouragement I needed to become disciplined in this field.
• I found a mentor at Discover EY who helped me get a college internship with Ernst & Young, which then led to a full-time offer—he’s still my mentor to this day.
• I currently work as a senior in the financial services practice at EY and am on track for a promotion to a manager position.