Triple-first Cambridge graduate Rosie Sargeant, 23, made headlines when she turned down a top banking job to teach yoga. Here, she tells Grazia the story behind her 'shock move'...
I recently made the biggest decision of my life – turning down a £40k-a-year job in the City to become a yoga teacher. It’s a choice that inspired bafflement and praise in equal measure from the public, following a recent interview I gave to my student newspaper, The Tab.
It all started two years ago when, during my gap year from studying modern and medieval languages at Cambridge University, I worked at a top City bank. There was a lot I enjoyed about it, but I wasn’t particularly passionate about what I was doing on a daily basis.
It was a shock because, throughout my life, I’ve always felt like everyone – myself included – made assumptions that I would be some kind of high-flyer. I was top of the class at school, and friends and family saw a professional life in front of me. When the bank offered me a £40k-a-year position before I’d even finished my course, they looked set to be proven right. I returned to university for my last year and, when I graduated this summer with a triple first, everyone waited expectantly for me to begin my City job.
But I had other things in mind. In May, after much deliberation, I chose to do something I’m passionate about rather than accepting a job that pays big money. I’m becoming a yoga teacher instead of working my way towards a six-figure salary in a large corporation. After my exams, I talked it over extensively with my parents and they were completely supportive of my decision.
For me, life is about more than money. I’ve seen so many other people struggle in careers they don’t love and put too much importance on money’s role in happiness, but I think my generation is changing. We’re more willing to embrace the less obvious route in life. To choose what makes us happy every day instead of conventional, corporate paths. Yoga is what makes me feel happiest, and that’s why I want to do it every day.
I’m lucky that my parents support me no matter what I do, but it’s not the same for everyone. Some friends are confused by my decision, asking me if I feel I’ve wasted my time at uni, but of course I don’t. I learned so much, and it’s where I found my true passion. And lots of people are still asking me whether I’m sure this is what I really want. I am sure. There’s a cliché in business that you learn your biggest lessons in the boardroom. For me, though, the moments in my yoga classes where I think I can’t go on, and then battle through, have taught me the most, and I carry that knowledge outside of the yoga studio into my life.
Of course, it doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my ambition, but the corporate world is not for me and there are many ways you can make a difference in life. Going into banking would have meant a starting salary of £40,000 with huge bonuses, but that’s insignificant. Women should be in control of their lives, and I hope my decision will inspire others to do what they love and not chase the biggest salary. What I’m ‘earning’ is so much more valuable than any financial return. @sargeypie.
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