Q&A: Talking with one of our Golden Ticket Winners, Katarzyna Dusza

The Collectively^SM program is Jacobs' approach to global giving and volunteering. To celebrate one full year of Collectively goodness, we’ve transitioned to an open matching program and randomly seeded six employees with a $500 Golden Ticket charity donation throughout the month of June.

Today, we connected with one of the lucky Golden Ticket winners, Katarzyna Dusza, to chat about ‘Rak’n’Roll, the organization she chose to donate to, why the organization is so meaningful to her, and her newly discovered passion for baking and gardening.

We’re publishing this article as part of the celebrations to mark the successful first year of the Collectively program and you were a lucky recipient of one of the Golden Tickets and a $500 charity donation. Tell us a bit about the organization you chose to donate to.

I chose to donate to Rak'n'Roll, who have a mission to change the way society thinks about cancer and to improve the quality of life for patients in many ways.

Why is “Rak’n’Roll’ important to you?

It’s very close to my heart as I have a family member who went through chemotherapy lately and I was shocked by the impact it has on both the body and mental health. My eleven-year-old daughter and I supported their project ‘Give Hair’, because I think it’s important to show the younger generation how easy, fun and powerful it is to show support your support in many ways.

At Jacobs, you are the Lead of Project Accounting, Treasury and Finance, in our Global Business Services (GBS) Center in Krakow. What’s your favorite part of your role?

Working with my team is the best element. It gives me extra energy every day.

If you aren’t working, what would we be most likely to find you doing?

You’d find me spending time with my family either cycling or taking a long walk. This year, you could also find me setting up a small vegetable garden with my daughters.

Most proud career moment?

Taking on my first leadership position in Jacobs was a huge shift from being an individual contributor to taking responsibility not only for your own goals and accomplishments, but also for the goals and accomplishments of others, too. I also established the GBS Accounting team and was responsible for the rapid growth of our Project Accounting team in Krakow.

What’s something you learned in the last week?

This isn’t something I learned recently, but I’d like to share a small learning technique which I’ve found beneficial many times before: If you can’t resolve a long email chain, pick up the phone or schedule an MS Teams meeting… Sometimes it’s that simple!

People would be surprised to know that I….

Spend more time in the kitchen these days than I ever have done before. I’m not usually a big fan of baking, however I’ve recently found I enjoy searching for recipes for healthy snacks, cakes, and bread, and then preparing them. It has become another great way to spend time with my daughters!

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

Amongst many other things, I enjoy knowing that we contribute to some of the coolest projects in the world!