When Erin Eu Lakshmanan was three years old, she asked her mother why money existed. Though babies don’t typically get the answers to their burning monetary-economic questions, Erin never stopped looking for them. That curiosity eventually led her across the world to the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated in 2024 with a major in Economics, minors in Data Science and Public Policy, and a 3.9 GPA.

But numbers and models were never the end goal. For Erin, economics has always been about people: how resources shape lives, how systems empower or exclude, and how a better understanding of these forces can lead to a more equitable and just world. Whether she was interning at BCG, founding Nova Consulting at Berkeley, or teaching her own student-led class, Erin has consistently asked the same question: how can we make complex structures more human?

From Alice Smith to Berkeley

Erin spent her entire school life at Alice Smith, a British international school in Kuala Lumpur. It was during her A-Levels that the subject of economics began to take root as more than an academic interest. The subject felt deeply relevant, not just in theory, but in the way it touched nearly every part of society. From education and healthcare to public infrastructure and inequality, Erin started to see the significance the subject had in how our lives are shaped.

She says, “Economics just made sense; it intersects with everything.” This newfound conviction even led her to start a social impact group in school, discovering that economics wasn’t just a way to understand the world, but a way to improve it. 

Outside the classroom, Erin was equally committed. She swam competitively throughout her school years, balancing rigorous training schedules with academic demands. Her life was structured and guided; between school and the pool, there was little room for uncertainty, which made applying to university all the more daunting. 

Erin finished her 12-year-long Alice Smith academic journey in 2021, completing her A-levels with 3 A*s. There was no question that the next step was a degree in economics; the challenge came in deciding at which institution.

Her final shortlist came down to UCLA, UBC in Canada, Yale-NUS in Singapore, and UC Berkeley. She had visited UCLA and was drawn to the comfort of familiarity. UBC offered a generous scholarship and a beautiful campus. Yale-NUS appealed to her love for interdisciplinary learning, and even had a study abroad partnership with Yale, her dream school. But Singapore felt a little too close to home.

Berkeley, on the other hand, was a leap of faith. She had never visited, and online forums painted a mixed picture; the programme was prestigious, but the city was rough, and the culture was high-stress. Still, she couldn’t ignore the pull. “I knew it had one of the best economics departments in the world. And if my parents were going to invest in my education abroad, I wanted to make it count.”

Berkeley’s legacy of activism and social change only strengthened the decision. “It wasn’t just about the academics. I wanted to be part of a community that believed in using what they learned to actually do something.” It felt like the kind of place that matched her values and an environment where she could start figuring out who she wanted to be.

Figuring It Out Abroad

Moving from a tightly structured life in Malaysia to the open, high-pressure environment of a massive public university in California wasn’t just a change of scenery, it was a clear beginning of an independent, adult life. For the first time, Erin had complete freedom. No more swim practices dictating her daily routine, no more tightly packed schedules. “I suddenly had all this free time, and I didn’t know what to do with myself,” she recounts.

Academically, the transition was equally intense. At Alice Smith, she was used to small class sizes and consistent support. Berkeley was the opposite. “You’re not handheld here. You're thrown into massive lectures, and you're expected to figure things out on your own.” She struggled at first, earning a B-minus in her freshman year, which served as a severe personal crisis. “It shook me to my core,” she laughed. But it also became a turning point. From then on, she never scored below an A.

Between juggling classes, friendships, internships, and clubs, Erin had to develop a sharper sense of discipline. She leaned into technology, using AI tools to streamline her studying and review material efficiently. But she also made space for a social life. “I didn’t want to spend all my time in the library. I wanted to actually experience college.”

And she did. In those first few months, she naturally gravitated toward other international students from Southeast Asia, finding comfort in shared backgrounds, but slowly, expanding her circle, travelling across the U.S., visiting friends’ hometowns, and seeing the country more personally. For all its challenges, Berkeley became a place of growth: intellectually, socially, and personally.

Beyond the Classroom

While Erin’s classes grounded her in theory, it was her involvement outside the classroom that shaped much of her growth at Berkeley, especially in consulting. What began as a small role in the Undergraduate Economics Association’s consulting arm soon became a defining part of her college life. Her first project? Helping LinkedIn’s Women in Tech division identify target schools to recruit more girls into STEM. “It was my first real dive into data science,” she said, recalling how she built a classification model using public data sets.

From there, things accelerated. She led marketing strategies for B2B brands like Lasko, managed a student project for Milk Makeup, and eventually interned with the company itself. Seeing room for improvement in how things were run, Erin and a few peers co-founded Nova Consulting, a student-run group that had real-world partnerships with companies like Aston Martin. “We just ran it better.” 

She also wrote for The Sycamore Institute on pandemic-era education inequality and interned at Nest, an impact investing firm. But despite the wealth of experience she had garnered, Erin wasn’t set on any one path. “Knowing what you don’t want to do can be just as valuable as knowing what you do.”

Leaving the Consulting Track, Finding Her Place

In May 2025, Erin walked across the graduation stage at UC Berkeley, officially marking the end of a journey and the start of a new one. With a 3.9 GPA and a resume packed with research, internships and leadership roles, she left Berkeley with more than just a degree. She left with clarity about what mattered to her: work that was meaningful, socially conscious, and open to evolution.

Despite all her consulting experience, Erin never saw herself settling into a traditional consulting path. “I realised I didn’t want to go into consulting,” she inferred, “which was kind of unfortunate because I had so much experience under my belt.” But the detour was far from wasted. Consulting had taught her how to work with data, manage large projects, and collaborate with people across industries and cultures. It also helped her land internships at places like BCG and, eventually, at the global asset management firm Schroders.

Erin first joined Schroders as an intern in the summer of 2024, while finishing up her final semester at Berkeley. She then transitioned into a part-time role a few months after graduating in December, and has recently moved to New York to join their rotational programme, which will commence in September. The programme is intended to be a structured, multi-departmental experience that allows young professionals to explore different verticals within the company.

In her current role with the client group, Erin supports various departments by analysing Salesforce data, identifying client engagement trends, and helping to inform strategic planning. The job is analytical and collaborative, and, thanks to her background in data science and economics, it feels like a natural next step.

Big-Picture Thinking and Looking Forward

As much as Erin enjoys the technical work she does today, she’s always been drawn to the bigger picture. For her, economics is not just an academic subject or a set of models, but a lens through which the world can be better understood.

“I think economics has a really important role to play in how we vote, how we interpret the news, and how we make decisions at a community level; the challenge is just in making it accessible.” She is rooted in her belief that the first step to an economically just society lies in informed and educated voting.

As for what’s next, Erin is keeping her options open. She’s curious about working abroad for a few more years, possibly in the UK or Europe. She’s also toying with the idea of graduate school in public policy. Eventually, she hopes to return to Malaysia and build something of her own; “Maybe a social enterprise, or maybe a wine bar,” she joked. “Something small, something meaningful. I just want to create a space that brings people together.” 

What that looks like is still unfolding. But if there’s one thing Erin’s story makes clear, it’s that even a zigzag path can still lead to somewhere fulfilling.