Laila Simpson (McIntire ’28) loves the 100-meter dash. She points out the pure rush of it. “There’s not much time to think. One moment I’m pushing out of the blocks, and before I know it, I’ve crossed the finish line,” she says. But press a little further, and the UVA sprinter and McIntire third-year will admit something surprising: “I gravitate toward the 100 because it’s quick and explosive, but the 200 has taught me the importance of trusting the process.”
The 200 is a different animal. It rewards patience, positioning, and a plan. “In the 200, you have more time to find your rhythm and make your move when it matters,” Laila explains. That’s also a fitting metaphor for her path into business, which began with a sprint toward flash and settled into something more deliberate.
That course of action started early. Growing up in Fairfax, VA, Laila discovered at age 9 that she could outrun her older brother and cousins, so she asked her mom to sign her up for track. When she was in fifth grade, her entrepreneurial instincts surfaced, as she and a friend sold homemade toy slime at school. By sixth grade, a dream job research project led her to investment banking. “I didn’t fully understand all that it entailed, but I knew it was a career with a lot of opportunity,” she recalls.
Then, in her junior year of high school, an accounting class changed her trajectory. She describes the experience as finding that the language of business simply clicked for her. “It felt intuitive in a way that immediately caught my interest,” she says. At McIntire, she plans to concentrate in Accounting and Management and to pursue the CPA route, a career built on the same virtues as her best race: strategy, discipline, and the long view.
When it came to choosing UVA, it felt more like a calling than a decision. She had been focused on other schools until she visited Grounds. “It just felt meant to be,” she says. Once she arrived, she refused to be defined by athletics alone. “I’ve always wanted to give myself the freedom to pursue every part of who I am, rather than being defined solely by athletics,” she says. Within her first month at UVA, she joined student-run BlackFin Investment Group, even negotiating a new lifting schedule with her coach to make the meetings. “For me, being busy has never meant I have to give up on the things I care about.”
BlackFin’s mission of serving underrepresented groups in finance reshaped her goals. Getting into McIntire stopped being only about her own success and became about opening doors. This past semester, she was named co-president of the Black Commerce Student Network, and next year she’ll chair Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.’s Economic Growth & Success committee while serving as her chapter’s Financial Secretary.
When two first-year students messaged her asking for help with their Commerce applications, the moment crystallized everything. “That moment affirmed that part of my purpose is giving back and helping others,” she says.
One issue has been recurring hamstring injuries that have followed her since high school. They sidelined her from the 200 for much of this past indoor track season and, at times, planted doubt at the starting line. “The possibility of reinjury is always a lingering thought,” she admits. But the mantra from her first track team, “hard work and dedication,” still carries her. “Track has taught me that resilience is about continuing to show up, even when things don’t go as planned,” she says.
This past summer, she focused on getting healthy so she can compete at the level she expects of herself, on the track and in the Comm School. Wherever the curve takes her next, she intends to run it her way.
“Simply being present in the spaces I’m a part of isn’t enough,” Laila says. “I want to make an impact.”
