By Jessica Wyble
Some people spend their childhood knowing exactly what they want to be when they grow up. Then there are others, like Janae Fadairo, financial coordinator II for UH’s Parking and Transportation Services Department, who have to try on a few different hats before finding that right fit.
“I changed my major four times in college,” said Fadairo.
A graduate of Lamar University in Beaumont, the Houston native first started her academic career pursuing a degree in education. As someone who’s always loved to teach people new things, this felt like a natural choice; however, something didn’t feel quite right, so she quickly switched gears to communications, but that, too, wasn’t the field for her. She finally made her way to the business school and started in accounting, before realizing that finance was where her true passion and talents lay.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Fadairo went on to work as an assistant service manager for H-E-B, where she had a chance to use her passion for teaching to train new employees, while ensuring customers had a pleasant experience while shopping. While she enjoyed that job, she knew she eventually wanted something that would require her to use her financial knowledge, so when a friend sent her a posting for a job as a financial assistant within the business office here at the University, she jumped at the opportunity.
“After two years in my first role here with the business office, I was promoted from a financial assistant to my current position with parking,” she said.
In this role, Fadairo spends her days reconciling the department’s daily cash journal and records all transactions and revenue received from the day before. Depending on the day, there can be as many as 300 transactions she has to process, as she’s having to account for every citation payment, permit purchase, meter and garage visit. If it involved some sort of currency exchange for the department, she has to lay eyes on it and verify the records.
In addition to this, she also helps with any contracts the department is executing and also handles the monthly verification of all of Parking’s cost centers. Her team definitely keeps her busy but more than two years into the job, she isn’t complaining.
“This October will actually mark five years total that I’ve been with UH and three with this particular team,” she said. “I just love it.”
Fadairo’s brief stint as an accounting major is actually serving her well in this role, as several of her duties call on her to use the skills she learned in those courses to get the job done.
“It’s so helpful having experience on both sides,” she said.
She also gets the chance to play the role of teacher thanks to her job, as she frequently helps train new business office employees and shows them the ropes of working for the University.
“I’ve trained people who have gone on to work for and support a number of areas including the English department and even the college of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.”
Fadairo loves that part of her job, because she can walk away saying she taught someone something.
“To this day, many of these folks still call me with questions and we problem solve together,” she said.
When she’s not busy balancing the budgets of one of the biggest departments on campus, Fadairo spends her days relaxing with friends, singing in her church’s choir, dabbling in the world of podcasts and studying to earn her MBA.
Currently enrolled in a program at Prairie View A&M, she is projected to graduate with her master’s degree in August, an accomplishment she’s eagerly anticipating.
In the meantime, she’s just happy to work with a team she loves.
“When I think about work, it’s hard to pinpoint one specific thing I love more than the people,” she said. “From the top to the bottom, we are a true team with a great dynamic I wouldn’t trade for the world.”