SHE had her sights set on being a lawyer or diplomat in 'the city of dreams' - New York.
But somehow Georgina Day found herself living on a farm in the Wheatbelt, working in ag-finance and as a farmer and she couldn't be happier.
Growing up in Perth, Ms Day had little exposure to agriculture and never considered it as a career pathway.
After completing a double degree in law and international politics at the University of Notre Dame, Ms Day had her first taste of the agriculture industry when she worked as a law graduate for Pacer Legal, a Western Australian law firm that specialises in agribusiness.
"In my role at Pacer Legal, law and agriculture went hand-in-hand, so it wasn't really much of a transition from one to the other," Ms Day said.
Prior to this position Ms Day worked for a mid-tier commercial law firm in Sydney, New South Wales, in the property and conveyancing department, but returned to WA to be closer to her now-husband Peter Snell.
Ms Day's experience as a lawyer with a particular focus on the agricultural sector would prove very valuable when she took up a position with Rabobank in January 2018 as a rural manager and in August 2020, she became the branch manager of the Moora and Dalwallinu branches.
She is also involved with her husband's family farming business.
The Snells operate a broadacre cropping enterprise known as Wandena Farm, Walebing, which sees about 7000 hectares cropped annually.
As a branch manager, Ms Day's role includes staff management and human resources duties while also managing a portfolio of farming clients.
"I now lead a team of three relationship analysts and three rural managers and am as invested, if not more, in their success, growth and happiness within their roles as I am my own," she said.
It's common for people to say that they love what they do because of the people involved and this was echoed by Ms Day, who said the best part of her job was the people she worked with and the people she worked for.
"We not only have an amazing team here in Moora/Dalwallinu but throughout the State," Ms Day said.
"I also have fantastic clients - that really is my favourite part of the role, getting on-farm with clients and being involved in their farm business discussions.
"I often come away from a day on-farm with clients thinking I have the best job in the world."
Being new to ag-finance and quickly progressing to a team leader, Ms Day admitted the journey wasn't always easy, but she's enjoyed the challenge.
"Initially the hard part was being away from my family and friends, albeit only two hours' drive away, coupled with an industry (finance) that I knew little about," she said.
"There was a lot to learn and I needed to learn it quickly so that I was able to be the best manager for my clients."
Ms Day's professional background has served her well in the role as she is able to add value to her clients' businesses.
While she no longer offers legal advice, she has legal insight that is not typical to her role and her knowledge of the property sector has proved to be very valuable.
"My time with Pacer Legal has been endlessly helpful, particularly my experience with succession planning and drafting the relevant documents associated with this area, such as deeds of family management," Ms Day said.
"And my experience with agricultural property transactions, drafting share farming agreements and agricultural leases has also been very beneficial knowledge to carry into my rural manager role."
Being a banker no doubt comes at some point having difficult conversations and navigating tense situations.
It's a role where communication skills are vital, particularly the ability to empathise with others and have compassion for them and their situation.
"Empathy and compassion are crucial in difficult situations with a client's business," Ms Day said.
"No two farming businesses are the same, so when those situations arise you have to take a whole new approach.
"So it helps if you're a people person and able to read the different personalities within a business and take an approach based on those differences where all parties' needs are met.
"If you don't have those qualities, you will never build strong relationships with clients where they trust you and value your input to whatever situation they're going through."
Like many farming families would have experienced before, some of the most testing discussions around finance are about succession - a topic in which Ms Day has become particularly interested.
"I feel very strongly about succession planning and the importance of starting those conversations early," she said.
"While it is not an easy topic, it is patently obvious when a farm business has successfully planned and accounted for the past and future generations versus when they haven't.
"The best outcome is to keep families together and maintain those treasured relationships."
Historically ag-finance has been a very male-dominated sector, but that has changed in the past couple of decades with more women, such as Ms Day, keen to make their mark.
She's always felt supported in the industry, both from Rabobank, along with family and friends.
Accountant Judy Snell, who is Ms Day's mother-in-law and a director of RSM Australia's business advisory division at Moora, has acted as a role model for Ms Day.
"Judy has shown me that you can be a very successful and well respected female professional in the agriculture space, so she is a big inspiration for me," she said.
"I'm sure she has seen it all and I can lean on her for advice if I ever encounter any gender bias."
While her career has taken a turn she'd never expected about five years ago into agriculture, Ms Day certainly sees herself staying in the industry long-term.
"One of the reasons I joined Rabobank was because of the opportunities for career progression and I think my new role shows these opportunities are real and achievable," she said.
While continuing to work for Rabobank, in the long-term Ms Day sees herself being more involved with the Wandena farm business.
And no doubt her acquired skills and knowledge in finance, law and management will come in handy.
"The skills from both professions (finance and law) are completely transferable to what we do on the farm - putting together budgets, assessing weaknesses and strengths within the business by utilising all the different ratios we use in the bank and working through succession planning as a family," Ms Day said.
"My law experience will assist if we ever look to lease or purchase more property and my role in management will help with managing staff, HR and workplace health and safety.
"Besides being an on-the-ground farmer, they (finance and law) are probably the two professions that will be the most beneficial for being able to add value to our own farming business."
Agriculture is one of those industries that requires passion to be successful - and for most people that passion starts from birth or in their childhood.
Although Ms Day's passion for agriculture only came to fruition after she met her husband, that doesn't make her any less of an advocate for the industry and for wanting to see it succeed.
Her passion for the industry developed through her husband and being part of their farming business.
"I have seen first-hand the importance of the industry and the impact that it has on him personally and also on our farming business as a whole," she said.
"I have become very invested in the success of our business and the broader success of agriculture.
"I studied for a long time (six years) and I enjoy learning new things and I think the fact that agriculture was new to me made it even more enjoyable as I wanted to immerse myself in it.
"I saw it as a challenge, but an exciting one and not one to be burdened by."
