Standing on the stage at Fenway Park in front of thousands of graduates, family members, faculty, and friends, Abou-Bakar Ouattara looked out at a sea of caps and gowns and reflected on a journey that had begun thousands of miles away in the Ivory Coast. As one of Northeastern's graduate student speakers, Ouattara spoke about growth, embracing change, and seizing opportunities. Behind that moment on stage is a story shaped by adaptation, leadership, and a commitment to helping others succeed.
After earning both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentrations in accounting and finance and a Master of Science in Accounting from D'Amore-McKim, Ouattara is beginning his career in wealth management at EY, where he previously completed both a co-op and an internship. Along the way, he built a reputation as a student leader, mentor, and advocate for community impact — experiences that ultimately led him to the Fenway stage as one of Northeastern's graduate student speakers.
For many students, college begins with a new campus and new classes. For Ouattara, it meant adapting to an entirely new country, culture, and educational system. While he attended boarding school in Massachusetts before enrolling at Northeastern to ease the transition, moving away from home still came with challenges. Building friendships in a new environment and learning to navigate life independently required patience and adjustment.
“Building new friendships and learning how to navigate life far from home required time,” he says.
Early on, the people and communities he found at Northeastern made a significant difference.
Programs like NUin and the Student Success Guide initiative quickly introduced him to people and support systems that helped make a large university feel much smaller. He believes those experiences reinforced an important lesson that would continue shaping his college journey: community matters.“D'Amore-McKim pushed me to become intentional about my own growth.”
Rather than waiting for opportunities to appear, Ouattara realized he needed to create them. Attending office hours, building relationships, joining organizations, managing his own schedule, and becoming involved on campus all required deliberate effort. That challenge ultimately became one of his greatest growth opportunities.
As he became more comfortable at Northeastern, he began seeking ways to support others navigating experiences similar to his own. During his first year, he remembers the impact his own mentor had on his transition into college life. Having someone who genuinely cared about his success and took time to offer guidance reassured him at a moment when many things felt unfamiliar.
Later, becoming a mentor himself felt like a natural next step. “Becoming a mentor felt like an opportunity to pay it forward,” Ouattara says.
That commitment to helping others quickly expanded into broader involvement across campus. Throughout his time at Northeastern, he took on several leadership roles, including Student Success Guide, peer mentor for first-year business students, Presidential Ambassador, and NBSA class representative. Ouattara also participated in programs supporting international and French-speaking students and regularly engaged with CASE events.
Ouattara was named to the Huntington 100 in Fall 2024, an honor recognizing students whose experiences, leadership, and impact reflect the university's mission and values.
“Some of my greatest growth happened through the communities and relationships I built,” Ouattara says.
As graduation approached after completing his undergraduate degree, he faced another decision: whether to move directly into the next phase of his career or continue building on the foundation he had already established.
He chose to stay.
Returning as a graduate student and becoming a Double Husky gave him additional time to deepen both his academic and personal development.
“My undergraduate experience transformed me in many ways, but choosing to stay for my master's degree was one of the best decisions I made,” Ouattara says.
It also gave him time to become more intentional about the person and professional he wanted to become. Rather than seeing college simply as preparation for a job, Ouattara saw it as an opportunity to continually refine his goals and values.
That perspective extended beyond campus and into the work he cared about most outside the classroom. Twice each year, typically during summer and winter breaks, Ouattara works with friends to organize fundraising initiatives that support orphanages, schools, and underserved communities in the Ivory Coast. Their efforts help provide educational supplies, healthcare support, and basic necessities to children and families in need.
One experience, in particular, left a lasting impression. During a visit to a nursery, Ouattara saw firsthand how even relatively small acts of support could create a meaningful impact.
“Seeing their excitement and happiness reminded me that meaningful impact does not always begin with large resources,” he says. “Sometimes it begins simply with showing up consistently and caring about others.”
The experience strengthened his commitment to creating longer-term solutions. As those initiatives continue to grow, Ouattara hopes to establish sustainable partnerships with schools and orphanages that can provide ongoing support.
That future professional journey is already beginning
Ouattara experiences at D'Amore-McKim introduced him to a variety of professional environments through internships and co-op experiences at organizations including EY, Boston Consulting Group, and Morgan Stanley. Each experience helped clarify his interests while strengthening both technical and interpersonal skills.
What excites him most, however, is not simply the work itself. It is the opportunity to continue learning. Those opportunities, Ouattara believes, will eventually strengthen the impact he hopes to create outside the corporate world as well.
“My long-term goal is not only to succeed professionally,” he says, “but also to use the opportunities, knowledge, and network I gain to expand the initiatives I care about.”
He hopes to continue building programs that create opportunities for children and underserved communities in the Ivory Coast while encouraging others to give back in meaningful ways.
That mindset also shaped the message he shared during commencement. As he stood at Fenway Park speaking to graduates preparing to enter their next chapter, his advice reflected lessons he had learned through his own journey. Northeastern, he says, creates environments where change is constant, and growth is intentional. Whether through co-ops, study abroad experiences, leadership roles, or classroom collaboration, students are consistently encouraged to step beyond their comfort zones. Growth often begins where certainty ends.
“Get involved, build relationships, ask questions, and stay open to experiences that may initially feel uncomfortable,” Ouattara says.
Some of the most transformative moments, he believes, are the ones that challenge people the most. For him, those moments began with leaving home and crossing continents. Years later, they led him to Fenway Park — not only as a graduate, but as a speaker whose story reflected the power of embracing change, investing in community, and helping others rise along the way.