Finding the Way for Financial Wellness

Shashank Pasrija F13 helps people live their best lives. As part of Fidelity’s financial wellness team, he creates tools and resources for people to plan for their futures.   

Pasrija was born in India and studied computer science during his undergraduate education. After graduation, he worked as a technology consultant for different clients within the financial services industry across India and the United States. While the work provided him with a powerful foundation in implementation, it raised questions for him as well.  

“I could understand what needed to be done, and how to get it done. What wasn't very clear to me was the strategic piece,” he said. “How do you decide that you want to do X versus Y? What are the considerations that go into it? What are the factors you need to account for? How do you ultimately come to a decision and then act on that decision?” 

Pasrija searched for graduate programs that could help him develop a strategic skillset. His ability to operate across different cultures, countries, and economies mounted his interest in examining these business questions through an international lens, leading him to The Fletcher School’s Master of International Business program.  

Flaring and Funneling 

Pasrija hit the ground running when he arrived at Fletcher. The program’s strategic management class introduced him to the broad way of thinking he sought. He scrutinized balance sheets and the multitude of factors that comprise a company’s economic environment. 

Simultaneously, he was inspired by the school’s international community.   

“You’re surrounded by people who are incredibly smart and who are looking to engage with the world in ways that are unique,” he said. “That’s what I loved the most about Fletcher: the intersectionality and the ability to actually think about a lot of different areas within the same day. It was just incredible.” 

As he approached the end of his first year, he felt he needed to go “from flaring to funneling,” synthesizing the disparate concepts he’d learned into more particular research and career interests. A summer internship with Liberty Mutual’s leadership development program provided him an opportunity to zero in and orchestrate the pivot into the strategic side of financial services that he’d imagined.   

Through the internship, and deep self-reflection on his past career as a consultant, Pasrija saw a new path forward. He decided to apply to positions within the strategy consulting groups at financial services companies. A warm introduction through a Fletcher classmate at Fidelity accelerated the application process, and he had a job offer in hand prior to beginning his second year.  

“That gave me the ability to lean into some interesting courses and truly pursue the degree from an intellectual curiosity perspective as well, not merely from a practical, career-oriented point of view,” he said. 

He cross-registered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management and studied entrepreneurship. Through the Tufts 100K Competition, he traveled to Tunisia with his teammates to work on a social entrepreneurship project and his team was one of the competition’s runners-up. 

A Thoughtful Pivot 

Pasrija has worked at Fidelity since he graduated from Fletcher. With the same spirit of curiosity and open-mindedness, he has moved across teams in order to pursue his professional aspirations. 

Pasrija began with Fidelity’s strategy consulting group, where he supported marketing, operations, and product development projects. When an opportunity arose to transfer to Fidelity’s financial planning space, he was thrilled to develop tools that help people plan for their financial futures. He found that product development work wed what he loved from his prior career with the vision he’d had for his professional life moving forward.  

“Product management exemplifies what Fletcher does with an interdisciplinary education,” he said. “You get to work with customers directly, thinking about your business's goals and objectives, how people interact with technology, the legal aspects of what you're developing, and how you make sure that you are in compliance with all the rules and regulations that exist, and ultimately develop a product that helps people and companies succeed.” 

“I absolutely love that sphere,” he added. “I think it may have been in my DNA, which ultimately led me to a school like Fletcher.” 

Today, Pasrija leads a team of 50 individuals across different functions. While the practical skills he learned in the classroom were tantamount to his success, so too was the community that he was part of in Medford.  

“As you progress in an organization, you get to work with a lot of people who are smart and have the vision and the ability to execute. I think what really sets you apart is the ability to work with and through several different teams,” he said. 

“It's not about being able to make that individual impact,” he added. “It is about delivering results that require a lot of different teams to be on the same page and ultimately come together. Fletcher helps students understand how to work with many different personalities and people.”  

Read more about Fletcher’s strategic management and consulting for global impact field of study.