Sisters Lisa Lavayen and Katherine Vosahlo are no strangers to change.

As children, they moved every three years due to their father’s career in the military and have since ended up on different coastlines—Lisa in New York City and Katherine in Southeastern Washington state.

Incidentally, shared adaptability to life’s larger shifts is exactly what brought them both to Your Part-Time Controller, LLC.

On the non-traditional course she took to her role as an Associate in the New York City market, Lisa said, “I think a lot of my crazy background set me up for the type of work at YPTC. In terms of goals, I just really wanted to use my talents in the world in the best way I could.”

The daily responsibilities at YPTC are diverse and client-tailored, with a wide range of services including cashflow management, budgeting, forecasting, bookkeeping, and monthly financial statements. Given her aptitude with ever-evolving fiscal landscapes, Lisa was well-prepared for her position.

Lucia Rivieccio, Interim Executive Director at Midwood Development Corporation and one of Lisa’s first clients, stated, “I know nonprofit budgets are complicated and they’re not as straightforward. I’ve worked with finance people who didn’t have nonprofit experience and it was a huge learning curve for them, but Lisa got it all.”

Prior to arriving at YPTC, Lisa spent almost twenty years working her way from undergraduate roots in accounting to high-ranking finance positions in commercial real estate. However, while working as a VP of Finance for a large corporation in Florida, she felt she was at a point where she needed to further explore her creative side.

“I had always considered myself half left-brained and half right-brained. I dabbled in interior design and would make my own clothes, but I never knew I could make a career out of these things. I started taking classes at night in Florida for fashion art and patternmaking, and I noticed I was doing really well. Then, I found out about an accelerated program at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I thought it sounded amazing, so I decided to apply, even though they accepted only 75 applicants a year. When I got in, I took it as a sign and left my big corporate job in Florida to do it. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, but it was the most fun,” Lisa recalled.

From there, she immersed herself in the fast-paced world of fashion; first as an intern at a high-end design house, then as a leader in business operations. And for the next 15 years, that’s where she stayed, fluidly moving from position to position to keep up with the industry.

While Lisa was in New York, Katherine built her own career in accounting and finance on the other side of the country.

“My background is the opposite of Lisa’s—most of the time I was in public accounting at small and mid-sized firms. After going back to school in my early 20s to earn my MBA, I did everything from bookkeeping to tax to audits,” said Katherine.

When a nonprofit client from the Boy Scouts of America approached her about an open controller position in 2014, she accepted. During her time at the organization, Katherine developed both an acumen and passion for the nonprofit sector.

The sisters’ divergent career paths would begin to merge in 2018 with Lisa’s exit from the fashion industry. The demanding schedule and jumps from job to job left her craving stability, flexibility, and balance—all of which she found at YPTC. “The fashion business was stressful. After so many years, I was completely burnt out; I came to YPTC to get my life back,” Lisa said.

Once the company formed YPTC Anywhere, its remote services division, in 2020, Lisa knew that her sister would be a perfect fit. Through YPTC’s generous staff referral program, known internally as “EARN,” Lisa was able to make a formal recommendation for consideration of her sister’s application. That October, after applying and interviewing with members of YPTC’s management team, Katherine became one of the first two Associates hired for YPTC Anywhere; an opportunity she believed could not have come at a better time.

“I was ready at the right point in my life to work for YPTC. From start to finish, learning all the separate roles in accounting and working with all types of nonprofits made me a great candidate. As someone who comes from nonprofits as a controller, I got to live the day-to-day with nonprofit struggles. I could understand and provide what they needed versus what they typically saw. Accounting is my main talent, and it’s incredibly rewarding to help a nonprofit do what they do by making that part better for them,” Katherine responded when asked about her experience as a remote Associate thus far.

Though vastly different, Katherine and Lisa plan to remain at YPTC for the same reason: to utilize their unique experiences in a way that is both meaningful and impactful. It is in this shared aspiration that for the first time in a long time, the sisters have found themselves together again.

Your Part-Time Controller, LLC is currently hiring nationwide. If you are an accounting professional looking to use your skills for good, contact us today or apply now. We can’t wait to meet you!