Movers and Shakers: Rosa Bravo, Business Development Director, Accenture
This week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with profiles of senior Hispanic women in the financial and professional services. Check back all week long to read more.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“One of the things I wish I had known earlier,” began Rosa Bravo, a Business Development Director for Accenture, “is that it’s okay to ask for help.”
Bravo, who started her career as an aerospace engineer before moving into consulting, explained, “There are so many choices you have to make along the way, and you just can’t do it alone.”
Asking for help was particularly difficult for her at first. “I’ve been culturally conditioned to be a strong woman, to want to be able to do everything on my own. It took a few years to feel comfortable to raise my hand and ask for help when I needed it.”
She added, “But it made things much easier when I did.”
Career in Consulting
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bravo was the first child of her Ecuadorian parents. She studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Southern California and took her first job as a systems engineer in thermal nuclear analysis at an aerospace company. She went on to work for several commercial and defense programs while earning her master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering.
“Around this time there were also some shifts in the industry and I moved into consulting,” she explained. “Concurrently I had gotten married and had a baby – so I was juggling a new career in consulting and being a first time mom.”
While she began working at the company as a systems integration consultant, she shifted gears a few years later. “I made a choice for my family to do less travel. I began to work in operations, deploying global projects internally for Accenture. Then I shifted into an exciting technology role.”
Today, Bravo has spent nineteen years with Accenture, having worked in several areas, including Public Service, Gas and Chemicals, eCommerce, Consumer Goods & Services, and Health & Life Sciences. Currently she leads business development across Accenture’s markets in Southern California.
She continued, “It’s incredibly rewarding working in my backyard, and taking my analyst and engineering skills and applying them here for our clients in Southern California.”
Bravo has had a lot to be proud of over the course of her career. “I was one of the first people in my family to get a degree. And raising my son as a single mom, while having a fulfilling career, has made me proud.”
“So has leading teams solving business problems for some of the most notable companies in the world. And the thank you notes I get from clients are also rewarding.”
One particular milestone Bravo mentioned, was representing Accenture as a member of a business delegation invited to the White House in 2010 to discuss regional concerns in healthcare, education and commerce. “As a first generation person, you can imagine the significance for my family and for me,” she said.
She is also particularly enthusiastic about her heath care and government clients. “To serve my community and be part of a national and local conversation about education and health care is very rewarding.”
Advice for Professional Women
“I have never really faced any barriers as a woman,” Bravo said. “Early in my academic and professional career, I encountered people who still weren’t comfortable with women in the sciences, but I didn’t really treat these attitudes as barriers.”
She says she is inspired by the women of the generation before her, who really broke through and set an example for other women in the sciences. “I recognize and deeply respect the struggles of the many women, the trailblazers, that came before me. They paved the way for me and for others. I feel an enormous amount of gratitude as well as an obligation as a Hispanic woman to be a worthy steward of all the opportunities that were afforded to me by these courageous women.”
There are, however, internal barriers she deals with, she continued. “It’s really about those self-imposed challenges. As a Latina, I’m very dedicated to my family. My mom stayed at home, and all of my aunts stayed at home. It’s been a challenge for me to reconcile the piece of me who wants to have a career and the part of me who wants to stay home.”
She added, “But in the end, it really is about what each woman wants for herself.”
“I spend a lot of time at my alma mater with students discussing careers, and we often speak of listening to that inner voice and identifying those things that really excite and motivate them,” she continued. “It is about finding your joy, your passion and using all your energy and your gifts, whether they are academic, creative, or interpersonal, to be successful and happy at what you choose to do in your life.”
Bravo is very active with Accenture’s Hispanic American Employee Resource Group, having been a leader of the Southern California group for many years. She is also an active member of the company’s Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s Employee Resource Group, and has been part of planning its activities for International Women’s Day. “I’m highly active in liaising with our local community in bringing in other women to share in the conversation with us.”
Outside Accenture, Bravo is a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers as well as the Society of Women Engineers.
In her Personal Time
“I have so many interests,” Bravo said. “And I really like to make the most of my spare time. One of the things I really enjoy is traveling to global events like the Olympic Games or the World Cup. My parents always made sure we traveled and I’ve been fortunate enough to do the same with my son.”
She continued, “Last year we went to see the final space shuttle launch. It was truly remarkable – especially since we’ve all been in the aerospace industry.”
Bravo is also an avid road cyclist, having participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Lake Tahoe century ride (which is 100 miles long).