Voice of Experience: Ayesha K. Farooqi, Head of Debt Capital Markets, Commitments & Risk; Macquarie Capital

Ayesha K Farooqi
Women need to focus on building professional relationships within their companies as well as their industries as a whole, which can be a huge benefit considering how narrow most industries tend to be — and how small the world is, says Ayesha K. Farooqi of Macquarie Capital.

“It’s vital to build relationships with your colleagues, both junior and senior, and one way to accomplish that, in addition to social interaction, is by taking on as much responsibility as you can handle, being proactive but also reliable so you can earn stretch assignments that will help you grow,” she says.

Proactively Finding Opportunities to Grow Her Skills and Reputation

Farooqi began her career as a tax attorney specializing in cross-border transactions, but realized there was a lack of such work during the economic downturn caused by the dot.com bubble burst. She proactively visited her managing partner’s office and said that she wasn’t in an area where she was learning and growing as much as she would like and asked to switch to, at the time, the more dynamic bankruptcy practice. He complied, as the bankruptcy group was expanding, and this request fit a need where the firm was looking to hire an additional bankruptcy associate. She began splitting her time between her tax practice and doing litigation and transactional bankruptcy work, which quickly evolved into financing companies that were entering or exiting bankruptcy, that further segued into leveraged finance.

She worked for a number of leading law firms over several years until an opportunity to move into a new role being created at Macquarie Capital presented itself. Farooqi saw the new role that would sit within the debt capital markets business requiring a mix of legal, business and risk management acumen as a challenging yet exciting opportunity that would add further depth and breadth to her diverse background. The self-described adventurous Farooqi said “Sign me up.” It proved to be a smart move, as she just marked her fifth anniversary there and has organized a team within the debt capital markets business that is thriving and has become an integral part of the business.

“The fact that I am open to opportunities and have been able to fluidly transition from one practice area to another, allowing me to build on my expertise and gain valuable experience, has been a boon to my career,” she notes. However, she says that while she has been proactive in acquiring diverse work, she sees now that things that she felt stress over as she went along, particularly those outside her control, tended to work out over time. “I could have worked more strategically,” she says, adding that along the way she has learned that hard work alone is not enough to help you climb the corporate ladder — equal consideration has to be given to building lasting relationships.

Right now she is enjoying her work on a number of exciting transactions as she helps the business operate in a nimble fashion. “I can work at multiple levels of a transaction focusing on both the commercial and legal perspective of a deal,” she says.

“Over time, I’ve learned that the transactions that were the most complex were the ones where I learned the most and still draw upon,” she adds.

A Company That Embraces Diversity

Farooqi is proud to work for a company that maintains a focus on gender equity; in fact, while investment banking as a whole is having a relatively challenging time attracting women, the new class of analysts who just finished their summer internships in the debt capital markets group at Macquarie Capital were all women, but one. In addition, roughly one-third of the managing directors in the debt capital markets group are women, and Macquarie Group recently promoted Shemara Wikramanayake as its next CEO, hardly the typical investment banking CEO mold. Wikramanayake was recently named the fifth-most powerful woman in business outside the U.S. by Fortune International.

The company encourages gender success at multiple levels; for example, the Lean In circles that were established four years ago have evolved into a formal Women at Macquarie group. The firm-wide initiative has a budget aimed at promoting gender quality and attracting and retaining women. “I am proud to have seen the Women at Macquarie group grow so rapidly,” she says.

The company also offers a variety of work/life tools to employees, such as guidance for healthy balance regarding flexibility in the workplace, and even financial and other advisory information, such as a recent session to help employees learn the ins and outs of getting a child into a private school or some of the most competitive public schools in New York City.

She says she’s seen a positive trend of more women entering the legal and investment banking fields, which means there needs to be hyper vigilance on retaining them. “We have to build the pipeline, and mentorship is a key way to do that. Women need to build relationships from both sides: Those in the junior ranks should concentrate on doing good work and building relationships with senior folks so others on the team can vouch for you when needed; senior women should seek out promising junior women on the team and help groom them to become leaders in their chosen field.”

In her free time, Farooqi loves to travel, the more adventurous the better, including hiking the Inca Trail and Patagonia, trekking in Chile and scaling Kilimanjaro in just five days. Always looking for a new challenge, she expands her hobbies regularly, and recently has taken up golf and bird hunting.

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Mover and Shaker: Jodi-ann Johnson; Director, Executive Communications and Strategic Initiatives; WEX

Jodi-ann JohnsonNever underestimate the power of a great conversation, says WEX’ Jodi-ann Johnson.

“I value my relationships and act with intention to make strong connections with people,” she says. “You have to be bold and brave, but also true to who you are: When you act authentically, you can build trust.”

That instinct to be bold was the catalyst for an important moment in her career, that didn’t necessarily seem so at the time. She was attending an internal leadership event, but arrived late due to travel delays. She ended up being seated at the same table as the new CEO; she figured that this was her opportunity to ask him if he would be the featured speaker at an upcoming customer meeting. The ask and event went well, cementing her reputation as someone who gets things done. “You can’t wait for things to happen; you have to ask for what you need,” Johnson advises.

A Career That Revolves Around Leading through Change

With 25 years of career success under her belt, Johnson has worn a wide variety of hats, which gives her a strong background to draw from. Over the years, she’s tackled organizational and business change and been involved with strategic planning, program management and communications – broad experience she can tap into it for whatever work adventure comes next.

Although she has lived in the corporate world for the bulk of her career, she actually started in an entrepreneurial environment, the kind of start-up company where employees knew their “number.” As the company grew, she grew with it, experiencing everything from internal marketing communication to customer-facing outreach and consulting.

The customers she visited around the country were Fortune 100-level companies who were launching work/family benefit programs, a sector that was groundbreaking at the time. The company was a pioneer in the work management and training world, and since her boss was a woman, Johnson never experienced the male-dominated hierarchy that seemed prevalent in other companies.

“The founder started the company based on an idea that became a mission and passion so that intent has always been core to my beliefs,” she says.

Even in the corporate environment, she still found herself working among strong women, and Johnson noticed that one of the women she worked for had become the president of the division without ever going to college. To her that signaled that there were no boundaries, and she found that to be true as the company grew and evolved, and she was always able to jump into new things.

After working in Minneapolis and Boston and traveling globally, she decided it was time to pivot to being “home,” which for Johnson is Portland, Maine, so she sought an opportunity at WEX—a company with a strong growth story—and has been there almost nine years in different roles in both corporate communications and program management, most notably assisting with the CEO transition. What she immediately recognized and appreciates about WEX is that there’s a spirit of entrepreneurism; it’s a place where what matters most is if you deliver, rather than your title and level. What really matters, she says, is what happens when you walk in the door.

“The best parts of my job are helping others manage through change and ambiguity, whether that’s bringing structure and clarity to multifaceted initiatives, facilitating an efficient meeting or helping our senior executives craft the right message,” Johnson says.

Her desire to play the helper role has always been prominent in her career and came to its largest light right after 9/11 when she was working with the company that provided counseling programs to those directly impacted by the tragedy. She helped develop educational materials to support employees and organizations, overseeing a constant evolution of needs in what she feels was one of the most meaningful times in her career.

Currently, she is proud of the forward-thinking planning WEX is doing as they look ahead to 2019 and maximizing the opportunities for a newly acquired company that will spur growth as they consider expanding into additional markets. “It’s exciting to be part of the process and help bring together new ideas and concepts that will help us become a richer, deeper place as we hone our focus and find alignment among a wide variety of critical initiatives for 2019.”

Finding and Sharing Strength With Colleagues and Family

Although Johnson says she has been fortunate to have been mentored by phenomenal women over the years, none stands brighter than her own mom, who supported two kids while leading a busy working life. Johnson views her mom as a pioneer in her day who paved the way as a strong role model in both career and family life.

And she knows the importance of relying on strong relationships as the cornerstone of a career, whether it’s the leaders she supports, her peers or her own team.

Johnson appreciates being part of Women at WEX, particularly when she is able to help people navigate the company and their career. “There’s this great spirit here, and we have a lot of Type A personalities, but finding a way to volunteer and give back has been really exciting,” she says.

In addition she has forged strong connections with many women outside of WEX who have been pioneers in their own career, such as one who became one of the first women partners at a financial services company. “I have learned lot about being honest, open and brave from this network of women,” she says.

Married to her high school sweetheart, they have two girls and a boy — two in high school and one in college. While it’s not easy to get together, she says they are fortunate to have a family camp two hours north on Green Lake. Aptly called “Second Wind,” it’s where they can recharge and reconnect even if they can only grab 48 hours as they did recently.

In addition, they love to travel; they have hiked throughout Utah, Maine and New England and are excited about an upcoming trip to Italy.

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Voice of Experience: Vilaiporn Taweelappontong | PwC Thailand

Speak up; share your aspirational goals; and pursue your ambitions, advises PwC Thailand’s Vilaiporn Taweelappontong.

“In our culture, many young women still shy away from sharing their dreams, as they do not want to be seen as aggressive. But my message is that it’s ok to speak up. It’s your career, and you are the one responsible for it,” she says.

She notes that in Asian cultures, employees are taught to look to supervisors for approval before proceeding with any tasks or making big decisions and that if you work hard enough and do a really good job, you will be noticed and considered for promotion. But while in the United States office, she realized she was missing opportunities by not speaking up, and soon decided that being more vocal and visible and sharing career aspirations and then aggressively pursuing them would lead to success. That, combined with a strong network and supportive mentors, have propelled her career.

From Consulting to Leading

Taweelappontong has spent more than 20 years in IT consulting, with the past five as a country leader. She started her career in Thailand with a different global consulting firm, with the intent to just stay for a few years before moving to the corporate environment. But after a few projects, she fell in love with the speed of the consulting business and the opportunity to meet people and learn from the best, along with working with different technologies. She had the opportunity to work in many countries, including three years in the United States, where she learned a great deal about leadership, practice building and people management.

One of the professional achievements she’s most proud of is building the Thailand practice, achieving more than 75 percent growth in the past five years and growing the team substantially.

Earlier in her career, she preferred working with technology, rather than dealing with people. “Technologies are much easier to handle, since you don’t need to address emotional people or tough characters,” says Taweelappontong.

So when offered opportunities to step up and lead, she was hesitant at first, but having good coaches and mentors supported her confidence by allowing her to make mistakes and share her worst fears in order to learn and grow. Although she has conquered that reticence and has proven to be an effective leader, technology remains her area of most interest. She is currently working on several projects where the team is assessing how emerging technologies can help improve clients’ back office operations by automating tasks that are currently done by humans and using analytics to help inform better decisions. The goal is not necessarily to reduce costs but to improve efficiency, reduce human error and redeploy employees to more interesting and strategic roles, such as customer service and analytics.

“As a business technologist, I’m always passionate about learning the new technologies, like how robotics can perform a surgery, how AI can help with screening candidates and how analytics can help predict customers’ and employees’ behavior and needs,” Taweelappontong says.

Helping Create Balance

IT consulting is a demanding job and that can lead many women to resign once they reach the manager level in order to gain more time for their families. Taweelappontong says that as exit interviews continued to show the parallel path of promotions coinciding with family, they worked with HR to introduce flexible work arrangements.

For example, one single mom who needed to come in later in the morning after school drop-off or leave early some days to help with homework, received a 60 percent work arrangement that allowed her to coordinate with colleagues to meet those needs. Another manager whose husband asked her to resign for more family time was given a three-day-a-week schedule. “These flexible work arrangement programs help retain many of our talents in the workplace, and when we expanded the program to all genders, many men also applied.”

Taweelappontong helps maintain her own balance as a serious yoga practitioner, finding that the mind-body practice releases stress and relaxes her mind. She has blocked three hours every Saturday morning to go to the studio and practice yoga, and over the years has developed a network with a group of people who enjoy full-body stretching.

“Typically people who practice yoga also have an overall healthy life style — eating well and living well,” she notes, adding that she has picked up many health tips from the class.

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Voice of Experience: Emma Maconick, Partner, Shearman & Sterling

Emma MaconickWhile you can’t choose your circumstances, you can choose how you react to them, says Shearman & Sterling’s Emma Maconick.

“If I could, I would tell the junior version of myself to focus on relationships because they will all matter in some way,” she says. “Giving without expecting anything in return will do more to enhance your career than anything else. The act of being a helpful, useful person in your network is an incredibly valuable skill.”

Seizing Opportunities Provides A Strong Foundation

“Meandering.” That’s how Maconick describes her career, which began in England in the mid- 90s. Back then, she was doing computer and tech work for corporate entities and capital markets. And the more she heard about private equity investing in the then-new “internet,” the more interested she became in the sector.

Thanks to a contact she made at a casual party, she ended up working for an Australian law firm’s Auckland, New Zealand office, which in retrospect she believes was an excellent career move. She found herself traveling up the career ladder, becoming a big fish in a little pond with tremendous exposure to a host of smaller tech companies.

Later on, thanks to a former colleague in the San Francisco Bay Area who knew she was interested in transactional law, she came back to the United States to work at Davis Polk. She worked there for several years before moving to Shearman in June.

While Maconick has spearheaded a variety of impressive technology projects, product launches and fascinating deals over the years, she is most proud of the teams she’s built throughout her career. “My legacy isn’t as much what I personally will do, but what the people I have managed will do,” she says. “I tend to give them a lot of rope to venture out on their own, but I am also there to catch them before they fall. My job is to make them not need me, but always want me,” she says.

Her current work is focused on data, sitting at the intersection of intellectual property, cybersecurity and governance. While an Economist article had famously stated that “data is the new oil,” Maconick goes a step further. “I think it’s even more elemental; it’s the new carbon,” she says, adding that everything will be data-driven, which is why issues around artificial intelligence and ethics and how we build the upcoming digital world are so crucial.

Standing Out To Get Ahead

Maconick recommends that professional women develop an indispensable set of skills, and put their own spin on it.

She says it’s imperative to find out what’s valued in a particular organization — whether it’s culture, sales, creativity or something else — and focus on that. “Nothing magnifies your voice more than being able to generate work for your team.”

As women move up in the corporate world, Maconick believes women can take advantage of their inherent disposition for being relationship and empathy-focused. As computers take over manual tasks, interconnectedness, an area where women excel, will be a real value driver, allowing them to understand clients and their business challenges.

“These skills can shift the balance of power in your favor,” she says.

Professional women can help uplift others through tiny, incremental changes. For instance, if there is a spot open on a key project, suggest it be staffed with a woman capable of doing the job.

Shearman places a lot of importance on diversity. The firm provides skill-building sessions such as “practice your pitch,” and encourages associates to take the time to participate in conferences. It also holds monthly meetings featuring new opportunities or support with professional growth.

Finding Balance With Varied Interests

Maconick is active with the national group Ellevate, as well as Shearman’s WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) group. She also sits on the board of Upward Women, which focuses on elevating senior-level women. “The key is to find or form your own stiletto network or book club or whatever works for you, as a way to connect with other professionals.”

Most of her time outside work is devoted to her two sons, ages three and seven. Although her schedule is limited, she also enjoys ceramic arts and pottery, which provide both a mental and creative boost.

A travel junkie, Maconick is proud of her 6 x 8 foot map covered in pins marking all the places she’s been. “My life is oriented toward the next cool trip,” she says, adding that her kids are becoming highly adept travelers as well. She continues, “I traveled a lot as a kid and love other cultures, food and languages; whether we seek them in the next state or on the other side of the world, I find it enormously enriching.”

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Voice of Experience: Laura Takacs, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

“An engineering career can be full of action and excitement,” says Goldman Sachs’ Laura Takacs.

Throughout her career she has successfully operated through many exciting times, from navigating the financial crisis from a tech perspective to building systems for a new business venture to a myriad of technical issues that can arise day to day – and she has learned through each of them that nothing is insurmountable.

“The strongest collaboration, teamwork and creative solutions have come during these tough periods, and I have emerged with unparalleled experience and an attitude to tackle anything,” she says.

Engineering a Successful Career

After earning a BCE in Computer Engineering from Villanova University and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, Takacs started her career hacking into computers, as one of the “good guys,” finding vulnerabilities in military systems.

She joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst engineer in 1999 and has spent the past 20 years working in several different areas of the firm, from developing electronic trading and risk systems to her current role as global head of Human Capital Management (HCM), Compensation Accounting and Services Engineering. Takacs notes that the mobility Goldman Sachs encourages has allowed her to have incredibly broad experiences as an engineer.

Her career trajectory has been gratifying. The adrenaline rush from earlier experiences of hacking has continued as technology has shaken up every aspect of finance. “Earlier in my career, most of the tech disruption was happening in the trading businesses, so I spent my time engineering the exciting world of Fixed Income. But now a lot of the innovation and energy has spread to other areas of the firm, including HCM and our real estate technology groups.”

In her current role, she helps determine the future state technology for the firms’ global building footprint, influences infrastructure for security surveillance and protection of the firm’s assets and people globally, and applies analytics to help drive informed decisions regarding our people.

Building the Pipeline

Takacs mentions something that is top-of-mind for most people today in education and technology: the fact that many girls opt out from a potential career in engineering at an early stage. “We have a lot of work to do to ensure that girls don’t decide engineering is not a viable path before they have even had exposure to technology,” she says. “Unfortunately, even though technology and engineering can be such an adventure, many girls don’t even have it on their radar as a career path.”

She is working hard to combat this issue and is involved in a number of initiatives inside and outside the firm.

Throughout her time at GS, Takacs has been actively involved in the Women in Engineering Network, an organization built around the mission of recruiting, developing, retaining and promoting women in Engineering, and has served as its co-head in the Americas for the past seven years. The organization also focuses on community outreach to girls through programs including teaching computer topics in schools and working with groups like Girls Who Code, all contributing to the purpose of developing the pipeline.

“It’s rewarding to give back, help influence some of these programs and work with women and girls who are equally passionate, supportive and engaged in the importance of these programs at a firm like Goldman Sachs that is highly supportive and takes concrete actions to improve diversity,” she says.

Takacs says that early in her career engineering was less supported and more scrappy. “When I started working, I had to assemble my own circuit boards. Now engineers get the benefit of open source software and cloud infrastructure. But, I still carry a Leatherman in my purse just in case I need to cobble together some electronics.”

As a mom to three kids, ages 9, 7 and 6, she knows it’s vital to have women in senior positions whom other women can look up to as role models. “As senior professionals in Finance, we work hard and sometimes that hard work trickles into personal time,” she says, “For example, this past weekend, my team and I spent hours fixing a challenging issue to ensure it was resolved for the entire firm by start of business Monday morning. This happens periodically but I’ve still managed to go to over 170 of my kids sporting events and activities last year – baseball, basketball, softball, soccer matches, tumbling, cheerleading and dance performances as well as being a classroom mom and active in the school Parent Teacher Organization. It is rewarding when my kids see how hard I work, but also that I am able to participate in their activities. It is not easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Having women in leadership positions allows more junior colleagues to see that it is possible to balance work, family and other obligations and interests. “The number of questions I get about my career path when I speak to other female engineers underscores that this is on their mind,” she notes.

She believes in balancing her mental activities at work with physical activities, including running and participating in endurance and obstacle races. She enjoys the fast pace that comes with balancing family time and work responsibilities, so it is no surprise she is excited about an upcoming event – a gift from her husband of a trip to a speedway to race cars . “I enjoy action in whatever form it comes,” she notes.

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Voice of Experience: Jessica Tan, Marketing Director, Head of Global Field Marketing, FIS

Jessica TanBy Cathie Ericson

FIS’ Jessica Tan credits two factors for her ability to segue from an education in psychology and theater to her current position heading a global field marketing team in a fintech company.

Firstly, agreeing to try things outside her comfort zone, and secondly, realizing that her success depended on finding people who were willing to teach her. Tan comments, “The people you network with can help open up avenues that you aren’t able to open on your own,” she says.

A Career Path Winding Through Locations and Industries

Tan’s first job interning at a lifestyle magazine was the “most fun and carefree” job she ever held. She then joined the “real world;” after finishing her education in Singapore, she moved to Sweden for a position as a project manager and editor at a communications firm, working for Swedish multinational clients. Upon a return to Singapore, she dabbled in PR before ending up as a marketing manager for an Australian bank, which ultimately opened her eyes to the world of financial technology.

During the financial crisis in 2008 she began looking for new opportunities and joined SunGard Financial Systems (ultimately acquired by FIS) in 2009 as its Asia-Pacific PR and marketing manager, subsequently taking on additional roles in international marketing, where she worked with emerging markets such as China, the Middle East and Latin America. She has now been there for almost 10 years and currently heads a team of 14 marketers responsible for executing global marketing campaigns.

This international career has sparked several professional achievements she is proud of: One major one was beginning her career in Sweden, where English is not the first language; although her colleagues were effectively bilingual in Swedish and English, she was able to eventually converse and conduct business in Swedish. “I grew up speaking English and Mandarin, and learning another language really helped me broaden my ability to understand how different cultures create different business environments,” she says.

These early experiences provided her with the sensitivity to work with people from all types of cultures, which paved the way for her global role today where nearly 80 percent of her interactions are outside of the United States, including Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

She has worked on the firm’s evolution of its marketing model over the past five years – from one that depended on events and other traditional forms of marketing to capitalizing on the explosion of marketing automation, and using technology to track efforts and improve the effectiveness of outreach.

Learning to Find Balance

In her early years Tan notes that she threw herself into her work, believing that the more she got done, the more she would advance her career. Then while her mom battled cancer for three years, she realized that she needed to learn to carve out time for her family while continuing to maintain the same high quality of work, delivered as efficiently as possible.

“You want to be present when you’re with your family, so the solution to that is to become more efficient at work. Then you can go home and not bring your worries with you.” In fact, today she says her role models are those who have found ways to balance their responsibilities at home and work. “Often I see women who take on many burdens at home but are able to perform well in both settings – not taking their problems home or bringing their domestic issues to work,” she notes. “I admire those who can juggle and don’t let their worries invade either sphere. Both sides sculpt you as a person; you do what you need to do at work and home.”

She feels fortunate to work for a company that understands the numerous roles its employees play and recognizes that it’s important to offer day-to-day flexibility to manage work as well as home life.

“I can be where I need to be for my family and for my work, whichever I need to focus on at the time,” says Tan. As mom to a three-year-old son, she appreciates working for a company that believes people can project manage their own time and one that is proactive in ensuring that there are strong women across the C-suite.

Given her international experience, Tan notes that she still loves to travel, frequently visiting her in-laws in Europe and fitting in weekend holidays whenever she can.

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Voice of Experience: Laure Châtillon, Partner and Diversity Leader, PwC France

oice of Experience: Laure Châtillon, Partner and Diversity Leader, PwC FranceThere is a famous book by the French Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau called Choisissez Tout (Choose Everything), where she underscores that women don’t have to make sacrifices. There is no standard in life: You don’t have to be ambitious or start a family, but you have to try before giving up. That has been an important theme in Laure Châtillon’s career, as she believes that anything is possible if you do it your own way.
“Early in my career, I had talked with women who said I was a dreamer to imagine that I could have a fulfilling career as well as several kids even if I already knew it was possible,” she says, citing her current reality as a partner at PwC France and a mother to four children. “I would love to talk with them and tell them how my husband and I made it work,” she says.
Building a Fulfilling Career
That quest to have it all began when Châtillon was attending a French management school and joined PwC France as an intern. After her last year of school she decided to start her career there, joining the valuation team where she valued intangible assets and companies. Except a short time in the leveraged finance division of Royal Bank of Scotland, she spent almost her entire career at PwC France. “I had my four kids within PwC, and it has never been an issue for my bosses,” she says.
She was promoted to partner in 2017. “We are transforming business, and we know that business is different every day so I enjoy the constant challenge,” she says. Additionally, she was asked to take on the diversity and inclusion subset within PwC France, a new role that has offered an exciting complement to her position as partner in valuation.
A Focus on Diversity
Diversity is a focus Châtillon has always had. “It’s not just a matter of philanthropy; our societies are more and more diverse and we really have to be more inclusive if we want to stay up-to-date.”
Although companies are increasingly finding that a robust focus on diversity is vital to retain talent, better meet client needs and foster innovation, there is still much to do. Châtillon feels that one way to encourage diversity is to become an active sponsor, as building a group of supportive women will help to retain more in top management levels. Sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle, she says, as she herself has seen many women who attended school with her choose to downshift their careers. “Stereotypes don’t come from men only,” she notes.
Of course, the ability to juggle work and family is never easy. “The most significant challenge is time, but you learn to find space in your agenda for what matters and then couple that with the trust you can build on your teams,” she says.
Furthermore, there is not just one path to success. “Define it for yourself and find your own path to get there,” she says. “Never be afraid to think outside the box and do things differently, more innovatively.”
One of her most recent accomplishments as diversity leader was starting a women’s incubator with soft skills workshops and a mentoring program, along with inspiring events such as hosting speakers like the French Minister of Equality. Châtillon also launched an initiative for gay, lesbians and everyone else, with the hope that it will ease inclusion for everyone working in the company. Lastly, she started different initiatives to attract more people from different backgrounds within the company, with the purpose of being more representative of the society as a whole.
Châtillon’s ability to prioritize and juggle has led to her fulfilling career. “My proudest accomplishment is that I’ve been able to share my enthusiasm for our industry with my clients and team, and still balance a busy family,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Karen Shane, Wells Fargo Advisors

By Cathie Ericson

Karen Shane, a Charlotte, NC-based financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors, believes that if you are driven and passionate about your career, the sky’s the limit—no matter the industry.

She concedes that having support is an important component to one’s success. “I always tell my daughter to find what she is passionate about and then work like crazy to rise to the top. You’ll find that you won’t mind working hard if you feel you are doing what you are meant to do,” she adds.

Rising Through the Ranks

Shane started her career in 2004 as a trading assistant on an institutional fixed income desk servicing bonds for large banks. The job entailed sitting at a huge desk with 10 other people, each of them assigned a computer and a phone getting bids on bonds. She earned both experience and her Series 7 license, but after a few years decided to pivot to a client-facing role. She joined AG Edwards as a client associate and through subsequent mergers is now with Wells Fargo Advisors. In 2010 she moved to Charlotte, N.C., with her family where she became the registered associate of her current partner, Susan Brown.

The two women went through a coaching program offered through their firm called DELTA, part of which was envisioning a 10-year goal which led them to the decision to partner –their client ethos and focus on holistic advice complementing each other.

In 2014, the pilot program of Wells Fargo Advisor’s Associate Financial Advisor (AFA) program launched, so Brown encouraged Shane to enroll in the program to transition to a financial advisor role and ultimately create a partnership.

Shane is also proud of the commitment she gave to pursuing her Certified Financial Planner™ designation – having studied at 4 a.m. before her family got up and spending hours at the library on the weekend –encouraged throughout by Brown on their Sunday morning runs.

Finding Opportunities in Wells Fargo Advisors’ Next Generation Talent Program

Right now, Shane is enjoying the challenge of developing more meaningful relationships with clients and finding new ways to build their practice, with a specialization that focuses on female executives. This pivot has helped build her confidence as she has enjoyed making recommendations and seeing her ideas come to fruition.

Shane credits both the AFA program and the support she receives from Brown as helping her develop that confidence. “Most client associates are women, and without the proper support they can feel stuck in that role. The Next Generation Talent Program is very empowering, not just for me, but the many others like me who were looking for a path to transition and enhance their careers.”

She sees the value that comes from women supporting each other, and the game-changing benefits that can arise from mentoring relationships with more seasoned female leaders. Shane looks forward to paying it forward, and is currently helping encourage one of her peers from the AFA class who’s taking the CFP exam.

Outside of work, Shane stays busy with her family – a 13-year-old daughter who’s immersed in the world of theater, both performing and volunteering at the local theater, and a nine-year-old son who plays soccer and golf.

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Mover and Shaker: Cassandra Cuellar, Associate at Shearman & Sterling

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Cassandra Cuellar

By Cathie Ericson

Being inquisitive and asking a lot of questions is one of the best ways to move ahead, whether you’re working with a partner or client, believes Shearman’s Cassandra Cuellar.

In addition, she recommends that professionals always maintain a positive attitude, showing up and treating every day like a new day. “It’s a stressful job, and you have to recognize that your role is to find a way around issues, to find a solution that will meet the client’s ultimate goal whether it’s an internal or external client.”

Honing a Specialty That Always Has Emerging Challenges

After growing up in a small town in Texas, Cuellar came to Austin in 2003 to attend University of Texas – the first lawyer in her family — and has been there ever since. While attending law school, she clerked with the firm Andrews Kurth, where she received an offer to work with the Emerging Companies group. She worked there for seven-and-a-half years until this March when the group of 14 attorneys and associated support staff moved over to Shearman and Sterling LLP.

Currently she is working with companies that are exploring very cutting-edge fields. For example, she is enjoying the challenge of developing two areas in the practice — cryptocurrency and digital assets – and helping move them more into the mainstream. “We have to take them out of the hands of the fringe groups and make them more accessible so people will become comfortable with crypto and blockchain,” she notes.

Another exciting area of growth is in AI. She has a client who focuses on looking at manuscripts and movie scripts for patterns that resonate, which she says is the type of task that AI will revolutionize by applying a more systematic approach.

Learning By Doing

Cuellar describes her first two years as an “unending learning moment.” At the time, she was working with several junior attorneys who left for various reasons so she seized the opportunity to fill the gaps. While it entailed many late nights, in hindsight she sees that taking on these various extra projects was the best possible thing she could have done to propel her career. “I was able to learn from mistakes and now have a vast background which helps me recognize things that I wouldn’t have noticed before.”

While embracing those kinds of opportunities can grow your career, she also finds incredible benefits in taking advantage of mentoring, whether formal or informal.

In fact, at an earlier position that didn’t offer a formal program, she sought out other attorneys to help give her advice. “People are more than willing to have conversations with you when you show you appreciate their time,” she says.

At Shearman, she recognized the culture of mentorship and support the minute she came over. “Female partners whom I don’t even work with have reached out, which was so impressive that these busy women would welcome me and offer their support,” she says. One in particular who stands out is partner Sarah McClean, whom she notes has been very conscious about developing a team of great women and inviting her to immediately get involved.

Another option Cuellar took advantage of was getting involved with industry organizations, which she finds particularly important for minority lawyers. She has enjoyed the four years she’s been involved with the Hispanic National Bar Association, which offers avenues for professional development and advancement; for example, she has had the chance to make pitches to corporations and gleaned immeasurable professional development opportunities from sitting in and learning from other attorneys

Because she places great importance on developing the pipeline of younger lawyers, she’s also been involved with a UT group called Minority Women Pursuing Law, which works with first-generation law students to offer counsel on job hunting. Each year Cuellar presents on what they should know as college students about what law schools and law firms are looking for to help give them a leg up.

Married with two dogs, Cuellar loves to cook and barbeque at home, and she and her husband enjoy frequent visits to their families in south Texas.

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Mover and Shaker: Liliana Bauer, Marketing Director, WEX Latam

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By Cathie Ericson

“I once heard that we should listen before acting and think before reacting.

The adage is one that has stuck with me and that drives my leadership style in a significant way,” says WEX’ Liliana Bauer. “Thinking for ourselves, rather than just repeating the ideas we hear, makes a big difference in how we conduct our lives and make appropriate choices.”

And she adds, “If we seize opportunities, take our goals seriously and maintain our enthusiasm—always respecting everyone else in an ethical way—we will arrive at the destination we choose.”

A Career Built On Accepting Challenges

That ethos has helped Bauer build a multi-layered career. She attended school in Brazil, earning both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and communications from Mackenzie University and an MBA from Fundação Getúlio Vargas University.

After graduating, she began her career with Coca-Cola, holding roles in divisions including promotions, product management and customer loyalty. She then spent nearly a decade at Citibank, responding to the centralized structuring and implementation of the B2B and institutional marketing in Brazil, where she handled marketing strategy, as well as overseeing PR and corporate communications for all business units. Her last role at Citibank was as a regional marketing manager for the Latin American region’s 24 markets, reporting to Miami and New York.

In 2011, she joined HSBC Latin America as a senior marketing manager, responsible for global banking and markets, private banking and asset management. She also oversaw planning and marketing effectiveness for HSBC’s corporate segments, where together with the countries and the global team, she developed the department’s strategic and business information for the executive committees of the region, as well as results analysis and financial control. In addition, she was responsible for the Latin American marketing for the Global Banking and Markets segment, reporting directly to London.

Prior to joining WEX, she served as a marketing executive at credit card issuer Banco Bradesco Cartões, where she oversaw strategic marketing management and payments solutions studies.

She then joined WEX Brazil as a marketing director, responsible for implementing strategies to strengthen the company’s market presence through business plan and strategy execution.

A self-described “builder,” focused on getting things done in a straightforward manner, Bauer says that one of her major achievements at WEX so far has been creating a strategic marketing mindset, from building a successful team to shaping, driving and maximizing marketing activities, including focusing on analyzing results and repositioning products.

One of the projects she is most excited about right now is her role with one such repositioning of their major product—focusing on the value proposition definition and planning larger market penetration that is driven by market research and customer surveys.

That quest for data inspires her whole career, as she finds that much of her success comes from constantly questioning assumptions, both in information she hears and where the market is trending, what the target audiences are exposing and how her team is reacting. “When making decisions about the direction of my career, I try to take a high-level, long-term perspective, based not only on what things look like, but on what they really are, what is behind each scenario, and what the legacy of my decision will be,” she says.

Surrounding Yourself With the Right People and Company Culture

Over the years Bauer has been fortunate to work with many inspirational professionals, and she’s appreciated their role in patiently showing her how to meet their expectations while advancing her own career. “I’ve always paid a lot of attention to their behaviors and decisions, learning how to drive efforts in a more constructive way, while achieving the best and fastest results,” she says.

One role model who stands out is Francine Suescun, whom Bauer describes as “a great teacher and a wise leader,” adding, “She has a broad range of experience and the ability to integrate actions in an end-to-end process, guaranteeing successful delivery of every project. Besides that, she always tries to make wherever she is a better place—thinking of others rather than just taking actions that benefit herself,” an example that Bauer is quick to thank her for, telling Suescun that she is the one responsible for the professional profile Bauer has today.

In addition to surrounding herself with smart role models, she has wisely chosen the company she works for, saying that at WEX all people are seen and equally accepted—and recognized for their achievements—regardless of gender, age, department, education level or other defining elements. She finds that during business meetings, leadership summits or social celebrations, people from different locations and ages, men and women alike, interact on equal footing, listening to one another and keeping an open mind.

The same dynamic occurs on her team, where position and gender don’t matter. “If an employee is committed to doing good work, bringing relevant information or just taking advantage of an opportunity to improve their understanding about something, we respect them the same way,” she says.

Another important part of the WEX culture is the focus on work-life balance. Bauer has been able to devote time the past two-and-a-half years holding various roles for a social entity teaching English to low-income students, from ages 10 to 83. “It is such a valuable opportunity to learn from those students as they develop, and those people have played a crucial role in changing my life,” she says. “Interacting with others who have the same objectives, intensity and wishes is what makes us feel part of a society in such a special way.”

An avid traveler, Bauer has visited more than 50 cities in Brazil and 15 countries around the world. “When we interact with people from a different culture, with different points of views and experiences, we are able to rethink the prejudices we have and our previously established opinions and see how the vast resources of ideas can move the world forward,” she says.

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