Rhonda Johnson: CEO, Different Like You, Inc & Acting Deputy Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Rhonda Johnson “I like to view people as generally good. Without a tool to understand when you’re doing something that causes harm, you may not even know you’re doing it,” says Rhonda Johnson. “In the corporate world, we have tools, training and social pressure to moderate our bias and behavior, but not as much in small businesses. Without a tool, how can we address it?”

Johnson speaks about the unfolding of her DEI journey from Wall Street to Washington, D.C., being part of the founding team of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and launching Different Like You, Inc and the Sacki App to weave the principle of inclusion deeper into the social fabric of small businesses and our daily lives.

A Culture Change from NYC to D.C.

Growing up as a New Yorker in a diverse neighborhood, Johnson was struck by the lack of diversity when she entered into Wall Street, often as the only woman or woman of color in the room.

“Different perspectives add value to the solution. If everyone was coming from Harvard or Stanford or Ivy League schools, I felt there wasn’t enough diversity even in the way people think, because they’re trained how to think at these schools,” she recalls. “I was interested in diversity of thought and experience and felt we needed to do something different.”

At James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., a private equity firm, Johnson began recruiting at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), too. Quickly, she witnessed how diversity shifts the culture. She observed how bringing in people of different economic, educational, and ethnic or racial backgrounds disrupts group think and status quo approaches to problem-solving, which also introduces tension.

“At that time, nobody was confronting these questions. What does inclusion look like when you bring in different types of people if we don’t operate on the same plane?” she was asking. “How do we solve this problem?” Diversity was being addressed but inclusion was lacking. Over the years this became a nagging question.

In November 2009, during Barack Obama’s presidency, Johnson moved to Washington D.C. to work in the Office of the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance within the U.S. Treasury. Her boss Jeffrey Goldstein, then chairman at Hellman & Friedman, was nominated to the post and brought her in. She served as a review analyst for two years, during which her passion to advance inclusion increased.

“Back in New York, even though diversity was limited within financial services, I didn’t feel isolated or marginalized, as it was a melting pot. If you work in NYC you are exposed to different types of people as part of daily life. D.C. felt way more polarized. Even where people lived was very racially divided. I was frankly shocked at the difference in culture,” she notes. “It started to slowly change because people of color from across the country were moving to the area to work for Barack Obama, so more racial, ethnic, cultural and economic diversity was being infused into the DC area and the federal government.”

Johnson moved on to become a founding member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2011, initially as D&I Program Analyst and then as Senior Advisor, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, before stepping into the deputy director role as of April. Now she focuses on assessing diversity and inclusion within financial services, essentially going full circle to help financial institutions address the challenges she identified early in her career.

Why Diverse Perspectives Bring Creativity

“I am curious about people. I want to hear about your story. I want to know about you, what you’re doing, where you’re trying to go,” says Johnson. “I also want to hear your perspective about solutions we’re working on. I feel no one person has the answer, and all products and solutions can benefit from different perspectives.”

Meeting people where they are and valuing collaboration, she is a furtive gatherer and proponent of the creative value of multiple perspectives.

“So many big decisions have been made by people who were all thinking alike. I feel it’s critical to have different perspectives on solving problems, especially big problems,” says Johnson. “More than one thing can be true. I try to remind people that it doesn’t have to be either/or. It can be and. I like to consider how we can meld ideas to come up with a good solution. If there are two opposing ideas, rarely is one or both entirely wrong.”

She gives the example of a mechanic looking at a problem in the medical field. Their opinion may be invalidated because they’re not a doctor, but being outside of that frame also gives the mechanic an opportunity to see a totally different solution which the doctor may not be able to consider from his vantage point within it.

“When you have diversity of thought, I genuinely believe you open the door to much more and many creative solutions,” emphasizes Johnson. “I often think the creativity lies not necessarily in the subject matter expert, but in the person who is looking at the problem for the first time.”

Raising Her Voice To Advocate for Inclusion

Johnson has always valued giving employees a voice – through surveys with disaggregated data results, through ERGs, and diversity councils. She also had to raise her own voice to make sure that happened.

“I’ve always been that person to fight for the underdog. I don’t like unfairness,” says Johnson. “So anytime I saw unfair treatment, I was definitely always willing to speak up, even in an environment where I didn’t feel like I had a lot of power.”

Early on in her career, Johnson focused on being observant, listening, learning and working hard, not so much on her voice being heard. Until it became necessary. Compared to the NYC culture, where people were more forthright, Johnson found the culture polite and evasive in D.C.

“There was a disconnect between what people were saying and what they were willing to do,” she observed, “I take people at their word. If you say you support this, I expect your efforts to reflect that, and so when that didn’t happen, I would confront the person. I found out people weren’t used to being challenged on what they promised in this space,” she says. “So I had to find a different way than directly calling people out. That’s when I shifted my approach, I started to dive deep into the research to ensure that my colleagues could better understand the importance of diversity and inclusion initiatives being proposed, I began sharing the data behind the strategies, and working collaboratively to gain buy-in and then documenting the commitments people made. It often requires more work to help people understand the importance of equity, so it became more socially acceptable to also hold them accountable.”

Launching a Social Inclusion App

Her professional focus on DEI and the culture shock of moving from NYC to D.C. also spurred Johnson on an entrepreneurial journey. Whereas in the NYC melting pot, she could go into any restaurant and see diverse customers, when going out with friends in D.C., she often experienced being treated differently.

“People take their biases everywhere and if there’s no incentive to check them, they won’t change. We are imperfect and the result of so much we’ve experienced,” she says. “In the corporate world, we get training to check our biases. But I’m not sure that happens at small businesses, merchants, apparel shops, gift stores and restaurants. I felt there was a need for more communication around how different groups of people are being treated – whether it’s because of race, language proficiency, or size.”

She launched differentlikeyouinc.com and the Sacki App. Sacki is similar to Yelp with a diversity matching dimension. Consumers are invited to create a profile and share positive and constructive reviews on their experiences with merchants. Sacki matches consumers (based on their demographic profile) with relevant review data.

In 2015, she first began to frame out the App but then got stalled on development setbacks. During the lull of the lockdown, she decided not to watch television and found that she was re-energized in her passion for developing Sacki.

She notes, “I began to research the impacts on mental health and physical illness from the stress of life for groups of people – Hispanic people, black people, people with disabilities, obese people. All these interactions they have on a day-to-day basis cause so much stress and affect health and mortality,” she says. “How people are treated on a day-to-day basis while going about their lives has such a massive impact on our society, daily micro-aggressions result in anger, frustration, depression, that lead to decisions and behaviors that affect all of us. The goal is that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.”

Johnson’s Sacki App will hold people accountable in smaller, less formal business settings that also contribute to day-to-day interactions. Currently, the Sacki App is in beta in Atlanta. Sacki will go national to major cities within a year and international within a couple of years. Currently, she is in the process of learning how people behave with the App and what modifications need to be made.

Dealing with development, technology and design, Johnson has been stretched by launching an App, but her entrepreneurial spirit had already been there.

“When I went to the CFPB, I had the opportunity to be super creative informing our office, our function and our role,” she says. “There was a lot of opportunity to be innovative and bold because we were just launching and building the agency.

Building A World Without Shells

“I have always been extremely sensitive, and I think I built this shell around myself because it wasn’t working for me,” she recalls, giving the example of a female colleague once stealing the idea Johnson had shared with her and presenting it to their boss. “I felt so naive. Different incidents in the work culture broke my heart. That hardened me. I didn’t trust people.”

Though part of her feels putting a guard up was necessary, she also knows operating with a survival mechanism is not the same as thriving, and she doesn’t want to do it to herself, anymore.

“What’s for you no one can ever take away. Stay true to yourself. Maintain your authenticity,” she would say she has learned through the years. “I think my authenticity is important. Sometimes you have to figure out whether you’re in the right spaces for who you are, who you truly are,” she muses. “Without the shell, I may not have survived in certain environments. Being authentic may lead you to different places and even doing different things. It sounds cliche but I think people should follow their heart.”

Now Johnson is expanding into more of who she truly is while enjoying the culture and nature of Washington D.C., too. The Sacki App, based on inclusion, is her way of trying to impact the world so people can be who they are everywhere they go.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Lola Ninonuevo: International Chief Operating Officer, Wells Fargo

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Lola Ninonuevo“As a leader, it’s less about you the more senior you become. It’s about who you lead and being available, honest and authentic with your teams,” says Lola Ninonuevo. “It is a pivot to realizing you’re here to serve people and you have to make time.”

When she was twelve years old, Ninonuevo told her mother she wanted to travel internationally, see the world and become a business woman. Growing up speaking Spanish at home, she then studied Japanese while obtaining her economics degree, began her career in a Japanese bank in New York, and has spent the last 25 years working out of London in global positions, joining Wells Fargo in 2020 to help lead the international business strategy.

Finding a Bigger Reset in London

From early on, her Puerto Rican mom and Cuban Puerto Rican father impressed upon Ninonuevo the value of a good career. She was drawn to banking for the multicultural, international environment and the financial security. In 1991, she took that first trading assistant job with a small Japanese bank in World Trade Center in New York. As the only woman on the trading floor, she both served tea but was empowered early on to take on additional responsibilities such as cash management for the branch and representing the bank at industry round tables hosted by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. Having gained experienced in the fixed income market, she then joined BlackRock, which at the time was a start-up and small boutique asset manager, and worked with the founding partners to set up the middle office and trading support functions.

In 1996, she was approached by HSBC to help build out their Global Markets business. She was attracted to their global footprint, and in 1999, she relocated to London with HSBC and went onto work for 23 years across a variety of global roles in the Corporate and Investment Bank. London offered her international travel, a strong learning curve and new career prospects. But what London also provided was a reset and new freedom of self, supported by now being a part of a multicultural global and diverse organization.

“I had not been ‘out’ in the workplace in New York, and that was hard. It impacted my decisions and ability to bring myself to work, for example talking about what I had done over the weekend and attending corporate events with my partner,” she recalls. “I felt more at home in London where I felt comfortable to be more open about my personal life, because I could be Lola, the American woman who moved. Not the Puerto Rican woman. Not the gay woman. It was just Lola.”

Two decades later, in 2020, Ninonuevo was approached for the COO role at Wells Fargo. While still based in London, returning to a U.S. work culture has felt like a homecoming. She notes that John Langley, CIB COO and Head of International, has been a fantastic leader, support and sponsor. Ninonuevo has found a welcoming, collaborative and optimistic culture at Wells Fargo and enjoys connecting with both international colleagues from different backgrounds as well as reconnecting with American colleagues across the US.

“I can be an American advocate while bringing my international perspective to the table to help drive the Wells Fargo global strategy,” she says. “It feels like coming home, and it’s fantastic to be back.”

Creating a Brand of Speaking the Truth

When it comes to rising up to the executive level, Ninonuevo notes self-awareness is critical – including knowing what you’re good at and what you’re not and building a team that complements your strengths and weaknesses. Resilience and being a powerful collaborator are also essential.

“In banking these days, with both the complexity and risk management challenges we’ve had since the crisis, connecting the dots and bringing people together to solve problems is a key part of what I bring to the table,” she reflects. “I really focus on building relationships. I’m honest and candid in my approach.”

Her willingness to be incisive, which found a home in British culture, helped Ninonuevo to breakthrough to the C-suite in 2012. When HSBC was in a crisis with compliance issues, she stood up and spoke truthfully about what was going well and what was not going well. That became a turning point in her career, catapulting her into a global role leading the firm wide compliance transformation across 60 countries.


“When I came in and talked to the board and the regulators, they knew they were going to get honest and balanced feedback. And that became my personal brand – a person with integrity that got the job done. In my opinion, since the crisis, the role of women in banking has become very important in C-suite jobs. Because I personally think we are more inclined to ask difficult questions, be honest, and not just go along for the sake of going along. And that tribal mentality of going along was a pitfall in the industry.”

Pivoting to a Collective Leader Mindset

“In my opinion, being a true leader is not just about managing up anymore or trying to get the next job,” says Ninonuevo. “I genuinely think I should be judged based on the teams I build and how I encourage and empower them.”

This involves a greater level of willingness to let go and let learn.

“When I was progressing through my career, a lot of it was about me and developing my technical skill set: I’ve got to manage up, I’ve got to manage sideways. I’ve got to manage down. All of those facets still exist,” she says. “But that’s the big leadership pivot people don’t realize: You don’t have all the answers. You’re there to listen. You’re there to serve and support others to be successful.”

Visibility has been the major factor that distinguishes the C-Suite from other levels of leadership, and again asks one to evolve.

“The visibility and impact you can have as a C-Suite leader are multiplied. It’s so important to be aware of how you behave, how you treat people, and how you react under stress.”

The Obligation of Being a Voice

“With all the learnings on how important it is to have diversity and diversity of thought around the table, and often being the only woman in the conversation, I feel it’s my obligation to ask those difficult questions and make sure we’re challenging ourselves to do the right things and to hold ourselves accountable,” says Ninonuevo. “So I’ve used the difference as an opportunity to have a voice, to be honest and to say it like it is.”

Ninonuevo has reflected with compassion, too. “When firms are in crisis, they are driven by fear. And when you’re afraid, you basically hire in your own image because you trust it and it’s what you know. Taking risk is hard when you’re in a crisis.”

When it comes to managing your career, Ninonuevo emphasizes to be your own advocate, communicate your ambitions to your stakeholders regularly, focus on your transferable skills and don’t be afraid to go after challenging roles.

“As Citi’s Jane Fraser has spoken to, your career is over decades. It’s not the be-all and end-all. There’s periods where you can really lean in and put 100% into it, and there’s periods where you can’t, and that’s okay as long as you stay connected.”

Why Relaxing Into Yourself Makes All the Difference

Ninonuevo admits that for years, being gay and feeling unable to talk about her life outside of the workplace inhibited her ability to relate and feel belonging with colleagues on a personal level, but that also touches upon everything else.

“In the workplace, people relate and connect by sharing things about themselves, whether it’s their family life, their children, or what they did over the weekend,” she says. “I found it really hard to share because I was self-conscious.”

If she could go back and give her junior self some words to lighten the road ahead, she would advise to be more of herself at work, sooner. But, at times, she worried about how others would react and whether it would count against her. She even got a coach to seek out help in confidence-building.

“After a few seconds of work, he stopped and told me, ‘You don’t have a confidence issue. You’re confident. You know what you’re doing. People enjoy working with you,’” says Ninonuevo. “Then, he said, ‘You just need to be yourself and selectively find opportunities to do that and connect.’”

For her, this meant becoming more willing to bring her full self to work, despite the challenges she felt. As a change agent, once she becomes aware of something, Ninonuevo starts to move forward in a more effective way.

“Before that, I’m sure I was projecting a lack of confidence. But I was just closed with that part of myself. But the more that I was myself, the more I relaxed, my body language relaxed and people relaxed around me,” she says. “I started being more approachable, people enjoyed working with me more, and I got results from that. I actually had more gravitas because I felt relaxed and confident and became a better communicator, and it all started coming together.”

Ninonuevo is a dual citizen, practices pilates and enjoys walks. She loves spending time with her six year old daughter, traveling and good food and wine. After a month in Spain, she’s been inspired to get her Spanish fluency to where it was those years ago, back when she first professed to her mother that she would become an international business woman…let alone, fill a big seat in the C-Suite.

By Aimee Hansen

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Alison Taylor: Investment Vice President, PGIM Real Estate

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Ali Taylor“The best leaders I’ve seen have always made time for people – regardless of level and the topic of conversation,” says Alison Taylor.

Taylor joined PGIM Real Estate after graduating from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. She had an initial introduction to real estate through prior internships and coursework but found a home at PGIM, and she has grown within the company into a leadership role.

“The longer I worked here and the more I learned, the more interesting real estate became – especially the debt side,” says Taylor. “It surprises me how much I continue to enjoy and feel challenged by the work and the opportunities that have been afforded to me here at PGIM.”

Continuing to Learn Each Day

“No day and no deal are the same,” says Taylor. “Each day presents a different challenge, and I can truly say that I learn something new every single day.”

She loves the variety of her days, which has progressed by the shifting office dynamics during and following the pandemic. As a self-starter, Taylor works independently, pacing herself towards deadlines, which serves in her multi-faceted role. “I have a lot of different responsibilities and work cross-functionally with people across the business, but I’m able to keep on track, juggle a bunch of things and know what needs to be placed on the back burner.”

Taylor feels she brings realness to the table, but she proves that it doesn’t have to hit hard – that people can assert their own opinions while valuing others’.

“I’m very to the point, but not in an aggressive manner. When I was working on the originations side of the business, I was able to pass on a deal or let someone down nicely, but they would still walk away feeling good about themselves,” she says.

Lessons Learned Growing into a Leadership Role

As someone who was driven to grow into a leadership role, Ali shared several tips to help achieve the next level – and beyond – of her career, despite what tensions and challenges she faced.

  • Balance Approachability with Authority

In her ever-evolving role, Taylor notes that being approachable is not only important in showcasing her desire to learn and take on more responsibilities to senior leaders – but it is also important in demonstrating the importance of quality work and strong leadership attributes to her junior team members.

“There can be a double-edged sword as I weave my personal stories into my professional relationships, so I can build and continue to maintain them. I have this ability to connect with younger colleagues who may view me more as a friend while still being able to be taken seriously,” she says. “You need to strike a balance of approachability and authority, so that when we’re actually working on projects and dealing with teams, everyone sees that this is business. I expect very high-quality work and sometimes, we’ll be working late. But I’ll be there right alongside my colleagues.”

Currently, Taylor sees herself straddling the line between taking on the responsibility of seniority and still actually doing the work to show more junior members how it’s done and what’s expected.

“It can be a weird limbo state, where you’re not quite the final decision-maker, but you’re experienced enough to know what will drive successful outcomes for the company,” she says. “That can be a challenge day-to-day.”

  • Own Boundaries and Your Availability

As she has risen through the ranks, Taylor has started to learn the art of delegation and saying ‘no.’

“When you’re junior and hungry, you work late, so you can take it all on. However, I think it serves your growth to start setting boundaries as you advance. I don’t have children yet, but I am still going to sign off at a reasonable time and have a nice dinner with my husband,” she says. “You need to set boundaries, and sometimes, it means saying no or that you’ll look into something at a later time – as your schedule and workload permits.”

She notes this is especially important after working remotely during the pandemic, which created an expectation of 24/7 availability.

“It’s important to not always be accessible via setting clear boundaries, such as calendar blocks and/or letting colleagues know you’ll get back to them,” she says. “Once you’ve reached a certain point, where people know you are responsive and trustworthy, you can put those boundaries in place, and there’s something powerful about that.”

  • Find Power in the Pause

Recently, Taylor received the feedback that she needs to work on being too responsive. Rather than going with her gut reaction to respond immediately, she was advised that, ‘Sometimes, you need to sit on things to let both parties think. Once you have, you’ll come to a better conclusion.’

Receiving that advice was somewhat liberating, as Taylor has realized some matters work themselves out over a walk or a ponder, without needing immediate response or engagement. Plus, she notes her initial gut response is not always the most thoughtful or comprehensive.

Leading with Connection and Collaboration

“Everyone talks about how male-dominated commercial real estate is, but I feel like I’ve worked at a company with better gender balance and that helps grow and support female leaders, which has been amazing,” says Taylor. She has been shown that it’s okay to leave work for a priority at home or family activity to attend to.

“The best leaders I’ve seen have always made time for people – regardless of level and the topic of conversation,” she says. “When meeting with senior leaders, I feel like they’ve given me their undivided attention, which shows me they care and want to help me learn and succeed.”

In fact, even though she often finds herself in back-to-back meetings, Taylor makes relationship-building one of her top priorities, dedicating time to foster connections – no matter the workload.

When it comes to the PGIM work culture, she enjoys being surrounded by smart people who are willing to put in the work to get the job done, while also respecting personal boundaries and valuing work-life balance.

“The structure is not very hierarchical in that everyone is very accessible up to the MD level. For being within a Fortune 500 company, it feels like a lean entrepreneurial structure,” she observes. “Everyone is trying to advance our initiatives and share information, so it’s a very collaborative environment. It fits well with my personality, which is probably why I’ve been here for more than a decade.”

Acting As a Chameleon – Leveraging Her Strength of Adaptability

When thrown into new situations, Taylor remembers what a previous manager told her – that she adapts well to a new environment because not only does she take her responsibilities very seriously and make intelligent decisions, but she also knows when she needs to ask for help. Although some may find asking for help to be a weakness, it’s something Taylor considers to be a strength, enabling her to better understand her work or situation she is facing.

In her career thus far, the ability to assess and adapt to situations has enabled her not to stress the small stuff as much. She admits that it used to bother her if she wasn’t invited to a property tour or closing dinner after a deal she’d worked hard on, but after a few years, she realized that more than enough invitations will come along – so there’s no need to covet them.

“At a certain point in your career, you’re being asked to travel to this and that. You’ll have too many things to attend and will be pulled in different directions,” she says. “It’s a thirty- or forty-year career, so you don’t have to do it all within your first couple years. Just put your head down, do the work and form those relationships because it’s a small sector and everyone’s paths cross again.”

Be Yourself, Everywhere

When it comes to looking ahead, Taylor aspires to continue rising into leadership roles and gain more people-management experience. She also hopes to continue doing the things she loves, such as traveling to new places, curling up with a good book (her most recent read is Rules of Civility, after reading A Gentleman in Moscow by the same author) and working out – all activities that she attributes to keeping her mental health strong.

She loves traveling and planning international trips and visited Dubai and the Maldives in January for her own honeymoon.

Morning workouts are an important part of her routine to maintain balance, and she especially enjoys boxing as an energy outlet.

Taylor once heard that the most successful people are the same exact selves in their personal lives as professional lives.

“You don’t have to come in like a professional bulldog and run the show if that’s not really your personality. You can still be successful,” she says. “The mentors that have most inspired me blend both worlds and stay true to themselves.”

By Aimee Hansen

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Dr. Sheena Menezes: Co-Founder and CEO, Simple HealthKit Inc

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Sheena Menezes“Healthcare is one of the spaces where it is so vulnerable, so precious. It’s your health; it’s your life,” says Dr. Sheena Menezes. “Knowing that what we build here at SHK can really impact people’s lives – is what wakes me up every day.”

We talked to Dr. Sheena Menezes, co-founder and CEO of Simple HealthKit, the first and only human-centric healthcare platform that delivers at-home diagnostics, treatment and follow-up care. A rare example of genuine female-led diversity and inclusion nestled right in Silicon Valley, 70% of SHK employees are women and 80% are people of color.

Born and raised in Kuwait, with Indian-Portuguese roots, Dr. Menezes has often spent family holidays focused on social service, empowering young girls at orphanages in India. Early life exposure to vast inequities, as well as loss and health challenges in her own family, inspired her to want to build healthcare solutions that bridge socioeconomic gaps and impact the trajectory of people’s lives – regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or geographic location.

Simple HealthKit empowers people through early detection with physician oversight, knowledge and access to support through an end-to-end system, tackling global health challenges such as STDs, chronic conditions such as diabetes, and the tripledemic.

As of June, Walmart has partnered with Simple HealthKit, making these at-home diagnostic tests now available at the largest retailer in the world. Dr. Menezes believes world-class healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and so SHK addresses high-need and high-impact health challenges in all communities.

On what personally inspired her to launch Simple HealthKit (SHK):

“Some founders have the ‘aha’ moment. For me, it was a journey of multiple forces that made starting SHK happen. From my childhood, I’m an immigrant, or refugee, during the Gulf War. So I’ve seen what it’s like when the lights are turning off, like what’s going on in Ukraine, and people are trying to escape and in camps.

Then, I also have the perspective of living in different countries and seeing wide disparities – some who have everything and some who don’t have anything at all. I was born and raised in Kuwait. I have Indian-Portuguese roots. And then I’m here in the United States. Back in the days while living in different countries, you’re expecting the US is just going to be great. Then you come here, and you realize there’s so much disparity here as well. So that’s one reason.

Also, it’s been having the support system of amazing family and believing we can do something that can really make a difference. Healthcare is one of the spaces where it is so vulnerable, so precious. It’s your health; it’s your life. Knowing that what we build here at SHK can really impact people’s lives – is what wakes me up every day. Think of early detection of STDs or getting an early HbA1c test and how that changes the course of people’s lives. Because often STDs are curable if you know. And with diabetes, with exercise and diet, you can get people back into good health. That’s really changing someone’s trajectory of health.

That’s our ‘why.’ That’s the culture here at Simple HealthKit. What’s your ‘why?’ Why do you want to do this? And it has to be a reason bigger than you. It has to be for people and the fact that you can make a big impact.”

On the difference Simple HealthKit is bringing to people:

“When you think of diagnostic tests, especially the earliest ones like the pregnancy test, you just got a test result. So, you are positive if there’s an extra line there. Now what?

From early on at SHK, we have always believed in the vision that we never want to leave someone disconnected. You want to be able to do a test, and if you’re positive, have that whole journey experience. Whether it’s via phone, tablet, laptop, whatever digital device an individual has – how do we empower that person? Today, for STDs, we did just that. If someone is positive, they are going through Telehealth and they’re getting a prescription. So we are able to impact that individual’s life – not just showing the person they are positive and leaving them with questions such as What do I do? and Where do I go? That’s such a daunting zone to be in.

How many times has each of us felt that Where do I go? And for the first time, we’re creating that seamless sense of “We got you.” We started with STDs. We’re doing that with diabetes and kidney disease, and we’re starting to solve at least the high-impact, high-need use cases and in the best way we can. Sometimes it might simply be a nurse to guide you on the other end of the line and tell you what you need to do next. The whole journey happens with a QR code.”

On what has prepared for her success as a biotech founder:

“There is a lot of training that I had before arriving to this point. I hold an undergrad in computer science. I ended up doing a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Bioengineering at University of California, Santa Barbara. I wanted to do something that’s impacting lives and building tools. And so, for my Ph.D. days, I was able to utilize computational bioinformatics, discover a whole new protein (a novel tRNA methylation enzyme) and create a new arm for my Principal Investigator (PI). I had to figure out a lot of unknowns and do it very thoughtfully and methodically, following all the steps in getting publications out. That was definitely good training.

Further, being in any industry, it’s about learning what you must do and working with regulators. You need to understand everything because healthcare is a space where you need to know what you cannot do and what you can do. I’ve had that journey of learning what you must not do and what you must.

I would say that my journey has been to see two sides of a coin. I’ve seen two sides of a coin in my childhood. But I’ve also seen two sides of the coin in healthcare. From that lens, technically, with the right set of people and the right teams – people who are humble, have empathy, have the right experience and can execute – you can do it. Because you could have a dream, but if you can’t execute on the dream, it’s over. You really need to get the smartest, kindest people in the same room and say, ‘let’s get this done.’

It’s never one person. I always say it’s not about one human. It is really about the SHK team that’s able to execute and make SHK what it is today.”

On the team diversity of Simple HealthKit leadership and staff:

“I have been in teams where I was the only woman at the table, let alone the only woman of color at the table and in the leadership role. I do recall there were moments when there were opportunities for women to move up and there were not that many people at that table giving that opportunity. That’s drawn me to a sense that, as a leader, I do have the opportunity to do so.

Also, now that I’m a mom, I see how strong mothers have to be too really do it. And immigrants and people of color, they’ve often had it so hard. They already know what resilience is.

Back in the day when there was only one seat available at the table, potentially, there was competition for that one seat. Now, I really believe in bringing the smartest people onboard, people with resilience, people who can take a ball thrown and get back up. And I feel that is the composition of our team.

And I wanted to make more seats at the table that increase the diversity of leadership and teams. It starts sometimes at the top-down and sometimes at the bottom-up, but you need the leader’s leadership to support that. I’m definitely a strong believer in women, minorities and people of color at the table because diversity is healthy. They say the best teams are the ones who have a diverse team because you’re seeing so many viewpoints and you’re able to capture others’ blindspots. I feel that is what defines the SHK team.”

On the importance of “intention” in bridging differences:

“When you have such a diverse team, there’s going to be language and cultural barriers. Different cultures that have to interact and work together. I used to be president of International Students back at UC, Santa Barbara. When you have different cultures, there’s a lot of things that can be misinterpreted. For example, I use my hands a lot and I might find certain hand movements mean something else in another culture that I did not intend.

One thing that is helpful that I’ve learned, and work with my leadership team on, is to start with your intent. Because there’s a lot about communication that doesn’t land the way you want to say it. Often, simply leading with your intent before you even start the conversation can change the ability to have difficult conversations.”

On her biggest personal growth area as a co-founder and CEO:

“The biggest stretch has been learning multiple hats and learning different subject areas – marketing, sales computer science, quality control, regulatory – and understanding what you need for those elements of success. That’s been amazing and exciting because I’m a learner.

It’s definitely been an exciting journey of learning and you also build more tools of resilience. It’s not all green grass and roses. On different levels, it’s a very humbling journey. Having empathy for yourself and for your team is important. If someone falls down, you have to say ‘let’s get back up, we need to solve this, we need to execute.’ So it’s about being able to do that without reacting.”

On being a female, and women of color, founder in Silicon Valley:

“It’s hard on many aspects. The numbers are there on how many women get funded, how many founding teams have women in them, people of color in them, and other diversity dimensions. Those numbers are real data and it’s true.

But, I also believe differences are our strengths and not something we have to hide behind. So being different but also being super-technical and data-driven changes the conversation. When that inevitable question comes – “What are your numbers?“ – for me, it’s being really strong about it and being thoughtful in what you answer. It’s keeping the stance that this is not about me. This is about the impact we’re going to make in people’s lives.

I would emphasize again it’s about leading with intent – even, the intent I set for myself going into those rooms with VCs. Right now, we’re so blessed. We have amazing VCs. And that’s evident because as the company is succeeding, they’re succeeding. So we’ve got a lot of trust with a great set of VCs. It’s very important to pick the right board and right VCs as part of your team. That can be hard for some founders, but we are in a very healthy and happy position.”

On championing girls and women to take the leap:

“I have a young daughter. I am blessed by that because it’s almost like you see a little ‘you’ in some aspects of the motherhood journey. I’m super passionate about women’s empowerment. I really believe women and people of color have had to build resilience. But I also think it’s so important to not hold yourself back. Too often women say, ‘I don’t know if I can do it. Maybe I need to study this. Take one more course. Wait one more year.’ And I’m like, ‘no, you got this.’

You need to have a support system that pushes you farther but also telling yourself that you have this. Since college, I’ve inspired people to learn, learn, learn. Learn, because you’re the product – what you’re learning, what you’re building – but also you have to also give yourself that strength. When women feel like they can’t do something, I challenge them to go ahead and take an attempt at it. Don’t say ‘no’ upfront. Go ahead and take that attempt to give yourself that time to bring it and then, come up with a plan. Maybe you’ve never done it before. But before you say ‘no,’ go try. Don’t give up too fast. Take a stab at it. Propose something.

I’m happy that I get to be both a cheerleader and support system for women. I’m happy to do any amount of inspiration, because I think there’s a lot of women holding back. Can I be a mom and be a founder? Yes you can. Trust me, you can. So I’m all about championing the ‘yes.’”

On why overcoming challenge means you are very strong:

“This is simple but a super powerful set of advice. A lot of times people feel nervous or fearful. Maybe you even think nobody knows you or that deep inside, you are weak. But your core is a really strong core. That’s what’s been able to get you through those tough times when you were falling but also able to get back up. So remind yourself, you are strong. You did the hard work. You got through. Remind yourself of your successes. Remind yourself it’s just another challenge. If you’ve gone through hardship and you’ve endured an emotionally hard time, then what got your here today is actually your strength.

I’m also Christian, so I was always raised with that spiritual sense of knowing I’m going to do good and God’s going to take care of me. I was also encouraged by my Mom telling me that if you really work hard and put your mind to it, you can get it done with God’s grace. So that’s generally who I am as a person and I have an amazing support system.”

On making a greater impact on lives:

“The vehicle of SHK is massive right with our recent announcement with Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, and the reach of Walmart in rural America and health deserts. It’s literally creating that front door access point for some who never had access. They can get that diabetes test online or at the store, and now it’s telling someone they aren’t tracking right and we have resources that can help them for a lifestyle and nutrition change.

We’re excited about that partnership because of the impact. In America, 40% are pre-diabetic; 80% don’t know. With STDs, one in five adults have an STD and one in two under the age of 24. So it affects young people, college students, young professionals and even among the baby boomers retirement community, we see a spike in STDS. We’re really solving for high-need, high use cases but we also know that early detection can change the course of a life.

Internally at Simple HealthKit, I believe people have also perhaps seen two sides of a coin in the workplace. Maybe they’ve seen healthy and toxic. They’ve seen hurtful and painful and successful and happy. What I hope to create is almost a professional family. Similar to family, it’s not going to be all roses and green grass. We’re going to have things thrown at us. And it’s so important at that moment to get back up, get back to work, figure out what to do and create that bond that is like no other with such a diverse team. I want us to be that exceptional team in Silicon Valley that has more women and women of color at the table delivering and executing on the mission that we set out to do.

For me, creating impact is also about teaching simple things like remembering the strength in your core and having intentions around conversations. My intent is to inspire with those tools. I feel those tools are like your belt of strength for anything – your journey at your work, your journey as a future leader.

I love seeing that one of our leadership team started as an intern and then moved from scientist to associate scientist to taking a leading position in the company. For me it’s so amazing to see growth in individuals and then watch them inspiring another set of leaders. So I feel we can only pass the love, the tools, and the resilience to each other. We can create that spiral effect to the next generation of young leaders.”

On deriving more meaning and fulfillment in work:

“When you wake up, do you feel like this is what you set out to do? Are you happy? You spend a lot of time at work. Like with any relationship, ask yourself, Are you happy? Does it bring joy?

Also, are you doing the right thing? I think it’s important to ground yourself. Do you feel you’re doing good? You’re now in a place where you have a platform, so how can you bring others with you?

Also, think of all the different ways you specifically want to create impact. Go-getters can be racing and have a goal. But, pause. And ask, am I running in the right direction? It’s okay to pause for a good minute, and take that time to think about is this what makes you really, really happy?

For my daughter’s first birthday several years ago, we were at a shelter celebrating with young girls who were rescued from the streets in India. That experience was so amazing, because these young girls have a chance, and that mission was inspiring.

With healthcare, it combines the skills I had and it’s also mission-driven. So, can you combine your passion with your skillset? That’s why I feel like I’m happy, because I am doing exactly that with SHK.”

On gratitude and being present:

“Gratefulness is a big quality in my home and household and my team. Kindness and gratefulness, especially when you’ve seen disparity on the other side of the table. Look at what you have. Start with gratefulness.

My daughter is six years old and my son is three. I love spending time with my kids. I just love their joy. The life and sparkle in their eyes. all the way from doing science experiments at home – they’re super fascinated by that – to going to the beach and parks and swimming.

More than anything, just being present. Because with digital devices, it’s so easy to be distracted. It’s so important to be present. When I am with my children, I am present.”

Interviewed by Aimee Hansen

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Vanessa Rodriguez: Head of Community Lending & Investment, Commercial Real Estate, Wells Fargo

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Vanessa Rodriguez“At some stage, it’s not completely linear any longer. Sometimes, you must take a step back, or move laterally, to go forward,” says Vanessa Rodriguez. “You have to leave what you’ve exclusively done, branch out, take a risk or accept a new challenge. That could be a geographical change, a different line of business, a new company or position – but generally, it’s out of your comfort zone.”

Rodriguez shares on interviewing for a senior promotion while becoming a mother for the first time, learning to show up authentically regardless of who is in the room, and her commitment to coming at life and work from a genuine and constructive perspective.

On A Mission Towards Affordable Housing

After completing her B.S. in Business Administration from the UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Rodriguez was recruited to join the Wells Fargo Financial Analyst program in the Company’s Commercial Banking business. In 2007, she moved to NYC to take a position in Wells Fargo’s Real Estate Merchant Banking business, jumping into the hot seat just before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit in 2009.

“I had no clue as a young banker how bad it could or would get. I’d never seen a market cycle,” she says. “Being in commercial real estate, specifically in workouts, in NYC during the GFC was intense but an amazing and enriching experience. Three years felt like ten years and only elevated my interest in building my career in commercial real estate.” She began to rise in the ranks, leading teams in NYC and then back home again in the San Francisco Bay area. In the past couple years, she took the opportunity to further expand her real estate career by becoming the Group Head of Wells Fargo’s Community Lending and Investment (CLI) group.

“Affordable housing is one of the Bank’s top priorities, and this was an opportunity to lead a premier affordable housing team and large national business at Wells Fargo,” says Rodriguez. “It’s exciting to look at commercial real estate from a different angle and immerse myself in this new ecosystem – which includes non-profits, housing authorities, foundation work, government and community relations, public policy state and local governments.”

Rodriguez notes that providing a quality, affordable home to all must be a top priority everywhere in the US. In the San Francisco Bay Area, many of the families and friends she grew up with have had to relocate to attain good, cost-effective housing. Some now have 2-3 hour super commutes to work.

“It’s really sad when you become priced out of the place that you grew up, and that’s happening for more and more people across the country,” she says. “There are so many amazing things here in the Bay Area- the outdoors, the moderate climate, the diverse culture, so many top notch universities, the innovative tech industry, think tanks and VCs. But the downside is an extremely high cost of living in which regular people are forced out, breaking up families and communities, and negatively impacting the landscape. We need to work on these problems in communities across the country, and I want to be a part of that solution.”

Taking a New Role While Welcoming Her First Born

At a certain point as you ascend in leadership, Rodriguez notes that the path can become less clear. What your next step will be depends on investing in a lot of self-reflection and soul-searching around core questions: What do you want to do? How do you want to spend your time? Where can you add the most value? Because ultimately nobody else is going to be equipped to hand you those answers.

Such a moment came for Rodriguez when she was 41 years old and seven months pregnant with her first baby in 2021. The opportunity to run Wells Fargo’s CLI group came up, and she “looked away, frankly.”

“This is the value of having those strong personal and professional relationships in your life, whether they are formal or informal mentors or sponsors or ultimately over time perhaps become friends after years of working together” she says. “I had some of these people call me and say, ‘Don’t look away from this. It’s probably tough to think about a new opportunity now or interviewing for a new role at eight months pregnant, but do not check out right now.’”

So, despite how daunting it felt, Rodriguez began the interviewing process while pregnant in her third trimester, finished while on maternity leave, and ultimately returned to work in a new position. She had a second child in November 2022, and appreciates Wells Fargo for the support she’s received: assuming the role at this stage in her life has included managing her own high expectations around her career and motherhood, working hard to deliver, but speaking up where flexibility is needed. Rodriguez is inspired that while there are many things about parenthood that remain unique to women, parental matters are seen less and less as only women’s issues.

“But I will say that every day, I am forced to make decisions about where I am most needed because there are only so many hours in the day,” she admits. “I would love to get up every day and have my set routine, but my current state is more like a Rubik’s cube, where I move this piece down, pull it up here, take the lever off here, and make tough decisions about what I can and can’t do today. The truth is it’s not always graceful but tomorrow is always another chance to improve and do it better.”

Building Your Personal and Authentic Brand

“From the beginning of my career, I always focused on treating every single task like it was very important. It was all about building my personal brand,” she notes. “I tell young people: ‘You need to sweat the small things as well as the big things as you build your brand. Make your mark. What do you stand for? What are your standards on the quality of your work product and how do you approach it?’ Because if you build that personal brand and do great work for people, there is a multiplier effect where people start asking for you and saying your name in the room when you’re not there.”

Yet keeping your head down isn’t enough. Rodriguez also focused on real estate being a people business, and the importance of connecting, regardless of whether she may have initially felt like an outsider, to gain a strong network and the right visibility. Rising into that confidence to bring more of herself to the table has been immensely important to her growth.

“Twenty years ago, I entered the space focusing on being less visible. Over time, I realized there is a lot lost when you try to fit the mold, when you do not bring your full self to work, your best self to work” says Rodriguez. “We can and should bring our personal style and unique experience to work and connect in different ways. I certainly would encourage that in a sea of many, be memorable.”

Being extremely competent, authentic and walking the walk are important to Rodriguez’s sense of personal brand. As a leader, she never asks anyone to do something she hasn’t done or wouldn’t do herself. She prefers to roll up her sleeves. She values genuine and transparent communication and people feeling comfortable enough to share their unique perspectives.

“I want to bring value to people, whether it’s my clients, my team, or senior management, and what it means to bring value is going to be different for every situation,” she notes. “I hope that when I’m not in the room, people say she brings leadership value everyday, and she brings it in an authentic and genuine way – and we enjoy being in her orbit.”

Belonging, Irrespective of the Room

When it comes to entering a room where she may be the only woman, let alone the only Latina, Rodriguez says, “It starts with whether any of those factors intimidate you. I’ve always just prided myself on not being intimidated, even if there were moments I could have been.”

“When I enter the room, I focus on being prepared for the content of the meeting, on being a good listener, on finding solutions,” she says. “I focus on the principles that matter, irrespective of who’s in the room and whether you’re the only woman.”

While she’s had many moments of feeling she wasn’t part of the club and remembers once being told it was a career-limiting move not to golf, Rodriguez comes back to her confidence in the subject matter and being memorable because of her difference.

While twenty years ago, she may have gone with a strategy of blending in, today she would advise: “Embrace who you are and everybody else will be richer for it.”

Maintaining A Constructive Mindset

“There’s a moment, which is certainly an adjustment, when you’ve reached the point in your career where the buck stops with you in leadership. I’ve always been someone that took responsibility and was willing to make decisions, but when you get to the level where you have complete ownership from start to finish, it’s no longer someone else’s problem in leadership,” she says. “It’s ‘we’ and it’s ‘me.’ You’re not alone – you have peers, a whole team, a manager – but it’s embracing an entirely new level of ownership and responsibility.”

At that level, Rodriguez has embraced the advice to be vigilant with her mental approach, day-to-day and in all parts of life.

“How constructively you approach anything is going to be the difference-maker for you and for all those who work with you and for you,” she says, “When you hit those roadblocks and it’s tempting to pivot to feeling captive or negative, I force myself to remember that the only way out is forward. Approach issues constructively and that will help you rise above the challenge or circumstance, to focus on a solution.”

She continues, “I’ve needed that encouragement at times. We could waste time wallowing, but the work will be there tomorrow. So give yourself a few minutes, if you need to take a step away, do. But then, come back to it, calmly and constructively. That’s what I want to exemplify for my team, the leader I want to be. Cooler heads will always prevail.”

Keeping the Perspective of a Longer Arc

Twenty years into her work journey, Rodriguez would also advise that it’s okay to slow down and pace yourself: “If we’re lucky, the career is long. We live in a culture of instant gratification and are wired to constantly seek it. Technology only serves to reinforce and accelerate the need for instant gratification,” she notes. “But you truly have to toil away at something to really learn it, to master it, to become an expert, to unlock the benefits and skills that will propel you to that next level. The corporate ladder is really a staircase with various landings along the way and you have to play the long game. Climb the staircase…”

With two little ones at home, Rodriguez observes that “six months feels like a night” and time feels more precious than ever. Rodriguez loves spending time with her kids, husband and extended family. She’s seeking to weave back in her wellness focus and routine, and having enjoyed much travel before motherhood, muses on family travels to one day come.

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Liora Haymann: Managing Director, OBM International

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Liora Haymann“When you stumble on a rock in a mountain climb, you find your way around and keep going,” says Liora Haymann. “You may even later sit on the rock that seemingly blocked you to enjoy the view.”

During her first year in Architecture School in Chile, Haymann’s studio teacher declared that he didn’t like wasting his time reviewing women’s projects because in two years they would marry and leave school. While it would be unacceptable today, that comment ignited a motivational fire in Haymann.

“I’m a rational person, so I looked at the classes above me and I thought, he’s just stating a fact. And then I said to myself, I’m going to prove him wrong,” she says. “I never thought he meant to dismiss us. He meant to push us. And that’s how I’ve taken it every time I found such challenges. I’ve never thought that somebody is putting me down. I’ve always thought it’s a challenge.”

Five years later, that teacher congratulated Haymann for being accepted for graduate studies at MIT in the US. But it remained true that out of a 50/50 gender split in the first year, only five women graduated as part of the 1983 class – whereas about twenty men did. She remains friends with her tight-knit female classmates still today.

From MIT to Chilean Urban Market to Global Destinations

MIT was eye-opening and introduced her to a more inclusive culture: “It gave me a lot more confidence on who I was, and I understood the freedom to pursue a path that was more mine.”

After graduating, and a couple of years working in Washington D.C., Haymann returned to Chile with her newborn daughter. With a few of her former male classmates, she co-founded an innovative architectural firm called URBE, as the only woman partner. With a combined background of US studies, they brought new techniques, visions and ways of introducing urban quality to the market. URBE became the best-in-class training ground for a new generation of young urban planners in Chile. But for family reasons, she then moved to Miami.

“Leaving URBE behind was difficult. It was my baby. At that time, there was not a global economy like we have now. Working across borders was not so common, so it was a darker time,” she reflects. “But again, every challenge is an opportunity.”

She crossed paths with OBMI, a premier hospitality and destination design company, which put her on the global stage and took her all around the world – China, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, the Caribbean and much more.

OBMI work is imbued with vision: the belief that design must celebrate local culture, landscape, or heritage, and create a journey of discovery for those who inhabit the space, whether for a weekend or a lifetime. OBMI became a great platform to develop her talents.

Moving From Design into Business Management

Being a very organized, structured, and process-oriented person, Haymann found that as she grew professionally, she gravitated towards management. After several years running international design projects – remote island resorts, boutique hotels, large scale master plans for waterfronts and mix-use, this eventually led to becoming a managing director and board member at OBMI, despite not having formal business education.

“Architects are trained to focus on design and to believe that design is the only valuable aspect of architecture,” she admits. “I had to re-educate my brain that I am even more valuable now because I understand design so well that I can make the bridge between management and design and make it much more effective for our clients, my team, and everybody to navigate the complex design process. I’m super proud of it, and now encourage others to become great managers. It’s been a great ride, with the company growing fivefold during this period.”

Recently, at 66 years old, she’s been contemplating what’s next and yet, it also feels premature.

“In my company, we are working towards passing on more power to the younger generation. OBMI is my second baby and therefore, letting go and trusting is again difficult,” she admits. “So you give it away, and then you grab it back because a part of you does not want to give it away. It’s a process and it’s a bit painful because I have a lot of energy and ideas related to work process and management that I want to apply.”

With a 102 year old father, Rudi Haymann, who has reinvented himself in his 90s, as a published author and public speaker, Haymann trusts in longevity and decades of re-creating herself ahead.

“It can be frustrating to see that a lot of business mentality is still caught in the 20th century where it was learn-work-retire,” she admits, “but that’s not the story today. How can businesses capture our acquired experience, at a time we are still full of energy?”

Liora's Hand

Being a ‘Shepherd Leader’ with A Wide Worldview

When it comes to her leadership style, Haymann self-identifies as what she dubs a “shepherd leader.” She leads from behind with a team that is organically in motion with many moving parts. She keeps her eye on the North and ensures everyone is staying oriented and moving towards the goal while she prevents anyone from getting stuck or going too far astray.

“There are many different ways of leading. I am not a ‘storyteller leader’ who may create large ideas and inspire people through their words. That’s a different way of moving people,” she says. “I will lead by example. I’ll walk the talk and people will see me walk, and they will learn.”

All along, she stays focused on three main goals: Design great projects. Make sure the team is inspired and fulfilled. Make good business.

Haymann feels her wide worldview has been essential to her success in global hospitality and luxury destination design. As a Jewish woman who grew up in Chile, with German parents, and then chose to study in the US, she carries different cultures and a great deal of heritage within her, always informing her perspective. She speaks several languages and notes “languages have embedded within them a way of seeing the world.”

She also believes her results-focused, solution-oriented, and driven nature have supported her in building trust. She’s adept at structuring, planning and breaking down complex projects into the who/how/when process and tasks to ensure everything comes together, flows and moves forward.

One of her strengths is to combine bird’s-eye strategy view with down-to-earth actionable tasks. With this double-lens she analyzed the firm’s data to identify key challenges and implemented processes, solutions, and unit linkages to drive smooth operations, efficiency, and communication as a basis to keep the team leveling up.

“In a design studio that is full of intuitive creatives, that is really useful. Because I understand the creative design process and I can also bring this structural talent that I have to respecting that intuitive process. Otherwise, it goes counter-current,” says Haymann. “How do you build that insight within the creative process? I can partner with the most creative person and become a really strong team because we cover it all.”

Fostering Honest and Direct Communication

“It’s difficult to give bad news, and so people often avoid it. I’ve learned through time that the best way to build trust and understanding is just to communicate as honestly as possible,” she says.

As she’s risen in leadership, a big mental shift has been making a strong and conscious effort to be more relationship-focused beyond the content of the work. This includes more check-ins and empathetic listening. With a half-smile, she admits she’s uncertain if she’d be called “nice,” but she trusts her team knows she cares about them.

“If we’re having a discussion, my focus is on the topic. I’m assuming that we’re both focusing on the content. But, with time, I’ve learned that many people focus on the relationship, and may sacrifice items in the topic to protect the relationship,” Haymann observes. “For example, they may not contradict. They may not bring up their ideas because they may be different from what somebody else in a more powerful position may be saying. They may feel vulnerable in expressing something.”

To invite others to speak honestly, she has learned to make an introduction upfront about her own direct style and valuing the discussion of viewpoints and being contradicted, because it encourages better, more nuanced thinking on the topic.

Being A Woman Architect in Real Estate Development

While architecture tends to be perceived as a very woman-friendly field, they’re less prominent in architecture in real estate development.

“I’ve never had a woman client and I’ve worked for decades and decades,” says Haymann. “The industry is very male-dominated, likely because it involves both large money and big negotiations. In my company in Chile, URBE, I was the only woman partner. At OBMI, I was the first female managing director and board member. OBMI has been a great environment for growth, and I am grateful for the opportunities. I think the last fifteen years have been a big leap for women in design and hospitality, and I am happy to see that.”

She notes that the representation of women significantly diminishes as you escalate in the ranks. Architecture requires a lot of late nights and tense deadlines, and many women with family prefer to form their own smaller self-practice.

“I was super lucky. I had help that I trusted while raising a family, but I remember it as an extremely stressful time. I was forced to learn to be very efficient and focused to make decisions,” she recalls. “Maybe it’s just my personality, or that may have affected the relationship aspect of work for me. I would come in, do my work and go home, because I had stuff to do there and people waiting for me. Still today, it’s difficult for me to relax and go for a long lunch.”

At the same time, Haymann notes these days, she enjoys the ability to linger and work late: “I love to work. Why not work late if I can now? What a luxury.”

While things are changing visibly today around integrating family and work, it also brings up mixed feelings for the barriers women have faced.

“As a woman with a family, I, and the women I worked with, would never bring up family as an excuse for being late or not coming in. We would figure it out, because it could be counted against you,” she notes. “But today, I see young men who have families, very freely say, ‘I have a school meeting. My girl is sick. I have to stay home.’ I still don’t see the women saying that so freely. They’re still very careful. It’s nice to see the fathers being involved and taking this freedom, but I also lament that women never had it. It’s both good, and at the same time, it’s unfortunate guys have to say it for that to be acceptable.”

Haymann also notes being a woman has helped her to stand out and be memorable, and she leveraged it: “I made sure that people knew I was intelligent. That I would bring value. That what I would say was relevant. That I could speak up. That I was going to be absolutely responsive to my clients’ inquiries and needs and be available to them. I made sure that was clear, and that became an important platform,” she notes. Her expertise and confidence brought speaking opportunities at international forums and relationships that opened new business.

A female colleague recalled a moment when Haymann inspired her years ago. As attendees were coming into a boardroom, Haymann witnessed a young woman take a seat in the second row in a semi-full room.

“I immediately called her out and said, ‘You go sit at the table” she recalls. “I thought, why would a young woman decide to sit in the second row when there is space? The space at the table is for those who show up because they care. The second row is for those who come in late, no matter who they are.”

It took a while for Haymann to realize that she was a role model to other women, and she doubts young women today would default to the second row. Looking back, Haymann would tell her more junior self to be more playful and develop relationships more.

“With time and feedback, I became more aware other women were watching me, but I’ve never talked about it, because I think talking is cheap. Acting is important,” she notes. “For me, it’s always: Set the example. Show others what they can do.” She is adamant in supporting next gen at OBMI to expand their knowledge and leadership through their involvement in industry programs and events. She also led the creation of a hospitality design course at University of Miami, strengthening the firm’s position as a thought leader.

Carving a Path With Few Role Models

Haymann has a soft-spot for the Disney character, Maleficent: “The first time I met her was when my daughter was a little girl and we watched the original Disney film Sleeping Beauty from 1959. What struck me, were the female archetypes in this film. First, there is the queen who doesn’t speak a word in the whole movie. Then, the princess, who falls asleep; then the minuscule fairies, who do all the jobs for the prince, but they’re invisible. Like the secretaries and the wives and all these invisible people that, in those days, made things happen while the male hero shined. And then, there is Maleficent – who is independent, beautiful, lives in her own castle and has people that she reigns over. When she shows up, she is hated because she is powerful, she speaks and brings this curse, meaning she holds a power. Isn’t that interesting? This is how women were perceived in those days. Either powerful and bad. Or invisible and doing all the work, or mute.”

Across her career in architecture, Haymann had no particular real life female role models whom she wished to emulate, but rather was more inspired by her peers and colleagues. As she looks ahead to what’s next, she also finds few inspiring her for where she might go.

“I find myself again having to carve a path on my own. I’ve experienced enough transitions to know it’s going to be a good place, but I also expect there to be a rough time because you have to cross the rough sea before you can get to the other shore,” she reflects. “The rough times have always brought me good things later.”

Today, her 102 year old father is her inspiration. He’s living proof that you can always re-invent yourself, find enlivening purpose, and create relationships, again and again.

Translating old letters from German to Spanish (for the original edition) as she supported her father to write his own story, she also discovered more of herself. When she read that her grandfather wrote to her then 16-year old father, after being separated to escape Nazi persecution, that “Work is the holiest mission of man,” she saw herself in that perspective.

Referring to her “B side,” the life that is not as visible and happens outside of the realm of work, Haymann is looking for how to more deeply integrate all sides of who she is. Her “B side” passions include physical movement, nature, and writing.

Her passion for movement has gone from trekking, dancing and competitive skiing as a child to becoming immersed in Martha Graham technique to being certified as an Iyengar Yoga teacher to finding a love for free flow movement in Five Rhythms. While Iyengar yoga is about alignment, structures, weights, precision and tensions that mirror architecture, she’s moved towards a purer emotional expression in movement.

“I started working at a time where most feminine aspects didn’t have a place. So I put them on the side, and kept developing them because they’re extremely important. I think that’s why I find myself drawn to movement,” she says. “Movement is medicine. It’s an amazing self-knowledge tool, a place to go when emotions are driving, and a way to understand myself. I pray to move until the day I die.”

Her other big love is nature, reminding us we are both so small and capable of so much. She calls crossing the Andes Mountains on horseback and camping in the open air her “most luxurious trip” – not for the facilities, but to hold witness to the immensity of nature and the human spirit that would dare to cross mountains.

With her father being one of few living veterans of World War II’s 100 million fighting soldiers, she realizes that some stories reveal their layers and gain significance only with time.

“When we’re in middle of it, we’re just living. We’re doing our thing,” muses Haymann. “It’s only when we take a long-distance view that we start seeing the lessons and the value in all we’ve done. Things take on a different perspective. Perhaps that will also inform my next phase.”

By Aimee Hansen

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Sherin Dawud: CEO at Nura Co. and Co-Founder at Power Pump Girls

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Sherin Dawud“For me, my mission is sowing into people. If I can impact a person and help open them up to who they really are, their strengths and what they’re capable of, and support them, this has ripple effects,” says Sherin Dawud. “Often companies and organizations are driven by the bottom line, and the bottom line is your people. Money is just a byproduct.”

Social Impact IS the Bottom Line

“As a child, my mom was huge on service to the community. And it was because we came from a low-income family in which we relied on donations for Christmas gifts and jackets and meals,” says Dawud, who grew up in Northern Louisiana. “As we became better-off, it was a repayment to serve the community. My parents instilled this deep in me, and I’ve always had a heart for serving people.”

Along with her co-founder and business partner Raina Vallot, Dawud has been carving her leadership path based on prioritizing social impact in both the non-profit and business world in Louisiana.

Power Pump Girls, Inc. is the duo’s non-profit 501 C3, a social impact club whose mission is to empower women to connect and serve. One of the key initiatives since 2018 focuses on menstrual equity to address the issue of period poverty. Those who do not have access to period care products – either through inability to access or afford – often resort to homemade solutions, resulting in damaging impacts on health and self-esteem. The team provides dignity, education and products (pads, cups, liners, tampons) to those who lack access – from women on the street, to girls missing school, to those who are incarcerated. Across several partnerships with organizations, Power Pump Girls has distributed many tens of thousands of products to the community. They’ve also advocated successfully to have the pink tax (the tax on feminine care products, diapers and other predominantly female purchases) removed statewide. Based in the hurricane, flood and tornado prone areas of southern Louisiana, Power Pump Girls also focuses on disaster relief and promotes civic engagement among women in the capital voting district of Baton Rouge.

But social impact is not only for non-profit work. As “social innovators” who are “fueled by servant leadership,” Dawud’s and Vallot’s marketing and impact consultancy Nura Co won’t accept projects from organizations unless they are focused on impact for people within the organization or the community because as Dawud puts it, “we will not be passionate about your work.”

Instead, they help organizations who are either seeking support for social impact initiatives or consultancy on creating more ways to serve or grow people.

Leaving to Lead On Her Terms

Going into agency life after graduating in 2012, Dawud was disillusioned, but not dissuaded, by her early experience in the workplace. Not only did she feel the culture lacked the inclusiveness she craved, which led her to begin an employee resource group (ERG), but she found her own leadership style rubbed up against the status quo.

“The environment wasn’t conducive to my leadership style. While I am a very firm woman, I am definitely compassionate and lenient in areas where I felt like my male counterparts were not, so my style of leadership was perceived as a little too soft,” reflects Dawud. “I felt there’s compassionate ways to handle people and things. Because I refuse to change who I am as a person in the way that I lead, I decided to leave.”

And that’s when she decided to start her own organizations: “I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t have to change my leadership style in order to be successful at the things that I enjoy doing. So fast-forward and and we’re doing that and we’re doing it successfully.”

Defying the Narrow Boxes

With a mother from rural Georgia and father from Jordan, Dawud describes herself as half Jordanian, half Palestinian, half Black.

“I grew up in a bi-racial household that also celebrated two different religions. Outside of giving me a worldview of people, and understanding we really are all the same, it also gave me autonomy of choice early on,” reflects Dawud. “I started making big decisions while being offered multiple choices: You are Black and you are Arab. Are you Muslim or are you Christian? Nobody else was living like this. They were one race or one religion. Many times, I questioned if I had to choose one or the other. And then I decided: no, I can do or be all things.”

It’s not only that she didn’t want to be boxed in. Dawud remembers comparing her Arab cousins to her Black cousins, who all liked pizza, video games and going outside to play. “When you dive deeper and you’re looking at all the people in your life, everybody is the same. We all believe in the same big concepts of love and equality.”

This is what Dawud feels is her mission: “I have a heart for people, and have always felt the need to want to close the gaps in understanding between us. Lots of people feel two sides of a coin separate us when, in actuality, it doesn’t.”

Defying preset boxes has come into her professional life, too: “People have said to me, ‘you just need to focus on one thing, so what is the thing that you’re going to focus on?’ It’s just another box. My thinking is if you can only focus on one thing, let that be your limitation. It’s not mine.”

She continues, “I’ve been latching onto the concept of being multifaceted. I can be anything and everything I choose to be, as long as I have the mental and emotional capacity to do those things. When I don’t, I don’t do them anymore.”

Enjoying The Process and Embracing Failure

Dawud says her early confidence to launch on her own “goes to my mom, single-handedly.” While growing up, she watched her mother go for opportunities outside of her immediate reach, come up with new ideas and inspire everyone around her. But most of all, even through failure, she never traded in her energy, passion and excitement around exploring how to make new ideas happen.

“Witnessing her gave me the audacity and strength to jump in and make decisions, and to know that failure is okay, because you can always get re-energized again. I picked up that it didn’t matter whether it worked. The process is fun and inspiring,” says Dawud. “So I adopted enjoying the process, and then I’ve adapted that by also considering, how do I execute and make it sustainable so I do not have to fail? And if I do fail, how do I shift and pivot from those failures?”

Embracing failure was contrasted by her father’s immigrant frame of overachievement and success. That influence helped her know she could figure things out: “It goes back to that duality in my household and being able to draw from these two things that were starkly different. I can make them work together and do both.”

Patience, Communication and The Pivot

Inclined to throw herself into future-focused ideas, Dawud feels her business partner balances that out with structure and processes to actually make them happen, a necessary complement her mother did not have. Along with Vallot’s partnership, patience and communication have been key learning curves to ground her ideas towards success.

“I think so far ahead and I’m so inspired by the next thing, that often I haven’t given everybody else the opportunity to settle their footing in the current moment,” she says. “I feel like we’ve got it, and I can run up ahead and grab more. That’s always my mentality, so I’ve been learning the value of patience and moving slower.”

Dawud notes some of the compulsion to chase the next opportunity comes from imposter syndrome and the insecurity of comparison, and she’s had to outgrow that. She’s also had to learn to communicate better.

“Often I can see this great idea up ahead, but I’m not pausing to communicate in a way that people can understand,” reflects Dawud, “so they can also be inspired by it and add to the idea in ways I can’t see.”

But perhaps what has been most valuable so far is embracing ‘the pivot’ – turning towards, in whatever way it is, where you need to go.

“There’s power in the pivot. You can’t get stuck. You don’t want to plateau. You always want to stay fresh and connected. Pivoting is inevitable. You can’t not pivot, and if you feel like it’s not working, that’s your sign,” advises Dawud. “For every single problem, there is a solution. You just have to spend enough time to let it present itself. Sometimes, the solution is a tweak. But recognize where you are – and be willing to turn where you want to go, in whatever you are doing, whether it’s a 180 or a few degrees.”

The Value of Intuition

As a girl, Dawud’s mother spoke to her about the power of her intuition: that she could pause, listen to it and then stay with it long enough to get comfortable hearing the voice. As she’s grown older, Dawud has more deeply embraced the value of truly connecting with herself.

“I don’t think I would be as successful as I am, or where I am in my life, if I wasn’t directly connected to my intuition, because a lot of our business decisions are guided by that,” says Dawud. “And there are also the times when I realize I did hear it, but I didn’t listen. There’s a value in that, too. What part of what you heard made you decide not to go with it? If you can build the relationship with your intuition, you become more accurate.”

Outside of her multi-cultural home, Dawud is most inspired by women who are overcoming the societal odds to chart new paths – such as Sevetri Wilson, the first black female tech founder in New Orleans to close a 7-figure round of funding. Dawud has noted she’s inspired by the stories of women’s journeys and insights as they’ve risen into impact.

And so it goes, Dawud lives up to what she’s inspired by.

By Aimee Hansen

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Sylvana Quader Sinha, Founder and CEO of Praava Health

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Sylvana Quader Sinha“The problem just seemed so big, and I somehow had the naive courage to think that I could do something about it,” says Sylvana Q. Sinha, the Bangladeshi-American founder and CEO of Praava Health, Bangladesh’s fastest-growing healthcare company.

In 2014, Sinha left a promising career in international law to focus on the creation of a new disruptive, innovative healthcare company. The decision was prompted by a health scare her mother faced during a family visit to Bangladesh for a wedding; the challenges associated with the emergency appendectomy put Sylvana up close with the shortcomings of the healthcare system in that country.

Prior to founding Praava Health, Sinha led diverse, interdisciplinary teams in international law, business, development, and government relations at major international law firms (Gotshal, & Manges, LLP and Lovells LLP), management consulting firms (Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers), the World Bank in Kabul and Afghanistan and New York, and think tanks in the Middle East and South Asia.

She conducted research on business and human rights issues for the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General, held the position of social protection specialist at the International Labour Organization, and served as a foreign policy advisor to the 2008 presidential campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama. Today, Sinha is also a PATH board member and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Currently serving more than half a million patients, Praava Health’s tech-forward model is designed to be efficient, accessible, and scalable across emerging markets, where 85% of the world lives. Praava’s work has been featured by Forbes Magazine and Financial Times and was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea in 2020. In 2021, the World Economic Forum named Praava Health a Technology Pioneer, and in 2023, they were named a Global Innovator.

Sinha shared with The Glass Hammer her experience as an emerging market entrepreneur and CEO in a male-dominated field and why she’s using her voice to speak out about the challenges women-led businesses face in emerging markets, particularly when it comes to raising capital.

On taking the wheel to improve healthcare in Bangladesh:

“I spent about a year at the beginning of this journey learning all the pain points of the healthcare system in Bangladesh and talking to patients and those involved in the delivery of healthcare, both in Bangladesh and all over the world. It was like a year long global listening tour.

“The more I dug in, the more I saw how deeply-rooted the problem was, and the more obsessed I became with trying to solve it. Candidly, I didn’t find anyone who both cared about solving this problem as much as I did, and had the global networks and local resources to be able to affect change.

“I came across a lot of people who complained about different parts of the system with no plans to do anything about it. Then, there were those who wanted to solve the problem but didn’t have the right skill sets to contribute. I felt that with my experience as a leader and as a global professional, I had the skills, tools, and access to make a difference. I had access to global leaders and innovators in healthcare that we were able to learn from, adapt the global best practice lessons and bring them back to Bangladesh.

“I’d been looking for ways to make more of a direct impact through my work, and I just felt like this was the opportunity I’d been seeking. This was the thing that was the culmination of all of my skills – managing international risk, managing political and economic risk in an emerging market, and having a direct impact, changing lives on the ground. All of those things together inspired me.

“The problem just seemed so big, and I somehow had the naive courage to think that I could do something about it. I became obsessed with solving this problem.”

On what drove her desire for more direct impact:

“I was on the ground in Afghanistan, but I was working in these large organizations and there was so much bureaucracy that was crippling us, as close as we were, from being able to have an impact. These large organizations are so challenged by their own size and by their own systems that it becomes hard to create change. I thought, maybe you have to just build it from scratch.

“Also, from the early stages of my career as a 22-year-old management consultant and junior lawyer – and throughout my career – I worked for men. In particular, when I worked in the services industry, the men were always pitching business to clients, and I remember they would always claim they could do things that we had never done before. I knew, because I was part of their team, that these were things they’d never done before. But then I realized we could do it. We would sell the business; then, we would go learn, and we would do it. And as a woman, just like many other women I know, I feel like we don’t like to claim we can do things until we’ve already done them.

“This experience taught me that, with the help of a skilled and motivated team, I can learn, and I can make things happen. With the right people, we can build the airplane while we’re flying it.”

On how Praava is disrupting the standard of healthcare in Bangladesh:

“The big challenge in Bangladesh is that in addition to the huge gap in terms of the quality of healthcare, there’s also a changing demographic. We now have a very quickly growing and urbanizing middle-income population.

“We have a country that was traditionally more dependent on foreign aid and charity to provide healthcare for our citizens, and just a generation ago, Bangladesh was considered one of the least developed countries in the world. But now, it’s one of the fastest growing economies. This means more people are accessing the private sector for healthcare. But the private sector is largely unregulated and offers very dramatic variations in terms of the quality of healthcare.

“I think the public system does a really good job in terms of prioritizing primary care. But for anything beyond basic vaccinations and deliveries, the masses are accessing the private system. In Bangladesh, 72% of health spending is coming from the private sector. And this is true across South Asia. In most countries, the opposite is true – the health funding is mostly coming from the government, but in South Asia, the private sector is driving the growth.

“The very specific pain point is providing quality healthcare at an affordable price point. When Praava entered the market, the average amount of time doctors spent with patients was 48 seconds. There were only four international standard labs for a country of 170 million people. And 20%+ of drugs in the market were counterfeit.

“What Praava offers, at an affordable price point, is a one-stop shop for all of your outpatient healthcare needs that’s truly at a world-class level: The doctors are practicing protocolized medicine and spending at least 15 minutes with each patient. Our lab meets international standards. Our pharmacy guarantees that there are no counterfeits because we source directly from manufacturers. We’re the only player that owns the outpatient healthcare experience and the only player that does so with both in-clinic physical services, as well as remote and virtual care. While there is still work to be done, we’re contributing to positive change.

“One of the greatest rewards has been hearing stories from our patients about how we’ve been able to change their lives. A lot of people say they never thought they could have healthcare like this in Bangladesh. They thought they would have to travel abroad. To hear that feedback is extremely rewarding and gratifying.”

On how her experience has prepared her to be an emerging market entrepreneur:

“This role is the confluence of all of the different things that I’ve done, particularly when I’ve been forced to manage uncertainty. I think my legal training gave me a framework for how to think in general and how to think about solving problems in a really methodical and logical way. My experience as a management consultant, and working in war-torn regions such as Afghanistan, helped me to learn how to navigate uncertainty methodically, how to problem-solve, and how to be constructive.

“Also, as a lawyer, advising clients on managing risk in investing in new countries and legal disputes in those markets helped prepare me. And my experience working in U.S. foreign policy allowed me to consider how different people think about the world and how Americans, in particular, see the rest of the world.

“The resilience of continuing to fight against daily, or even hourly, ups and downs is what I feel came from all of my various experiences.

“There’s an obsession with very young entrepreneurs, like Mark Zuckerberg, who quit college and go off to start their companies. “But I think building a new scalable business is really, really hard. I don’t think I could have done it when I was in my 20s. There’s a lot of evidence that the most successful entrepreneurs are people who start their companies in their late 30s and early 40s. I started when I was 37. I think that coming to entrepreneurship a bit later, after I had done a lot of different things, made me much more prepared for the resilience and patience that was required and is still required for what we’re building.”

On why we need to (sincerely) fund women entrepreneurs in emerging markets:

“My biggest surprise of this journey is how hard it has been to get funding. I really thought that if we proved the economics of our business, investors would want to invest. Once we prove our value proposition, investing should be a no-brainer. Well, our unit was profitable in ten months, as of November 2018, and I quickly discovered that it’s entirely untrue that proving the economics of your business alone is enough to get investors to invest.

“It’s been eye-opening for me to learn that 80% of venture dollars go to companies headquartered in New York, Massachusetts, and California – still sees the rest of the world as a charity case, not a place to make money.

“So that has pushed me to use my voice and platform to educate people on the opportunities that exist for emerging market entrepreneurs – and the overlooked opportunities financially, particularly for women. The amazing thing about emerging market businesses is you have an opportunity to make money and to have a big impact. Telling that story in a truly compelling and impactful way has been a challenge.

“As an American woman who moved to Bangladesh for the first time in my life to start this company, I’ve seen firsthand how hard it is for women entrepreneurs to access capital. There’s a lot of micro-money for women in emerging markets and outside the United States. But there’s not a lot of money for women to scale their businesses. There’s barely any, actually.

“When we hear about funding for women’s entrepreneurship and women-focused venture capital firms, unfortunately, it’s primarily U.S. and Europe-focused. Even Pivotal Ventures, founded by Melinda Gates, only invests in the United States.

“So the only way to help these countries stand up on their own and be less aid-dependent is to develop the private sector, which requires investment. And the only way to empower women in these countries is to help them build wealth. And the only way to build wealth is to have more access to capital.

“Women are not going to access power and be able to build their wealth if you only give them $10 a month to fund their micro-enterprises. That’s great. But once those micro-enterprises are ready to scale, at this moment, there’s no one to fund them.

“I’m still learning how to tell the story of how these problems are intertwined. Being a public figure and the public face of the organization is outside my comfort zone, so this role is really pushing me. But I realized these lessons are unique and need to be told.

I was at the Forbes 30/50 Summit on International Women’s Day in Abu Dhabi, which was supposedly one of the largest global gatherings of women leaders and innovators. Every single entrepreneur speaker was from America. The only speakers from outside the U.S. were focused on themes like human rights and charity.

“I found this offensive, and I gave that feedback. There are women leaders in other countries. There are female-founded unicorns in India. Canva was founded by a woman in Australia. We have to stop thinking that America is the center of the world. There are huge opportunities outside the U.S. Even BlackRock pointed out that in 2023, when you’re going through global recession, the only parts of the economy still growing are emerging markets.

“We must break out of thinking that the rest of the world needs charity, and America is where people make money.”

On leading in an industry where less than 15% of CEOS are women:

“Eighty-five percent of healthcare decisions for households all over the world are made by women. Sixty-five percent of health workers are women. I’ve always felt that being a woman ultimately makes me a better leader. It makes me better at building healthcare products for consumers and bringing the voice of women to the table. For that reason and so many more, we need more women leaders at the table.

“As a female leader, I think I have been both challenged and underestimated. I’ve been told directly by men who’ve been in the room when I pitch that I’ve been asked questions that investors wouldn’t think to ask men, and that investors challenge me and push back in ways they just don’t with men.

“But what I say about that, ultimately, is that it makes me a better founder. Because I have to have the answers to those questions. Knowing my business better is always a good thing. So yes, I’m sure it’s challenged me in ways that are not equal or fair. But ultimately, it makes me better and it makes my company better.”

On leveraging her voice and platform to challenge the status quo:

“I was at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that happens in January each year in San Francisco. It’s the largest healthcare investing conference in the world, though it’s mostly U.S. focused, and there was a panel of eight white men. How is this happening in 2023? This was 2023, and it was a panel talking about healthcare with eight white men.

“I think leadership is a double-edged sword for women. Because it’s harder for women, women don’t necessarily want to go after it. So you have fewer women going into leadership roles in this sector. Also, America likes seeing women-founded companies that are wellness-focused or fashion-focused. Those are important companies, and no disrespect to those founders, but I just think America is more comfortable with female founders for those types of businesses. We need to see more women leading financial services organizations and building companies that are providing basic services for consumers who are more than 50% women. We all have these needs in our life, so we need women’s voices to create the solutions.

“The lack of women in leadership in my field has pushed me to recognize that because there are so few women in these roles, I have to push myself to be out there more and to use my voice.”

On ‘walking the walk’ of valuing women in the workplace:

“An unexpected outcome of this journey has been recognizing the importance of valuing women’s work in business.

“During my first year as a founder, every single woman who worked for me – aged 22 to 40+ – on my team of 25 people got pregnant. This accounted for about half the team. It was a challenging year, to say the least. When one of my management team members came to me and told me she was also pregnant, she cried. I’m committed to being a founder who supports women, and while it was hard to manage, we did it.

“My team was able to rise to the occasion and create a workplace that truly supports women – even at a small startup with only 25 employees, we were able to succeed even with half the team out for three to six months in one year. And we are stronger for it. Providing the support women need to thrive in their careers IS possible.

“As an employer, I have now seen firsthand that women ask for less money and undervalue themselves. In our first year, a member of my management team asked for a certain salary, and we gave her what she asked for. Then, we did a market study, and I learned she was earning 30 to 40 percent less than the market, even though she had foreign experience at multinationals in the U.S. So I bumped her up – she didn’t ask for it, and she wasn’t going to. But it was the right thing to do.

“It’s so powerful to see the impact of the choices that create a supportive workplace for women. For example, during the pandemic, we did a lot of COVID testing through part-time consultants. When we discontinued some of their contracts, one of the women lab technicians begged us to find a job for her, explaining that she’d never worked in an organization that valued women the way ours does.

“This experience was so humbling. Frankly, I don’t know that I’ve been as intentional as I could have been about creating that workplace. But when the senior leadership of an organization has women at several points (at times, more than 50% of the management team), it trickles down.”

On why the world is waiting for women to step up:

“Our world has a lot of really big problems that need solving. I’m focused on one of them, but there are so many more that affect our day-to-day lives and our futures. We need people who are willing to take on these issues. We don’t get it right every day – I know I don’t – but what’s important is that we continue to have a positive impact. That’s what makes everything worth it.

“During a period in 2021, we were facing some regulatory challenges. It was a really dark time for me as a leader. I personally didn’t know how we were going to get out of this situation. As a resilient leader, I had faith we would but I didn’t know how.

“I do a lot of one-on-ones with people in the organization at all different levels, and I was doing more at this time to make sure the team felt supported, that we were being transparent, and that they had an opportunity to ask questions.

“In that time, I learned that they totally have faith in us as a management team. They know what we’re doing is the right thing and that we’re going to get through this. That was so inspiring to me to hear that and to see that in them. They were at risk of not even getting paid next month, but they were sure we’d figure this out. They were all so blasé about it and were just focusing on their regular day-to-day work. They put so much faith in me, and in us as a management team, that it was a great reminder that they believe in what we’re doing. What we’ve built is so much bigger than me or them, and it needs to be.”

On how she defines her own integrity as a leader:

“I think we’re always driven by treating each other well. I listen to this podcast series, Wiser Than Me, by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She herself is 62, and she interviews all women older than her. Yesterday, I was listening to the episode with Diane Von Furstenberg, and she said the only thing we can control in life is our character.

“This really resonated with me. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control the markets. We cannot control whether investors are going to invest or not. But what we can control is the way we treat each other — from giving the security guard at the entrance of a building a friendly hello to the empathy and kindness we give our patients, it’s all about treating each other well. That’s always my guiding force – to be able to feel proud of how I interact with other people.

“There have been some hard moments where someone on my team has let me down, and I’m upset and disappointed. And these are the moments when we show who we really are. No matter what, leading in a respectful and dignified way is always important.”

Interviewed by Aimee Hansen 

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Wanda Woo: Partner, Capital Markets, Shearman & Sterling LLC (Hong Kong)

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Wanda Woo(Spotlight on Asia) “If you have the right skills and are prepared, don’t be afraid when the opportunity comes to you. No one can tell you it’s not possible,” says Wanda Woo on being both a Shearman & Sterling partner and mother of three children.

Defining Her Own Growth Curve

Woo entered capital markets as a paralegal in 2004 after attaining a double degree in English literature and economics from the University of British Columbia. She planned to go the U.S. for her JD, but her trajectory was redirected after her father’s heart attack compelled a return to Hong Kong. Working as a paralegal with Linklaters in Hong Kong while studying undergraduate law via the University of London was not easy but her mentor at that time taught her to never underestimate herself.

“I made it, and it was painful, but I feel very proud of that process in the end,” says Woo. “I saw early on what I was capable of.”

Woo went onto join Shearman & Sterling for eight years as an associate, during which she had three children, and then after leaving for four years, she decided to rejoin the firm.

“It was destiny to have the opportunity to rejoin Shearman & Sterling as a capital markets partner. The timing couldn’t be better. The firm has really been the only place that has truly been very important for me throughout my career path. It’s like coming back home.”

Being a Mom of Three And a Partner

Woo confesses that she thought of resigning from Big Law after her first child, worried she would not be able to meet the travel and work demands, but instead the partner she worked for at the time encouraged her to instead take flexible arrangements.

“I’ve always found Shearman & Sterling to be very gender-equal, where male partners are working well with female partners, and very supportive. I couldn’t imagine another place that would have supported me so much when I was working in such an intensive field with three children.”

“It can be challenging, but I wouldn’t personally be a better mom if I was around 24/7,” says Woo of the multiple roles she balances.

She adds the importance of loving what you do, especially if you are carving your own possibilities: “If you have the passion for the work, there’s always a way. Pick the right field, pick the right industry, pick the right job that you have passion for.”

Doing The Work that Fulfills


“I always have felt like I belong to this industry,” says Woo. “You are always meeting new people or working on new deals or learning different business models. I really like transaction work because it’s a people business at the same time. That ability to contribute is what keeps me going – the work of helping corporate entities get listed and then being able to continue that relationship onwards.”

Woo feels most fulfilled by the companies she has helped bring to IPO status, to become publicly traded companies, and the amazing colleagues and clients she’s had a chance to work with over the past 17 years.

“For better or worse, I always say I am a bit obsessive-compulsive. I’m very motivated to finish the work, be on top of it, and respond quickly to inquiries or client requests,” says Woo. “Partially, I want to be able to return home to my kids. So, this obsessive quality has also helped me be efficient as a partner while also being a mother.”

Woo is especially good at handling conflict between stakeholders while also advising her clients through transactions legally – a skill of calmness that she picked up from watching partners that inspired her.

With three kids growing up to inherit this world, making a positive impact through ESG is important to her. “How to make an impact, give back to the environment and contribute to society is something I’m learning more about and sharing more about, beyond the notions of making money or having year-on-year growth.”

“In transactional capital markets law, the issuers may not know that ESG is something that will help them in the long run. But when we bring the ESG frame, along with the regulators, to these companies, they start to realize the impact they can make to society through these measures and policies,” notes Woo. “This is something to start earlier rather than later, so it becomes a part of your corporate culture, and is inviting to other stakeholders.”

Networking, Authentically

Since becoming a partner, Woo has moved from being more execution-focused to developing and stewarding client relationships. Having once pushed herself out of her comfort zone to seek partnership has helped her to push herself yet again.

“As a partner, people will ask you questions 24/7 and you have to be responsive. But the bigger growth area is to compel people to come back to you for more work and to assure them that you have them in your mind and heart as a client so you build that long-term relationship.”

“Now that I’ve been a partner for several years, I’ve realized networking is not really about wining and dining,” observes Woo. “It’s really about being authentic, reliable and trustworthy. I’ve always had these qualities I feel, but I had to learn to show people.”

Being Inspired and Inspiring Yourself

Woo has been most inspired by the lawyers before her that demonstrated integrity: “Being a good lawyer is never enough. They showed me what it means to be truly respectable and professional in all acts. They were doing the marketing work and actively engaging in the real work. It was never just about getting deals. The common quality in the figures I’ve aspired to is that they are still immersed and involved.”

Woo urges junior lawyers to not get too caught up on monetary rewards for early career efforts but to frame it as an investment in yourself as a lawyer.

“You’re not just getting paid for the job that you are doing. You are also getting paid for the experience that you’re earning,” says Woo. “The more you earn the better. You’ll be prepared for the next step. When I was a paralegal, I treated myself as an associate. When I was working as an associate, I treated myself as a senior. I went the extra mile, put in two hundred percent, so the partners could see what I could really do, and then they would give me more opportunities. Not everything you’re doing can be measured in monetary value.”

Recently back from a 2.5 month trip to China to check in with the clients and teams in Shanghai and Beijing offices, Woo values time with her parents, her partner and her children, who are now 9, 7 and 6 years old.

Woo prides herself on taking challenging situations and turning them towards her favor – and ranks being both a mother of three and Shearman capital markets partner high among those accomplishments.

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LaShonda Fuselier: Head of Multi-National Corporations Subsidiary Coverage, Corporate and Investment Banking, Wells Fargo

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LaShonda Fuselier“For me, it all comes down to a genuine intellectual curiosity about people and places and cultures and things,” says LaShonda Fuselier. “As a banker, you’re building bridges and relationships, trying to understand people and their business, and being inquisitive enough to ask the right questions. In an international context, we’re taking that to a totally different level.”

An Innate Passion for International Perspectives

That unique international aspect is what magnetized Fuselier to banking and what has kept her at Wells Fargo for over 18 years. Despite growing up in a small and rural town in Louisiana, her fascination with gaining international perspective started early. She took her first flight at 20 years old to Belgium. After graduating Dillard University with degrees in accounting and French, she interned in Paris and went on further to obtain her MBA from Emory’s Goizueta Business School – with an international exchange at HEC Paris.

“I love the need for a global perspective for us to be able to serve our clients. My clients are headquartered outside of the US in my current role, and I love working across borders and across cultures,” says Fuselier. “I love thinking about not just how these factors [cross-borders and cross-cultures] impact the business but also the individuals in the businesses.”

As a leader, Fuselier encourages new hires to not only execute on the “what” they are responsible for, but to also go beyond and consider the “why” (“why is it important?”) and “how” (“how can I add value/make it better?”). Embracing this herself, two years ago, while discussing the next potential stage of her career development, she pitched a new role to the Head of Corporate Banking – the one she presently finds herself in. This coming fall, she’ll host an inaugural Multi-National Corporations Conference as a means to be more consultative to Wells Fargo’s international client base.

Finance Is a Relationship Business

Growing up in a small town with hardworking parents, Fuselier was raised with a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility.

“Your word is your bond, my dad always said,” she shares. “I grew up in a family where if you say you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it. And if you want something, you’re going to have to put a little sweat into it.”

On top of trust-building, she’s recognized she possesses the important relational skill of making people feel comfortable: “You might think we’re talking finance. It’s numbers. But those are table stakes,” she says. “It’s a relationship business. People do business with people they’re comfortable with and they trust.”

Learning What Is In Your Control

Sometimes, it takes a difficult experience to learn how to be a leader.

While Fuselier has had many great managers, that has not always been the case. At times, she has even found herself offended by some past managers’ lack of leadership skills. Always committed to engaging professionally, she does surmise, she may not have engaged productively in one situation where she felt a past manager was not a great leader: “I have a tendency sometimes to stand on principle,” she says, “and so I focused on what I saw as the injustice about how this person was leading.”

But a colleague of hers with the same manager just focused on the work and ultimately had a better experience. As a result, she endeavored to engage more productively and constructively moving forward and it improved her experience.

“From that tough experience, I learned that you can’t control others. You can’t make someone a great manager,” she said, noting there will always be individual high-performers that are not as suited to be managers. “What you can control is everything that you do. You can control how you respond to the environment and use that response to make it better.”

Engaging and Empowering Others As a Leader

Today, Fuselier’s leadership is in part catalyzed by that experience. Fuselier has a clear view of what it takes to be a great leader and manager, which is a lot about encouraging and empowering her teams – in the same way some managers have done that for her. She advises mentees to “approach every assignment as an opportunity to develop and demonstrate your capabilities.” And as a leader, she prioritizes finding chances for others to do just that.

“It’s a practice I’ve developed to engage and empower others. One of the most rewarding aspects of being in leadership is when I have the opportunity to facilitate leadership opportunities for others and pull them out of their shell,” she says. “It feels really good when I get a chance to support somebody from behind and see them in the spotlight developing their skills, accomplishing things and being recognized.”

Fuselier likes to let her team take front and center where possible and be there in support. If someone mentions they don’t like public speaking, then they can expect to be invited to the next opportunity to push their comfort zone – and later on, they often express their gratitude for it.

“I subscribe to the theory that the best leaders – not only with words but through their actions – encourage and inspire others to achieve their best,” she says. “That is how some of the most influential leaders have impacted me in my career, and I aspire to have the same impact on others.”

Building Connection and Credibility

Many times, Fuselier has been the only woman in the room, person of color in the room, and certainly the only woman of color in the business room. Being culturally raised to believe that she had to be twice as good to earn half as much translated early on into over-preparation and focus. But it’s also gone further at times. Knowing that banking is a relationship business, LaShonda would try to find ways to connect with clients beyond the work. For example, with some clients she would research the highlights of the weekend’s local sport match – even if she had never been to that city.

“We talk within the community sometimes about assimilation and if it’s appropriate or inappropriate,” she says. “Even though I’m not a huge sports fan, this wasn’t an example of me losing my identify. Just like anyone who is new, you’re looking to connect and establish credibility, especially when you’re not like everyone else,” she says. “Once I could establish that connectivity and credibility, I felt like I could combine that with my unique perspectives to drive more meaningful dialogue and impact around the business.”

Once she gained credibility, it became easier to truly connect on a personal level.

“As I talked about things that mattered to them, they started to open up and we started to talk about things that reveal how much we have in common,” she says.

Fuselier has also learned to leverage being a unique voice in the room – whether on a transaction or an organizational decision. For example, she has been an advocate for diversity in recruiting. She also notes that being the only woman of color in the room at times means people will not forget LaShonda, and she’s willing to let that work for her, too.

Impacting Upon Diversity and Inclusion

Fuselier co-chairs the DEI counsel, is an advisor for the Black Connections Employee Resource Network (ERN) in EMEA, and is part of the steering committee of the WomenGoFar ERN.

This year, catalyzed with the idea from Judith Barry, Head of WomenGoFar, Fuselier created an initiative called Double Dimensions that tailors content and opportunities towards women of color within CIB.

“I’ve never been a ‘diversity person’ or someone who is solely responsible for diversity initiatives, but these are important, so I’m always eager to invest the time. However, what’s most important to me is that I’m not viewed as someone who is in my primary role solely because I am diverse,” says Fuselier. “I have always worked to demonstrate that I am a highly talented, hard-working, effective, successful banker who happens to be diverse.”

But with her and Wells Fargo’s passion for DEI, she has found the opportunity to develop and demonstrate her leadership, communication, collaboration and strategic planning skills beyond her client work while also building relationships with colleagues and leaders internally and on a global scale.

“It creates a real connection to the organization that keeps me going even on a day when you don’t get the transaction that you want or it’s not the best opportunity day,” she says. “It makes me feel like this is where I want to be.”

Fuselier’s gift of making people feel comfortable comes into its own in creating a permissive space for brave conversations.

“I think I give people the sentiment they can be themselves and say what they’re thinking. I’m not going to be offended,” she says. “I think people are often taken aback by just how open I am. So when I say ‘candor,’ which is an important value at Wells Fargo, I mean it – I’m going to be really open and so can you. That facilitates the type of environment where we can be collaborative and successful together.”

“Leadership is About Behaviors”

Some years ago, a mentor advised Fuselier to “own your position.”

“My younger mentality and work ethic was I’m going to execute to the best of my ability based on what they tell me to do and I’m not going to ask questions,” she reflects. “But that advice is about feeling empowered to do what you need to do to be successful and also to identify new opportunities and raise your hand to run with them.”

Tying back to creating the role she’s in now, Fuselier is a big advocate of catalyzing agency and ownership. It’s that notion that spurred her to create the Corporate Banking EmpowerHer women’s conference to foster professional development and greater engagement of women across the business. Now in its second year, the conference will be led by mid-level vice presidents and associates. More women will have the chance to step into leadership, develop their skills and be recognized for new contributions.

“You don’t have to be at a certain level or in a certain role to be a leader. Leadership is about behaviors,” she says. “It’s not about titles.”

Speaking of International Perspectives…

As at work, so it is at home: Fuselier’s entire family loves travel, culture and languages. In addition to her French, her whole family practices Spanish and her youngest daughter is studying Mandarin. They visit a few countries each year and like to seek out the cultural culinary delights – most recently they have been Egypt, UAE, Spain, France, Jamaica, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, and Ecuador!

By Aimee Hansen

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