This article forms part of our Latina Leaders celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage month in the USA.
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2015, Latina executives remain scarce in the corporate landscape. But ambition to lead, and ability to bring leadership advantages, are not scarce.
Walmart’s EVP and COO Debra Ruiz ranks 28 in Fortune’s current 50 Most Powerful Women in Business 2014 list. Latina Style celebrated ten executives in February, with Calline Sanchez, VP of IBM Enterprise, taking Corporate Executive of the Year 2014. Ana Dutra made history when she was appointed the first Latina president and CEO of the Executives’ Club of Chicago.
But with the growing influence of Latinas, there are too few, even dangerously too few, Latinas helping to steer companies.
In 2014, Latinas in the USA workforce (9,838,000) comprised 14% of female jobs. 26.1% were in management/professional occupations, holding 8.8% of women’s positions. 9.4% were in management, business, and financial operations, holding 9.1% of female positions. Latinas are the most under-represented females in managerial and professional jobs.
While Catalyst 2015 data indicates Latinas make up 6.2% of S&P 500 employees, they hold only 3.1% of first/mid-level positions, 1% of executive/senior level positions, and no CEO positions. Hispanic women occupied only 4.4% of S&P 500 women-held board seats in 2014, less than 1% of total board seats. The HACR CII data echoes the same numbers of non-representation.
Is the Path to Entrepreneurship More Accessible?
As written by Samantha Cole in Fast Company, “Women need to see someone else succeed—to know that their dreams are possible, and attainable by someone who’s not so different from them.”
For Latina business women, the majority of public role models aren’t somewhere up the corporate ladder. They’re braving the path of entrepreneurship.
Nely Galan, first Latina president of a U.S. Television Network turned media mogul notes deep cultural barriers to success in traditional pathways. She says Latina women are “a secret weapon to the economy” and encourages them to take business into their own hands to harness the economic pull they hold.
At its own risk, corporate America may be sending the same message.
According to an entrepreneurial report from the Center for American Progress, female-owned businesses increased by 59% between 1997 to 2013, while Latina-owned businesses increased by 180% during this same time, with 944,000 Latinas running their own businesses and turning $65.5 billion in receipts. Currently at 17%, Latinas will make up a fourth of the American female population by 2050.
Women entrepreneurs see it as an opportunity to be their own boss, have greater control over their destiny and pursue their passion. But roadblocks also lead Latinas onto the entrepreneurial path.
The report notes many challenges in organizations raised by all women of color that, despite the very real risks, may encourage Latinas to go it on their own. Across accountancy, securities and law, barriers included a lack of role models, low access to high-visibility assignments and client-facing opportunities important to career advancement, marginalization by stereotypes and exclusion from networks.
Stepping Into Latina Leadership – A Sum Greater Than Its Parts
The key to the advancement of Latina professional women is a corporate culture that supports it.
“[You] need to be in a company that embraces women,” Ileana Musa, managing director and Head of Global Client Segment and Strategy for Merrill Lynch and Chair of Women of ALPFA, recently told the Latin Post. “That gives you the resources and creates an environment where you can thrive.”
2015 Latina Style Top 50 companies are making progress, especially financial players in the top ten ranks including Accenture (#4), Prudential (#5), and Wells Fargo (#8). But we still await more tangible and visible outcomes in executive representation.
On that note, Musa also recommends that Latinas take risks and use their cultural assets in rising to leadership, rather than allowing their leadership potential to be defined by the circumstances.
Musa stated, “I don’t think Latinas recognize their strength and influence.” She spoke about cultural strengths in leadership. “From an early age we learn to bring others in, we work well in teams,” she said. “It is cultural, using that strength is a huge [advantage] in the workplace.”
Research also reflects that Latina leaders experience distinctive challenges but on the flip-side they possess culturally-derived leadership assets.
Latina leaders face an intersectionality of identities – being Latin, a woman, a leader. Many Latinas are actively connected in their culture and seeking to integrate at work. The whole is distinct, greater, more complex and more connected than the sum of its parts.
Qualitative research into Latina leadership has illustrated core challenges such as lack of mentors, lack of opportunities, and cultural and family obligations. These factors can also contribute to creating internal barriers to leadership.
But distinctive challenges comes with distinctive advantages. What Latina women bring to leadership is much greater than the sum of their identities.
Bonilla-Rodriguez observed that Latina leaders self-define towards transformational leadership, motivating followers to become leaders themselves, and participatory leadership, enabling group democracy and making everyone accountable for results.
Research participants believed effective Latina leaders possess five categories of characteristics:
- High Integrity—Ethical, honest, moral, responsible, and trustworthy.
- “Marianismo”— compassionate, good listener, understanding, service oriented and willing to sacrifice
- “New Latina” — ambitious, assertive, competitive, hard-working and determined
- Transformational Leader—team-building charismatic, collaborative, politically savvy, leads by example, good communicator
- Visionary—creative, committed, flexible, passionate, and risk taker
Research suggests that Latina leaders translate distinctive cultural implications– such as “marianismo” – into their leadership style by being empathetic and nurturing team leaders. Latina leaders have self-reported to be natural and skilled networkers, able to build connections beyond boundaries, leverage them towards achieving, and harness community.
Visible Change
The influence of challenges faced by Latina women along their leadership journeys cannot be separated from the leaders they become – leaders that overcome obstacles, make things possible, bridge cultures, and transcend roles.
If you’re a Latina leader in finance, STEM, or any other field of influence, your visibility matters if women are to follow in your footsteps. As stated by Dr. Frances Colón, Acting Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, “They can’t be you if they can’t see you.”
But with the inherent power of Latina leadership, it seems to us the big question may not for long be: When will Latina women rise to executive leadership in major, existing firms?
It may instead be: How will they come to change leadership as they rise?
By Aimee Hansen
Professional Women in Brazil and the Landscape for Working Women
PipelineTop Brazilian Women in Business
1. Maria das Gracas Silva Foster
As the CEO of Petrobras, Silva Foster is undoubtedly the most powerful woman in Brazil. She was also voted the 18th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. Petrobras is a massive oil conglomerate and has the distinction of being the largest company by sales in the Southern Hemisphere. She grew from humble beginnings in a Favela or shanty town and still lives in a modest apartment between two large apartment buildings. She is known for her humble, down to earth demeanor and as the first woman in the world to head a major oil-and-gas company.
2. Chieko Aoki
Aoki is the CEO of a luxury hotel chain called Blue Tree Hotels based in San Paolo. A native of Japan, Aoki went to law school in San Paolo before rising through the ranks of the hotel industry and eventually founding her own luxury based hotel chain. Last year she saw the company earn $170 million in sales. This figure rose for the 2014 FIFA world cup and is expected to explode in anticipation of the 2016 Olympics.
3. Luiza Helena Trajano
As CEO of Magazine Luiza, a retail company Trajano was headed one of the most gainful Brazilian Retail stocks last year. She is rumored to have been offered a cabinet position by the president overseeing the growth of the countries small-companies sector. Today she has over 700 stores throughout Brazil. Her business strategy of targeting the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid has made her extremely popular with customers and employees. She is known as one of the few business people who have successfully been able to “court” Brazil’s poor.
4. Adriana Machado
Machado is the CEO of General Electric Brazil. She has recently been cast as an environmentalist with her support of Brazil’s fledgling wind industry. She is also very vocal about the slow moving bureaucracy of Brazil’s government starting rumours that she may be eyeing a government position sometime in the future.
The present reality and the future progress
Brazilian women are entering the business world at a rate never before seen and are making some significant advancements. In 2011 women comprised 42.7% of the entire Brazilian workforce. However the lack of women in senior positions within Brazilian owned companies still needs to be addressed. In a study launched by the 2011 Global Gender Gap study by the World Economic Forum, Brazil was ranked 82nd among 135 nations studied. In an Executive Opinion Survey done by the World Economic Forum, the ability of Brazilian women to rise to top business leadership positions was measured. Out of a possible scale of 7, Brazil received a mediocre 4.06.
These middling scores reflect a number of root causes of gender imbalance in both the Brazilian corporate world and society itself. According to IBGE on average, women earn 28% less than men in the same job. Saadia Zahidi, senior director of the World Economic Forum also noted that despite having a female president, Brazilian women still only hold 9% of positions within parliament.
But Brazil’s biggest barrier to corporate women is workplace discrimination and a culture of permissiveness. According to Time, 40% of Brazilian women felt that they were currently receiving treatment at work that was inferior to their male colleagues simply because they were women. And despite a legal platform designed to combat workplace gender inequality in the words of journalist Ana Paula Padrao, “I have never heard of anyone being arrested for underpaying women”.
Brazil is also a country which faces deeply entrenched gender roles if it wants to advance its corporate women. There is a prevalent “macho” business culture which calls for displays of manly intimidation as a boss and during meetings. Not only are women sometimes seen as unable to exude these qualities but their own place is perceived as firmly with their children. Even women who can afford to hire a nannie and return to work are sometimes dissuaded from doing so. Their morality is often questioned as if her love for her children is being tested by leaving them in someone else’s care. For many in Brazil, the word mother is synonymous with the word woman. And of course, the word mother includes all the domestic duties traditionally associated with it.
But Brazil has a lot to celebrate. Today 60% of all college graduates in Brazil are women. Brazilian women have also become fixtures with developing inroads to top tier positions in the industries of health, education, and many technological industries. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, a founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy recently wrote, “In Brazil, 14 percent of the C.E.O.’s of large companies are female.” This is in sharp contrast to the United States. Of all American Fortune 500 companies, less than 5% have female CEO’s. Anna Maria Tornaghi, an international communications and marketing consultant based in Rio de Janeiro summed up the situation when she said, “Dilma is the culmination, it’s a quiet revolution, which is growing by leaps and bounds.”
By Ben Rozon
Voice of Experience: Laura Martinez, PwC US Assurance Diversity Leader
People, Voices of ExperienceMartinez has spent 25 years at PwC, specializing in serving registered investment companies, investment partnerships, hedge funds and private investment advisors. Most recently she served as the San Francisco Financial Services market team leader. When she first started her career there, becoming a partner wasn’t yet on her radar. “I’ve had great mentors during my whole career, and as my seniority has increased, so have my goals. When I first started, most of my mentors were managers and senior managers, but as they became partners, I was able to hear more about that track and my interest developed.”
Named partner in 2004, she credits that as her most important professional achievement, but adds that now she has the opportunity to help support others through the process, which she finds extremely rewarding. She encourages senior women never to underestimate the important role of serving as a mentor and support for younger women.
Diversity Always a Focus
Involved in diversity initiatives from the beginning of her career, Martinez was recently named as the diversity leader for PWCs US Assurance practice, the largest audit and risk assurance practice in the United States. She’s proud of this new role where she can devote time to thinking about diversity inclusion and how she can help shape and lead diversity initiatives. “It’s key to engage all levels in the firm, from our partners down to our youngest professionals, to get them interested and involved in driving sustainable impact.”
She sees her role in talent management and cultivating a diverse workforce at all levels as vital to the firm’s overall strategy, as well as being an area in which she and PwC can provide guidance to clients who are also dealing with similar issues.
Reminiscent of her advice to build a network is her belief that it should include people who are not exactly like you. “We often search for mentors who are just like us or what we think we want to be, but that means we can miss out on learning from some great individuals who may appear to be very different,” she says. “That’s the beauty of a diverse and inclusive work force – valuing the differences will make you a better professional.”
Women as Part of Diversity Initiatives
Martinez is proud of PwC’s culture that supports women and diverse professionals and helps them succeed.
In fact, she believes that some of the challenges women face are about trade-offs. “Every professional has to make sacrifices, but women have a harder time reconciling those choices,” she says. “We struggle with them and place a bigger burden on ourselves, especially when women explore having a family and a meaningful career,” Martinez says, adding that women can overthink opportunities and worry about failure and the impact of our trade-offs first.
And that’s why she encourages women to realize that they have limitless opportunities and they must be fearless about looking for them and taking advantage of resources firms offer to help them develop the skills and the network that will further a career. Whether women are at a junior or senior level, she sees that there is always an opportunity to grow and improve.
She attributes much of her success to the fact that she has always taken advantage of the resources offered, including those for gender and ethnic diversity, which have enhanced her skills and helped her develop into a better professional.
Over the years she has seen the offerings evolve to be more relevant to women’s needs as they also evolve, mirroring the changes in Corporate America through Lean In initiatives and other conversations about developing more diverse and female leaders, as well as gender equality. “We’re highly focused now on sponsorship, enabling early career success and career flexibility, all the while working to come to a better understanding for why such a gap exists among women leaders in Corporate America.”
She cites the “He for She campaign,” which supports PwC’s drive to not only be visible out in the marketplace but encourages people internally to support these causes.
Multi-Tasking in Her Free Time
To make the most of her off hours, Martinez participates in hobbies she enjoys that her whole family can do together – whether it’s golf, movies or travel.
Philanthropy is important to her – she has led PwC’s national recruiting efforts at her alma mater, University of California at Berkeley. And, even in her charitable endeavors she does double duty. “I love to partner on community service efforts with my team and my clients,” she says. “I can engage with my colleagues while giving back to the community and having a whole lot of fun in the process.”
Time To Look For A New Job
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!There are many ways to start a job search and if you know vaguely the target companies that you would like to interview with then that is a great place to start investigating the opportunities out there. Linkedin is a great way to see if you know anyone directly or indirectly at your preferred firms and a good place to start is to mine your current network to build your future one. Apply to job postings but know that any personal connection will probably help you so it is worth checking your network and refreshing your relationships with coffees and lunch with influencers and mentors.
If you don’t know what is next, it is worth working with a coach ( such as myself and the vetted coaches who partner with theglasshammer) to help you refine what is the next stage of your career and help you secure the job you want, whether it is within your current industry or perhaps a pivot into something new altogether?
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Voice of Experience: Jacqueline Lawand, Vice President and Senior Real Estate Portfolio Manager, Voya
People, Voices of ExperienceThat is the lesson Jacqueline Lawand has learned during her rise at Voya, where she is proud of the fact that she has been able to drive business, and exceed goals, no matter what geographic area she was assigned or their subsequent challenges.
Describing her career path as largely linear, Lawand earned a double major in finance and real estate, completing three internships in the field during her college years. An active member of the Finance Management Association and Real Estate Society groups at her college, she first became familiar with Voya, previously known as ING U.S. Investment Management, during a joint field trip in her senior year. After meeting with the management team, she stayed in touch and ultimately joined the firm right out of college as an analyst.
For the past 11 years she has worked her way up through four different positions, to the one she holds now as vice president and senior real estate portfolio manager.
Along the way she has taken on international assignments, twice spending two weeks in Santiago, Chile which she believes helped pave her way to her current role. Fluent in Spanish, Lawand spent part of her childhood in Honduras, which offered her an international perspective she appreciated exploring through those assignments.
She also earned her MBA at the University of Georgia while working, part of her goal to make herself more valuable to the company. “One key path to success is to recognize your gaps and weaknesses, as well as those in your company, and seize the opportunity to grow and advance by filling those gaps.”
Lean In, Be Yourself to Succeed
One lesson she wishes she had learned earlier in her career is the importance of “leaning in.”
“I wish I hadn’t pulled back but had developed the confidence earlier to volunteer for challenging projects, knowing that I was equipped to handle the curve balls along the way.”
Lawand says that one of the keys to her success has been the sponsors both within and outside the company that have wielded influence and helped her become better established both at Voya and within the industry as a whole.
“It always came to me as a surprise when someone would say, ‘I’ve heard great things about you,’ when I wasn’t even aware someone was advocating on my behalf.”
She also credits robust programs at Voya that foster women leaders with training programs and initiatives and mentoring opportunities.
Both a mentor and mentee, she has found them key for learning new perspectives. “I would definitely recommend that others participate in mentoring programs, whether formal or informal, as the benefits are well worth the time invested.”
Describing the real estate industry as “still very much predominantly a man’s world,” Lawand says she initially tried to be “one of the guys,” but realized that wasn’t sustainable. “I started to be more authentic and transparent and, as a result, was able to forge better relationships and earn credibility. Being ‘you’ can really help your career.”
Finding Balance
As a new mom, Lawand is learning the challenge of juggling a growing family with a prospering career. “I want it all, but it requires balance, which has been a learning experience for me,” she says, adding that her husband is a good advocate. “He believes in a collaborative approach at home which helps me manage career and family life.”
She and her husband run half marathons together and also enjoy traveling. They have visited South Africa and much of Europe and South America, and the family recently took a trip to Alaska.
Narrow the Hidden Executive Pay Gap Starting Now
Career Advice, Gender Pay Gap, Office Politics, This Month's FeatureAs women move to senior ranks, the gender pay gap widens. Your best career management play? Begin closing it now.
A March 2015 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorkprovides insight into the hidden pay gap between top male and female executives. Based upon 1992-2005 S&P’s Execucomp data, it covers executive compensation in the S&P 500, the S&P Midcap 400, and the S&P SmallCap 600. The research focused on Chair/CEOs, Vice Chairs, Presidents, CFOs and COOs.
Less Incentive Pay
The researchers found 93% of the pay gap between male and female executives is due to disparate incentive pay – bonuses, stocks granted, and stock options.
Accumulating year upon year into “firm-specific wealth”, incentive pay encourages executives to elevate corporate performance. But the study found overall women executives reaped less of it. Pay disparities held true even when age, title, tenure and firm size were controlled for.
Pay Less Sensitive to Performance
The value of incentive pay such as stock options rises and falls with the company’s performance, but leading a firm to equal strong performance pays off more for men.
Researchers found that a $1 million increase in firm value increases firm specific wealth for a male executive by $17,150 but only $1,670 for a female executive (<10%), since, as
Bloomberg notes,women’s “incentive compensation tied to the company’s equity tends to be lower.”
Pay More Exposed to Under-Performance
Researchers found that pay sensitivity goes in the oppositedirection when firms under-perform: “Overall, changes in firm performance penalize female executives while they favor male executives.”
A one percent increase in firm value creates only a 13% increase in firm specific wealth for a female executive, but a 44% increase for a male executive.
But a one percent decline in value creates a 63% decline in firm-specific wealth for a woman executive, and only a 33% hit for a man. A female executive’s incentive pay is hit twice as hard for firm under-performance.
The researchers found no differences in firm performance by gender to explain pay disparities.
As Fivethirtyeight writes, “Male CEOS get bonuses; female CEOS get blame.”
Less Influence On Pay?
The researchers theorize that men hold more insider purse strings, such as greater influence with Board Members and influence on their compensation.
CFOsummarizes the authors speculation stating the gender gap “does not reflect executive performance but ‘different degrees of managerial power of female and male executives,’ with women ‘less entrenched’, than men and exerting less control over their compensation due to limited access to informal networks, gender stereotyping, and an inhospitable corporate culture, along with their younger age and lower tenure.”
Bloomberg writes, “Men, on the other hand, who are more entrenched in an organization and can cash in favors after years in the industry, are more likely to be able to steer their pay in a way that’s more favorable for them.”
Change Means Transparency
Compensation would not remain one of the hidden, insidious biases still alive in the old boy’s club if met with disclosure.
The researchers call for greater transparency.
They write, “Our analysis suggest that performance pay schemes should be held to closer scrutiny and raises a note of concern for the standing of professional women in the labor market as incentive pay becomes more prevalent.”
Co-author Stefania Albanesi told Bloomberg, “increasing transparency in general in an organization but specifically with how your pay is set relative to others in similar positions is going to be helpful.”
Albanesi notes that it’s important to get transparency sooner. The gap doesn’t magically appear at executive level – it compounds. As incentive pay popularizes at lower ranks, disparities will build annually so inequality has to be addressed early.
“The accumulation is going to be there even when women get promoted, and also possibly if you move to another firm, because usually your past compensation is used in some degree,” Albanesi said. “These differences can be very, very persistent.”
Brave the Discussion
Women can’t afford to keep quiet about pay.
The systemic gap is unlikely to change as long as having children results in a cascading impact on salaries and opportunities for women. Increasing pressure to offer temporal flexibility and returner programs is essential.
But at an individual level, you can push for transparency and initiate the conversation of negotiating your compensation.
As Business Insider points out, women may face a “social cost” of negotiating salary but they can’t afford not to negotiate. Settling early compounds to highly significant salary differences later in your career.
According to Forbes, in a study for her book Women Don’t Ask, Stanford’s Margaret A. Neale found only seven percent of women MBAs negotiated their job offer salary compared to 57% of men MBAs.
Neale explains that if one person negotiates a $7,000 rise on a $100,000 offer and another settles, then 35 years later that $7,000 gap equates to a difference of eight working years to accumulate the same wealth, and that’s if both people experience identical raises and promotions in their career.
When women don’t negotiate, they affirm the pay gap status quo. Strategic salary negotiation is a career and gender equality move.
Let’s bring the pay gap out of the entrenched corner (offices) it hides in and put it on the table.
Mover & Shaker: Isabel Yepes, Director, Women Who Code
Movers and Shakers, PeopleAs the director of Women who Code in Colombia, Isabel Yepes thrives on capturing the interest of women. “It’s something I feel strongly about; there are very few of us in the telecomm field and there’s no reason why. Women can do it as well as men.”
Trained as an engineer, Yepes says she realized she had a passion for telecommunications and decided that is where she wanted to dedicate her career. Currently an independent software developer and founder of Hacemos Contactors, she also parlays her knowledge into a teaching position at a local technical college.While she used to teach more advanced classes on how to configurerouters and servers, she prefers her new position because of its open, positive work environment and the inspiration of teaching technology to people who are not yet immersed in it.
When Yepes first began her career, she realized how different the corporate world is from school. “You figure out the skills you learned in school weren’t always applied skills,” she says, adding that learning the importance of networking and relationship building is also something that has to be developed.
Yepes’ mentor has been a teacher who was a friend of her mom, who has been an advisor at different points in her career. And she considers her sister, also an engineer, as her role model during school. Another role model has been a colleague who founded a startup that is now a thriving corporation.
Attracting More Women to the Field through Women Who Code
Yepes’ goal at Women who Code is to work on attracting more women to technology. She and a friend are developing tools to introduce women to the many benefits of a career in technology, including a video channel that they will offer to conferences and other interested groups.
She also believes it’s important to include men in the conversation. “It’s not just about women helping women,” she says. “We all need to speak a common language to let women know that it’s a robust and attractive field.”
Before her role with Women Who Code she volunteered for United Nations, sponsored by Cisco, with the objective to bring Cisco Networking Academy program to an underserved population, primarily unemployed young people. “We had no budget so we were able to accomplish it through the goodwill of the stakeholders and the generosity of Cisco as a sponsor.”
Time With Family
In her free time, Yepes enjoys being with her family, including her parents, sister and nieces, and spending time outdoors and traveling.
By Cathie Ericson
Secret Career Weapon: Admitting Your Mistakes Then Learning From Them
Office PoliticsWhether you are an entry-‐level analyst or a top-‐ranking CEO, the potential to make mistakes is equal. What we do after we make them is what distinguishes the leaders from the followers.
And yet, as a society we look so harshly upon failures and mistakes and are conditioned to judge women who make mistakes more harshly than men, especially if they occupy traditional male roles. The study “People in jobs traditionally held by the other sex are judged more harshly for mistakes,” from the Association for Psychological Science calls this dynamic a “glass cliff.”
Read more
Should I Stay or Should I Go? When The Culture Just Isn’t Working For You
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!When there is:
Think about what work gets done? What gets rewarded? What gets people’s attention? Who gets rewarded? What gets tolerated? List 2-3 examples of work to help you understand what your workplace culture is!
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Voice of Experience: Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri, Chief Diversity Officer and Global Co-Head of Talent Development, Goldman Sachs
People, Voices of ExperienceReflecting on her career, Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri says that her path might seem to be carefully designed, but in reality what has led her to where she is today is her appetite to try new and different roles at critical points in her career, the wise counsel from mentors and her belief in facing challenges head on.
Analyzing Talent for Individual and Firm Benefit
Vazquez-Ubarri began her career as an executive compensation and employee benefits lawyer, advising clients on employment matters in the context of corporate transactions. Even at an early stage of her career, Vazquez-Ubarri enjoyed advising clients and understanding every aspect of their business to provide holistic solutions, particularly with respect to the people side of the transactions.
This led to her first job at Goldman Sachs in Employee Relations, where she provided advice to managers and employees on how to navigate their careers and manage conflict.She then became chief of staff for the Human Capital Management division and is now Chief Diversity Officer and global co-head of Talent Development.In her current role, she is responsible for evolving and integrating leadership and the talent and diversity priorities at Goldman Sachs.
“Had I known this type of work existed I would have gone into it earlier, since my current position is a perfect match for my interests and allows me to apply the knowledge I have collected throughout the years in the different roles I have held,” she says.
Building and leading this new group has also presented an entrepreneurial opportunity for Vazquez-Ubarri, which she considers to be one of the more rewarding aspects of her job. “I appreciate being allowed to lead and innovate in a space that is so important for the firm and also to have the opportunity to build new career paths for the people on the team. It is a privilege to be part of their professional development,” she says.
As part of this entrepreneurial mindset, she and her team are looking at the firm’s practices with a fresh approach.They have continued to build on the firm’s data-driven approach, using people analytics to identify priorities in their talent strategy.In addition, they use a person-by-person approach to design customized solutions for different talent pools. Realizing the crucial impact that managers have on someone’s career, the firm has also reinforced its emphasis on manager effectiveness as a driver of performance.
“Women Should Feel Inspired About Their Chances for Success”
Vazquez-Ubarri believes that what may have historically been perceived as challenges for women in particular are actually questions and challenges that men and women share. “At different points in our career, we all question our ability to manage our personal and professional responsibilities and interests,” she says.
Vazquez-Ubarri observes that it is critical in those moments for employees to have a support system at work that encourages them to discuss their situation and also take advantage of the resources available to them.“I had just returned from maternity leave a few days before being promoted to managing director at Goldman. It was of course a very important time personally and a significant milestone in my career, and the flexibility and support I received from the firm made all the difference.”
“Women should enter the industry in full power, with the expectation of success and confidence in their abilities. They should pursue opportunities that put them in the middle of the action, where problems need to be solved, where challenges exist and where they can contribute in a meaningful way,” she says.In addition, Vazquez-Ubarri believes that developing strong relationships with clients and mentors has been crucial to her career trajectory.She equally believes that Hispanics/Latinos should be proud of their heritage and seek work environments that embrace their difference as an asset.
“My cultural background and upbringing has had a major influence on how I approach situations of ambiguity, how I build relationships with people with different points of view and how I manage a team – all things that have been crucial in my career progression,” she says.
Offering Guidance to Others
Vazquez-Ubarri knows that managers and sponsors play a critical role in developing and retaining talented people, and she highlights how important it has been in her career to have managers and sponsors who believed in her and provided tough feedback along the way. “Their belief in me has driven me to want to deliver for them and to make them proud of their investment in my career.”
She recommends that those starting out do their research, be intellectually curious and challenge themselves to expand their horizons as they consider career paths.he suggests that they network to find out information about different sectors and industries, but also so they have different examples of how to achieve success as there is not just one path.
Regarding her responsibility to mentor and sponsor women and Hispanic/Latinos she says, “We have to reach out to the next generation and remember what it felt like to be new and unsure of your next step or how to complete a project for someone you really wanted to impress.” This is particularly important when it comes to women and Hispanics/Latinos, she noted. “We need to be visible and accessible to them in order to continue to build a diverse talent pipeline.”
She urges her peers to spend an extra 10 minutes with more junior colleagues after a meeting or in their office. “To you, it’s only 10 minutes, but to them it makes such a difference,” she says.
Outside of the office, Vazquez-Ubarri spends her time with friends and family, including her husband and two sons. A competitive swimmer growing up, she has passed on that passion to her two children, ages two and ten, during treks to the pool each weekend – time that she makes all about being with her loved ones.
Hispanic Heritage: Latina Women are Ready to Lead. Are Companies Ready?
Career Advice, FeaturedThis article forms part of our Latina Leaders celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage month in the USA.
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2015, Latina executives remain scarce in the corporate landscape. But ambition to lead, and ability to bring leadership advantages, are not scarce.
Walmart’s EVP and COO Debra Ruiz ranks 28 in Fortune’s current 50 Most Powerful Women in Business 2014 list. Latina Style celebrated ten executives in February, with Calline Sanchez, VP of IBM Enterprise, taking Corporate Executive of the Year 2014. Ana Dutra made history when she was appointed the first Latina president and CEO of the Executives’ Club of Chicago.
But with the growing influence of Latinas, there are too few, even dangerously too few, Latinas helping to steer companies.
In 2014, Latinas in the USA workforce (9,838,000) comprised 14% of female jobs. 26.1% were in management/professional occupations, holding 8.8% of women’s positions. 9.4% were in management, business, and financial operations, holding 9.1% of female positions. Latinas are the most under-represented females in managerial and professional jobs.
While Catalyst 2015 data indicates Latinas make up 6.2% of S&P 500 employees, they hold only 3.1% of first/mid-level positions, 1% of executive/senior level positions, and no CEO positions. Hispanic women occupied only 4.4% of S&P 500 women-held board seats in 2014, less than 1% of total board seats. The HACR CII data echoes the same numbers of non-representation.
Is the Path to Entrepreneurship More Accessible?
As written by Samantha Cole in Fast Company, “Women need to see someone else succeed—to know that their dreams are possible, and attainable by someone who’s not so different from them.”
For Latina business women, the majority of public role models aren’t somewhere up the corporate ladder. They’re braving the path of entrepreneurship.
Nely Galan, first Latina president of a U.S. Television Network turned media mogul notes deep cultural barriers to success in traditional pathways. She says Latina women are “a secret weapon to the economy” and encourages them to take business into their own hands to harness the economic pull they hold.
At its own risk, corporate America may be sending the same message.
According to an entrepreneurial report from the Center for American Progress, female-owned businesses increased by 59% between 1997 to 2013, while Latina-owned businesses increased by 180% during this same time, with 944,000 Latinas running their own businesses and turning $65.5 billion in receipts. Currently at 17%, Latinas will make up a fourth of the American female population by 2050.
Women entrepreneurs see it as an opportunity to be their own boss, have greater control over their destiny and pursue their passion. But roadblocks also lead Latinas onto the entrepreneurial path.
The report notes many challenges in organizations raised by all women of color that, despite the very real risks, may encourage Latinas to go it on their own. Across accountancy, securities and law, barriers included a lack of role models, low access to high-visibility assignments and client-facing opportunities important to career advancement, marginalization by stereotypes and exclusion from networks.
Stepping Into Latina Leadership – A Sum Greater Than Its Parts
The key to the advancement of Latina professional women is a corporate culture that supports it.
“[You] need to be in a company that embraces women,” Ileana Musa, managing director and Head of Global Client Segment and Strategy for Merrill Lynch and Chair of Women of ALPFA, recently told the Latin Post. “That gives you the resources and creates an environment where you can thrive.”
2015 Latina Style Top 50 companies are making progress, especially financial players in the top ten ranks including Accenture (#4), Prudential (#5), and Wells Fargo (#8). But we still await more tangible and visible outcomes in executive representation.
On that note, Musa also recommends that Latinas take risks and use their cultural assets in rising to leadership, rather than allowing their leadership potential to be defined by the circumstances.
Musa stated, “I don’t think Latinas recognize their strength and influence.” She spoke about cultural strengths in leadership. “From an early age we learn to bring others in, we work well in teams,” she said. “It is cultural, using that strength is a huge [advantage] in the workplace.”
Research also reflects that Latina leaders experience distinctive challenges but on the flip-side they possess culturally-derived leadership assets.
Latina leaders face an intersectionality of identities – being Latin, a woman, a leader. Many Latinas are actively connected in their culture and seeking to integrate at work. The whole is distinct, greater, more complex and more connected than the sum of its parts.
Qualitative research into Latina leadership has illustrated core challenges such as lack of mentors, lack of opportunities, and cultural and family obligations. These factors can also contribute to creating internal barriers to leadership.
But distinctive challenges comes with distinctive advantages. What Latina women bring to leadership is much greater than the sum of their identities.
Bonilla-Rodriguez observed that Latina leaders self-define towards transformational leadership, motivating followers to become leaders themselves, and participatory leadership, enabling group democracy and making everyone accountable for results.
Research participants believed effective Latina leaders possess five categories of characteristics:
Research suggests that Latina leaders translate distinctive cultural implications– such as “marianismo” – into their leadership style by being empathetic and nurturing team leaders. Latina leaders have self-reported to be natural and skilled networkers, able to build connections beyond boundaries, leverage them towards achieving, and harness community.
Visible Change
The influence of challenges faced by Latina women along their leadership journeys cannot be separated from the leaders they become – leaders that overcome obstacles, make things possible, bridge cultures, and transcend roles.
If you’re a Latina leader in finance, STEM, or any other field of influence, your visibility matters if women are to follow in your footsteps. As stated by Dr. Frances Colón, Acting Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, “They can’t be you if they can’t see you.”
But with the inherent power of Latina leadership, it seems to us the big question may not for long be: When will Latina women rise to executive leadership in major, existing firms?
It may instead be: How will they come to change leadership as they rise?
By Aimee Hansen