Isela Bahena, Managing Director, Private Infrastructure Group, Nuveen Real Assets

Isela BahenaIn our careers, we oftentimes think ahead to potential impacts of any move, which while deliberate, can make us hesitant to grab an opportunity that doesn’t fit our exact narrative.

But what might seem like a career deviation can often turn out to be something you should embrace as a real opportunity, says Isela Bahena. “It might seem scary, but looking back I see a lot of growth when I took those chances,” she says. “There will be challenges, but sometimes the bridge is going to look different when you actually cross it.

This outlook has paid off in her career, but her demeanor, as well. In fact, she finds that younger colleagues often ask her why she doesn’t look nervous when changes are announced. “I tell them that’s because in the long run I always see them as opportunities.”

Embracing Change

Bahena has held this attitude throughout her career, which started in public finance and commercial lending, an area that she believes offered a strong foundation in skillsets for what she does now. After five years at Bank of America, she then decided the time was right to earn her MBA and attended Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. During her summer in between first and second year, she interned at TIAA, Nuveen’s parent company; her lending background attracted them to her as a candidate, and she received a full-time offer to join them after graduation.

She’s been there since 2004, working on a number of teams through various rotations, starting with the private placement and private equity funds and co-investment. She found that to be an especially exciting opportunity as she was the sole associate on the team at the time, supporting seven directors and managing directors.

“I was learning a lot because I was touching all sorts of deals, which quickly expanded my breadth of knowledge,” Bahena says. Her ability to underwrite equity investments was a big advantage, and she was soon tasked with joining a team that was building a new asset class in private equity infrastructure. A decade later, she is driving strategy as a senior member of the team. “Generating ideas and envisioning what the business will look like as part of the broader organization is exciting, and this is one of the most interesting things I’ve done,” Bahena says.

There is growing interest in the sector where she invests, as well as ESG and impacts of climate change, where the firm is a leader globally. “I am at exactly the right juncture to showcase our strength and leadership to the market.”

Subtly Encouraging Diversity

While progress has been made, Bahena points out that finance is still a very male-dominated industry, and she believes that increasing awareness is the first step to be more inclusive. What happens, she finds, is that successful professionals often look for a younger version of themselves in candidates, but she notes that we need to collectively change that perspective to introduce more diversity in the industry.

“You have to be able to see other versions of yourself so you can share opportunities with those who don’t look just like you,” she says. For example, when a male colleague mentions that a new candidate or hire reminds him of his younger self, she suggests he think about someone who reminds him of a daughter or niece as well. “I look forward to being part of that change,” she says.

Throughout your career, she says it’s vital to always keep learning and adding to your tool kit. “It keeps you fresh and keeps your career interesting,” she says. In fact, one of the professional achievements Bahena is most proud of was being chosen to participate in the Emerging Leaders program in 2012, an opportunity that allowed her to meet a small group of colleagues who are now leaders all over the organization. “It was a nice pat on the back to be included and it was important for my growth and development,” Bahena says.

While she appreciates participating in industry-oriented events targeted toward women as a way to collaborate and discuss challenges, the goal, of course, is that women won’t need those to thrive.

When mentoring others in her organization, either formally or informally, she encourages them
to consider the brand they want to portray. “What adjectives do you want colleagues to consider when your name is said? That impression will precede you, so you want to make sure you’re building the reputation you want to have to the best of your ability.”

Always Giving Back

Bahena says that philanthropy has been an important component of her life she has embraced for a long time—not just giving money, but also time and expertise.

“I stand on the shoulders of many who came before me to lay this foundation to be where I am today so I believe it’s my responsibility to help out,” she says. That’s why she donates her time to a number of different causes, such as education, where she has served on the board of a charter school; as well as working with nonprofits in a variety of areas, from a legal fund to community-oriented grassroots organizations focused on causes from women’s rights to climate change.

As the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, she believes her family set the stage for looking at different perspectives and viewpoints from a very young age. “My upbringing also helped me look at the future as being a glass that is half full, and seeing that empty half as an opportunity with room for me to fill it with more water.”

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Virginia Johnson; Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Legal; Global Atlantic Financial Group

Virginia JohnsonNever check your bag. Those words of wisdom have stuck with Virginia Johnson throughout her legal career since one of her first business trips as a first year associate. Traveling with a senior partner to embark on a lengthy trip, she arrived at the gate and when he asked where her suitcase was, he was shocked that she had checked it. “’Didn’t anyone ever teach you Associate Travel 101?’ he asked me.” Fortunately for Johnson, the bag quickly emerged from baggage claim as expected, but the advice has stuck with her…fast forward over 15 years and it still rings true, she says.

Wearing Many Hats Creates Exciting Opportunities

Of course, that’s just one small, but colorful, piece of advice that has helped propel her successful career. Johnson started as a corporate lawyer in 2002 at a large international law firm, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where she served as a securities and complex commercial litigator for nearly 9 years. She transferred from New York to Boston during her time at Weil, and eventually moved to a smaller Boston-based firm as a partner, where she could build her own book of business in an entrepreneurial environment. In 2012, she came across an opportunity to join the legal department of a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, and as she had always been intrigued by the idea of going “in house,” she made the leap.

Since its spin-out from Goldman in 2013, the company, which rebranded as Global Atlantic Financial Group, has dramatically transformed itself, in ways that Johnson says makes it “feel like it’s been 20 different jobs.” There, she currently heads up the corporate legal group and oversees just about everything a corporate legal department would need to handle, including contracts, licensing, cybersecurity, data privacy, litigation, employment, intellectual property, governance, risk, strategic transactions, cross-functional projects, business integration, and more.

She loves her current role where she can serve as a legal advisor but also assist with developing and shaping business strategy. “I am proud that I have been able to cultivate such a rewarding career, but also that I have built a reputation as a dependable problem solver in many contexts—a seasoned generalist who can jump into different types of situations,” she says. “As my expertise has adapted, I’ve been tapped by numerous leaders and have been able to expand my skill base. Business partners often tell me that if they don’t know who to call, they call me, as I have become known as somewhat of a ‘fixer,’ someone who can take on anything and just figure it out.”

Currently that covers leading her company’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including introducing new initiatives, advising the business on legal risks and regulatory compliance, and conducting analysis of workplace safety logistics, company policies and procedures, employee benefits, and other aspects. While she acknowledges it is challenging, she also sees it as a chance to feel positive about something that is otherwise tragic. “Working on our response efforts is a way I can pour myself into the crisis and make a positive impact,” she says. “Most importantly, we are making sure we’re being flexible, fair and caring to our team and our customers.”

Johnson also is involved in a number of technology initiatives at Global Atlantic, an area for which she has a personal passion. This is a time like no other, she says, to spotlight the importance of innovation. “I have seen attitudes change almost overnight toward remote work and the urgency of digitizing our business capabilities, and it’s vital to embrace it, not be afraid of it. This forward-thinking attitude is critical to the future of our workplaces.”

Building Relationships and Learning on the Job

While Johnson says that sponsors can play an integral role in a career she also sees the benefits of networking at all levels.

“During my undergraduate studies and law school, I believed that if you simply buckle down and work hard, that would be enough, and by becoming a subject matter expert, people will seek you out. But now I know, it’s more than that: You have to network and build relationships,” she says, adding that she makes sure to tell her mentees not to underestimate the value of your network and to begin to grow those relationships immediately in your career. Too many times she has seen people focus exclusively on their work, and then find years later that they are building those relationships from scratch.

She credits her career transitions with seeking out and nurturing connections that would pay off in years to come. Success in the world of law entails a blend of talent and effort, along with some luck, she says.

As she considers the many mentors she’s had, the traits she admires most are having a mastery of skills and a devotion to excellence, while still maintaining a life outside work and a sense of humor. “These things aren’t mutually exclusive,” she explains. And, she appreciates those who put a premium on diversity in hiring and foster an environment where people can offer divergent opinions and dissenting views.

Johnson is proud of helping found a women’s network, which has become a firmwide presence at Global Atlantic, offering a large network across all the offices. Acting as a senior sponsor, she finds the most rewarding part has been the ability to empower younger professionals as “office champions” to plan events and initiatives. She sees it as a way to both retain talent and attract new professionals.

A Full Life Inside and Outside Work

In addition to her mentoring work within the company, Johnson is active in external mentoring with Big Sisters and Mentorloop, a virtual networking site that matches pairs according to interests. While she has spent much of her career in the financial services industry, she is an innovation enthusiast who loves learning about emerging technologies, and she often attends tech-focused events and peer chats to satisfy her curiosities.

Johnson also loves music, film, theater, and travel, and looks forward to resuming those activities after the pandemic clears. Since working from home full-time during the coronavirus outbreak, she has enjoyed being able to exercise more, favoring virtual boxing classes and yoga. And she treasures time she can spend with family, friends and her pets. “It’s important to have a well-rounded life outside of work. It gives you valuable perspective in making business decisions and also when you’re done with the workday.”

by Cathie Ericson

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Six Ways Executive Coaching Can Improve Your Life

Improve Your Life

Coaching is often misunderstood. It is not consulting, as the objective of coaching is not teaching or giving advice, but to facilitate your ability to learn about yourself, unlock your own potential, and improve your life.

If you’ve advanced to the upper ranks of your profession, do you even need an executive coach? You got this far, right? Especially at the executive level, having a great coach can dramatically enhance both your leadership and your life. In these times when leading with empathy is a necessary trait, a coach can help you show up to your team with a profound and helpful way to navigate this insanely difficult year as a professional woman in financial services or anywhere.

What can an executive coach do for you? Here are 6 ways that professionally and personally, a coach can help you become the leader and the executive you want to, and need to be.

1. Own Your Leadership Strengths

Own and hone your abilities. Leadership is as learned and acquired as it is somewhat innate. Research regarding female twins explores how developmental experiences and genetics work in tandem to create female leaders. This work, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, has found that around 30% of factors that lead to women in leadership roles are genetically influenced. This research seems to find that some people are literally born for capacity to lead with executive capabilities inherently there. The other 70% has to do with direct experiences and family influences. Within that a large proportion of success is attributed to securing and occupying a leadership role in the first place or climbing the ladder.

Part of executive coaching is unearthing the natural leader you already are, including identifying your unique strengths and styles. This includes bringing into your awareness the inherent talents that you might not be aware of, or are not valuing enough.

If you are gifted at visioning future opportunities or quality listening or making unexpected connections, you might take that skill for granted. An executive coach can reflect back your unique aptitudes, validate them and help to leverage them more. A coach helps build self-assurance so you can be relaxed in your own skin as a leader.

2. Transition into Leadership Mindset

As you move up, it becomes necessary to re-orient your focus towards your leader role. Coaching will provide valuable “cold, hard truth” about your weaker areas that can be developed.

Part of moving up in an organization is letting go of your comfort zone (how you focused your attention and efforts before your current position).

Putting your head down and doing your own quality work was enough before, but now must evolve to motivating and inspiring others. Coaching can help you to develop a new set of responses and priorities at work.

3. Expand Your Self-Awareness

Executive coaching can help executives focus on self-awareness, so you can see both yourself and others more clearly. A coach helps you to pause and reflect on your unconscious thinking and to question your assumptions and beliefs.

When you dismantle core ways in which you are inhibiting yourself, your perception can widen to transform both your professional and personal life.

Most of us don’t see ourselves clearly, but self-awareness is highly correlated with effectiveness as a leader and with attracting followers. It includes being able to understand how you see yourself and the world, what biases you hold, what beliefs you possess and the impact you might have on others.

With your coach, you examine the way you think and process circumstances and how that creates outcomes. You might consider what thinking process led to a specific action and outcome, and how you could have perceived and responded differently.

You will question core limiting beliefs, often hidden from your conscious awareness, that keep you trapped in emotional cycles, self-sabotage or repeating “safe” behaviors that undermine your potential.

Coaching serves to elevate your emotional intelligence, which becomes more essential the higher you go, and affects your quality of presence, how you respond within a moment and perhaps what kind of skills you need to seek in those around you.

The more emotional intelligence you have, the higher you will go at work.

Research shows that some women have more emotional intelligence than men, if you are one of those women use it. If you are not, and there are many women who do not fit this stereotype, then work with a coach to develop it.

4. Enhance Quality of Relationships

Coaching helps you to gain a more accurate sense of how others perceive you as a leader, which can throw the light on challenge areas to affect better outcomes.

Over 70% of people have shared that coaching improves work performance, relationships and effective communication skills. It helps you to see others more clearly, and to see interpersonal issues between you and others more clearly.

Coaching can help you to examine your limited beliefs about others, especially those who aren’t like you, so you can form productive and rewarding relationships with a more diverse range of people.

5. Improve Focus and Decision-Making

Tony Robbins asks, “Are you majoring in minor things?”

Coaching helps to clarify your core personal and professional values, so you can structure and direct your attention in ways that create real fulfillment. A coach helps you discern between being busy and being effective, so you can better focus your precious energy.

A coach provides valuable external perspective on your strategic thinking and ideas – bringing new angles to consider, pointing out blindspots, giving validation, helping you to articulate your ideas more clearly and step-by-step and helping to navigate execution, even in making bolder moves.

A coach can challenge the assumptions that are limiting your progress. By providing a reflection on patterns or fears that hinder and obstruct your thinking, a coach can help you become more effective at decision-making.

6. Gain A Dedicated Ally

In the feminine version of the heroic journey, there is help along the road. A coach represents an ally that walks the path with you, always in your corner, supporting your development and achievement.

Whether it’s truth-talking on where you’re stuck or advocating for your gifts, a coach will be your confidante and champion in the leadership journey. A coach offers a detached perspective that helps to bring life into clarity, focus and often wider possibility.

As well as helping clarify what you want, outlining how to get there, and then helping navigate the path, your coach becomes your accountability partner along the road to your goals, reminding you of your intentions, where you want to go and why.

With the mental, emotional and strategic inspiration and support of coaching, the leadership road becomes a more personal and expansive journey than you may have ever imagined.

by Aimee Hansen

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Yeng Butler, Head of Liquidity Client Group, Wells Fargo Asset Management

Yeng Butler“Joining Wells Fargo & Company when I did, just prior to Covid-19 has certainly given new meaning to the phrase ‘trial by fire’ as I had to learn how to effectively navigate within the firm on a very quick timeline.”

Yeng Butler joined Wells Fargo Asset Management as the head of Liquidity Client Group in November 2019, after eight years at State Street. However, Yeng Butler’s career has been anything but linear. She recounts that she has always followed her curiosity and hasn’t been afraid to look beyond immediate and obvious career opportunities.

“Trust yourself.” She states, “I have taken risks that other people might not have taken. There are choices to make and you can benefit by taking a broader approach, and not be so linear, narrow or ‘safe’ in your career choices.”

The Importance of a Sponsor

As a student of government and Asian studies, Yeng entered financial services via a graduate training program at Merrill Lynch which gave her a two-year rotational experience in New York working in investment banking, private wealth, equity sales and trading, asset management as well as the retail aspect inside branches.

During one of those rotations, she met a person who would become a lifelong sponsor of hers.

“Before the program ended, I proactively called my sponsor up and asked if he would consider hiring me, as I knew I could learn so much from him, and that this was someone that I wanted to work with.”

The sponsor immediately said yes and thus began an eight-year journey from analyst to salesperson to vice president of sales leading a team. In 2010, the sponsor who had given her the first big break called again and invited her to come and work with him back in Boston with State Street.

By this time, Yeng was based in the West Coast. “We loved the Northern Californian way of life, but I knew I was ready for a big challenge again. From a team of two people, we built the business to a global team of 30. It was there I realized that my skillset and passion was strong on build outs and turnaround work.”

Butler is excited about her role at Wells Fargo Asset Management and is currently managing a team of thirty and is running a business with $240B under management. She took the role because she wanted to solidify her skills around expansion of an established business.

“The mandate is to double the business which despite what is going on is a very exciting challenge and the new flows have already surpassed our targets for the year.”

When asked about career advice to her younger self, Butler states that she would have told herself to shake off the imposter syndrome.

“Own your voice! You are expected to have an opinion so offer it, and do so cogently.”

Butler believes that constantly developing EQ (emotional intelligence) around communication and how to deliver the message effectively is something that is a critical skill to develop for everyone to bring others along on any journey. She also recognizes the value of other traits and behaviors in the Wells Fargo culture that she is embracing.

“There is great collaboration here and although it’s a big company, there is a sense of urgency to get things done. In addition, I see a lot of women in senior leadership roles and there are clearly so many areas of opportunity here. There are visible jobs for women at Wells Fargo outside of the stereotypical areas.”

The Wider Road Taken

Talking about wider as opposed to narrow and linear career paths that many people follow, Butler, despite having a clear path of institutional sales ahead of her, left Merrill Lynch in 2004 to pursue a master’s degree.

“I knew if I stayed that I would stay in institutional sales and that would be all there was to my story and although it was hard to leave, I believe to this day, it was courageous. Courage to take the non-traditional path, to carve your own career path and to do so with thoughtfulness and patience. ”

Six months before starting her masters at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to pursue a graduate degree in public administration, she set off to volunteer in Western Samoa.

“I reached out to a great organization called MicroDreams, who provide microloans to women entrepreneurs. I said I have six months to offer you, can I be of any help?”

This opportunity was enriching after graduating from Harvard. Butler saw that environmental, Social and governance (ESG) investing and policy was an emerging area and moved to the Bay Area in 2005 to work for a policy organization called Business for Social Responsibility.

The Balancing Act

Yeng Butler candidly talks about how she purposely opted out after six months to focus on starting and caring for a family, which included running her own business.

“I lasted six months before realizing it just was not a fit for me. I think fit is important to talk about. I made the choice to run a retail insurance business and it was an excellent lifestyle business where I could bring my infant daughter to work. I hired and managed a team of eight people and got to keep my skills sharp on my terms.”

She muses on the having-it-all question. And lands on that she believes that you can have it all – but not all at once.

“Now that my kids are older, I have a bit more flexibility to be hyper-focused at work. However, when I am with them, I try to be entirely present, and that means putting the mobile phones in a drawer.”

In her spare time, Butler enjoys spending time with her family solving jigsaw puzzles, tinkering in her vegetable garden and watching her daughter perform in musical theater.

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There’s No Such Thing as a “Set” Career Path

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GS Returnship ProgramBy Sophie Jacob

Before the phrase “social distancing” became a part of our collective vocabularies, in-person interviews and orientation were part of the usual recruitment and new joiner process. Now, like everything else, joining a new company does not look quite like it used to – orientation is done virtually, and networking with fellow new joiners might not seem as simple. But while integrating into a new role virtually is a different experience, non-traditional beginnings can be a good thing.

Take Goldman Sachs’ Returnship® program for instance – founded in 2008, the program is an eight-week, paid program designed specifically for individuals who left the workforce for two or more years and are ready to return. The program aims to help talented professionals restart their careers after an extended absence from the workforce and provides access to training, networking and support from the firm’s senior leaders, as well as hands-on work experience with meaningful responsibilities in a variety of divisions across the firm.

Lori Taylor, a member of the Returnship Class of 2015, joined Goldman Sachs in the immersion program after a six-year hiatus from the workforce. After hitting the ground running in the Risk Division, Lori joined the firm full-time, and became the first Returnship Class member to be named managing director.

Read on for Lori’s unique perspective on integrating into Goldman Sachs quickly and efficiently, her best advice for making the most of a non-traditional career path, and how she stays in touch with other Returnship program alumni virtually.

Tell us about your career before Goldman Sachs and what drew you to the firm’s Returnship program.

Lori: After a decade-long career at GE Capital, I left work to focus on my family full-time. After six years, I wanted to explore going back to work. A friend of mine was an alumni of the program and told me about it.

When I was applying, I explained to friends and family that the program was a chance to learn about Goldman Sachs and see if it would be a good fit for me. The Returnship program was attractive because, of all the opportunities I had been looking into, it was the one that had the longest and best track record.

What were your favorite parts of the program?

Lori: I really appreciated the focus on networking. Coming in with a Returnship class made the transition smoother, and I’m still close with my Returnship colleagues today. The role I was placed in made a lot of sense for me, and returning to work in a position that I felt excited about showed me how much I missed this part of my life. It was like I had never left.

The program also does a great job of organizing panels and other forums for participants to hear from leaders at the firm; some of the advice I heard in those early days still resonates with me today. I continue to be involved with the Returnship program, and just recently participated in an event for the new class, with half of the class via video conference given diverse locations.

What did you find most surprising?

Lori: Probably how fast it went by! Once I hit the desk, the days flew by, I think in large part because right away I was given opportunities where I felt like I was really providing value.

The Returnship program allows the firm to access pockets of talent that we might not be able to get to otherwise – experienced hires with a range of professional and life experiences bring fresh perspectives that can help teams evaluate challenges through a new lens.

Can you tell us about the make-up of your class?

Lori: My class was comprised of people who had been out of the workforce for very different amounts of time and for various reasons – some colleagues had taken a two-year break, while others had been out of the workforce for closer to 20 years. We were a mostly female cohort, with one male colleague in our ranks.

You’re a trailblazer as the first program participant to be named managing director as a member of the Managing Director Class of 2019. Can you tell us about that journey?

Lori: I had worked in Credit Risk earlier in my career, so it was a natural fit for me. While the markets are constantly changing, the skills and tools we use to evaluate risk stay the same. I spent the last five years working hard, and I was fortunate enough to have mentors and supporters along the way who gave me opportunities to take on more and more responsibility and continue expanding my scope.

We’re welcoming new people to the firm remotely every week. Do you have any advice for them or for people wondering how to face the challenges of joining a new company under unique circumstances?

Lori: I’d say that there is no such thing as a “set” career path. My career certainly hasn’t been linear, and the fact that it has been non-traditional provides me with a different perspective and experience.

What might we not know about you?

Lori: I’m a twin! Also, I was inducted into the University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball – even though UVM is surrounded by mountains, I didn’t ski there until after my senior season, because I couldn’t risk an injury.

By Sophie Jacob

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Erin England, Partner, Katten

Erin England

GittingsLegal – NE73197

Success comes in many forms, and you have to define it for yourself, explains Katten’s Erin England.

Today England enjoys being able to share her story with young professionals and students, and says she often hears from advice seekers after a presentation. But that advice can’t be one-size-fits-all because success looks different for everyone and has to be targeted toward their unique goals. “If they don’t know what they are looking for personally, the advice won’t be in alignment with the outcome they want,” England said.

For England, she initially viewed success as becoming financially stable. “I know what it’s like to struggle financially – my family did when I was young – so in the beginning I set my sights on academic and professional achievement and the financial stability that comes with it.” Upon achieving that security, England has revamped her definition of success.

Living Her Dream

As the youngest of three raised by a single mother, England was the first in her family to go to college. She graduated with a business degree from Texas A&M University. After graduation, she spent a few years in banking, and then set her sights on law school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

She started her legal career at another Dallas law firm where she worked for nearly 12 years, making partner along the way, and recently joined Katten as the first Commercial Finance partner in Texas.

At her former firm, she specialized in “fund finance” or “subscription financing,” which involves lending to private equity funds and securing the loans by the capital commitments of investors in the fund. She has brought her experience to Katten and is looking forward to building out the practice at the firm.

Learning Along the Way

England speaks of her early years in law as marked by a condition many young professionals experience: a dose of imposter syndrome, which for her created a sense of not belonging and having to “fake” it. “I was hesitant to speak up and was afraid to be myself because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. My perception was that I did not grow up like other lawyers in the firm, which may have not been true, but my sphere of influence was so different than my colleagues at the time,” she says. But she soon realized that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has their own story of struggle, and the firm is better off having people from many different backgrounds.

Helping Others With the Climb

At her former firm, England co-chaired the women’s initiative committee and is looking forward to getting involved with Katten’s robust Women’s Leadership Forum. Opportunities to support fellow women attorneys are important to her, she says. “I love the reciprocal mentoring and encouragement these programs offer, and it’s an excellent way to meet others across the firm.”

She believes women should work to lift each other up. “Lift as you climb,” is one of her favorite sayings. And she thinks it’s vital for women in her position to stay aware of how to help others. She recommends her peers “move over and add a chair when they get a seat at the table.”

When younger women are overwhelmed at a law firm, she encourages them to know that it will get better. “For example, when you make partner, you have much more control of your day and you’ve earned the respect of your peers.” Unfortunately, in her experience, it’s been the case that many women leave firm life or the practice altogether just when they’re hitting their stride.

England believes that the prevailing barrier to success for women in the legal industry in general is the lack of women in positions of power. She notes that it’s “tough to be what you can’t see.” And while she acknowledges that there are systemic flaws that make it difficult for women to achieve positions of power, she says sometimes the only thing you can do is “just keep swimming.”

With over a decade of practice under her belt, England says she no longer views success in terms of financial security, but as having the opportunity to pay it forward by helping others achieve their professional or personal goals.

With a husband who is also a partner at a large law firm and a young daughter, England’s family is busy. As she works remotely, she makes a point to bring her daughter in to video calls as appropriate to help show other associates how family can be part of a full professional life.

England is devoted to nonprofit work, having been on several boards, including her local YMCA and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association. She recently joined her first for-profit board for a new company called the Bold Women Society, a community that spotlights women with courageous stories.

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Cathy Del Colle, President, Burrelles

Cathy Del CollePut in the hard work, but realize that might not be enough, says Cathy Del Colle, president of Burrelles, the oldest media monitoring company in the industry.

“In order to thrive, be ready to let others know about the good work you are doing, and always be eager to learn new things; ask your supervisor how you can assist them since you always need to be ready to seize opportunities for growth.”

That attitude has propelled Del Colle’s career as she has stayed with the same company for 33 years. It is a tenure she is very proud of, rising from sales associate to become the newest president – and the first female president in the company’s history.

Growing a Solid Career

Del Colle joined Burrelles fresh out of college, when she saw a promising sales opportunity at the growing company. She thrived in the Washington, D.C., market for eight years when she was asked to move back to New Jersey headquarters. Over the years, she held a number of client service positions as the company pivoted to meet customer needs, including introducing the client portal, with a forward-thinking vision that was recently rewarded as she was named president.

She is looking forward to her role in helping Burrelles continue to make relevant changes. As a 132-year-old organization, it recently rebranded. However, she notes, it still focuses on its core service, differentiating it from other media monitoring companies by relying on human curation rather than computer models.

To capitalize on the value of a cross-channel strategy, Burrelles has recently added podcasts and social media tracking for its clients. “We have the same goal of tracking the news customers need but always adding new mediums as they become important,” she says.

An Increase in Women’s Influence

Throughout the years, Del Colle has seen women take on more prominent roles in the industry, something that she has noticed from attending media-related conferences where she has seen a rise of women speakers giving their insights. “Previous gender roles in the industry have largely been removed, which has been nice to see,” she says.

She notes that when she received her recent promotion, it was her fellow female executives who highlighted that she was the first female president, a designation she hadn’t even realized she had achieved. “It helped build pride in the company among my fellow women colleagues to have reached this milestone,” she says.

She remains active in a number of trade groups, including Washington Women in Public Relations, which she joined early in her career and makes a point to continue to attend meetings as her schedule permits.

While remaining dedicated to her career, Del Colle thinks it’s important for professionals to realize that it is possible to make work-life balance a reality. She met her husband early on in her career and feels that the relationship was an asset. “It takes a team, and my family are all part of my professional success,” she says. “My family ranks number one, two and three in importance to me.”

In addition to family time, she also takes part in a wide variety of healthy living activities, from daily exercise to wellness-focused vacations. Mindfulness ranks high, with podcasts and mediation keeping her grounded, especially in today’s challenging circumstances.

by Cathie Ericson

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Tell your career story! It matters.

Tell Your Career StoryWe believe it’s important to tell your career story around the digital campfire and why visibility matters for professional women.

We are looking to profile more amazing women on theglasshammer.com this Fall and would love for you to tell your career story around our global digital campfire. We believe visibility matters more than ever in these remote times. We want to inspire other women and help you stay front and center in your firm and to your industry. We are looking to profile professional women in SVP or Managing Director roles as well as rising stars so if you are a VP or director please get in touch also for consideration. Thematically, we have our annual Latina Leaders series coming up for Hispanic Heritage month, and every October we profile women in technology roles and teams. We are super interested in sharing your story with other women in any role in financial, professional services, technology or Fortune 500 firms. You do not have to fit the themes, but you do have to be willing to tell your career story!

The Story of theglasshammer.com

In many ways theglasshammer is my story, because I have dedicated more time and attention to the topic of gender in the workplace, leadership and organization development regarding “diversity” than to anything else in my life. When I launched it thirteen summers ago, back in 2007, I had no idea that the journey would be so interesting, so enriching intellectually and at times so emotionally wrenching.

I had just wrapped up the sale of efinancialcareers.com to venture backed Dice Inc.  I had come to the USA in 2004 from the UK headquarters to launch and run the US arm of the business. I came up with the concept of what become theglasshammer.com in 2007 after seeing a gap in the market for women to feel as confident as men to apply to the highest paid jobs in financial services and “go for it.”

I knew that women existed in all levels of financial services and that there was a visibility issue. There were panels of male talking heads, interviews by male experts written by male journalists, and the straight white man in a pinstripe was still firmly the default. It was a generation ago, and much progress has been made but it feels like we are still only just on the brink of deep change. Most firms are not much further on, and some are just starting the journey. Back then in 2007, millennials were just entering the workplace and diversity work for most was a version of box-checking Noah’s Ark – two women, two people of color and two LGB (not even T) people in the whole firm. If they achieved that in optics, some leaders thought they were in good shape.

The reason that I decided to launch theglasshammer.com was simple; I knew there were others like me. Other women navigating their career, high-performing ambitious women who just needed to know they were not alone. Being a country manager and head of the business at efinancialcareers was certainly a big responsibility. Like many other people who are promoted into big jobs in their late twenties, I had been the main rainmaker in the sales team of the Financial News in London and the Chairman had seen my naked ambition and knew where to put it to good use. I was a young, female Managing Director, a foreigner, openly gay with a strong instinct to call out nonsense where and when I saw it. I had three things going for me: I knew how to build brands and sales operations from scratch, having done it with the Financial News in the original team. I had long term vision and good instincts. And, I didn’t really know I was a “girl,” meaning no one had openly or covertly tried to oppress me due to my gender. Like so many young women until a certain point, I had no sense of “not possible”. But, by the end of that experience, as a Managing Director and young ( and only female) board member, I had navigated successfully and uncovered, yet couldn’t name what I later realized were systemic issues regarding gender. It was not by accident that the acquiring company had not one single person of color or openly gay person in the entire firm and that the one female in senior management was paid one third of the salary of the other members, revealed when they went public to all.

Within the first two years of theglasshammer.com, I wanted to understand for real what I saw and felt. I knew quickly that we needed more than career advice, i knew women where asking for what they wanted and that they were already leaning it. It was the system that was letting them down. I went to Columbia University in 2011 to study for an Executive Masters in social-organizational psychology with a specialization in change leadership to put real theory to the applied test. Highly recommended, life changing and I made some friends for life in this year long program.

Equality and equity happens in the human behavioral sphere and workplace culture matters. However, how systems and talent processes are built and maintained make the difference in how to incentivize the well intended, fair people and prevent the nonsense from the bad players  who so often make insidious behaviors acceptable.

Data points are always good. If you suspect dynamics that aren’t about you personally, look at how many women are on the board and how they are paid against male peers for measurement. Ask questions around talent processes. Understand how work gets done, who gets rewarded and why and what gets tolerated.

In 2012, I started coaching women and men as I realized that advancement is often to do with understanding the system as it is today. While we are working on what we want it to look like tomorrow, critical mass and good leadership behaviors from the women and men at the top right now, matters! And, upon returning to Columbia University to complete their coaching program in 2016, I was so fortunate to be educated again on a new discipline, developmental psychology.  Each person who has been shaped by their experiences and it is how they develop a lens on that process that matters for real growth. You will never hear me say “all women” or “all men” as I truly feel privileged to help humans on their journey wherever they start or want to go to.

On bad days, I bellyache that the progress has been slow on the macro level for getting rid of mindsets that prevent all people from thriving on merit. But more often, I see that progress is real. I know that the 5,000 profiles on theglasshammer.com have contributed to making professional women visible to the world. I have coached hundreds of women who feel that they have gotten further and more out of their career than just going it alone.

At the end of the journey, I hope the word diversity leaves as this work is about stopping seeing the baselines as male or white. It is about getting rid of stereotypes and doing the work to understand what differences of all types means within each person and for each person. It is about personal, professional and organizational development.

Join our digital campfire and inspire other professional women!

Write to jennifer@theglasshammer.com with “Profile me” in the title if you wish to be considered.

If you wish to be coached by me or one of my selected associates, email nicki@theglasshammer.com

We run sessions for ERGs and High performing teams also.

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Cindy Brown, Chief Revenue Officer, ViralGains

Cindy BrownAs a strong mentor to other women, Cindy Brown loves to share what she’s learned.

Speaking on panels like “How to Be a Boss Lady,” her advice includes staying the course: She sees resumes of women who’ve only been in jobs one or two years, yet she believes you have to remain in a position long enough to learn that when things get tough, that’s an opportunity to add certain skills to your personal toolkit. “When you reach higher levels, you are expected to have skills to handle situations, but you can only acquire those through seeing similar circumstances and the various reactions and responses,” Brown says.

Thriving on Challenge and Accountability

With a career spent in sales and customer success positions, Brown has always found the competitive aspect and absolute accountability energizing. “I’m very competitive, and I love to problem solve and create winning environments.”

Reflecting on her career, Brown feels fortunate to have worked for companies that have had many stages of growth and rapidly changing environments. She started in a large computer technology company in sales and quickly moved into sales leadership. There she was able to build a firm foundation with robust training programs in sales skills, leadership, HR, project management and other disciplines. Her first big challenge came when they were acquired by Compaq Computer, and she played a key role in the consolidation of two huge companies.

Eventually she decided she had reached a bit of a ceiling, so looked for a smaller start-up and joined a consulting firm that worked with companies to create customer-facing web sites. Shortly after, the dot-com bubble burst, and she was let go.

While it was a scary time, the uncertainty didn’t last long; she joined another start-up in the ad tech field as vice president of sales and operations to help them scale. And another challenge—9/11. The recessionary environment again made it critical to produce results, and she was able to show positive growth. Soon after Brown was recruited to join Yahoo! when they were still relatively small. She led a number of sales and support organizations over her dozen years there, including playing an active role in three major acquisitions and helping capture the most value between the combined organizations. One more pivot later, and for four years she has been at her current company, ViralGains, an ad tech company that creates customer-centric video ad journeys.

That adaptability is the professional achievement she is most proud of—the ability to assess needs and figure out how to motivate teams, then coalesce to drive success and scale. With extensive experience in both small and large companies, she can draw on her background to know what might work in a variety of situations.

At ViralGains, they focus on aligning customers and brands with a customer-centric approach that offers viewers a more customized ad experience, related to brands and companies that interest them. “My whole career I’ve been a ‘how can I help’ type of person, so now I’m working on technology that helps advertisers do that at scale,” she says.

Brown finds that marketing technology and advertising technology are not as aligned as they could or should be and is interested in driving a tighter connection between them. She finds that marketing technology is data-centric, while advertising is more prospect blasting, in other words, getting a message in front of millions of people without a deep understanding of whether they are actually real prospects. “There is still a lot of work to be done to seamlessly align the two, which will drive a better experience for individuals and greater efficiencies for brands,” she says.

Taking Chances Pays Off

Brown believes her success has come in part from being “naively optimistic,” pursuing jobs she really wasn’t yet qualified for, but asking for more and not overthinking. However, she has always been self-aware and focused on how her work fits into the larger organization; when she made mistakes, she would reflect on what happened and why. Commute time is the perfect time for that self-reflection, as well as to plan the next day.

While we’ve all been in a situation where a man says something a woman has just said and is listened to, Brown believes it’s important to get past that by avoiding an emotional response. “I’ve changed my verbiage from I ‘feel’ like we should do xyx to compiling facts, data and analytics that support a recommendation so it becomes a solid use case.”

Brown is proud that she has always made it a priority to spend time with her husband with a weekly date night and as a working mom would put the kids to bed and get a babysitter. Now they are grown and she believes that spending time together is the best gift. But it has to start at the beginning. “Having a strong marriage helps develop a strong family, and is a great balance to an active career. A woman can do both.”

by Cathie Ericson

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Cristina Varner; Senior Vice President, National Life Science Practice Leader; ABD Insurance & Financial Services

Cristina Varner

In her 25-year career, Cristina Varner has heard a number of buzzwords come and go, but one concept that she was delighted to first hear about and see endure is “sponsorship.”

“When that term came up it really resonated with me…who’s in the room talking about you when you’re not there?” she says, citing studies showing women tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored. She recalls a former boss who was a strong producer, and they gravitated toward one another. “We didn’t put a name on it, but it was sponsorship as she helped me be my best,” Varner says. “She would tell me that I was passionate, not impatient, as others might call me. In that way she would replace what sounded like a negative that I might be thinking I needed to fix and reframing it in a way that was positive.”

That’s why everyone who wants to grow in their career needs a sponsor, says Varner.

A Career Pivot Proves Successful

Turns out Varner had a lifetime “sponsor,” even though she just called him “dad.” That’s because she had initially planned on being a fashion buyer, but when she joined Nordstrom during a tough economic period, it didn’t take long to realize that buyers weren’t soon going to be giving up their jobs.

Her father was in insurance, and while he’d always said that insurance was a great business, she hadn’t intended to follow in his footsteps…and yet since he was nearing the end of his career, she joined to see what it was all about. “He was very old school and treated me like any employee,” she says. But that taste of the industry worked, and from there she decided it was what she wanted to do, embarking on what would become a fruitful and fascinating career.

Since Varner didn’t want to take over his business, he recommended she consider becoming a retail broker on the commercial side. She was willing to learn and also realized it was the right time as it was the Silicon Valley heyday, with companies unable to hire people fast enough. Varner started on the ground level and worked her way up, primarily working with tech companies at the time, before a pivot moved her into the life science industry. Since then she’s built two life science practices from the ground up, and that has led her to the professional achievement she is most proud of so far—building robust teams and being part of watching younger people grow and make names for themselves.

Her current company, which she spun out with a core group in 2012, is now in its eighth year.

A Fearless Leader

While she doesn’t recall having specific assumptions starting her career, she realizes the importance of not only having a strong work ethic—being willing to raise your hand for new opportunities, but also the power of being a non-conformist. Varner describes herself as not “cookie cutter,” but rather fearless, a trait she didn’t recognize as unique and valuable until she was farther along in her career.

That instinct was on full display when she and a small group decided to leave a large employer to spin off their new company, an unusual and courageous decision, given that insurance people in general are risk averse in their careers. “It took a leap of faith to believe in a new CEO and leave much of my team behind.” And of course, that sowed doubts: How would I be able to do this? Will clients come with us?

One of her biggest fears was that people wouldn’t come along with her, but her biggest client followed her with words that stuck with her, “I don’t do business with companies; I do it with people.”

Even with initial misgivings, looking back, she knows it was the best career decision she has made. “It allowed me to start fresh in that I could come up with creative ideas, and that was the biggest turning point in my career,” Varner says.

Building Support Mechanisms

Varner has been proud to be part of creating culture at ABD, including a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council formed last year. She also founded the ABDHer Employee Resource Group (ERG), a passion that comes from the fact that she was strongly challenged, inspired and mentored by female leaders in her career and wanted to pay it forward.

The group has spearheaded a number of initiatives, including currently hosting webinars with other female leaders. Recent offerings have included topics like how people can successfully lead in times of tumult.

“When I started my career, we were expected to just figure it out, but I think it’s important that we now have much more focus to help people navigate their careers and growth and build skills.” She also finds that men gravitate toward the group, many of whom had been supported by a strong female figure in their own lives, to show their support.

While Varner has had her share of mentors, she also looks to other avenues for inspiration, including Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey, citing the quote, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” Varner heard this early on and became a devotee of her teachings, which she has found to be very impactful on her career.

Aside from her work, Varner is married and enjoys spending time outside, boating or just enjoying the summer weather, along with her “two spoiled dogs.” Her passion for dogs inspired her to connect with a local man who helps feed the dogs of homeless people and eventually started the nonprofit “Project Open Paw.” Varner also is close to completing training to be a crisis counselor for Crisis Text Line, which she heard about when she caught a podcast with the CEO. “It resonated with me as something outside of my career or normal hobbies,” she says. While it’s daunting, she is excited to make a difference. “You should always be doing things that scare you.”

by Cathie Ericson

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