Tag Archive for: People

Intrepid Woman: Nikki Barua, CEO, BeyondCurious

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Fear is imaginary, says entrepreneur Nikki Barua. “The more you focus on it, the more it grows, and the only way to overcome fear is to replace it with faith. I have always had faith in myself, my team and my purpose and that’s what fuels my confidence.”Nicki B

She finds that most people go through their lives worrying about losing love, money or job security. “That fear can keep you from taking risks. Imagine the life you could create if you weren’t gripped by fear. Imagine doing what you love and not worrying about how people view you or not being defined by other people’s expectations of you.”

A Career Built on Helping Companies Thrive in Disruption

Barua knows all too well the importance of moving past those fears. An immigrant from India, she came to America in 1997 for business school. After graduation, she built her career first in management consulting, and then in digital marketing, honing her skills as a digital innovator and a business leader in the corporate world.

As she helped global brands transform their business with digital solutions, she noticed that many clients struggled with the pace of change in technology, competition and customer expectations. Big brands needed to be more agile and adapt quickly to change and needed to think and act with the agility of a startup, she found. “They needed an entrepreneurial culture designed for change. That challenge fascinated me, and I was obsessed with a singular question, ‘How do you make elephants run?’”

That question led to her entrepreneurial journey: She left her corporate career and the prestige and security that accompanies that territory and started her business with no clients, no case studies and barely any capital.

“All I had was a clear purpose — to unlock the limitless potential of people and organizations. That clarity gave me the courage to take the steps forward despite my fears, learning to navigate through unknown territory,” she says.

Although she had managed P&Ls and led people, she nevertheless felt unprepared for the challenges of building a business from scratch. As she describes it, each day was filled with untold challenges and gut- wrenching setbacks, followed by big successes and unexpected victories. As she kept learning and adapting, BeyondCurious soon became a successful business, and Barua reveled in her successful transition from corporate leader to entrepreneur.

Along the way, she discovered an important truth that has been the foundation of her success: Whether you work in a big corporation or run your own business, the fundamentals are the same — delight your customer, inspire your team and keep innovating.

Bold Dreams Will Define Your Success

Barua remembers daydreaming about her future as a young girl in India, and how big the dreams seemed at the time. But eventually those dreams came true so she dreamed bigger and bigger. “The lesson I learned is that you only achieve what you dream of, so if your dreams aren’t big, your achievements won’t be either,” Barua notes. “When you dream big, your creativity is unleashed; your confidence grows; your potential is unlocked; and you break barriers of what you thought was possible for yourself and for the world.”

As her company has succeeded, she has found that her biggest challenge is growing herself along with the organization. She advises other entrepreneurs to stay hungry, keep learning and get comfortable being uncomfortable. “When you embrace the discomfort of not knowing, you are able to learn at an exponential rate,” she says.

Along with dreams comes action, and Barua believes firmly you have to stand for what you believe in. “Be authentic in your culture and leadership, and build a tribe of believers that have a shared sense of purpose and core values,” she says. “A movement is more powerful than any organization.”

Proving Herself as a Change Agent

Today’s world is experiencing disruption across the board — in society, government, technology and culture. “When the things we believed in and the rules we lived by no longer hold true, it presents an opportunity to create something better and more meaningful,” Barua says, adding that leaders have the privilege and the responsibility of shaping the world the way they wish it to be.

That’s why it’s so important not to just be business leaders or entrepreneurs, but to be inspiring role models and purpose-driven change agents.

She believes the ultimate purpose of leadership is to unlock the potential in others by giving people a platform to be their best and creating an environment where people thrive because they are constantly learning, growing and breaking barriers. She has found that when people are aligned around shared values and connections, they are more fulfilled.

She herself has a mission to unlock the potential of a billion people – talk about dreaming big!

“I believe we are all limitless, but we are held back when we lack the clarity, courage or conviction to go beyond our barriers,” she says.

“I am deeply passionate about being a catalyst that helps people unlock that limitless potential. It’s what I love to do above all else and what has fueled all my career success,” she says.

“As an entrepreneur, educator, public speaker, author and social activist, everything I do is aligned to that singular mission. Every day is about taking courageous action, learning, adapting and never giving up.”

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Voice of Experience: Vidya Lakshmi, Managing Director, Head of Human Capital Management, Goldman Sachs, Bengaluru

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Lakshmi

By Cathie Ericson

“A senior leader once asked me asked me about which seat I would choose when I enter a conference room and I promptly responded that I’d like to be seated in a quiet corner. The advice I received was to take a central position in the conference room to ensure that I was heard.” Vidya Lakshmi says she encourages women to be deliberate about their career by building technical expertise and firmly being rooted in one’s passion.

An Illustrious Career Spanning Functions and Locations

Born in India, Vidya spent a large part of her childhood in Kenya. She moved back to India and enrolled in college to complete her bachelor’s degree in economics.  She then earned her Chartered Accountancy degree (CPA equivalent), and began her journey in the corporate world.

In her first job as an auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Vidya gained exposure to clients across different industries, had the opportunity to travel and strengthened her technical skillset as an auditor.

Vidya joined Goldman Sachs in 2004 and with no background in banking, her foray into the world of investment banking was one of the risks she took early on in her career that paid healthy dividends. Looking back on this decision, she encourages women to step out of their comfort zone, learn to say an emphatic ‘yes’ to opportunities and be vocal about their ambitions.  

She spent her first five years at Goldman Sachs in banking, initially in India and then relocated to New York in 2007. Working in investment banking in the middle of the financial crisis in New York was a key learning moment in her career. “The New York stint taught me resilience, the need to make tough decisions and pushed me to strive for excellence in everything I do,” says Vidya.

Since then, Vidya has relocated back to India and has held multiple roles, including serving as the Chief of Staff to the CEO of Goldman Sachs Bengaluru, building the analytic and quantitative capabilities in the Securities Division and running a myriad of functions within Human Capital Management.

In 2016, Vidya assumed her current role as head of Human Capital Management in Bengaluru. Currently, she is excited about engaging and hiring top engineering talent from engineering campuses across India to address cutting-edge areas such as machine learning, process automation and workflow digitization. Another key aspect of her role is responding to the needs of a millennial talent pool, as 85 percent of the Bengaluru office is composed of millennials.

Helping Overcome Cultural Norms and Other Challenges for Women

 Vidya observes that Indian women typically step back from their careers in order to balance family life, and are likely to quit jobs mid-career due to the “double burden syndrome,” a culture in which both men and women feel family and household duties are primarily a woman’s responsibility. Due to these social norms, she says organizations play a critical role in fostering an environment that supports and retains women in the workforce.

“My husband is a CPA, and given the strong career trajectories we both have had, the traditional roles expected to be played by husband and wife have become blurred. We have supported each other through the highs and lows of our careers. For example, my children recently spent two years in Zurich with my husband while he was on assignment, while I stayed in Bengaluru to continue working at Goldman Sachs.”  She believes that one of the biggest decisions a woman makes in her life is the partner she chooses to spend her life with.

  In her career, Vidya has learned that women need to be wary of understating their own abilities and that one way to bolster their career is through sponsorship. “Unlike mentors, sponsors go beyond career advice and are invested in one’s career,” she notes. “Finding sponsors for women within an organization and investing in those relationships can help create a strong pipeline.”

Vidya is involved in a number of initiatives, including Women Emerging in Finance, which aims to dispel myths young Indian women may have about the financial services industry, particularly regarding work/life balance, that may keep them from pursuing a finance career. Every year, they aspire to speak with at least 1,000 young women across engineering and management campuses, to provide them with more information to make an informed decision and encourage them to join the financial services industry – and ideally — Goldman Sachs.

Vidya understands the challenges women face in the workplace throughout various life stages.  She has experienced the benefits of leveraging the infrastructure the firm provides to continue to pursue her career. An example that stands out is Goldman Sachs’ on-site Children’s center, which she is proud to oversee in her current role.

“Life throws us many curveballs. I have learned to stay the course, build resilience and in moments of doubt, to reflect on my own journey,” Vidya recommends.

A Full Life Outside of Work

Vidya loves learning new languages and is currently learning German on the weekends. “It was a passion I left behind when I got busy in the corporate world, and I am thrilled that I have intentionally carved out time to do something I enjoy,” she says.

She also loves spending time with her two boys, Harsh and Aditya, and enjoys traveling with them. In the last two years Vidya and her family have traveled extensively across Europe.

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Mover and Shaker: Katherine Ferguson, Vice President, Marketing, WEX

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By Cathie EricsonKatherine Ferguson

When considering the path of your career, one factor that WEX’s Katherine Ferguson always suggests younger women focus on is sponsorship. She says it’s vital not only to have someone who is supportive of your path, but is willing to take risks to advocate for you and pull you up. “Find that person and build a relationship, and it will serve you well throughout your career,” she says.

For her part, she says she has been fortunate to have had experience working with amazing leaders who have served as models as she attempts to emulate the qualities she admires, including a calm presence, authenticity and supportive leadership.

“I have learned how important relationships are, and how you have to take the time to nurture them, whether they are colleagues, peers, team members or those in senior roles,” she says. “Often when you enter your career, you are focused on getting the work done, but you have to remember to take the time to network and develop relationships that will be instrumental in your path for years to come.”

Searching For and Finding Her Passion

After completing degrees in art history and accounting, Ferguson began a career in accounting, including a stint at the Smithsonian that tied her two interests together. She soon decided that she wanted to move out of accounting and realized marketing appealed to her, with the balance of creativity, data and analytics.

Ferguson joined American Express out of graduate school and spent 14 years there serving different customer and geographic segments. She then decided she wanted to take her experience to a company that was smaller, but growing fast, where she would have an impactful role transforming the brand and customer experiences.

WEX was a perfect fit, particularly due to its culture. Having grown up with a father who was an executive, she had some sense of what the corporate world would be like, but over her career she has grown to appreciate the fact that each company has a different culture that impacts your career and working environment. That has helped inform her path along the way, as she assesses the culture of various roles and then strives to build a great culture among her team.

Right now, she is enjoying challenging her team as they elevate marketing into a best-in-class organization, including launching new products, new partnerships and new customer journeys.

One of her secrets to success is to hire people who are smarter than you, set them up for success, then get out of their way, she says.

A Focus on Mentoring Women

Currently, Ferguson is working with two senior executives on a recently launched women’s network. “I’ve been so impressed by WEX in general and the importance it places on supporting women, from our female CEO, cascading down to numerous senior female executives and beyond. This emphasis really speaks to our community and culture,” she says.

The network is designed to help build a community of women throughout the organization who will support each other and collaborate through common challenges. “It’s a concept that’s near and dear to my heart,” Ferguson says.

Aside from the many hats she wears at work, Ferguson makes time to find balance in her life — from spending time with her family to nurturing friendships and giving back to the community.

A recent newcomer to the Portland area, she has jumped right in, joining the boards of the Portland Museum of Art and United Way. She is also very proud of the time she spent mentoring a refugee student from Somalia at Portland High School last year. Although the woman spoke four languages, English was not one of them until she arrived in the United States, so Ferguson helped her with her school work and the college application process, celebrating the fact that she is now a student at the University of Southern Maine.

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Voice of Experience: Patricia McCarthy, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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 By Cathie EricsonPatricia

It’s your responsibility to proactively guide and shape your career, recommends Goldman Sachs’ Patty McCarthy. “Being an active networker ensures that people think of you when opportunities arise, but it also allows you to be better at your current job,” she says. “Networking allows you to form relationships with people in your respective field, and provides avenues to solicit feedback and guidance from others.”

She also noted that finding strong mentors and nurturing such relationships is crucial to your career development, as you can solicit frank advice in order to constantly improve.

A Career Built on Seizing Opportunities

McCarthy credits her personal network with her career path, which she describes as “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,” the loopy ride at Disney theme parks.

After earning a degree from Harvard Law School, she worked at a large corporate law firm for several years, supporting clients pursuing mergers and acquisitions, before joining the Spanish-language media company Univision, where she worked in business development. However, she soon discovered she missed working in the financial services sector, and began to explore other opportunities.

After connecting with a recruiter, to whom she expressed her interest in both private wealth management and real estate, she was excited when she was recommended to apply for a role on Goldman Sachs’ Private Wealth Management (PWM) legal team. She got the job, and following six years on the PWM legal team, she transitioned to the global management team. Commenting on her movement between different teams, McCarthy said: “Goldman Sachs prides itself on offering opportunities for internal mobility and I’m glad to have been able to take advantage of that.”

Throughout her time in PWM, she has built a reputation as a “go-to” person when key projects – big or small – need to be completed. “More than achieving a title or promotion, my biggest source of pride is establishing a personal brand as an individual who can improve a process,” she says. That’s why her current position is such a perfect fit, as she analyzes new technologies and procedures to constantly improve client service.

Lending Her Career Expertise To Others Across the Firm

McCarthy cautions women to combat their tendency to just put their head down and work hard. “In general, women usually are concerned about being perceived as too aggressive, but it can impact your career if you are afraid to speak up.” She frequently tells young women not to come to her after a meeting to share their great idea, but encourages them to speak up during a meeting.

“When you have good ideas, you need to voice them and add value. Remember that your job is to contribute to your team, and that entails being confident and pushing yourself beyond what your perceived role is,” she notes.

McCarthy acknowledges that confidence will come from building and relying on a strong network of peers with whom to discuss career transitions and work/life balance, and she cautions that the need for this type of support continues as your career progresses. “Sometimes, when you become more senior, you forget that you still need mentors and a sounding board, and often your peers step in to fill that role.”

As co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Hispanic Latino Network, McCarthy is proud to draw on her Cuban heritage to educate others about Hispanic culture, as well as further the development and retention of Hispanic and Latino professionals. She felt honored when she was recently asked to participate in a panel discussion on intersectionality, which focused on the potentially hidden aspects of diversity and the importance of bringing your whole self to work. The panel was co-sponsored by several Goldman Sachs affinity networks.

In addition, she is a member of the firm’s Women’s Network, which provides mentorship opportunities and hosts events to help guide women throughout their careers. McCarthy noted that she has benefitted from network sessions that provided information to aid in work/life balance, such as women’s health and education planning for children.

Outside of the office, McCarthy enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, ages 11 and 9, engaging in active outdoor water sports. In fact, she laughingly says that since she loves water in any form, she’s even embraced “frozen water” and taken up skiing, where she can enjoy the challenge of learning something new.

As a board member of the Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative (TCCC), she also works to educate and support those affected by thyroid cancer. “Thyroid cancer often affects younger women, and it can be really scary when you initially receive a diagnosis. I appreciate the chance to help arm others with knowledge as they begin their journey towards a cancer-free life.”

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Voice of Experience: Priscila Palazzo, Legal Director, WEX Latin America

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By Cathie EricsonPriscilla

“While law might appear to be my main job, I also excel at understanding people and their behavior,” says WEX’s Priscila Palazzo. “It’s important to be open to new ideas and thoughts, but especially to feedback. If you seek it out and reflect on it, it can help show you areas where you can grow and improve. As women, we tend to follow our hearts and intuition, but we need to balance that with feedback.”

Law and Business Combine for Success

Palazzo’s “career” began at an early age when she worked with her dad as a child, making two pennies to start. But as she got older, he started including her in meetings which gave her a flavor for work situations. Although she had hoped to eventually work with him, she ended up pursuing a law degree. In her native country of Brazil, you can begin working as soon as you start law school, and so on her first day of class she started as a trainee in a law firm, experiencing the challenge of balancing work and school simultaneously.

With a specialty in labor and consumer law, Palazzo moved to the United States as soon as she graduated to take summer courses at Harvard, and on her return joined a firm specializing in business law. She became a partner at a young age, which gave her more exposure, and a larger law firm soon invited her to join the M & A team where she assisted the former company that became WEX.

She says that when WEX took over, she made what at the time was a joke that maybe they could actually sign her paycheck, but it wasn’t long before she realized that she was interested in leaving the law firm to go to the corporate environment. Though she had initially worried that she wouldn’t find it as inspiring to work for just one client, Palazzo has been there four years now and continues to appreciate the variety of work.

Recently she was invited to lead an exciting project that focuses on business, a fascinating intersection that keeps her connected to people all around the company. “Being a lawyer is amazing, but it’s also exciting to be able to reinvent yourself. I’ve had to learn how to communicate with different audiences, other than exclusively with lawyers,” she notes.

While she names her dad as her first sponsor, she also appreciates the foresight of the main partner at the boutique law firm who offered her a trainee job. As Palazzo says, since then she has been surrounded with good people who have been helpful in providing advice – and sometimes, most helpfully, sharing what not to do.

A Multi-Cultural Heritage Contributes to Success at the Global Company

Palazzo is delighted to be able to use her Latino heritage to make a difference; as WEX expands to multiple regions, the company has begun translating its internal communications into Spanish, and she has enjoyed sharing her knowledge.

That multi-cultural bent extends to her mentors, including José Roberto Kracochansky (CEO for WEX Latin America) and two colleagues, Hilary Rapkin and Keith Rodda, with whom she’s been working for four years. “Hilary is Canadian and Keith is from South Africa, so it’s not only language but behaviors and customs we have to integrate,” she says, adding that everyone has a different idea of the ideal model for practicing law.

                 Being attuned to different cultures is something that’s always been part of her makeup, with a big family who is half Spanish and half Italian. She speaks several languages and is an avid traveler, which began at an early age when she participated in exchange programs. Over the years, she has grown to appreciate the significant upsides that come from meeting new people and learning about their cultures. “The more you learn from other people, the more you can relate to others and learn cues to their behavior,” she says.

“I am also not a traditional lawyer; I laugh out loud and am not the buttoned-up stereotype you might imagine,” Palazzo says, to the point that she finds sometimes people are surprised to learn her occupation.

“I was always encouraged to live outside the box, and it has paid off in my ability to face different challenges,” she says.

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Mover and Shaker: Noelia Torres, Market Development Lead, WEX Europe Limited

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By Cathie Ericson

Although WEX’s Noelia Torres began her career as a journalist, then as a public relations practitioner for  large consumer brands, her career has been linked to the payments industry for the past 16 years.

She made the move when she realized that although she enjoyed advising clients on strategy, she yearned to see how it all played out and decided to try the client side. She began her finance career at Barclaycard, an independent division of Barclays, in Dublin and then entered what she calls “the exciting world of payments,” where she enjoys contributing to the constant evolution and progress in the payments world.

Over the years she has worked in a wide variety of different markets and geographies, starting in a local market in Spain and then moving on to WEX initially with responsibilities throughout Europe and now she embraces her new challenge of working in global strategy.

Right now Torres is focusing on new ways to innovate and simplify the ways that companies make and receive payments, using a design thinking approach that employs a creative process to solve business problems. . She describes herself as passionate about the methodology because it always begins by looking at people and their unmet needs.. “We have to remember we are always designing for people: You have to understand what each customer wants and needs and how they behave and think when they’re interacting with products or services.”

Teamwork is Goal Number One

When she first entered the corporate world, she expected it to be full of uncertainty and overly competitive, organized in silos where everyone had their own specialization as a sole focus. While her expectation of embracing uncertainty came true, she has since seen that over the years much of the corporate world has evolved, particularly the team orientation. “It’s not about just my sales volume or my meeting,” she says, but doing the best for everyone.

In fact, she considers her ability to build teams as the professional achievement she is most proud of so far — bringing disparate teams together to work toward the same goal. “No matter what department we are in, we want to discover our customers’ problems and solve them,” she points out.

Over the years that has been one of Torres’ biggest learning moments, that the most relevant asset a company has, no matter the size, is their team. She learned that early on when she worked for a Spanish savings bank, Caixa Galicia, with a team composed of only eight people who covered the entire spectrum, from consumer to business to government accounts.

While other, larger companies might have devoted at least 100 people to covering that breadth, her firm wanted to play in the big leagues and strove to provide supreme experience even with a smaller team. “I learned early on and have taken this lesson with me that if you want to achieve a goal, it’s all about the team that surrounds you,” she says.

In fact, that is the first “ingredient” in her professional recipe for success – knowing that working in silos or isolation is ineffective. Secondly she encourages others to listen a lot and then go outside the company to listen more. “Don’t get trapped inside your company; when you go to your customer and ask ‘why,’ you can gain insight that will help you improve.” And finally, she  adds “Never give up. I know that we can get better;” as another touchpoint : A leader’s function should be to transform the team to improve.

Opportunities to Learn Are Everywhere

Torres says that both sponsorship and mentorship have been crucial to her success, helping guide her professional career, but also providing direction in her personal domain. “My sponsor in Europe believed in me from the very first day and was key in opening the doors to my most recent move to the United States,” she says.

She names Carina Szpilka, former CEO of ING Direct, as her role model. “She is not only a super charismatic and authentic woman, but she was foundational in revolutionizing banking culture by putting the customer at the heart of  business decisions,” Torres notes. But mentorship doesn’t have to just come from the top; she notes that it’s important to remember that you can always learn from everyone you are working with, by finding people on your team who are great leaders or motivators.

WEX, in particular, has been empowering because of the many example of women in key strategic positions throughout the company, which has been inspiring to Torres throughout her career there.

And finally, Torres knows that you can learn from the world around you. She and her husband have a motto that “the world is a book and those who don’t travel read only one page.” They are eager to read the whole book,  lived in different countries in Europe and now moving to the United States , learning about people and culture.

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Voice of Experience: Sue Ann Khoo, Partner, PwC Australia

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By Cathie Ericson

Women excel at the one-on-one relationship-building style of networking, which PwC’s Sue Ann Khoo sees as an advantage as she looks back at her career. “I wish I had believed in myself more at first, but when I realized the advantages to being both a woman and able to understand a different culture, it was a huge boost to my career, given the growing number of clients from Asia, many of whom are women as well,” she says, referencing the often-heard “glass” ceiling and “bamboo” ceiling that women and Asians have to break through to succeed in their career.

She advises women never to say no to opportunities, even if they are outside your comfort zone, because that is how you grow. “You have to be brave to ask for what you want because what’s the worst that could happen?” she asks.

A Cross-Cultural Career

A Malaysian native, Khoo completed her university studies in Australia, then returned to Malaysia where she started her career with PwC. After four years she moved back to Australia and has been there 11 years.

In addition to providing tax advice to foreign companies investing in Australia and Australian companies investing overseas, she leads the Southeast Asian desk in Australia.

“Since Australia, a transparent market, is able to produce attractive yields in the current environment, it’s exciting to help new and existing clients invest in areas such as property, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure and more,” she says. In return, there are significant opportunities for Australian businesses to invest in Asia with the growing middle class population, in sectors such as education, financial services, healthcare and infrastructure.

In her role as the Southeast Asian desk leader, she regularly engages with Australia and South East Asia government including Ministers and Ambassadors and CEOs of private sectors to drive engagement between Australia and South East Asian businesses.

“There is a need to understand the different ways of working interculturally, so leveraging my knowledge of both Asian and Australian cultures helps bridge the divide,” Khoo notes.

Growing Gender Diversity

While she is proud of becoming a partner in 2016, Khoo considers her most acclaimed professional achievement to be the opportunity she has to mentor women of diverse backgrounds and watch them progress.

“It’s important to surround yourself with mentors who believe in you, even sometimes who believe in you more than you believe in yourself, which gives you the opportunity to succeed,”
she says, a role she is now able to fulfill for the next generation.

Diversity is an important part of PwC Australia’s strategy. With a stated target for the new partners of 40/40/20 – as in, 40 percent male, 40 percent women, and 20 percent either; and 20 percent of partners of diverse cultural background, PwC has attained those numbers for the second year in a row with its current roster of 40 percent female partners and 22 percent who are culturally diverse new partner admissions in 2017.  It’s an important initiative to focus on, says Khoo, because she has been surprised at the lack of diverse senior leaders in corporate Australia.

Besides the lack of female role models in Australia, she believes part of the reason is due to the expense of childcare in Australia, one that families in Malaysia often don’t have to shoulder as grandparents are culturally more involved in raising grandchildren , an arrangement that is less prevalent in Australia.

“In Malaysia, many partners and clients in leadership positions were women, and from the start I saw how they were able to balance work and home,” she says, adding that those role models from early in her career helped ignite her determination to become a partner. She acknowledges that her journey to partnership in Australia was not an easy one, as she had to learn the Australia way of working which is different than Asia, spurring the need to learn different styles of working which have helped her cross culturally.

Among the leadership programs that have helped nurture her leadership abilities are the PwC Leadership Talent Pool, designed to offer professional development for directors on the partnership track, and Asian leadership programs such as Asialink Leaders Program and Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP). She also actively participates in both internal and external diversity events, including serving as a panel speaker for the launch of “Leading for Change, a blueprint for cultural diversity and inclusive leadership in 2016, Australia’s Human Rights Commission initiative.

In her free time Khoo enjoys yoga, which she says relaxes her and also helps her gain perspective. “Holding an uncomfortable pose in yoga is like enduring challenging situations at work,” she points out. In addition, she loves outdoor recreation in the beautiful environs of Sydney and frequently travels to see her family and friends in Malaysia.

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Voice of Experience: Padideh Raphael, Partner, Goldman Sachs Hong Kong

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pad By Cathie Ericson

“Know yourself and be assured of your sense of judgement. This will empower confidence in your decisions,” Padideh Raphael says, noting that this theme has resonated with her since childhood as her mom, a psychologist, raised her with an emphasis on trusting her own instincts, enabling confidence in her choices and encouraging decisive action. “This has been instrumental in allowing me to get to where I am today.”

Finding Her Niche

Although she graduated with a degree in neuroscience, when thinking about a career, Raphael realized that while she loved the field, she didn’t want to work in a lab or a hospital. A close friend recommended she think about finance, and after several rounds of interviews with Goldman Sachs, she began her career at the firm in Goldman Sachs Asset Management in institutional marketing.

Although it was a great introduction to Goldman Sachs, Raphael realized her skills might be better utilized in another part of the firm, and she took advantage of a planned move to London to look into other opportunities. After visiting the trading floor, Raphael immediately knew she belonged in the Securities Division. “I knew I would enjoy the fast-paced environment,” she says, and it’s what she’s done for the last 17 years. After serving as co-head of European Equity Derivatives Flow Sales in London, Raphael moved to Hong Kong three years ago to head Asia Pacific Equity-Derivatives Sales.

“It’s been great to see how markets differ across the world as I have worked in different regions throughout my career,” she notes. As she has gotten to know the Asia market, she views the evolving Chinese economy as the most interesting dynamic she expects to see in the coming years, as China begins to accept external investment to meet a tremendous demand.

Helping Other Women Reach Their Potential

Reflecting upon her career, Raphael pinpoints the moment when she realized she had become a role model for others as an achievement of which she is particularly proud. “As a younger professional, my neck was always craned, looking up to the leaders and drivers of our business and those who were experts at their craft,” Raphael says. “At some point I realized I was that person for more junior members of the group, which is a huge responsibility and one I take seriously.”

“I know I have to be thoughtful about the signals I send,” she says, especially in light of her role as one of the first female partners in international equities.

Her advice to women is to be bold and share your point of view at the onset of your career. “Put it all out there on the field every day,” recommends Raphael. “Women tend to wait for validation before sharing their opinion, but they should speak up earlier.”

Raphael is a first generation American, and her Iranian mom raised her without gender-related boundaries, which served as an important foundation throughout her childhood and into adulthood. “I believe there are no inherent barriers to success in this industry, but in some cases I have seen that women are traditionally raised or shaped to abide by societal norms,” she says.  “To the extent possible, women should be confident in having a place in the discussion.”

Family First at Work and Home

When Raphael went on maternity leave with her first child in London, the firm provided a childcare facility that was available for back-up but not full-time care. However, Raphael was determined that she didn’t want to leave her daughter at home, and told her manager that if she was to come back, she wanted to bring her daughter to work on a full-time basis.

“Goldman revamped the on-site child care policy, which was not only a huge vote of confidence and logistical support for me personally, but a testament to the organization in that they gave me the flexibility to arrange my childcare in a way that suited my family’s best interests.”
Raphael was thus able to come back from maternity leave best-positioned to strengthen her career, in part due to the wellness policies Goldman Sachs adopted.

“My family and my career are the two elements that are the defining points of my identity,” Raphael says. “My husband’s support has been instrumental in allowing me to pursue my career.” She notes that cultivating this type of partnership with one’s spouse is helpful when balancing both a family and career.

Raphael has recently rediscovered her love of reading, reinvigorating her passion for both neuroscience and history. She also describes herself as “mildly obsessed” with the history of the British monarchy, identifying parallels between societies. “The role of women in British royal society was very prescriptive, but even during that time period, there were ambitious women that did not allow societal norms to impede their success.”

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Voice of Experience: Sharon Trulock, Counsel, Shearman & Sterling

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By Cathie Ericson

It’s ok to lighten up once in a while, says Shearman’s Sharon Trulock. “Not everything is life or death and even when you make mistakes, you will survive them,” she says, noting that it takes experience to figure out how to put missteps in context and know you will move on.

She looks back on her earlier years and urges young women to be more confident in themselves. “Starting out as a young lawyer especially in an area of the law where there are complicated issues and a high learning curve, it’s natural to doubt yourself, no matter how hard you try,” she says, but that can make you look less professional and confident in your answers. While you should never pretend to know something you don’t, it’s important to realize that law is a field of continual learning.

A Steady Career in a Field She Loves

Trulock always knew she wanted to attend law school so it was an easy decision to go right out of college. After earning her law degree from Harvard Law School, she joined another firm but subsequently left to join Shearman in 1989 and has been there ever since. “I’m proud that I have earned my position as a respected professional based on all I’ve learned, and I never thought I would have learned so much over the course of my time here.”

Each day brings with it new variety – right now she mentions that everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what will happen with tax law, and she notes that the entire concept of digitization impacts everyone, whether it’s knowing they need to create a digital estate or making sure that electronic signed documents are safeguarded as carefully as paper ones.

Becoming Assertive for Clients’ Best Interests

When considering challenges to women in the industry, she makes a distinction between actual barriers and personality types. “One thing I’ve struggled with myself is the need to be more assertive and not apologize for everything. You want things to be perfect for the client, but it’s not your fault if the law says they can’t do something,” she says. In those moments, she has to rely on the message that the law says one thing, and they need to comply, within a given set of options. “Some people are just naturally more assertive, but it’s not necessarily a specific trait that is male or female.”

Along the way, she has been an active participant in Shearman’s noted women’s networking group WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention). “It’s well organized and beneficial to everyone in the firm as well as our clients – male and female.” Trulock especially enjoys the opportunities she has to participate in give-and-take discussions where each participant is able to learn from the others and find out something new.

An avid traveler who loves to experience different places, Trulock gravitates toward tropical locations, having just returned from Hawaii, with a hope to someday visit two places on her bucket list — Australia and New Zealand. “I find I am already planning my next vacation when I finish the first,” she says. She also enjoys the time she spends with her family and dog.

“Work can consume all of your time, but you can’t let everything work-related be life and death. You have to know when to take a break.”

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Voice of Experience: Saralyn Cohen, Pro Bono Counsel and Global Director, Shearman & Sterling

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 By Cathie Ericson

Saralyn

One of the keys to career success, according to Saralyn Cohen? Having an open mind about where you’re working. “You never know where you will end up – so take chances and be open-minded when opportunities present themselves,” she says. “A law degree can open multiple doors – so don’t sell yourself short. Take a chance and say ‘I would love to learn that.’ Don’t get too narrow, especially early on in your career.”

Tracing Her Successful Path One Step at A Time

Reflecting on her own route, it’s easy for Cohen to see how each step she took built upon the previous one, eventually leading to her current position, which she has held since 1999. She says that if you had told her in law school this is where she would end up, she never would have believed it. “It’s too good to be true,” she says.

Her dreams of being a lawyer began in middle school as did her passion for thoroughbred horse racing. She had intended to combine the two – forgoing the on-campus interviews during law school to pursue firms that practiced in her niche, typically in southern states. That’s why she and her adviser were shocked when a job was posted looking for someone for a thoroughbred racing law practice in a New York firm.

She got the job and spent several years there – able to practice in her niche, but since racing wasn’t a full time specialty, she was also exposed to other disciples, such as reinsurance and litigation. That led to a job with a medium-size firm where she was hired in the reinsurance practice, working her way up to junior partner.

While at the firm, she and two other associates formed a pro bono committee as a way to professionalize the pro bono practice, and upon her return from maternity leave, Cohen learned of a job availability for the pro bono position at Shearman. “I feel very fortunate to be working at a place I love and doing meaningful work I love,” she says.

Advancing the Specialty

Cohen was the only practitioner in the firm of this relatively new, unique practice and had few people to bounce ideas off of. She soon learned that was the case at most firms, and with fellow practitioners, helped formalize the discipline in the industry, forming the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo). Ten years later they have 200 members globally and benefit from the opportunity to collaborate with counterparts at other firms.

“We are doing everything we can to try to narrow the justice gap,” she says.

One current topic of great interest is immigration law, helping immigrants know their rights and obtain representation and guidance. As a federal law, it invites collaboration as the issues and the filings are the same in all states. Another new and upcoming field is social ventures, including figuring out sustainability and access to clean water and solar energy and how this discipline can benefit from pro bono.

Industry wide, they also have to counteract the image of pro bono law as “a mommy job,” which she finds slightly offensive as external contacts picture her and her counterparts flitting about the community looking for work or attending galas.

“It’s not an issue within my firm as they understand and value what I do, but one of APBCo’s goals is to underscore throughout the industry that it is a legitimate practice area,” she says, adding that she and her counterparts in the law firm pro bono industry space have the responsibility not to undervalue their work. “We add value in our firm and within the legal profession, and we work hard to do that; it’s not a frivolous job.”

On a broader scale, she hopes women continue to act as role models for more junior women. “It’s vital to have access to mentors and those who can guide you from the standpoint of being a woman lawyer,” she says, noting how grateful she is for how much Shearman is doing to advance the cause.

With a “wonderful husband and two teens,” she appreciates that her job allows her to inspire her kids that everyone can use their skills to address a need in the community. “You don’t wait around for someone to tell you what to do. Take action and get involved – if everyone does a little something, a lot can get done.”

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