What do you do and what is it about your job that gets you out of bed in the morning?
I am the Vice President of Enterprise and Customer Identity and Access Management for Royal Bank of Canada. RBC is ranked as one of the top 25 banks globally and has over 80K employees and ~16 million customers. I am proud to manage the best Identity and Access Management team in the world! My 200+ member team is comprised of some of the most diverse and talented people I have met. While challenges come our way, I’ve discovered that there is no challenge that this team cannot overcome. It is refreshing to work with individuals who are always looking to over deliver and to offer the best solutions to our customers. More importantly, they have taught me their interests go far beyond their role, with their involvement in community events and non-profit organizations. Their example and their spirit is what motivates me daily. They renew my belief that one person really can make a difference and demonstrate how powerful we are when we team together!
How did you get to where you are today?
I got to where I am today by setting my goals high, making a plan, and – most importantly – being flexible to take on any challenge that life presents me. My career has been marked with a series of opportunities. In my last year of university while studying to be a teacher, a tech company offered me a role that started after my graduation. While at the time my desire was to go into teaching, the opportunity was one that I decided to try as I could always go back to teaching. Within four months, I went on my first IAM course and then started traveling across North America to deploy solutions. The rest was history. Each meeting and relationship created more opportunities and opened more doors.
What is the most important lesson you have learned along the way?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that life is short. It was fairly early in my career when I lost my best friend, my mother. In the months and years after her passing it was as if I was watching my life as though it was a series of short films. Going through that loss taught me to look at my interactions differently, more importantly to speak up for injustices and inequalities I was seeing. I’ve noticed that people rarely remember what I’ve said but rather what I’ve done or not done. I didn’t want to be a passenger in this journey but rather the driver of my destiny. I’m a firm believer that every individual matters and together we can make a difference.
Every individual matters and together we can make a difference
What’s your pitch to CEOs in the identity space? What do you suggest they START / STOP / CONTINUE doing and why?
START: Working with our clients to develop use cases and solutions that meet real-life needs. If we walk hand-in-hand to develop ‘journeys’, the solutions will be more valuable and we’ll create lasting partnerships.
STOP: Creating and deploying solutions and expecting the clients to want them.
CONTINUE: To advocate and ensure the solutions we create offer diversity. Continue to ensure we break down biases.
In one sentence, why does diversity matter to you?
I would like to experience in my lifetime what it feels like to live equally without judgement — seems like a lofty goal but I believe it’s possible.
What book/film/piece of art would you recommend to your fellow members? Why?
Unfortunately, I don’t read or watch many films — my recommendation to fellow members is to volunteer by putting themselves out of their comfort zone. Working with others in a different situation from your own helps change your perspective on life.
What advice would you give to the teenage ‘you’?
Take chances, stop worrying about the small things. If something you’re worrying about now won’t matter in 5 years, don’t give it more than 5 minutes of thought. Life is very short and can change in an instant.