I grew up on a farm on the Caribbean island of Dominica and came to the UK when I was 17 (population 70,000 people).
Growing up, I always felt that there were only three career options available to me: becoming a Doctor, a Lawyer or an Accountant. As such, I came to this country with little knowledge of the financial services industry. Working in the City seemed completely out of my reach as I saw very few people who looked like me. After leaving university, I became an Auditor working for a professional services firm. My journey into the City begun when I secured a Risk Management role at Russell Investments, and then went on to Munich Re as a Longevity Associate and finally to Aviva Investors bringing on new business in their Institutional Sales team.
I am particularly proud of my achievements at Aviva Investors where I was instrumental in using my experience to educate my colleagues on the cultural differences and hurdles that ethnic minorities face joining the industry – contributing to changing our recruitment practices and the way we assess candidates. I am an Amos Bursary mentor and mentor young black women helping to raise the aspirations and motivations of the next generation of our workforce.
My most humbling achievement to date is my appointment on Aviva’s Evolution Council – a shadow board of 12 employees created to challenge and provide a fresh perspective to the Aviva Group Board – from strategy to culture and of course, diversity. I also sit on the Diversity Project’s Ethnicity Workstream (#TalkAboutBlack) Steering Group leading the Intake workstream. Here, I am responsible for educating and raising awareness of the variety of career options within the Asset Management industry within the black community.