Women’s Month Special: “Always be Yourself” Lorraine Waters, CDO, Solidatus
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(Europe) Lorraine Waters, CDO, Solidatus, talks to Michael Fillios, Founder and CEO, IT Ally, and a CDO Magazine editorial board member, about her perspective as a woman working in the field of data.
Waters shares that there are role models when she looks around the financial industry: Kate Platonova, Group Chief Data and Architecture Officer for HSBC; Jennifer Courant, Global CTO, Deutsche Bank; Elaine Priest; Sarah Walker, and others.
These role models are in senior leadership roles, and there are many more outside of financial services. She shares that she loves that these women take the time to speak at conferences, share their stories, and share their journeys. She posts on social media as it’s crucial to see more women ‘fly the flag.’ There’s nothing more encouraging than to see women reaching these top positions.
Waters advises young women professionals to “always be yourself and not what others want you to be. Be true to yourself.”
When working with colleagues, she advises, always stand up for the team, treating everyone with respect and being generous with your time and knowledge. She shares that is also important when mentoring. Those who you mentor have ambition and talent, so help them up the ladder.
Waters shares additional critical advice: “Ask for what you want and need.” She believes that sometimes, it’s difficult for women to do that. We expect people to just know what we need and want, but that doesn’t always happen. So, women need to be able to vocalize that confidently, and have enough confidence in themselves and their abilities.
Waters goes on to shares more names of those who have been an inspiration to her, helping shape who she is today. A Scottish woman named Jean Sloan, was her boss and an inspiration early in her career at Lehman Brothers. Waters worked in trade support, Sloan was the head of trade support, and according to Waters, she was absolutely incredible, standing up for her staff against the most aggressive traders. Sloan went to bat for you if you were right, Waters recalls. She always said, “Stand up for your team, have each other’s back, be kind, be supportive,” and instilled that approach in Waters.
Because no one can see everything coming up on the business horizon, Waters encourages women in data to reach out, talk to peers, become involved in some industry associations, and engage in informal conversations.
[This content was originally published on cdomagazine.tech.]
