QUESTION - First, please introduce yourself by sharing an anecdote or an experience, personal or professional, that has made you who you are today.
I was born in Australia and moved to Canada when I was three with my mom and father. My father left us 6 months later to return to Australia, leaving my young mom and I to fend for ourselves. As I grew up my mom instilled in me that as a woman it was imperative to be able to stand on my two feet without relying on anyone else.
I took that advice to heart through my schooling and subsequent career choices. During my work life, I discovered that I love to help people troubleshoot and resolve issues. In my former career, I worked as a credit counsellor and bankruptcy administrator and assisted many families to get out of debt. This role was very gratifying as it was amazing to see the transformation of people that had a second chance at life.
I have since had two daughters of my own and during their lives, I have strived to become the role model they needed to be strong independent women themselves. My family went through a divorce and during this time, I showed my daughters that with hard work you can buy a home yourself, you can find financial independence even after job losses. Through this adversity both my daughters now have bigger savings accounts than I do, and both have gone to university, and my eldest is in her last year of law school at TRU and my youngest is 2 years away from obtaining an environmental science degree from SFU. They also both also make sure that everyone in the house gets out to vote for every election (big or small!)
QUESTION - What does March 8th mean for you?
With the history of how women have fought for equal rights over the last 115+ years, I feel a great deal of gratitude. Today, my mom, my daughters, and all the other independent women in my life are all enjoying the rewards of their hard-fought efforts. Their determination has been the pathway for all women to be able to leave bad relationships, to build businesses of their own, and to be leaders in industry and in politics.
Without those women taking a stand, who knows where my mom, daughters and I would be…
QUESTION - What advice or words of wisdom would you give young women who would like to learn from your career and follow in your footsteps?
My words of wisdom would include the following:
Find a company that will help you further your education (internal and external training/school);
Remember that sometimes you will fall into a job that might not be your ideal end game, but look for opportunities within to advance yourself into something you want to do;
Go above and beyond in your work and you will be recognized, and if you are not maybe you are not where you need to be;
Become a “go to” person where ever you work, it brings you respect and gives you a feeling of accomplishment;
Treat all people with empathy and respect;
Save, Save some more, and always have a plan.
QUESTION - Tell us about your Role and Service Line at Trowbridge Professional Corporation.
I work as a Senior Manager for the Client Experience Team. The Client Experience Team assists our Private Client, Global Mobility, and Realty tax teams and their associated client bases. It is a very large team of people working globally including India, the UK, Germany, and Canada.
In my position, I oversee that our client’s needs are being addressed in a timely and professional manner. I also help to manage client expectations. From an internal standpoint, I ensure that my team works in collaboration with the tax teams to ensure that client information is collected, shared, distributed, and entered into our systems correctly and timely. I also monitor and manage my team to ensure that all parts of the client’s experience are as positive as possible, which could include onboarding a new client all the way through to delivering completed tax returns.
My role and the role of my team is multi-faceted, and we are never facing the same situation twice. As we deal with people, the requests and facts surrounding each client are different and sometimes challenging. Our team needs to be able to think outside the box, look for solutions and be able to multitask. This role is rewarding in a couple of ways: first, we help our clients with the service and knowledge we can impart, and second, we relieve some pressure off of our tax teams so that they can do their work more efficiently.