We live in a world of constraints - some are physical, some cultural but they are always personal. These mindsets limit our human potential to achieve great things in life and hinder experiences that not only enrich ourselves but also benefit society at large.
INSEAD celebrates women who have dared to push beyond their own limits and conquer obstacles in their lives to create positive change.
Welcome to another episode of In The Know where in today’s episode we celebrate the incredible feats of our five guests with a digital roundtable discussion.
Our Guests
Tade Fayomi – MBA’19J
Finance & Strategy Consultant @ BCG
Straight from university, Tade joined Goldman Sachs. She worked there for eight years and rose through the ranks from Analyst to Associate, and Vice President while being moved to work in the organisation’s London, New York, Singapore and Dubai offices. Tade went on to complete her MBA and work with the Africa Finance Corporation in 2018 before landing her current role as a Finance & Strategy Consultant at BCG.
Isavella Vitou – EMC’21
Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer @ Allianz Greece
Isavella joined Allianz in May 2021 as the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer. Before joining Allianz, Isavella worked for Egon Zehnder and gained valuable experience in C-level executive search and assessment. In her mandate, she supported the growth of the business and successfully managed rapport with both candidates and clients. Before that, Isavella worked for Eurobank, Ernst & Young and at the Ministry of Tourism acting as a Consultant to the President of the Greek National Tourism Organization at the Ministry of Tourism.
Sofia Arhall Bergendorff – MBA’03D
Director, Platforms and Partnerships, Northern Europe @ Google, Denmark
Sofia is the Director of Partnerships in Northern Europe for Google, managing the relationship between Google and publishers when it comes to ad markets. Before that role, Sofia spent seven years in a Google strategy operations team in the Nordics and globally with the publisher business. Before Google Sofia spent many years in management consulting and working with start-ups.
Maria Pereira – MBA’18D
Chief Innovation Officer @ TISSIUM
Maria Pereira leads the Innovation Hub at TISSIUM. She co-invented the development of Tissium’s range of biomorphic programmable polymers technology while a PhD student at Prof. Jeff Karp’s Laboratories. She has been recognized for her research by MIT Tech Review’s “35 Innovators Under 35” in 2014, as well as Forbes in its “30 under 30” selection in Healthcare in 2015. Maria holds a PhD in Bioengineering from the MIT-Portugal program and an MBA from INSEAD.
Chiara Lepora – EMBA’18Dec
Head of the Manson Unit / Deputy Medical Director of OCA @ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Chiara trains people in the design, planning, implementation and management of humanitarian medical interventions; security management; networking and negotiations; project management, especially in emergencies.Chiara also provides consultation services in the topics of ethics of medicine in non-ideal circumstances; ethics of research; ethics of public health; bioethics; global health; allocation of scarce resources.
References
https://herminiaibarra.com/books/
https://hbr.org/2020/12/how-to-lead-when-your-team-is-exhausted-and-you-are-too
https://www.ted.com/talks/frances_frei_how_to_build_and_rebuild_trust?language=en
Time Stamp
01:25 - Guest background and career aspirations
08:31 - What do you consider your greatest achievement?
17:10 - What does limitless mean to you?
22:18 - Can you describe some of the limitations you have faced and the tipping point that motivated you to take action against those limitations?
32:27 - What are some of the most meaningful skills young women can learn today to help them achieve their ambitions?
39:15 - What is one tip you can offer to help build a more inclusive and diverse workforce?
39:49 - What one piece of advice would you give our listeners
