Careers

I have been based in the Washington office my entire career, though I’ve spent time in more than 30 of our offices, in North and South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. While Washington is my favorite office in the U.S., internationally, I love our Sydney office; it has an amazing view of the Harbor and Sydney Bridge and the Opera House. I also enjoy our offices in Toronto, London and Shanghai.

Values: obligation to dissent

One experience really cemented McKinsey values for me. We were serving one of our largest consumer clients and we had multiple high-profile projects underway at the time. A few weeks into our study it became clear that the client was not yet ready for us to do the work and that, as a result, we would not have impact through our work. I sat down with the two partners involved in our study, and we had an open and frank conversation. They agreed, so we sat down with the main client, walked him through our thoughts, and he agreed as well. To me it was quite empowering because I was a new engagement manager, and the partners who were involved said, “If you think this is right, let’s have the conversation.” It made me realize that the obligation to dissent is a core part of our values. We ended up doing that work a few years later after a series of other things happened that made the client ready.

Amazing support

I was elected partner having literally ‘grown up’ in the Washington D.C. office. The support that got me to that moment was amazing. It was everybody in the office: the support staff, my colleagues, the partners in the office—everyone had a hand in helping me on my path to partner. One thing that continues to astonish me about McKinsey is the significant growth that I have enjoyed over the years, which is really due to the support of all of these people.

Why I Stay

McKinsey people are just awesome to be around and work with. They are great people, great colleagues, and people who really care about each other, our growth, and professional and personal development. In addition, we get a chance to help clients and work with them and do great work everyday. It’s hard to beat. We serve great institutions, but at the end of the day we serve individual leaders and, most importantly, people.

Gay and lesbian consultants at McKinsey (GLAM) and being yourself

I wasn’t out when I first joined McKinsey. I’ve grown a ton professionally and personally here, including coming out. I credit a lot of that to support from peers and senior members in GLAM. I’ve been encouraged to live up to what I consider one of McKinsey’s core values: we really want people to be themselves. If you can’t be yourself and be open about who you are, how are you going to build trust-based relationships with clients and colleagues?

GLAM, like all of the diversity networks at McKinsey, is not just about what the network does for the community it represents, but about what it can do for the fabric of McKinsey overall. Some of the policy changes that have benefited everyone at McKinsey were driven by priorities we identified -- for example, offering domestic partner benefits around the world. It’s really cool to be a part of this group, that’s helping McKinsey live up to its values of meritocracy and diversity. It’s really exciting that we are living our values globally.

Connectivity through conferences

The global GLAM conferences are an opportunity for people to connect and get to know one another. In the U.S., we enjoy a welcoming workplace environment and often have a critical mass in our larger locations of Gay Lesbian Bisexual or Transgender (GLBT) consultants. However as a global firm with 95 plus locations, we also have offices where there may be only one GLBT colleague. Having global conferences is a way to connect, identify the issues and challenges we face globally, and then agree on how we plan to continue to positively impact McKinsey and the business environment overall.

What I do in my free time / my hobbies

I am a pop culture and independent film junkie. I love to travel -- I think that is part of the reason I like what I do at McKinsey. You will often find me on my yoga mat on weekends. I dabble in painting and cooking, but just enough to make it a hobby these days. I love to cook Indian and Italian food.

Offices

Education