Now in its 26th year, the Fellows Program was launched in 1994 with seed-funding from the U.S. Labor Department as a direct result of the Glass Ceiling Commission. The program annually convenes approximately 35 Fellows from around the world for a total of 20 days, offering customized leadership training for female executives on their path to the C-suite. The approach is holistic and focused on the participant’s personal and professional development, career path, and trajectory, while embracing the value of an outside perspective.
Why do you think other women should consider the International Women’s Forum Fellows Programme?
Response:
While many women have taken on leadership roles in Trinidad and Tobago there are some unique challenges faced by women in leadership are different from those faced by men. I have been inspired by many women members of IWF TT and the support that they provide both individually and collectively to young women. Stepping into a leadership role as a relatively young woman has not been easy and the International Women’s Forum Leadership Fellows Program provided a guided, valuable opportunity for growth and development within a cohort of my peers from around the world.
I was able to build strong connections with my fellow participants. I met women who had gone through similar experiences and had overcome numerous challenges to achieve their successes. We shared our experiences and we realized that we were not alone. The cohort became a sisterhood of women who had mutual understanding from which I found a deep sense of comfort and support.
The program provided us with learning opportunities at INSEAD France and Harvard Business School in Boston.
Our time at INSEAD set the tone for who we are as leaders, what we bring to our roles, and how we can foster leadership traits that position us to be successful leaders of our teams. The care and diligence placed by the IWF Fellows planning team ensured that we had the best-personalized experience by strengthening our decision-making capabilities, understanding how culture plays a vital role in environments, and ensuring that we remain agile to drive change and adapt under pressure.
Our experience at Harvard Business School delved deeper through the Case Method into how leaders bring teams together for the ultimate success of any organization. We reviewed cases that helped us appreciate leaders like Mellody Hobson and Fawn Weaver who drove change in a world that seemed impossible. The power of having grit to push forward when no one believes or understands your vision. It was an amazing experience to talk with the professors and individuals whose cases we reviewed and get their views on what keeps them going, and why it was important for them to continue on their path. This experience surpassed all my expectations.
We women often underestimate our value but this program ensures that you walk away confident, passionate, and focused to create the change you want to see in this world. The beauty of it all is you experience the journey with an international peer group of sisters who willingly provide continued support and friendship. It has been the most rewarding experience of my life.
IWFTT’s 2020 Fellow is Shelley Sylvester, Chief Operating Officer at Guardian General Insurance Limited. We reproduce with the kind permission of the Trinidad Express, a feature on Shelly, written by Express Features Writer, Yvonne Baboolal, that was published in the Express Her Magazine.
IWFTT’s 2020/2021 Fellow – Shelley Sylvester
Shelley Sylvester wakes up at 3 a.m. every day. In the quietness of the early morning, she plans her day and even the week ahead.
She then prepares breakfast for her two small girls, ages 12 and six and, if her work day is not too hectic, she also cooks lunch with her partner’s help to ensure her family has food for the day.
Prior to the pandemic, Sylvester used to leave her Port-of-Spain home by 6.30 a.m. to drop the children off to school before making her way to her office at Guardian General Insurance Limited (GGIL) on Maraval Road, Newtown, Port-of-Spain, where she works as Chief Operating Officer.
A former St Joseph’s Convent pupil of Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, Sylvester graduated in 2005 from Imperial Business School in London with a Master’s degree specialising in strategy and finance.
After the pandemic, her routine changed and she now rotates her days between work and home.
Home schooling has been a challenge for many working mothers but Sylvester finds a way.
In an interview with HER magazine, the petite 43-year old told us how she juggles her time between her job, family life and personal recreation.
‘I wake up around 3 a.m. and use that time to clear my thoughts, organise my day and the week ahead. I tend to be really organised.’
On the days that she’s working from home, Sylvester gets the children ready for their 8 a.m. online classes and then she gets behind her laptop screen.
‘I let them make their own hour by hour school schedule and know what times during the day we can reconnect.’
A strong advocate for physical fitness, she breaks off from work between 4.30 and 5 p.m. to go running with her girls.
‘I like to run. Running clears my head.’ She then returns home and organises dinner. Once she gets all her tasks done for the day, Sylvester hits her bed between 9 and 10 p.m.
She grabs about five hours sleep on average before she rises again at 3 a.m. to begin another hectic day. ‘Several times, I would have other working moms come up to me and ask how do I do this. As if I have everything together. ‘All working mothers feel exhausted. There is a lot to do within the household and certainly at our places of employment.
‘It almost feels as if you don’t have much time for yourself. ‘Some of your responsibilities have to be reprioritised and some outsourced.’
Leading with warmth
This dedicated mom takes her nurturing spirit to work with her and stands out as a female leader. ‘I don’t think you have to be overly aggressive to be a leader. ‘Competence is expected. As a female leader, I think it’s important we don’t lose the traits that make us who we are. ‘We are the nurturers of society. And there’s nothing wrong with nurturing the organisation you are responsible for.’
Sylvester said there are a lot of female workers at GGIL and the company sought early to recognise any challenges they faced with the onset of the pandemic and lend support. ‘The first thing we realised was that emotional well-being was a challenge.
‘A huge amount of volatility was introduced with the pandemic and additional pressures for working women. ‘Home schooling, for instance, is really difficult. ‘That is something working mothers now have to add on.’ Loss of income and abuse at home were other challenges.
‘As responsible employers, we need to understand what staff members are facing and put in mechanisms to help them cope, like the employee assistance programme and workplace flexibility for those unable to leave their children in a safe space.’
Don’t back down
‘We should not back away when we are the only female at the table but we should make our voices heard,’ Sylvester said.
She certainly didn’t after she joined the Guardian at the start of 2017 as Head of Strategy and Transformation. ‘About a year after, I was seconded to Guardian General Insurance Limited where I was responsible for driving the transformation at that business unit which is responsible for the Group’s general insurance activities in over 19 countries, including Trinidad and Tobago.
She was selected as this country’s representative at an International Women’s Forum for its 2020-2021 Fellowship Programme.
Sylvester met female executives from 33 nations with a shared vision to advance women as leaders across the globe and they gave her strength. ‘They made me realise I was not alone,’ she said.
She has this advice for women who want to move ahead in their workplace and feel they are not getting fair recognition. ‘Women must not be afraid to make themselves heard in a way that creates intentional impact.’