What compelled you to come to ATB in the first place?

When I first got to know ATB, I thought to myself, “here’s a brand that’s striving to make it possible.” And that was super exciting for me.

You are in a senior leadership position. You’re a woman of colour and that’s stereotypically a very white male position. What is that experience like for you?

This is one of the reasons why I love ATB. I’ve never been made to feel that [being a woman of colour in a leadership position is] something different here. From day one, what has been so amazing about ATB’s culture was the ability to bring my full self and my diverse perspectives to the table. We have opportunities in many different forums to ask [questions] directly.

Can you speak to the expectation that you use your voice?

Literally, explicitly, I have heard our senior leadership say that there is an expectation [that] if you’re a team member in this organization, you have to use your voice.

As an organization, we back that up not just from a consistency-of-messaging perspective. It takes a whole system. If it was just a single value up on the wall, people wouldn’t feel safe. They wouldn’t feel that there is authenticity in those values. That’s really important in terms of psychological safety, because not everyone is going to feel comfortable speaking up in a large meeting, or with certain people in the room.

Do you think there’s something to be said about creating space for all people?

It comes down to really understanding that, number one, everyone does have a perspective; and number two, not everyone likes to communicate it in the same way. As a leader, for me, it’s always been very important to make sure that I’m holding space for everyone to contribute. I am intentional about making an ask to my team. Asking them for their perspective, welcoming their perspective, setting it as an expectation, even.

I haven’t always been comfortable sharing my perspective. I’m so grateful that through all of my experiences and certainly through ATB’s culture, that I’ve come to understand that why I’m in the room in the first place is for my unique perspective.

Can you speak to the crossover between ATB as a purpose driven organization, and that concept of valuing perspective?

Our purpose at ATB is that we exist to make it possible. What the statement is saying is that there is an infinite number of possibilities out there, and we’re here to help make any one of those possibilities a reality.

It means that you need an infinite number of perspectives to be brought to the table to identify those opportunities so that we can make it possible. Built into our purpose statement is this broad openness to say, “we want to hear all kinds of different perspectives.” That’s the art of the possible.

In what ways is ATB more than work?

I’m an Albertan. My son was born in Calgary. Alberta’s our home. So ATB is more than work inherently. Why are we here? Who are we here for? Albertans.

The very first day that I started, I was up in Edmonton. It was during the time of the fires in Fort McMurray. I was at the hotel in the elevator, and I had my name tag on and this wonderful lady turned to me and said, “Oh, you work for ATB.” She took my hands and she said, “Thank you.”

She explained that she was from Fort McMurray, and how much ATB had shown up for the community during that super difficult time. I have goosebumps just thinking about that memory.

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