Influential Woman · Retail Cybersecurity

Elle Shorter

Global Product Owner/Manager, Cybersecurity Ops – IAM, Privileged Access Management, McDonald's

Chicago, IL

1Award received

Her Story

About Elle

I've been in my field for over 15 years from a product professional perspective. My career began in the communications space during the dot-com boom, starting in an administrative role at Cox while completing my education. Microsoft recruited me for a position in Seattle, which was a major move from Atlanta. At Accenture, I stood up business process operations delivery centers globally, primarily in India and Manila where I lived for 2 years. When the CIO moved to Kirkland and Ellis, I went with him and stood up the entire product organization there. I started as an analyst, was promoted to associate director, and ended up as director of product development and product management while still in my 20s. After a career break to care for my mother, I returned through Carrier in a global product telematics role, which became my first foray into cybersecurity, focusing on data modernization, telematics, IoT, and data security. I continued this work at Kroger Corporation with IoT data monetization, customer loyalty tracking, and supply chain custody. Currently at McDonald's, I'm in global cybersecurity services, responsible for defining the global architecture and deployment pattern for identity management across 115+ global markets representing over a million identities. Beyond my corporate work, I'm the founder of Product Elixir, a training and coaching platform for aspiring and existing product managers, and founder of three startup applications including Elixir ID (a cybersecurity app), HealthGuard HQ, and most recently Plot Twist, a consumer lifestyle app. I'm also in the process of writing a book.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Elle

01What do you attribute your success to?

I'm the granddaughter and daughter of a maid who was a maid for affluent people in the South. As a result of that, there's a part of me that always has a different type of grounding. I always say that it's my grandmother - despite the fact that she always served and cared for these families and gave them so much more than they deserved, she did it proudly and consistently. In terms of watching that all of my life, I learned so much from her in terms of resilience and hard work. It might not necessarily be the work that you want or in the package that you want it to come in, but I also took from not only my grandmother, but also my mother, who was another very, very strong woman, very well educated, and she was an educator herself. My dad died when I was young, and so she was a single mother raising us. We were none the wiser - we never felt that weight. When I was in India, I was discombobulated at first, but I had to use the teachings and learnings from my grandmother and mother. I realized that in order to earn their trust, I needed to drop my guard. I had to see them not just as colleagues or co-workers but as people first. That involved them painting on my skin, eating their sweets and food, celebrating their festivals in customary dress, and really being involved. I was able to put my thoughts and fears aside and just really dig into who I am and where I came from. I'm placed here for a reason, there's a purpose to motivate and build them up. That's definitely something I'm very proud of.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Do the inner work to empower yourself. Be your best friend, be your best date. Make sure that you have a relationship, the most intimate relationship with yourself. From my perspective, that is the foundation of being successful, not only in corporate America, but that's the foundation of being successful in most situations. If you do that, you can remain true and authentic throughout your career. The important part is to become intimate and be your own best friend, and do the work to understand who you are and why you are that way - how you react to things, whatever it is. You have to continue to do it so that you remain grounded, no matter what status you achieve, what comes at you, or what shifts happen within your career. Those things are going to happen with various people, that's a given, but you can't control any of that. What you can control is how you build yourself to be resilient.

Keep Exploring