Roshni Hora

I would say number one is my family and my friends. Very early on, my mom was my biggest pillar of support, and she would always encourage me to follow my dreams and say, hey, like, you can be whatever you wish to be. That value system, trust, and confidence in myself came from my family and my mom, so that's like number one. Number two is endless hard work. I've grinded, I've worked hard, I've gone behind what I needed to do. And number three, I would say is your moral compass, because that helps you sleep at night and that helps you go behind what you need to go to.

The best career advice I received was when I was very overwhelmed about getting into a CXO meeting with senior partners and senior leaders, and I didn't know how to go about it. The advice was that everyone is the same, and they are all human. When you take out ranks from them and look at them from a human perspective and try to understand what their goals are and what they're trying to achieve, and connect with them at a personal level, that really helps you be vulnerable and drive real connections and real conversations. It helps you figure out how you can help them in your capacity and how you can learn from them. That sort of puts everyone at the same leveling ground, so now when I talk to anyone, whether it could be a CXO or a new analyst, I try to bring that human element in my conversation that helps me really bring the right value for them and to myself.

For a young woman that is trying to make it in the industry, I would just say that be true to yourself and be genuine. There will be a lot of noise as you grow up the career ladder about what it means to be a woman in the workplace, and you should be who you are. So I would just say try to cut out the noise, be genuine to who you are, and there's always space for you. It's just about finding the right community, finding the right people that you can work with, and just go for it. I would also say do a lot of internships and a lot of networking. Having coffee chats and having tough conversations helps, because as a woman, you have a lot more in terms of your family life, emotional baggage, and other things that you need to do. A lot of times I've seen women get into either guilt trips or difficulty in trying to balance things. Interning is a great way, having coffee chats is a great way, and finding the right mentors really helps you take you a long way.

Consulting takes a lot. It is long hours, it does require you to be ambitious, and it is really difficult to balance out and find ways to manage your well-being, your home life, and your work life. Having those genuine conversations and finding the right mentors really helps you take you a long way. The field requires long hours and hard work but it's very rewarding, and with technology changing very fast, there are many opportunities to get more done faster.

I think just genuinity, being genuine, being true to your passions and who you are is key on either ways. Like, if I'm even at work, if there are certain things that either do not align with my value system, or is something that's against what should be done, I do make sure to raise my voice and do the right thing. So for me, doing the right thing and being genuine and honest about things is number one across my clients, my friends, my work, my home. You are one human trying to balance various facets of your life, so I think being true to who you are, what your values are at the core, and what's the value that you bring to the people, the joy you bring to the people, or the help you do, or your services, or your capabilities, whatever it is, being true and honest about things always takes you the long way.