In honour of International Women’s Day, ISB was honoured to welcome the Global Head of Compliance, Business Operational Risk and Resilience at Man Group, Kate Squire. During her visit, Squire shared some of her personal experiences working in a male-dominated field of finance, and announced the winner of the British Embassy in Bern’s Ambassador for a Day Competition, Ellie Tsai. We sat down with Ellie and Kate to discuss the competition, International Women’s Day, and future steps for the both of them.

With regard to the Ambassador competition, what were the criteria used in deciding the winner?

K: I think when they were looking at it, the whole aim of the competition was to try to find a future leader and someone that actually would really benefit from the program – someone that would come in and find being at the embassy, working with diplomats and spending some time shadowing them, empowering. We’d really want someone to take that skill set and hopefully use it elsewhere.

There were applications from all over Switzerland, from all sorts of different schools which is so exciting, and essentially we just wanted who’s most passionate, and I think that really came through in Ellie’s video.  There were some fantastic videos, so not to discredit the other candidates, some brilliant entries, and I think it was a super high bar that was set by everyone that entered, but I do think Ellie’s stood out. 

After that, the shortlisting panel looked at it, they had a vote, and then my husband James, the ambassador, was given a number of videos with Ellie’s in it, and he picked hers out. Honestly, I would really encourage everyone to enter next year as well because I think it’s just going to get better and better from here.

Kate, obviously you have a very interesting career pathway with your route in investment banking and that sort of area, Ellie what do you think you see for your future in relation to that?

E: That’s a really difficult question. I think, like Kate, I also have a strong interest in politics and history – as you know those are two of my HL’s, and I’m really trying to notice and understand things that need to be changed, and call out the things that are unequal in society. It’s also important for me to think about different ways to address them and to look at what’s happening now – what’s effective, what isn’t, and that’s been something I’m really interested in. I think I would love to continue that or some form of change-making in the future. 

Would you say that that passion is what sparked the idea for your video entry? 

E: Yes definitely. I think looking at something small, even the climate disaster I talked about, and realizing the toll it took on my parents was so important – understanding that my story is not just my story, this is the case for so many parents, within not just my community but around the globe. 

So Ellie clearly has a bright future ahead of her – Kate, do you happen to have any advice to give to Ellie regarding her next steps?

K: I think just keep everything really open, and by that I mean think quite carefully what subjects are going to take and that kind of thing as you go. If you do close doors, make sure it’s deliberate. So if you say, for example, “I need these four subjects to go into medicine, but I’ve decided I don’t want medicine, I’m going to close that door.” At some point you do have to start closing those doors as you go up, you can’t keep them wide open forever. 

I would say keep opportunities open for as long as possible because your views do change in terms of what you might want to do now versus what you want to do in 2 or 3 years from now.  The world changes massively, so the scope and breadth of opportunities that you have will only continue expanding, and the issues that we need to deal with in society will be completely different in the future. I would just keep loads of opportunities open, and just go for it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t go for it, and I know it’s very cliché, but it’s better to fail trying than not trying at all.

Are there any role models that the two of you look up to, either for advice or career wise?

K: My mum and my mother-in-law are both strong women that I would say I look up to. They both worked in male-dominated environments throughout their careers, and they just got on with it. They definitely broke some barriers, and they’re fantastic from an advice perspective. I would also say my husband – James is the biggest supporter of my career and my biggest advocate. It’s really powerful because we’re both supporting each other with the same main goal – we give each other advice, and it gives me the confidence that I know that I’ve got a backup.

E: I think I’m also going to go with the family route – my grandmother is a Korean immigrant, and she left Korea to marry a white man in the United States. She left her entire community to grow up in this new place, and she worked hard to learn English, get to know the culture and be who she wanted to be regardless of what her family wanted. Her daughter, who’s my aunt, is also someone I really look up to. She’s Korean American, and she came out as lesbian. She’s definitely someone who doesn’t let society tell her who to be, and will always advocate and stand up for herself. She’s proud and unapologetically herself, and I think that’s so inspiring. 

So Ellie, congratulations on winning the Ambassador competition. Kate, can you tell us a bit more about what that’s gonna look like for the winner and how that may relate to International Women’s Day?

K: Well, we’ve got loads of amazing diplomats at the British embassy in Bern, which as you know, is very exciting. They’ve all been working in many different countries exploring and working on lots of different global issues and in different disciplines, trade, international relations, etc… 

So Ellie, first off you’re going to learn first-hand from the “torch-bearers” – the people in diplomacy at the moment. You’re going to shadow them throughout their real day-to-day life, so to speak. I really think it’s going to be an eyes-open-ears-open experience, and I would say just try to learn as much as you can. They’re going to give some great advice – the dos and don’ts, and I think it’s a great opportunity to get stories from those in diplomacy multiple times over. You’ll get people of different generations and areas of their diplomatic career – people who have only just started, or people like my husband who is actually in his second career. They can give you their experiences at their stage, which I think is so valuable, especially because the diplomats that are coming through now have got very different experiences than those who have been in the field for 20 years. They’ve got a wealth of experience that they can guide you on. We’ve basically organized a bespoke day for you to spend at the embassy, and shadow people, meet people and get involved. 

Ellie, you also mentioned before the interview that you actually had a plan to reach out to the American embassy. Could you speak more on that?

E: I was really inspired by the British embassy, and how they are encouraging youth diplomacy, so I did some research on the American embassy. I’m American, so I was thinking “why doesn’t the US embassy have something like this” and I think it’s so important to try to start something similar. Through the research, I was seeing how there are a lot of different youth councils in other embassies, even in the US embassies in other countries. I think it’s really important to try and start something similar in Switzerland, and it only takes someone or a couple of people to take the initiative. 

The interview goes on to discuss more questions on Kate’s career path and future plans, what International Women’s Day means to both her and Ellie, and how Ellie feels earning this fantastic opportunity at the British Embassy in Bern. We’d like to thank Kate for her visit on behalf of the whole school for her time and the knowledge and experiences that she has shared with us.