Meet Nora Clarisa. Nora Clarisa is a director in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Romania. Her role mainly consists of coordinating the internal audit and risk management service line.

From her first day at Deloitte, she acknowledged the need to be agile, adaptable to unforeseen circumstances, to be able to communicate with a variety of people with different backgrounds and personalities and be ready to continuously learn. This is what she is still doing 15 years later.

Nora Clarisa admits that what amazed her from the beginning was the dynamism – the fact that everything was moving at a pace that she was not used to and the diversity of projects that she was involved in.

When she thinks of what she loves the most about her job, the answer is the exposure to a very diverse range of projects in various sectors and corporate cultures, dealing with challenging circumstances that, on the long run, helped her evolve professionally and personally. "There is no risk of getting bored in this job. ", she says. She is particularly proud when clients say that Deloitte’s report revealed risks that they did not think about, and these findings helped improving processes in the organization.

Nora Clarisa thinks that the working environment in Deloitte turned out to be a very supportive one, helping her to explore her potential, which explains her long stay in the company. "I grew up here and had the opportunity to help other people grow as well, which brings me great satisfaction. "

Her advice to women who are considering a career in risk is to be prepared to find comfort outside of their comfort zone, to get ready for a never-ending learning journey and to always try to look at things from different perspectives. She believes that "this is what clients expect from us as risk professionals – challenging the way they do things, having a different view on topics that they deal with in their organizations and guiding them to be more prepared to manage uncertainties of the business environment they’re acting in".

We need more like Nora Clarisa. We need more like you.

Meet Julia. Julia is a director in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Poland. She joined Deloitte seven years ago, and today, she is leading the Economic Analysis team as part of the Sustainability team in Warsaw. Being an economist and at the same time working on sustainability issues, Risk Advisory is an obvious choice for her, as sustainability relates to the management of unexpected environmental, social, or governance events or conditions that, if they occur, could cause a material negative impact on the value of organizations or investment.

Julia admits that her job is challenging, but above all extremely interesting. Every day she tackles new topics and solves complex problems in a dynamic, professional, international and multicultural environment.

As a woman in the risk industry, Julia believes that she has all of the skills and capabilities to do her job. She didn’t think about gender challenges when choosing her education and deciding about her career. She believes it’s all about what you know, what is your experience and how you manage complex issues. It’s definitely not about a gender.

Her advice to women is to enjoy as much as you can. It’s great to be here. Don’t stop.

We need more like Julia. We need more like you.

Meet Ina. She joined Deloitte in Albania as a junior auditor and later on pursued her career in Financial Advisory. She finally decided to further expand her skills and face new challenges by joining Risk Advisory a year ago. Ina has strong skills in risk assessment and internal audit.

Ina admits that Deloitte has offered her the possibility to learn new and exciting things while working on very different tasks each day. To her, the best part of working at Deloitte is definitely the chance to work with a group of highly intelligent and supportive professionals and develop a team that respects ethical and professional standards.

"Good work, good benefits, good people, what’s not to like? " she adds.

Her advice to women who are looking for a challenging work environment with young and experienced professionals, or who wish to have the possibility to express their thoughts, would be to consider Deloitte.

We need more like Ina. We need more like you.

Meet Beata. She is a manager in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Slovakia, working within the Sustainability practice. Beata got into the sustainability field almost 20 years ago, as Bright Future Director at a Slovak mobile operator. One of the values of the brand was the concept of corporate social responsibility. It resonated with her values and she immediately knew that this was the work she wanted to do and where she would have the greatest impact on the future. This work led to the first sustainability report in Slovakia in 2003.

Like every manager, Beata underwent initial education when getting started in Risk. Its scope surprised her, as she had not encountered such complexity of trainings in any of her previous jobs.

What does she like the most about her job? The wide opportunities for education and trainings, cooperation and sharing of practical experiences within the Deloitte global network, for which she is especially grateful now, with the substantial changes in the EU regulation. She strongly believes that together, we can all have a huge impact on helping companies get on the path to sustainability.

In Beata’s opinion, sustainability is the greatest area somebody could get into. Firstly, you would have a great positive impact on the environment, people and the society, and you would be also able to identify risks for these groups and turn them into opportunities. Secondly, your work would never bore you and you would learn new things every day, as sustainability or ESG are very complex and interconnected areas. They cover legislation, motivation and organizational issues, analytical and strategic work, cooperation with people and organizations to understand their needs, finding solutions for new and old problems. Thirdly, you could be satisfied with what you do during your professional life. But be prepared for it to also influence your personal life-style as well.

Her advice to women who are considering careers in Risk Advisory is " Don’t hesitate, go for it! " .

We need more like Beata. We need more like you.

Meet Magdalena. Magdalena is a senior consultant in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Poland. She is a proud member of the Extended Enterprise team, specialized in IT asset management, which includes both software and hardware asset management.

Magdalena has been mainly involved in vendor license compliance reviews. Magdalena is now looking forward to joining client-facing consulting projects where she will analyse various aspects of using software within an organization, focusing not only on data but also on governance, processes and people managing it. In her team, Magdalena has learned to look at the company in a wider perspective.

When approached by a Deloitte’s recruiter, Magdalena believed that it was not a coincidence. Paradoxically, the pandemic made it much easier for her to take part in a recruitment process and she finally started the new job fully remotely, taking an advantage of Deloitte’s flexible work options.

Magdalena admits that her job has never been an easy task. The first weeks were filled by trainings helping her to find herself in the new reality, and to learn about Deloitte better. Furthermore, it was time of widening perspectives and discovering new opportunities to develop in the area of her interest. "In fact, new doors keep opening for me in each project." , she adds.

For those considering a career in Risk Advisory, Magdalena thinks that it is never too late or too early for changing jobs. "Whenever you start considering it, it means that it’s the right moment for you. Try new things, test yourself, trust your intuition. Find also the courage to take bold decisions, and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Just learn from the lesson and do better next time". Being transparent, communicating your goals and expectations and being patient are her advises. " Not accepting one offer gives you space for receiving another one. ", she adds.

We need more like Magdalena. We need more like you.

Meet Reka. She is a senior manager in Deloitte in Hungary, working as the Sustainability and Climate change service line leader since spring 2022. Reka’s team addresses the diverse topic of sustainability from very technical and due diligence tasks, through decarbonisation, circularity, ESG transformation to sustainable finance.

What she loves the most about her job is "the people I work with, the tasks we work on, and the impact that we make", she says. In her team, they share the same values and passion to make an "impact that really matters". In the roles of sustainability professionals, this is truly possible.

Reka admits that she has always worked on interesting tasks, which were never the same. She thinks that the diversity of questions and the variety of applications in the different industries we work in always present a new challenge.

According to Reka, there is still prejudice against what a woman should or should not do, care about or be interested in. She has never listened to these voices. When she joined Deloitte, she met with likeminded people who supported her on this journey as role models, allies and mentors. "Risk Advisory needs women. The ability of complex thinking, cooperation and empathy are all necessary aspects of success in Risk Advisory. "

As an advice to women in Risk Advisory today, Reka recommends: "Do not think twice and do follow your passion. You may have to learn something new, enhance existing skills or broaden your knowledge in specific topics. But it is all worth it. "

We need more like Reka. We need more like you.

Meet Nikolett. Nikolett is a senior consultant in the Hungarian practice, working in the cyber field.

According to Nikolett, Deloitte was the only option she considered when applying for a job. She knew she wanted to work as a penetration tester when she started her masters, and she chose her field of studies accordingly. By the time she finalized her thesis, she had a job at Deloitte.

Nikolett enjoys Deloitte’s support of self-improvement. "The leadership finds a way to support you to get any certificate you want", she says. She also appreciates the possibility to learn from more experienced colleagues and is encouraged to help the junior ones.

In the field of cyber, projects only last for one or two weeks, so Nikolett has worked on quite a lot of them. Although she is proud of them all, she particularly enjoys those projects where she finds high-risk vulnerability. "Every vulnerability assessment we create, helps a company to be more secure and more prepared for a possible cyber-attack. ", she adds.

Nikolett admits that when she started her university studies, there weren't many women around her. She got used to the fact that women don't usually choose IT as their path, but she is now very proud of herself for sticking to it. Nikolett says: "Luckily, being a woman did not make any difference neither in my studies, nor my career. I felt welcomed everywhere, including at Deloitte."

Nikolett’s advice is never to be afraid. She admits that it might sound scary to choose a profession that is mostly men-dominated, but in her experience men are super welcoming. There is no need to compare yourself to them, nor to other women, because everyone faces different challenges both at work and at home. You only need to be better than your past-self!

We need more like Nikolett. We need more like you.

Meet Zsuzsanna. She joined Deloitte in Hungary as a Director within the Regulatory and Legal team in 2021. Zsuzsanna contributes to the development of Financial Industry Risk and regulatory (FIRR) strategy, participation in positioning the Financial Crime business unit in Hungary. She is also in charge of finding new business opportunities and services, strengthening and further developing existing client relationships.

Zsuzsanna’s main goal on a day-to-day basis is to motivate and energize her colleagues in their daily tasks. She also aims to provide clients with the highest quality services in Risk Management and Financial Compliance.

During her career, Zsuzsanna admitted to have dealt with a lot of exciting and interesting topics in all areas of risk management, namely risk strategy, risk appetite, modeling, monitoring, reporting, capital management, covering the 3 main risk categories - credit, market and operating - as well as other enterprise risk.

Zsuzsanna loves facing new challenges every day. She finds it very exciting to find a solution to a wide variety of customers’ problems. ”Although the basics of risk management go back to antiquity, we are still talking about a super dynamically changing field”, she says. According to her, business solutions and EU guidelines that respond to the ever-changing market challenges make Risk Advisory a great innovative area.

Zsuzsanna admits that throughout her career, she has to constantly gain new knowledge, which she has always seen as an opportunity. In her experience, applying previously gained knowledge to a new environment has resulted in innovative directions.

We need more like Zsuzsanna. We need more like you.

Meet Emilia. Emilia is a Manager in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Romania, working within the Internal Audit team. Her role mainly consists of supporting clients in the evaluation of risk management, control, and governance systems to determine if those are functioning as intended and will enable organizations’ objectives to be met. She has been also involved in re-designing the internal controls systems in all business processes (Revenues, Expenditures, Inventory, Purchasing & Payable, Payroll, Fixed Assets, Treasury, Financial Closing) including assessment of the compliance with policies and applicable legislation for various clients and multiple industries.

When she thinks of what she loves the most about her job, the answer is the diversity of challenges and experiences that are brought her way. Even after almost 7 years of experience, she still encounters projects that bring her new perspectives and new opportunities to learn and grow. Emilia admits that Deloitte gave her the chance to explore a lot of industries and to learn at high speed, which is the reason that made her become more and more interested in internal audit and, step by step, to make a career out of it.

Emilia is particularly proud of her work supporting and encouraging her team to grow, continuously learn and strengthen their abilities and skills. “I like the fact that every day I have the opportunity to work closely with my team and strengthen the relationship with them. Constantly meeting new people, as my role also involves interaction with client representatives in every field, is key for me”, she says. Another important aspect that makes her love her job is the fact that she can contribute to the improvement and development of clients through every interaction. This makes her feel that she has a positive impact even through the smallest project.

As part of her greatest work achievements, Emilia refers to the assessment of the organizational structure and activity of 4 social assistance institutions in Bucharest and other big cities in Romania. These institutions provide social services to socially disadvantaged groups, including abandoned children, elderly people, people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence. The work of Emilia’s team consisted of recommendations for the management on how to reorganize their structure and activities to deliver better services to these underprivileged groups.

Her advice to women who are considering a career in Risk is “to be curious and be willing to learn new things with every chance you get. Always be prepared and approach every situation with confidence.“

We need more like Emilia. We need more like you.

Meet Anna. She has been with Deloitte Risk Advisory in the Czech Republic for one year, working as a consultant within the Technology & Digital Risks team and focusing on Project Management, Project Assurance and Agile Project Transformations.

“The entire hiring process was held during the coronavirus pandemic, so I had to trust my gut because I couldn’t visit the office or meet the team in person“, Anna says. But after all, she appreciated the warm welcome which helped her feel tranquil. “On my first day at work, I met my colleague and buddy Barbora, who gave me all the necessary instructions, showed me the office premises, answered all my curious questions and introduced me to the rest of the colleagues. It was a great beginning”, Anna adds.

Anna enjoys Deloitte’s culture. Having experienced a very strict environment in her earlier career, she really appreciates Deloitte’s “open-minded approach” in several areas, such as the business clothing or open conversations, as she receives valuable input from her colleagues daily. “I really like the team spirit and I feel supported by both female and male colleagues”, she says.

Anna thinks that some women could consider Risk Advisory and IT environment too challenging. “The environment is changing, and I believe that women and men have equal opportunities to develop. In my opinion, women are valuable part of the team because the more diverse environment the more successful and creative ideas the team can generate.”

Anna is always proud and happy when she gets positive feedback from clients together with the recognition that her work has some beneficial impact. However, for those who doubt, Anna advises that “you must be ready that not every day is about winning, and you should learn from the mistakes, too. I believe that this is how the best leaders have reached their goals”.

We need more like Anna. We need more like you.

Meet Irena. She joined Deloitte about seven years ago. For the past 20 years, she has been very passionate about the sustainability agenda which she has an opportunity to develop in her current role of a Partner leading the Sustainability & Economics Consulting practice in Central Europe. Her leadership abilities and strong sustainability strategic experience enabled her to grow the team in Poland as well as to develop several markets within Central Europe. Irena is a member of the Global Executive Committee for Climate and Sustainability, coordinating global actions around Sustainable and Smart Cities and leading “Climate Bold Play”, which includes overlooking all Deloitte public sector endeavors related to climate action globally. Additionally, she was recognized by Forbes Women as one of the 25 key female leaders of sustainable development in Poland.

Irena’s main goal on a day-to-day basis is to provide clients with the highest quality services in the area of climate, sustainable development, decarbonization and sustainable finance. Together with her team, Irena advises large companies on how to run their businesses so that they are more environmentally friendly and how to operate in a way which is less harmful to the environment and climate.

Irena loves to be part of projects that are beneficial to next generations and have a real impact on other people, companies and the society. This provides her with an opportunity to work with great leaders and decision makers from all around the world and learn from them too.

Her advice to women is to be open to new adventures, new experiences and to believe in themselves. “If you have a chance to work with or close to best experts and leaders, grab it! You can learn so much and become a great leader yourself one day, but learning is a life-long effort so never stop exploring. Take care of relationships too, they are the most important both in private and business life. And recognize your strengths and weaknesses – make the most of your strengths and do not be intimidated by weaknesses, just work on them.”

We need more like Irena. We need more like you.

Meet Joanna. Joanna is a Consultant in Risk Advisory at Deloitte in Poland. She is a proud member of the Extended Enterprise team, specialized in Software Asset Management and Third-Party Management.

According to Joanna, working in a large corporation and getting to know how one of the Big4 organizations works was one of the key milestones that she wanted to add to her professional path.

Joanna is particularly proud of her achievement in her new role that she accepted fourteen months ago: “I decided to change my job during the pandemic. At first, I was concerned about joining a new team and meeting all its members virtually, as building relationships is very important to me. But at the end, I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience it and see that working fully remotely in a team that is scattered all over Poland can go so smoothly.”

Joanna admits that her job has never been an easy task. ”Each project comes with new challenges: the professional ones that need to be overcome, and the personal ones that need to be learned to deal with.” She adds: “Deloitte is a huge organization and getting to know exactly what we do requires a lot of time, but it’s worth being patient. Every day we meet new people, learn about new systems and tools for work. This imposes a great dynamic of changes, but thanks to this, we are able to meet the expectations of the market and our customers.”

For those considering a career in Risk Advisory, she advises that “the sooner you learn how to push yourself to broaden your perspective and try new things, the faster you will grow. I believe that we are the only ones who are responsible for our happiness and a lot of people must understand that you are the creator of your life, not a victim. If you want to learn something new, test yourself in a new role, change something, take a risk and give it a try - this is your time to verify what makes you happy and what you want to do”. Joanna concedes that Deloitte offers great opportunities for this, but “you need to know what you expect and what steps you want to take”.

Her advice to women is to remain open to new things. This is the best everyone can do, living in a world with such dynamic changes. Personal development is key, and without being open to learning new skills, it's hard to move forward.

We need more like Joanna. We need more like you.

Meet Miroslava. Miroslava is a director in Deloitte Risk Advisory in Serbia. She supports her clients through risk management, financial reporting, projects strengthening control environment, internal audit and forensic projects. Miroslava admits that she achieved her goal already 20 years ago when she started working in Risk Advisory, as this was a very important milestone for her as a young professional. “Throughout the years, working in a dynamic and creative environment, I grew professionally. Today, I am leading internal audit and financial crime agenda for the CE South cluster”, she says.

According to Miroslava, there are no repetitive activities and universal solutions in this business. Each industry and each client have a single story; subsequently, each experience contributes to the cumulative knowledge.

“The point is that no matter what a young woman will do, she has to constantly develop herself. From the beginning of her career, she must work on acquiring professional certificates. Academic titles are necessary but not sufficient for career development. Focusing on what interests you the most will also lead you to an international certification that matches your affinities. “, Miroslava advises.

What she loves the most about her job is the dynamics and diversity that it offers. She thinks that working in Deloitte leaves room for various individual and different “focuses“. It is an open environment where diversity is welcome.

Miroslava’s proudest accomplishment was to support an international theatre festival through the inclusion of various vulnerable groups. During seven years, this collaboration aimed to foster a diverse culture showing that we need each other and that together we can make a positive change in our society. During the last year of cooperation, before Covid-19 era, Deloitte Risk Advisory in Serbia supported a famous Belgium theatre company “Ultima Vez” and their play “Invited”. Young people, who were most at risk of social exclusion and poverty from all around the country, were invited to attend the play. “Together we enjoyed both watching the play and participating in it. The actors invited us to join them on stage and to create various choreographic figures and physical acts. Together we learned the true meaning of trust, support, cooperation, giving and taking, and solidarity – that was a great experience for all of us!”.

In Miroslava’s opinion, being a woman in this field can be challenging: “You need to deliver outstanding performance most of the time. But my focus is always on my personal growth and achievements, and as long as I see room from improvement, I will be attracted to that journey.” We need more like Miroslava. We need more like you.

Meet Boyanka. She joined Deloitte in Bulgaria as an auditor in 2008 and has been working as a manager in Risk Advisory since 2019. Boyanka says that the expertise she acquired while participating in audit engagements, specifically compliance and regulatory audits, public sector projects, EU funds and programs, business advisory projects as well as internal audit engagements, helped her add more value to the risk-related projects, and brought her a clearer understanding of how to solve clients’ complex problems.

She admits that by joining Risk Advisory she had the opportunity to discover new horizons which were totally new to her, such as Sustainability. “The ESG concept is getting an increasing importance for all market participants, be it private companies, the financial sector, public institutions or wider community, as the current world is changing due to the climate change and the need for the resource optimization. However, the implementation of the ESG program within the supply and values chain is not always an easy task and it may bring various challenges for different market participants”. Boyanka admits that helping companies to walk this new path and transform their businesses is an amazing adventure and really brings a lot of satisfaction when she can see the results of her work. “The feeling that I am developing something new makes me feel somehow alive. Following new trends, constantly overcoming new challenges and not staying at one place are far from doing a routine job. And that’s what motivates me to continue being part of Deloitte Risk Advisory”, she says.

What she loves the most about her job is the possibility to work on very different projects, always bringing new solutions. “As clients vary in terms of industries, corporate governance and structure, you are always developing and improving your knowledge and skills.”, Boyanka says. “Having the opportunity to collaborate with experts from the whole global network makes Deloitte a place where each of us benefits from the knowledge of others”.

As an advice to women in Risk Advisory today, Boyanka encourages women not to stop believing in themselves and in their dreams, because “the unthinkable today becomes possible tomorrow.”

We need more like Boyanka. We need more like you.