Celebrating Women’s History Month: Meet the Incredible Women of Ocrolus

This Women’s History Month, we honor the trailblazing women who have paved the way and continue to push forward for women’s equality. Equality is important to us all, and during the month of March and beyond, we celebrate what makes women unique.

There’s still so much more we can do to fight inequality, which is why Ocrolus is proud to partner with organizations dedicated to empowering people and women around the world. For example, through our partnership with Kiva, Ocrolus supported 331 entrepreneurs (271 female entrepreneurs!) in 31 countries in 2020. Ocrolus is also a sponsor of NYC Fintech Women, an organization of 5,000+ members that connects, promotes, and empowers women in fintech.

2020 was challenging in many ways, but it was also a significant year for female leaders:

• Whitney Wolfe Herd brought Bumble to IPO at $14B.
• Alicia Boler Davis became the first Black woman to join Amazon’s S‑team leadership group.
• Jane Fraser became the first woman to lead a major US bank, joining Citibank as CEO.

At Ocrolus, we brought on two new senior leaders, Jackie Siqueiros, Head of People, and Christina Favilla, Head of Operations, who are already adding value across the organization.

Team Ocrolus is proud to have achieved a 46% female workforce in 2020, and we aim to reach 50% representation in 2021.

Get to know some of the incredible women who work tirelessly to make Ocrolus an amazing company and a great place to work.

Jackie Siqueiros

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: Our people are our most valuable asset. My role is to create a work environment that promotes high engagement and productivity from existing employees while attracting top talent to join us as new employees.
• The job I’m most proud of: This one. I get to work with great people, and sometimes I have the honor of helping them.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “Everything that happens in the material world is essentially a certain kind of wave. If you are a good sailor, every wave is a possibility.” – Sadhguru
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: Ruth Bader Ginsberg, because I love hard-working, bold, and intellectually brilliant women.
• How I balance work and life: Sometimes, I don’t balance work and life, but I fully believe that the choice is mine to make. I understand the trade-off I’m making when I’m putting my laptop away early in the day or when I’m pulling it back out again late at night. I respond differently to items that are urgent vs. non-urgent, important vs. unimportant. And I’m not afraid to say no.

Ciera Lowe

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: I am building a real-time streaming data platform to modernize our data infrastructure.
• The job I’m most proud of: I am a very proud pet parent to two cats and a puppy named Rory, Ronnie, and Rocky.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: Listening to the Michelle Obama podcast over the last year has been so inspirational for me. The reminder that other women like me struggle with similar challenges both in our professional lives and the world in general right now means a lot. The episode, “Across Generations: Michelle Obama and Her Mentees,” was especially relatable and relevant.
• How I balance work and life: I’m still figuring this one out. 🙂

Christina Favilla

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: I lead the “human-in-the-loop” aspect of our value proposition, managing over 700 team members in the US and India.
• The job I’m most proud of: I am proud to play many parts in my family dynamic. It takes grit and commitment to be married 30 years, creativity and compassion to be a parent, and joy and wisdom to be a sister. I am fortunate to experience it all.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “Play it as it lies.” It’s a golf term that means in order to succeed and win, you must assess the situation as-is and set the strategy. Moving the ball is not an option, but you must move forward.
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: My aunt Paula. She was a courageous free spirit. She left home at 16 and joined the USO tour with Bob Hope, traveled the world, came back to Boston in the 1960s, produced a children’s television program, then got a degree in social work to help people. She never let norms or complacency hold her back from recreating herself!
• How I balance work and life: I rely on my team, both in the workplace and at home. The key to success is to leverage each other’s strengths and provide lots of encouragement. Everyone has a role, and if played well, life can be fun.

Jasneet Kaur

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: I make Ocrolus a better place to work by implementing company policies and strategically laying down processes for all things related to People, Policies, Growth, Culture, Engagement with collaborative efforts from the US People Team and management.
• The job I’m most proud of: My current role. I’m all smiles.
• Favorite words of wisdom: A friend in the past once said, “Never fear the next step. When opportunity presents itself, don’t be afraid to go for it. If you fail, you will still be where you are, but if you succeed, that’ll be your next leap, and you will be one step further in your journey of life and work.”
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: My mother, who has no aspirations of her own, apart from keeping the family happy and their stomachs full. She inspires me to be giving, forgiving, and patient.
• How I balance work and life: I lock my laptop on the weekend and turn a blind eye to my mobile notifications. Weekdays are Ocrolus days, and weekends are mine.

Elizabeth Sabbatini

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: I oversee client onboarding and ensure that our customers are shepherded through a well-documented process for successfully setting up our products in a timely manner.
• The job I’m most proud of: I’m proud to be the daughter of immigrant parents, the eldest sister, and a newly married wife! I feel so glad that I can be there to support my family at a time when they need it the most.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “The only courage you ever need is the courage to fulfill the dreams of your own life.” – Oprah Winfrey
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: Maria Menounos is a television personality and someone I find very inspirational, as she is currently helping to fight her mom’s battle with stage 4 cancer. Being a caretaker for a loved one is one of the hardest jobs anyone can do, and Maria does it with grace and positivity. She shares her tips and insight in her podcast, which I view as a mentorship platform.
• How I balance work and life: Ever since I graduated college, I have found yoga to help me slow down in life and focus on balance and mindfulness, as I can easily let work and other life goals consume me. Maintaining a yoga practice, along with a network of family and friends to lean on, helps me balance work and life.

Swati Goel

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: As part of the Data Platform team, I contribute to bringing simplicity and efficiency into the payout system.

• The job I’m most proud of: I am proud to be a mother of a 4-year-old daughter and of bringing life to this planet. I love spending time with her, and I enjoy her innocence.

• Favorite words of wisdom: I believe in Karma, i.e., everything you do comes back to you.

• My female idol or inspiration, and why: I’m inspired by all of the inspirational women I come across at Ocrolus and in my life.

• How I balance work and life: With my family on my side, I can manage my professional and personal life equally.

Evan Zhang

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: As the product manager for our core client platform and Detect product, I work with our engineering and design teams to make it easy for our clients to do business with us and help them make better decisions by surfacing suspicious activity signals.
• The job I’m most proud of: I’m proud to serve as a Built by Girls mentor. I love meeting with female and non-binary students and supporting them as they begin to explore careers in technology!
• Favorite words of wisdom: “Well done is better than well said.”
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: My mom! Along with my dad, she immigrated to the United States when she was in her 30s to build a better life for her family. She’s always inspired me to dream big and take risks!
• How I balance work and life: I try to be as intentional as possible when prioritizing the work on my plate, so that it’s clear to me what tasks are truly must-dos.

Erica Ramirez

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: Build trust with our clients and help them make the most of our products and services by addressing support tickets and providing client engagement.
• The job I’m most proud of: Being a parent. It has helped me build the mindset of not seeking perfection.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: My grandmother inspired me to be confident in following the road less traveled.
• How I balance work and life: I make a conscious effort to block time for myself first and be flexible with what the given day offers.

Shadma Shaheen

• How I support the Ocrolus mission: I spread the word about Ocrolus solutions by focusing on outreach, prospecting, and connecting with as many potential customers as possible.
• The job I’m most proud of: I’m proudest of being a daughter to wonderful parents who support and love me unconditionally.
• Favorite words of wisdom: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
• My female idol or inspiration, and why: My mother, the nicest human being I have ever known. She taught me to be compassionate to all people, what it means to love, what it means to make someone happy, give unconditionally, and respect people. She also modeled for me how to achieve the highest honor in her profession. She has taught me more than I could have ever learned from anyone or anywhere else.
• How I balance work and life: I try to complete all my work within set work hours, and the rest of my time is for me, my family, and my friends.

In 2020, we doubled our team. This year, we’re doubling it again. Our aim: to build a 50%+ female workforce! View available roles here.