Delivering long-term social impact
This Mental Health Awareness Month, AlixPartners’ NextGen Employee Resource Group is highlighting firm programs that help our people achieve balance between their work and personal lives and stay Well@Work.
Q: You joined AlixPartners as an eDiscovery consultant before joining our D&I team. What inspired you to make that change?
I did my postgraduate studies to become a lawyer but started my career in the nonprofit world. I always had a passion for giving back and worked for a variety of organizations focused on elder support, end of life care and mental health.
After 10 years in the nonprofit sector, I wanted to diversify my experience, and joined an eDiscovery company as a project manager, which led to a consultancy position at AlixPartners.
At the firm, I took on global leadership of our ALIGN (Asian Leadership Insights and Growth Network) ERG, where I built our team and grew our membership in EMEA.
Helping build ALIGN reconnected me with the passion that I had for making a difference. When a role opened on our D&I team, I jumped at the opportunity.
Q: You work closely with our OSR (Our Social Responsibility) team. Can you talk about that partnership?
One of our D&I strategic pillars is to invest in client, philanthropic and supplier relationships to strengthen our communities, promote social justice, and advocate for diverse supply chains.
In 2021, our firm signed the United Nations Global Compact, which commits us to delivering on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the compact. I led the process for each of our local offices to create social impact plans that delivered on their chosen Sustainable Development Goals in collaboration with our ERG, Well@Work, Sustainability, and office leadership teams.
In addition, I manage our relationships with organizations focused on social justice and equity. For example, I work with Generation Success, a London-based social mobility organization, who we are partnering with on mentoring and internship programs.
This relationship is a great example of our approach to social impact—we’re interested in depth, not breadth. Every partnership we build is focused on where we can have long-term impact, and collaboration is at the heart of our approach.
Q: With that in mind, and since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, can you discuss the role AlixPartners’ Well@Work team plays in developing our social impact plans?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected, which means you can’t have health and well-being without reducing inequalities, you can’t address climate change without thinking about its impact on community health, and so on.
Our Well@Work team promotes physical, emotional, and financial well-being at our firm, and they apply that lens in developing our social impact plans and establishing our external partnerships.
Q: Personally, how does your work with our D&I and social impact teams benefit your mental health?
It is part of who I am and the difference that I want to make in society. Keeping good health and mental balance is important to me so I can give my fullest to my work, clients, colleagues, friends and family.
I love helping people discover a new opportunity, or develop new skills, or make connections with diverse groups. I’m so excited about the role that I play and the impactful work that we are doing!
