Getting to Know the Women of EER

We are extremely lucky to have some amazing women in the team at EER. As we have grown over the last 15 years, we have welcomed new female employees from all over the world including India, Pakistan, South Africa and Ireland. In fact, we are extremely proud to have an all-female Senior Leadership Team steering the ship. We thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce you to some of the extremely talented ladies who are on hand to help our clients every single day and keep things running smoothly across the office. We spoke to them about their work life and which women have inspired them over the years.

Our Head of Relocation and Immigration Service Delivery Shirley Doran was one of the first to chat with us about her role and inspirations. She shared with us her not-so-secret obsession with house-hunting shows and property scrolling and talked about loving the variety of her work, “there is never a day that is the same!   Each day brings new challenges and, as we are working with humans and their personal wellbeing, each day brings a new story and a new challenge”. When it comes to women she admires, Shirley says Dr Brene Brown is one of her favourites, “I love the way she is so down to earth and how she tackles subjects that most don’t want to discuss. She has overcome addiction and she is not scared to be vulnerable!  I find her podcasts uplifting in all ways, I usually listen to her on my morning walk with my dog!” When it comes to supporting women in the future, she says we need to raise our daughters to be strong women and to “teach them to have the confidence to go out there and know that they can do anything that they put their minds to.”

Lisa van der Watt who is one of our Client Account Managers was quick to talk about how she was inspired by Princess Diana. “She was a game changer and her kindness to the underprivileged and the world was very inspiring. Even though she was going through so much pain in her personal life, she always maintained her composure and her beautiful nature always radiated.” But she saved extra special praise for her phenomenal mother, “she has always put me first throughout her life and always made sure I had everything I required and more, both emotionally and financially, for my entire childhood. She is my greatest heroine and always will be.”

Another Client Account Manager Hafsa Batool loves helping new expats get settled in their new home and has an odd party trick of being able to dislocate her shoulders at will! As well as her Mother who showed her that “kindness never goes out of style”, Hafsa is inspired by Angeline Jolie “because of her dedication to alleviating humanitarian crisis especially that of children and women in war torn countries and vulnerable situations.” In her opinion some of the key things we can do to help women grow in society, particularly in the workplace are to improve training for employees on topics such as implicit bias, inclusion, diversity and flexible working. She also believes we should work to create more opportunities for female professional development and offer mentorships from influential figures to help encourage women to fulfil their potential.

Our Corporate Services Administrator Ana Simborio is inspired by the patience of Mother Teresa and tries to emulate that in work and life. When we asked her who else inspired her she shared, “My mother, because she was able to raise all of her children so well, despite facing many adversities.”

Ann Shery Capiral is a Junior Client Account Manager and had two immediate answers to our question regarding the women that have inspired her. The first was the late Philippine Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, “she would have been the best president we never had.  She was a lawmaker, a senator, a mother, a professor, and a lot more. I admire her very strong personality and how she fought for women’s rights.”  Ann is also inspired by the passion and knowledge of her friend Maria Salac who works as an architect. “She spends 6 hours of teaching Architecture and Interior design every Friday for free and even provided lunch to her students and the admin staff of the institute free of charge (some of her students doesn’t have work).  During the peak of covid she and her family distributed free food to the people in their neighborhood. She is a very selfless person and would like to make a change in the community.  She is planning open her own business one day to provide employment and to boost Architecture in the Philippines.”

Nikkila Umadharan is our Team Leader in the Corporate Services Division and is religiously committed to carrying around chocolates every day, so she is definitely a popular person in the office! A fantastic woman who has inspired her is Oprah Winfrey, particularly due to her compassionate nature. “She is considered to be a role model to many individuals because of her tough childhood, wonderful charity work, her schools, and the true relationships with her fans. Oprah stands out among many people on her ability to feel others’ pain and help those people get through their troubling times. Despite all the odds she rose up and became who she had wanted to be.”  Nikkila also shared some fantastic insights into how we can all work to promote inclusion for women in society –

• • Share the care
  • Call out sexism and harassment
  • Reject the binary
  • Demand an equal work culture
  • Exercise your political rights
  • Teach girls their worth

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.