Ellevate Your Career: CEO Maricella Herrera on Defining Your Own Success

Maricella Herrera, new CEO of Ellevate Network, speaking at a recent event.

After earning her Masters in Business Administration at Columbia University in New York in 2012, following five years working in banking in Mexico, Maricella Herrera was interviewing for a new boutique banking job in Mexico, where she intended to return to live.

The interviewer “needed to know if I planned to get married in the next few years because he said, ‘We need you to work hard,’” explains Herrera, now CEO of Ellevate Network, that has 200,000 members in 30 chapters across the globe.  

She relayed that to her friend and mentor, Janet Hanson, the founder of 85 Broads, and a force in the finance industry from her stellar career at Goldman Sachs to the founding of Milestone Capital, a money market fund company managing over $2 billion in assets.

“She was appalled,” says Herrera, the first Latina CEO of Ellevate. Hanson relayed that she needed help to run 85 Broads, so she asked Hererra, “Why don’t you come help me?”

That was an easy yes.

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, highlighting Herrera’s success and vision of leadership and success is essential. Born in El Salvador and moving to Mexico to attend college to study finance at 18, Herrera graduated and worked in banking for five years before moving to New York to attend business school.

“During National #HispanicHeritageMonth, highlighting @Mherreraavila ‘s success and vision of #leadership and #success is essential. #femalerolemodel #Latinaleader”

“My background is that I learned a lot in banking and in business school,” says Herrera. “I am a Latina, very vocal and open and opinionated and that is a plus. At the end of the day, I’m a different type of CEO. The reaction has been, ‘Here is someone who I can see myself reflected in.’ When you are a little different, you have to prove yourself.”

““I am a #Latina, very vocal and open and opinionated and that is a plus. At the end of the day, I’m a different type of #CEO. The reaction has been, ‘Here is someone who I can see myself reflected in.’” —@Mherreraavila, CEO of @EllevateNtwk.”

Read more in Take The Lead on Ellevate

Herrera’s move to work with Hanson was a great fit.  “In 2013 Janet decided to sell the organization to Sallie L. Krawcheck,” former head of Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division, who then later changed the name of the network to Ellevate Network.

Hanson recently told Knowledge at Wharton, “’The real reason I founded 85 Broads was purely selfish: I wanted to stay connected to some of the smartest women on the planet.’ Of the women profiled on the website, about half are at Goldman Sachs. The other half, who work at 350 other companies, are described by Hanson as everyone from entrepreneurs and consultants to oceanographers and full-time moms.”

For herrera, working on the “B to C side, internal strategies and marketing, it was fun to be able to create a place like this,” says Herrera. “I can help this business grow. It is a mission I believe is important. What we stand for is mission, values, creativity and team work,” says Herrerra, who leads a team of 16 with chapters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Dubai with the international footprint growing.

At the start of the original organization, “it was business women who wanted to mentor other women and help move women into leadership positions,” Herrera says.  The goal was to “get more women into positions of power, which can really make a difference in the world.”

“At the start of @EllevateNtwk, “it was business women who wanted to #mentor other women and help move women into #leadership positions,” @Mherreraavila says. The goal was to “get more women into positions of #power, which can really make a difference in the world.” ”

As the new CEO taking over after Kristy Wallace’s tenure as CEO, Herrera says what has changed is that, “Now we are a community of women plus. We will not achieve equality until we engage non-binary persons and men.” She adds, “We bring more human-centric focus to leadership. What I want to bring to Ellevate is more boldness. With great power comes great opportunity.“

Read more on leadership lessons from Sallie Krawcheck

Today’s workplace has changed, and in large part due to the transition to remote work due to COVID-19. “We realized we can work from home and have a company that will treat me like a grown up,” Herrera says.

“Today’s #workplace has changed, and in large part due to the transition to #remotework due to COVID-19. “We realized we can work from home and have a company that will treat me like a grown up,” @Mherreraavila says. #femaleCEO”

“On executive side, leaders need to think of work in terms of your whole self, not as part of yourself. That has changed. People are looking for purpose. Companies need to start treating employees like people, people want to feel like they matter, have agency. You have to let people be flexible,” Herrera says.

That bears out in a new Werklabs report, “The Flexibility Advantage,” created in tandem with The Mom Project, surveying more than 1,700 workers to discover if there is a gendered approach to flexibility.

“Clear demographic differences arose when looking at the differences between male and female respondents,” the report shows. “Women expressed a higher need for flexible hours and days of work, owing to needs such as attending to family appointments, picking up children from school, and being able to respond to last minute needs as the primary caretakers as needed.Women are significantly more likely than their male counterparts to view themselves as the primary caregiver in their families, from the birth of children through to the care of elderly and sick relatives.”

““On the executive side, leaders need to think of work in terms of your whole self, not as part of yourself. That has changed. People are looking for purpose. Companies need to start treating employees like people,” @Mherreraavila says. #organizational #leadership”

Read more in Take The Lead on The Mom Project

Dr. Pam Cohen, head of Werklabs, says, “The reluctance of women to take advantage of flexibility in the workplaces or advocate for their needs reflects long-standing biases against working women, particularly working mothers. We know that there is an unstated ‘motherhood penalty’ wherein working moms often earn lower starting salaries,or are perceived as less invested in their work during pregnancy or after giving birth.”

Cohen adds, “This study highlights the incredible importance of corporate cultures and managers truly understanding the needs of working moms and actively giving women permission to exercise flexibility so they can bring their fullest selves to work and contribute to closing the gender pay gap.”

Maneuvering and managing in the evolving workplace culture is not easy and this is where organizations like Ellevate provide assistance.

“Workplaces must undertand the flexibility needs of working moms in the evolving #workplace: new study @werk_labs @The_Mom_Project”

“Our secret is to create safe spaces, where you can be honest, vulnerable, know you are not alone,” says Herrera, who says there are round table discussions comprised of “rising leaders to executive levels.”

Read more on Gloria Feldt with Ellevate’s New York chapter

She adds, “There is an aspect of making sure your managers can hold that culture within teams.” In the new workplace, she says, “The checklist does not exist. You have to develop emotional intelligence.”

In Ellevate’s 12-week program, squads meet once a week for 12 weeks for 30 minutes to talk about topics, Herrera explains. “It is a time to come with their problems to crowdsource solutions.”

“In @EllevateNtwk ‘s 12-week program, squads meet once a week for 12 weeks for 30 minutes to talk about topics, @Mherreraavila explains. “It is a time to come with their problems to crowdsource solutions.” #community #femaleleaders”

The outcomes vary, she says. “Some quit jobs, some rise to CEO, some say their job is the same, but their perspective has changed. Some say they have had a deeper transformation about what they are able to do.”

The bottom line, she says is, “Define success for your own self.”