An interview about diversity and inclusion with Eva Koeberl
Meet Eva Koeberl - Women @ Deloitte
Get to know the women that shape our culture and help us make Deloitte a unique place to work! Find out more about their backgrounds and unique career paths, learn about what their daily work routine is like and get their advice for the women of the future.
Meet Dr. Eva Koeberl, a Senior Manager in our Finance & Performance Team and a member of our GLOBE and Neurodiversity core team.
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your career path at Deloitte.
Hi, I’m Eva, and I’m a Senior Manager in the Finance & Performance team, where I drive Multi-GAAP topics for the insurance industry. I’m an insurance pro and I love the complexity of this industry. I’m also a rebel by nature, that’s why I’m driving topics like LGBTQAI+ and Neurodiversity at Deloitte where I still see a lot of unfolding and win-win potential for both employee and employer (and society in general).
2. How do you believe Deloitte supports women and helps you make an impact?
I can give you one example of the manifold opportunities that I've taken part in at Deloitte. Every year, I'm a mentor in our YOUNEXT Female Mentorship programme, an annual event where female university students are matched to a Deloitte employee who can help coach them about their career goals. I find this programme very valuable because, often, women still don’t help each other enough to climb up in the hierarchy together. I’m happy that I can give my knowledge and experience to younger female students to help them by making the right choices and maybe also help them avoid the mistakes I made, so that they can make it to the top quicker than I did.
“Having a strong network of allies that you can trust and be very open with is super important."
3. Tell us about any learning and development opportunities you’ve experienced at Deloitte.
Again, there are so many, I could fill pages! I’ll pick a few examples from the D&I topics I work on, as I guess Finance for Insurance is not as exciting for everyone as it is for me 😉
I've had the chance to participate in several Advance Trainings that Deloitte made possible for me as a member, and I learned so many things there about myself and my path. I also met women there that became really close friends and allies in business at the same time. I believe having a strong network of allies that you can trust and be very open with is super important.
I was also invited by a group of amazing female talents at Deloitte to join their LEAN IN circle, which they founded themselves, and the exchange and support I felt there is so important and meaningful to me. I’m extremely lucky to have an inspiring Director that I can learn from every day, we go through every storm and sunshine together which I’m very grateful for. I also learned so many things I didn't know from our Multicultural Network, and I’m grateful to have these learning and development opportunities to become a better human.
4. What do you think Deloitte does well to support diversity and inclusion?
As is true everywhere in business, society and the world, at Deloitte we’re not “there” yet. However, what I really appreciate here is that once you've proven that you’re not just complaining all the time but really have something to say, and that you bring a potential solution along, and make it clear that everyone can benefit from supporting this cause, whichever it may be, you always find an open door of supporters, allies, and also upper management that enables you to build, argue and sell your case. I cannot say that it's always easy, but what in life is easy if you’re the pioneer of an initiative? Overall, we've had some great successes and progress together that I feel very proud of. I’m grateful that I was, and still am, part of this journey.
5. What’s advice you’d give to the women of the future/women who are looking to join Deloitte?
I always underestimated the power of networks when I was younger. Being on the autism spectrum, networking is not the easiest for me. So, I thought, “I’ll just work hard and that will be enough.” But I learned that it’s so much easier if you get advice, mentoring and support from others, and you also save a lot of time – which, the higher you climb, the less you have. I'm not saying to go to every apero or randomly talk to everyone, but join an Employee Resource Group (ERG) in your company that you identify with, or found your own LEAN IN circle with your buddies and invite others. Networking has so many different faces, and even I found a way of doing it without being super stressed and uncomfortable.