Determination and drive has been saved
Life at Deloitte
Determination and drive
Margot Keale on creating a thriving career despite having a disability
April 11, 2019
Margot Keale began her career at Deloitte in January 2017, shortly after she graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in healthcare management and policy. Fast forward two years, Margot is now a strategy and analytics consultant for Deloitte Consulting LLP. Despite Margot’s success, she has had to overcome many obstacles. In 2010 Margot was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that left her paralyzed. She had to learn to navigate the world in a wheelchair. The learning curve and what sometimes felt like mountains proved steep, but Margot remained steadfast in her determination to live a full life as independently as possible.
Determined to pursue her career goals
A large part of this want manifested in a goal to pursue full-time work after college. Prior to joining Deloitte, Margot was anxious about working full-time and balancing the inherent demands of a hectic schedule with her commitment to personal health and well-being. Luckily, it didn’t take long for those fears to dissipate. Through open and honest communication with her team leads at Deloitte, Margot identified what she needed to succeed in the workplace and has continually been empowered to advocate for herself and for her career.
Reprioritizing her commitments
In fact, Margot credits one conversation early in her tenure as being a major turning point in her time at Deloitte. After starting a new project engagement, Margot sat down for a conversation with her senior consultant who asked, “what do you need to do to bring your best self to work every day?" Margot took this conversation as an opportunity to highlight where she was struggling and admitted that she had stopped attending physical therapy sessions - weekly sessions that were critical to her physical well-being. Margot was encouraged to reprioritize this activity, and together with her team lead, she established a regular block on her calendar when the team knew she would be offline to attend her appointments.
Margot is grateful for leaders at Deloitte who understand the importance of fulfilling personal priorities outside of the office to become strong performers within the office. Margot encourages all professionals to give themselves and their teams the opportunity to answer this question, so we may collectively create a culture of meaningful dialogue and support.
Helping others through community
Today, Margot is an advocate for disability inclusion at Deloitte. As part of the Inclusion Council, she leads a group that promotes disability awareness and inclusion through establishing networks, community engagement, and providing support and feedback to the organization on disability inclusion and accessibility practices. Through this group, Margot has been involved in panels and conversations that push continual improvements in how Deloitte approaches, engages, and executes on disability-related topics. One of Margot's favorite Deloitte memories is when she traveled to Las Vegas with a group of professionals to attend the Disability:IN Conference, where Deloitte received an award for scoring a 100 percent on the Disability Equality Index.
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- Learn more about assistance for disabled applicants and how you can apply if you need accommodation.
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