Name: Sofia
Role: Client Operations Lead, Client Service
Background: Sofia is a Client Operations Lead, working in Bridgewater’s Client Service department on the Eurasia team. In this role, Sofia works directly with current clients and prospective investors in the Middle East, Asia, and parts of Europe, managing activities such as business planning, quarterly resource planning, and the training and development of our Client Service talent.
What is a recent project that you’ve really enjoyed working on? Or, looking ahead, what projects are you most excited to tackle?
Going forward, the thing that I’m most excited about working on is the launch of our Singapore office — we are opening an office there with the goal of forming deeper relationships with our clients in the region. I currently work with clients in this region, so I’m excited to be more steeped in the culture. Additionally, I think the Singapore office is going to allow us an opportunity to really diversify our business and build more meaningful relationships with our existing clients out there.
Personally, I’m excited about my role within the Singapore office as a project manager and an operations-focused person because opening this office is such a new, entrepreneurial endeavor for Bridgewater. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to address the challenges of standing up a new office.
What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is my ability to train and mentor new Client Service Coordinators who are going through the same journey that I was going through four years ago. I love being able to use my highly empathetic nature in a positive way by being very attuned to the needs, concerns, goals, and desires of the coordinators I work with, and being able to work with them to tackle their problems and help them advance.
What meaningful impact you’ve been able to make at Bridgewater?
I’ve worked on our Client Service Diversity & Inclusion Council and I’m on the Leadership Team for our Women’s Influence Network. These roles have given me the opportunity to meet people from a lot of diverse backgrounds who are also very personally committed to driving diversity and promoting inclusion. It has been extremely rewarding to speak openly about diversity and inclusion and see leaders on our team make changes based on the discussions that we have.
What are some examples of meaningful relationships you’ve been able to build at Bridgewater?
I have so many close friends from Bridgewater. As a zoomed in example, I have a coworker, Lexie, who interviewed me and was my first teammate when I came to Bridgewater — she really became a mentor for me and gave me so many opportunities professionally. She constantly recommended me for opportunities, and she pushed me very hard. I consider her to be one of my closest friends and mentors because of all the pushing she did to help me improve.
In my personal life, Lexie introduced me to my dance team, introduced me to my roommates, and invited me to her wedding. It probably seems like I’m exaggerating, but a lot of the good things in my life have come from this woman. My mom jokes that she’s my guardian angel, and without having met her at Bridgewater none of these great things would’ve happened.
What have you learned about yourself from working at Bridgewater?
I’ve learned that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and it’s great to embrace those, but even some of the things that you view as strengths can be weaknesses and vice versa. It’s been important for me to recognize this because there are things that I really like about myself and I view as strengths, but they’re also watch-out-fors that I need to be cognizant of. For example, when I first started at Bridgewater, I really prided myself and still do on being someone who can accomplish a lot very quickly. Bridgewater has pushed me to think about how this isn’t always the best approach. Sometimes in steering into my natural inclinations I can miss bigger picture strategy and be too quick to hit the trigger on something without seeking additional opinions. This was a hard lesson to learn, but it has been a really good lesson because now before I do anything on my to-do list, I give really serious consideration to what I may be missing, which is quite frankly a good practice in life too.