Employee Feature: Women in Leadership Featuring Rachel Grillot
At Copperleaf®, we have the honor of working alongside some of the brightest women leaders in the industry. Today, we speak with Rachel Grillot, Team Lead and Senior Solutions Consultant about her career journey, leadership style, achievements, and the advice she’d give her younger self.
Can you share what you do and what your career journey has been at Copperleaf?
“I started at Copperleaf as an Implementation Consultant on the Customer Experience (CX) team, progressed to Consultant, and then transferred to the Solutions Consulting team. I’m currently a Senior Solutions Consultant and Team Lead for the Solutions Consulting team in the Americas. I work closely with the sales team to understand our prospects’ challenges with asset investment and investment planning and propose Copperleaf solutions that will help solve them. I also mentor new employees/team members to help them learn about our clients’ businesses, our products, and the problem-solving approach to selling.”
How would you describe your leadership style?
“I strive to have fun, open, and trusting relationships with my team members. In my experience, people thrive and grow to their potential when they have a strong foundation of support and trust with their team lead. I also encourage a culture of frequent and direct feedback (both ways), as I feel this is key to rapid development and productive working relationships.”
What accomplishments and projects are you most proud of?
“On the solutions consulting side, I’m proud of the deals I helped win—especially the more complex ones that required a lot of creativity and grit. The projects we won in exciting competitive situations—like request for proposal (RFP) ‘orals’ where you present a customized demonstration of the software and judges score how well you meet their requirements—were particularly satisfying.
On the leadership side, I led an effort to restructure our onboarding and training process for new hires on our team (with much more specialized training materials as well as a comprehensive mentorship program), which has helped accelerate their ramp-up time.”
In my experience, people thrive and grow to their potential when they have a strong foundation of support and trust with their team lead.
What do you like best about working at Copperleaf?
“One of my favourite things about working at Copperleaf is the people: my coworkers both inspire me and make me laugh every single day. They make it a joy to come to work.
Another thing I love is the freedom to find better ways of doing things. There’s no red tape or ‘stay in your lane’ mentality—if you have an idea for improving things, you’re encouraged to bring it forward. This makes everyone feel empowered to make a difference in the organization.”
If you could share one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
“Have an open mind and go try things! There are so many career options out there that you may not be aware of. I earned a PhD in Psychology and Brain Sciences and never could’ve predicted where my career has taken me. The best thing to do is to just get started at a great company in a role that aligns with your interests, and go from there. Don’t get intimidated by jargon in job postings that you’re not familiar with—all of it will quickly make sense once you get started. And finally, don’t withhold ideas in a meeting because you assume others know more than you do.”
What do you like to do outside of work?
“I love to play soccer, learn chess and languages, try (often unsuccessfully) to bake delicious creations, and ponder life’s mysteries.”
Learn more about joining our team, we’d love to hear from you.