International Women’s Month Employee Spotlight: Naomi Da Silva
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As International Women’s Month comes to an end, we want to take the time to share the contribution of some of our incredible female staff members. Today, we are shining a light on Naomi Da Silva, Director of Governance and Risk, who has been with Central YMCA for 16 years. We chatted with Naomi about her experience as a woman working for Central YMCA and how this role has impacted her.
What inspired you to join Central YMCA, and what has kept you here for so many years?
I joined Central YMCA a few years after finishing university. After working in an orphanage in Bolivia, I felt driven to work for an organisation with a social purpose that made a difference to society.
I started in a junior role and have since worked in a variety of roles, each with their own opportunities and challenges. I feel really lucky to have been given exposure to many different parts of the organisation early on in my career and this helped me to understand where my strengths lie and what I am not cut out for! Working with some amazing people along the way and having no day the same has made the time fly by and I can’t believe it has been over 16 years already!
Have you had any female mentors or role models who influenced your journey?
I had an incredible female manager at one point whilst with Central YMCA who really supported me in my career choices and helped me to progress. The ability to see women in leadership roles (with the previous two CEOs being female, alongside many Heads and managers) also helped me to see that this was a path I could take.
What advice would you give to young women aspiring to step into leadership positions?
Personally, I found investing in my own development really important when starting out and creating my own opportunities to learn, both inside and outside of the organisation. This doesn’t necessarily mean formal learning, as whilst I have hugely valued training and development opportunities over the years, I have also learnt so much from the free opportunities available to the charity sector.
I have less time to do this now, but I found attending free events and seminars and joining sector related membership bodies gave me so much insight and a great sense of connection, particularly as some of my roles have been fairly isolated and I wasn’t part of a wider team.
Learning from other organisations has also been really important for me to get new ideas and think about how we can do things differently. I also love a podcast! There is so much information available to us now, I guess it’s about deciding what’s important and what will give you new insight.
Thank you so much to Naomi for sharing her experience!
If you’re feeling inspired by Naomi’s experience working for Central YMCA and would like to work in a field where you can positively impact the lives of others, we regularly hire for new roles in different areas of the business. Keep an eye on our job postings if you would be interested in joining the Central YMCA family!
