Curious, creative, and confident are three words that describe Maya Prentis, a Management Consultant at Capgemini Invent who specialises in digital transformation delivery and change management.

Speaking with Where Women Work, Maya discusses her role with Capgemini, why she enjoys working for the company, and how its emphasis on inclusion has enabled women to take control of their careers and thrive.

Driving business innovation and transformation 

As a Capgemini Consultant, Maya works as part of the People & Organisation team. She helps businesses transform by understanding what is next for clients, while designing and creating digital solutions that will help successful companies of the future. 

Maya and her team also uncover and implement ways to support organisations, their performance, their leadership and their people by designing and putting into practice large technology programmes. 

Further parts of her work include identifying how the setup and culture of an organisation can affect performance and ensuring new technologies are adopted smoothly. 

“The one challenge, but also a rewarding factor, is that Management Consulting is a steep learning curve, with stimulating projects that mean you have to think from different perspectives,” explains Maya. “I love that the pace of industries and technologies are always adapting, so being able to learn from mistakes and constantly adapt is exciting.”

As a Management Consultant, Maya is a thought leader when it comes to AI technology and suggests that organisations should embrace new innovations to enhance consumer experience. In an article she authored, Maya discusses how Voice Assistants could become the preferred method of consumption for customers, and how business leaders can prepare for the voice revolution.

Key skills for a career as a Management Consultant

Critical thinking, presentation skills, time management and project management are among the important skills needed to be a Management Consultant, according to Maya. 

She reinforces that the ability to translate a thought into reality and also having good people skills are critical in her role.

“It’s really exciting and rewarding to have the ability to not only think of innovative ideas but to then execute them by translating those ideas into real-world outputs,” says Maya.”

“We often forget that most businesses are people businesses, and people will always sit at the heart of them - so knowing how to deal with people, having a sense of emotional intelligence, being able to read and understand different people, and most importantly communicate with them is key,” she suggests.

An emphasis on employee development and inclusion

There are many great reasons to work at Capgemini, but what Maya finds particularly refreshing is the consistent emphasis that the company places on personal development.

“Whether it's through formal learning or taking on internal projects that allow new skills to be gained, Capgemini Invent has also allowed me to grow as a person, developing a number of invaluable skills that can be used in all spheres of life,” says Maya.

“I am taught to constantly think outside the box and push myself out of my comfort zone, and this has been great for increasing my confidence.”
 
Maya is proud to be part of a company that won the best Technology Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Award. For Maya, this achievement highlights the efforts that Capgemini places on forging an inclusive workforce. 

“When you join Capgemini, there are a host of female networks where you can meet like-minded females, find someone who inspires you to be your mentor, or learn from the best,” she adds. 

“Capgemini is such an inclusive company and it is inspiring to see women taking control of their careers and thriving in them.”

For women looking to join Capgemini, Maya has some great advice: “Find the time to network in a virtual setting. I learn so much from putting in a 20-minute chat to talk to individuals about their likes and dislikes, successes and failures, and their journey as a woman in technology consulting.”

The importance of diversity and inclusion for a company

For Maya, the emphasis on inclusion makes good business sense. “Diversity is a strength,” she says.

Management Consultants are often asked to solve complex business and technology challenges for clients. These solutions are more creative, richer and better suited to answer client needs when people from different backgrounds and different perspectives come together. 

“Our clients are diverse, and they need to adapt to a world which is becoming more diverse, and so we should be too,” comments Maya. “Not only does it help to solve our client problems from a fresh perspective, but it also allows us as an organisation to increase our understanding of the world around us.”

“Working with people from a range of backgrounds and cultures allows us to learn more about the life experiences others face to aid our personal development.”

Maya puts her passion for workplace diversity into practice via her role as the Communications and Engagement lead for Capgemini's Race & Equality Network. In her role, she actively works to create an inclusive community within the company by opening up conversations between colleagues.

She also continued her focus on workplace diversity at the Women in Technology World Series Event where she discussed how everyone can play their part in combating micro-aggressions in the workplace [pictured above]. As part of her presentation, Maya explained how the Diversity and Inclusion policies of an organisation need to align with the day-to day-practices. 

“It’s vital that organisations have inclusive recruitment policies and it’s equally important that this transpires right through to the top level where senior management and business leaders are diverse,” explains Maya.

“This is crucial for inspiring those at the start of their career or wanting to join a company. It’s important that there is someone who looks or sounds like them and they feel inspired to achieve great things too.”

A passion for financial literacy

Prior to her role at Capgemini, Maya worked for in the healthcare sector as a Regional Commercial Finance Analyst. 

Additionally, her passion for finance extends outside of work where she is an advocate for financial literacy. As such, outside of work Maya founded a financial education platform that aims to break down the complexities of personal finance and advance financial literacy amongst Millennial women. This involves making educational content that reaches thousands of women around the world, hosting workshops, speaking at events such as the Women in Finance event and on various panels. The platform was recently been named one of the top 20 financial education platforms in the UK.  

Maya has also been the recipient of a Duke of Edinburgh Award, plus she speaks Chinese. Impressive indeed!

Join talented women like Maya at Capgemini

From implementing innovative projects to solving complex challenges for clients, employees like Maya are thriving in their careers at Capgemini. 

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