Dr Karrian Hepburn Malcolm has attained the pinnacle of educational achievement.
She is an accomplished professional, with a bubbly personality, who also happens to be attractive.
So you may think that she would not have to tackle issues of self doubt.
But the reality is that fear is everywhere and affects everyone.
To overcome these challenges when they arise however, Hepburn Malcolm has three words of advice for you “Do it afraid.”
“I know when you are just about to step into a new job or a new opportunity or even start a new course once you have to do anything new I know there is a natural fear that takes over and you might be inclined to withdraw but I would say no, go brave. Make sure you have your support system around you and go brave. Do it afraid,” she said,
And these are not just meaningless words for Hepburn Malcolm.
It is something she has done to get herself to where she is now.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Hepburn Malcolm said her career path has been “a really interesting journey.”
Even though her parents were constrained financially they tried their best to give her a decent education, including paying for her to attend a private primary school.
“I passed for a prestigious high school but when I got to high school I really struggled, I don’t know if it is because my parents were going through a separation, there was a lot happening in the background with the separation my mother was very financially challenged,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm said she wanted to drop out of school and get a job to help with the bills, but her parents would not have it.
She graduated from secondary school and eventually got a student loan to study at university.
While at university she landed her first job.
“I started off in investment banking I would say almost by pure accident. It was the first job I got, I was in university my mother was struggling to make ends meet and I knew I needed a job immediately,” Hepburn Malcolm said.
“I actually started working before I completed my first degree so I started doing classes in the evening and then going to work in the day,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm originally started off as an executive assistant but, because a lack of formal training she did not last very long in the job.
“So my boss was kind enough to give me another shot at something else. He thought that I would be good on the front-line,” Hepburn Malcolm said.
She ended up in customer service where she flourished.
Hepburn Malcolm then set her sights on being a trader which she successfully interviewed for but her boss felt she was better suited elsewhere.
“I was so mad at him and I was so disappointed I just thought it was unfair, I really wanted to be a trader so he diverted my career from being a trader to an investment adviser,” she said.
“So I unwillingly started the job but again based on the relationships that I was able to build with my clients I really flourished there because with each client I made happy I got a referral. I got more business and so looking back I realised that it was the perfect intervention to help steer me,” Hepburn Malcolm said.
Eventually when Dehring Bunting and Golding Ltd transitioned to Scotia Investments, to even Hepburn Malcolm’s surprise she was named the head of private banking at 25 years old.
“That was a really intimidating experience for me because I had no leadership experience. The team I was leading they were very mature, very experienced and the clients that you deal with in private banking are high net worth individuals and institutions so in my mind I said surely they will never listen to me, neither my team nor the clients,” she said.
That pushed Hepburn Malcolm to complete her MBA and to start her doctorate.
She has a doctorate in Organisational Leadership from the University of Phoenix and an MBA in Business Administration and Management.
Eventually in 2011 Hepburn Malcolm moved to T&T and assumed the position of general manager of Scotia Investments.
She eventually left Scotia to join the Unit Trust Corporation as vice president of sales and services.
“Some of the biggest battles I fought were internal. Feeling inadequate, feeling too young, feeling unqualified, feeling like nobody would ever listen to me,” she said.
“In Jamaica it was I don’t have a big name, nobody knows my family, I don’t have any connections, I don’t have any links, I am not from a wealthy background and then coming to Trinidad it was I am not from Trinidad, what are the kinds of biases I might face from a ethnicity perspective or a nationality perspective,” she said.
When she arrived in T&T, Hepburn Malcolm said she was treated with hospitality from the jump.
On Tuesday Hepburn Malcolm’s career path took a different turn as she left the financial sector and was officially appointed the managing director of Guardian Media Ltd.
She said ANSA McAL’s CEO Anthony N Sabga III described the position best when he said it would be” like drinking from a fire hose.”
“It’s just so much and it’s on you and it’s new information and in a way it took me back to that stage in my career when for a moment I felt unsure,” she said.
“It’s a bit of a leap of faith because I’m not from media, I am from financial services, and so weeks leading up to this there were a lot of things going on in my mind but luckily I would say thanks to the experiences I have had so far with the support of family and friends and trusted advisers I was able to enter with a renewed confidence that it would work out,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm said the T&T Guardian newspaper, with its 105 years in existence, must be doing something right.
“I am here to figure out what is the secret sauce and to figure out if I can add anything to the sauce to ensure that Guardian Media is around for not even decades but centuries. And that while I am here I am adding value and that I am here just to turn things up a notch,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm said from doing her doctorate she knew the kind of leader she wanted to become.
“One really good thing that happened is because I had no leadership experience I was trying to understand leadership just based on what I saw and some of the leadership styles I saw they really just did not resonate with me,” she said.
“As a matter of fact they made me quite uneasy so when I saw the authoritative styles at play or people who inspired fear, or people who spoke to their direct reports in a very condescending tone that did not sit well with me because that is not my personality,” Hepburn Malcolm said.
Hepburn Malcolm said she was pleased to see successful leaders being mindful of their staff.
“And so when I came across theories that spoke of charismatic leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership, it was a breath of fresh air for me, so the theories were actually saying that these leaders who connect with people and care about people are actually some of the most effective leaders,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm said research shows that it is okay for a leader to care about the business equally as much as you care about their people.
“So I would say even more than the accolade that comes with completing a doctorate that learning was critical for me because it helped to shape the leader that I am and it helped to give me confidence to be a leader that is authentic to myself and to my personality,” Hepburn Malcolm said.
She lauded her husband for encouraging her to complete her doctorate even when she felt like giving up describing him as the “yin to my yang.”
Hepburn Malcolm said that to her International Women’s Day is an opportunity for women to share their stories
“I think by now the challenges are obvious, so I think more important is sharing the success strategies, and how to navigate the various challenges that women encounter,” she said.
Hepburn Malcolm is currently the treasurer of the International Women’s Forum of T&T (IWFTT).
“Being a part of IWFTT has been amazing, it is really fertile ground for learning because I am virtually surrounded by powerful women who I want to say have done it all, so there is lots of learning, lots of advice. They are a fresh inspiration every time I interact with them,” she said.
“But, most importantly, it is a group of women who have come together to help make it easier for other women to help pave the way.
“It has helped me to self actualise in a way, you know something that feels purely altruistic if you want to call it that, and just knowing that I can help make another woman’s life easier than mine was. So it’s been really amazing,” Hepburn Malcolm said.