Hi Paola! What do you get up to at PayPal?
Hi! I am the Leader for the EMEA Senior Customer Service group in PayPal (ICA). My team supports other internal customer departments as well as the training of new people joining the company.
What I really enjoy most about my role is getting to spend time with my team to learn about their personal backgrounds and lives. I enjoy making connections and understanding people; not focusing on just their jobs (I am naturally curious!).
What does Diversity & Inclusion mean to you?
I’ve been really lucky at PayPal as I have always been in diverse teams and thus it opened my eyes to different cultures, backgrounds and people. I think this has been essential to making me the leader I am now. Working in such a multicultural team allows you to learn a lot about people and what makes them happy and motivated.
As leaders and managers, we meet regularly to discuss the importance of inclusion and where we feel we could have made more inclusive decisions in our everyday processes. We are all held accountable for creating an inclusive environment for our teammates and it is a something which we constantly need to work on and evolve.
For me personally, diversity and inclusion is about being accepted for who I am and how I am, I don’t have to pretend to be someone I am not in order to feel safe and valued. Accepting our differences and understanding them provides an innovative and more productive working environment across all levels that people are proud to be part of.
What is your career journey to date?
I have a masters in English and originally wanted to become a teacher, but later realised this was not my calling. I decided to move into hotel management where I was a Front Office manager before I moved to PayPal as a Protection Service agent.
I worked in back office here and in the Fraud Prevention Team for some time. Through hard work and focus, I was promoted to Senior Agent in Business Support and within 8 months I was promoted again to Team Leader in Compliance.
This gave me a lot of hands-on experience through leading and helping people daily. 12 months later I was promoted to Lead Team Leader in ICA where I managed multiple projects and hiring drives to build the team. After 2 years, I successfully moved into a Senior Team Leader role.
Given the diversity of experience I had behind me, following my 2nd maternity leave I was approached to lead Dublin and Berlin and I was promoted to Group Leader in October 2015.
“Coming out” as LGBT in the workplace can be a tough decision for many. Tell us about your experience?
This is a tough one, before I started with PayPal I did not know what to expect, the problem is it often seems as LGBT you are ‘coming out’ on a daily basis and this brings a lot of stress because of course you don’t know how people are going to react.
People naturally make some assumptions, but I found it so easy to correct people that I have a wife/ partner not a husband, and refer to “her” because that’s what is normal for me. I took a conscious decision to show I am proud to be who I am.”
My wife of 19 years (also then a PayPal employee) also got parental leave after the birth of our twins. I really understood how inclusive PayPal was when I became pregnant. Even though this was such a happy time for the two of us there was a lot of stress involved due to the unknown of how people might react, but when we told everyone it was amazing and eye-opening how accepting and happy people were. Funny thing is that some people have asked me if my children’s blond hair is from my wife’s side (as I am more a brunette). Since this I have also had another pregnancy.
I think large companies have a duty to show their support, last year it made me really proud when the Rainbow flag was raised in front of our building and when Louise Phelan ( EMEA Operations VP) and John Donahoe ( Chairman of the Board at PayPal ) fully supported the same-sex marriage referendum, I felt even prouder.
We are planning to have a big presence this year at Pride in support of the LGBT community- what are your plans for this?
I cannot wait to get out there and get involved. I love the atmosphere, the cheering, the fun and not only the involvement of LGBT members but also everyone supporting.
PayPal has great plans this year, having our own float and area in the Pride village. It’s great to be part of a company which is so supportive of our community. It’s important and it’s appreciated and I am proud to represent as a PayPal People Leader.
What advice would you give to anyone thinking of joining PayPal?
When I came to PayPal I did not know what to expect. I came for the job and the potential of being part of such a large brand. I stayed because I felt at ease, valued and safe and I realised I could make a career here by being me, giving my best and accepting people for who they are.
Hard work, dedication and focus is what drives success here.
My sexual orientation is not a ‘thing’ at PayPal, I am recognised for who I am and the work I do- I am equal to all other employees. I can be 100% true to myself where I can speak about my personal life without being judged or feeling like I have to filter things for the people around me.
PayPal genuinely focuses on its people to ensure they feel included and valued and truly advocates a culture of inclusivity.
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