Women of Influence+: Marta Cano Escobar

Marta learned early that allyship often shows itself in unexpected ways. As a civil engineer working in Colombia, she was frequently the only woman on large job sites, often feeling isolated and unheard. “It wasn’t a place where I could share my ideas, especially with my bosses. I didn’t have a lot of companionship.”

Unexpectedly, she bonded well with the site workers doing labour-intensive tasks. “Though I was the lone woman on the job site, and they could have treated me very differently, they were always the kindest people to work with,” Marta recalls. They helped her feel safe while working on job sites late into the night by walking her to her car and checking in on her well-being. The site workers were her allies, creating an affirming and welcoming environment that made her feel that she belonged. Thanks to their allyship, she could bring her whole self to the job site knowing that she worked with people who did not discriminate against her because of her gender. They embraced the diversity she brought to the field and used their privileges as men to show her their support.

“They were the best kind of people to work with and showed me that while you may have certain privileges compared to others, it’s how you use that privilege that matters.” This lesson, and others she received through the 2017 WCM Executive Coaching Award, are ones she carries through in her coaching of teams as the Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Equity Derivatives Sales at Scotiabank. She’s also the organization’s Co-Chair DEI Executive Champion of Global Banking and Markets. Her ultimate goal is to level the playing field so everyone gets included at the proverbial table. “We all need an ally. We all hold privilege over each other. We have to work together so everyone’s lives can be better.”

From Engineering to Global Banking

A self-proclaimed “nerd from the get-go,” Marta was born into a family of engineers and architects. Her father ran his own engineering firm in Colombia. Excelling in math, she eagerly pursued civil engineering at Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia after high school.

“I went straight onto the job site,” she says, working on major infrastructure projects like transportation hubs, big box stores, hotels, and condominiums. “I was wearing a hard hat, overalls, and working with men in their early 20s as their concrete structure resident engineer. It was dangerous, dusty, messy, and the hours were long.” Marta loved building structures that could withstand the test of time. “As an engineer, you have to measure, re-measure, and triple-measure because lives are at stake. It requires extreme focus and passion.”

While working on the construction of a hotel and shopping mall in Panama, Marta was first exposed to the world of finance. As the project’s deputy manager, she led conversations with the bankers funding the development. “They wore nice clothes and were very familiar with numbers – I was definitely interested in moving onto a role where I didn’t get dusty or have to wear work boots!”

This led Marta to Canada, where she earned her MBA at the Schulich School of Business at York University. She learned about Scotiabank’s Global Capital Markets Sales and Trading Rotational Program, a 12- to 18-month initiative for students wanting to delve into banking. That was in 2006. Nearly 18 years later, Marta remains at the Bank, having worked her way up from being an Associate in Global Banking and Markets to running the Bank’s Structured Notes Desk in Canada and managing equity derivatives sales teams globally.

“Scotiabank has given me so many opportunities to develop my career. There weren’t many Latina women in the banking world early on, and it sometimes felt like you couldn’t raise your hand or sign up for programs to stretch yourself, but my leaders saw my passion and what I was capable of. They sponsored me. They were my allies. They helped me grow.”

A Passion for DEI

“I once heard allyship and DEI described as the following: diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to go and dance; and allyship is the DJ that plays all kinds of music so everyone can have a good time. It’s a great analogy because it shows that when everyone works together, everyone can thrive,” she says.

“What we all need to realize is that every single one of us needs an ally. We all need support.” This is as true for women from equity-deserving groups wanting to break glass ceilings as it is for white men struggling with mental health and wellness, Marta adds. “The challenge in all these discussions about DEI is to discuss it with the right mindset and to ensure everyone benefits from whatever policies are put in place. It’s not a zero-sum game. We all do better when we rise together.”

Marta opposes cancel culture as it is too polarizing. “If you can’t make a mistake, you can’t learn. I remember in the early days some people were nervous to say LGBTQ+ because they were worried they’d get the letter order wrong. But I kept telling everyone that allyship can’t start out of fear.”

The award-winning leader works hard to create a safe space where all her employees feel they can listen, learn, and grow as allies. She pushes herself to show up authentically and discusses the challenges she’s faced in growing her career over the past two decades. “I am Latina. I am loud and I am passionate. As a woman, I’ve often held myself back because of all this, but I’ve learned that whenever I do that, I do a disservice to everyone around me. So, I’ve learned to use my strengths in positive ways and channel them, so people want to hear what I have to say.”

Marta offers educational tidbits to empower younger staff members. One example is to arrive early to meetings so “you can sit at the center of the boardroom table. There you’ll be in the middle of the conversation instead of in the corner where it can bypass you.” She also gives everyone the benefit of the doubt and reframes situations to understand the potential motivation behind someone’s missteps, never shaming or labelling things negatively.

Her goal is to break down barriers and unite people in the common goal of listening, learning, and growing together. “It’s hard to get people to see your point of view. Sometimes we live in an echo chamber. That’s true for everyone. It takes a lot of negotiating and communicating to get people to understand what we’re all trying to do,” she says. “But allies are everywhere. We just have to realize how to bring them into every conversation. I know it’s a lot of work but we all have to keep this DEI conversation going – whether it’s on a construction site or on the trading floor.”

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