MBA Mama Spotlight: Evelyn Tee of BCG, Wharton
Evelyn Tee is a 2015 grad from Wharton School of Business. Prior to business school, she served on the Board of the World Bank in Washington D.C. as Singapore’s Advisor to the Executive Director of Southeast Asia and held positions at the Singapore Government Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environment. Post-MBA, Evelyn has transitioned to be a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Washington D.C.
Evelyn and her husband decided to become parents during her time at the World Bank and they are loving parents to their son Robert, age 5. Since the move from Philadelphia to Washington D.C., their main focus has been to help Robert adjust to his new home, new school, and mom’s new travel schedule. Evelyn said she, “want[s] to ensure that he has a secure home environment in the midst of all this change to his life, especially with me being physically absent the majority of the week.”
As part of our Spotlight Series, Evelyn connected with the MBA Mama team to share some of her experiences as a Consulting mom.
What has been the biggest career challenge you’ve faced since becoming a mom?
I was a summer consultant at BCG prior to joining full-time, so I was aware of the type of work environment and work culture of BCG. Even so, the biggest challenge has been the travel and knowing that the travel is a constant in the job.
Consulting is known as a demanding industry — what are you doing to excel in your role at BCG and your role as a mom?
Knowing your personal boundaries and guarding your personal time is important. During my off-days (i.e. weekends), I make it a point to spend one-on-one time with Robert. I take him out on mommy-son dates like having pancakes at a local cafe.
On the work culture front, BCG has a PTO (predictability, teaming, and open communication) program for all its offices. In layman terms, my team and I set up what the team’s expectations with regards to working style and protected times, and we strive to meet those expectations every week. It is on me and also on my team to create an environment during these check-ins where I feel open enough to voice out our concerns if we feel our personal times have not been protected. So far, this has worked really well for me, and I am grateful to BCG for trying to help make work-life balance a priority, in a demanding work environment.
Do you have any apps, best practices or tools that you use to manage your time?
No apps, but I do use Google calendar for personal events (kid’s doctor appointments, parent-teacher conferences, kid’s birthday parties), and that syncs with my work Microsoft Outlook calendar, so that I can view all my events in my calendar.
At the end of the day, tools can help you organize your schedule, but the prioritization has to be based on your values. For example, I skip office happy hour events on Friday because I want to pick my son up from school every Friday at 5.30pm. I may not be able to pick him up Monday-Thursday, so I protect Friday evenings, because that is my commitment to him.
What childcare options do you utilize?
I wouldn’t call it a childcare “option”, but the biggest reason I’m currently able to do the job I’m doing is that I have an incredibly supportive husband who is able to fulfill the role of the primary caregiver when I’m away. He’s also told me that one of the reasons that he’s able to do what he does is because I trust him and I don’t question the parenting decisions he makes.
Currently, my son goes to a Montessori school from 8am-5pm. It’s a full-day program with after-school care activities including yoga, soccer, music, and crafts. I also use the back-up care options from Bright Horizons that BCG provides as a benefit on days where Robert’s school is closed.
That’s great to have that support! Many of our readers don’t have kids but are thinking about the right time — when did you know it was the right time to start a family and how did you approach this major life decision?
I think everyone will have their own factors of what makes the most appropriate period to start a family. For me, I had been happily married for a couple of years, I was healthy, my job at the World Bank was stable and had childcare options. All these factors drove me towards the decision that starting a family then would be an appropriate time.
Moving away from family planning, what motivates you to do the work you do?
I am motivated by personal drive to develop myself to my fullest potential. I’m also motivated to provide for a safe and secure home for my family.
What are you passionate about outside of, or at, work?
I’m passionate about 2 things. 1) Seeing women overcome gender stereotypes and barriers, to reach their fullest potentials. And if that means women being in leadership positions, that would make me happiest. 2) Enabling women to more sustainably juggle work and motherhood, while still having moments of time to be themselves, and not having to live up to any expectations of what a “modern woman” should achieve.
How do you see that your time at Wharton has shaped your leadership style at work?
Being at Wharton gave me the time to observe and work with some of the most talented, driven and dynamic women that I have ever met in my entire life. It gave me new confidence and admiration of what women can achieve.
I’m not sure if my generation will be the generation to finally achieve gender parity, but it’s certainly heartening to know that there are all these amazing women out there, who are all working towards the same goals.
