Janelle Vasquez, a chapter leader with ISACA’s Trinidad & Tobago Chapter, recently visited with @ISACA to discuss her journey with ISACA, why entrepreneurship appeals to her and how she became enamored with Latin dancing, among other topics. For more on Janelle, read this profile on Engage.
How did you first hear about ISACA, and what motivated you to become involved?
JV: I was promoted into a new position within my employer’s IT Strategy, Planning & Risk unit, which included managing the administration of internal and external IT audits, assessing and implementing controls and driving operational excellence in various IT areas – IT procurement, financial expense management and other internal processes. As a solid advocate of being the best version of myself, naturally I sought out a body of internationally credentialled knowledge and certification that would support me in excelling at my new job functions, which led me to ISACA’s doorstep. However, the decision to pursue the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation was prefaced by an earlier introduction to ISACA several years prior, by my former VP Information Technology, Mr. Lennox Phillip, who I interviewed for my final year dissertation on the topic of IT governance.
I became a member of ISACA’s Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) Chapter in 2016 in pursuit of the CISA – a jumpstart to an exciting journey of volunteerism, where I was more than happy to lend my talents in the areas of business transformation and business process re-engineering. Inspired by my newfound connections in my local chapter community, my drive for continuous self-improvement and recognizing where I could make a purposeful difference in strengthening the chapter, I threw my hat in the ring. In 2018, I coordinated the seamless integration of ISACA T&T’s new financial system into operations and led the process transformation in the Office of the Finance Director to embrace the current and future needs of the chapter. This was followed by my exciting tenure as Membership Director in 2019, leading the development of new initiatives that increased membership retention, new member growth and a higher engaged membership overall as part of my vision of “Rebuilding the ISACA T&T Family – Getting Back to Basics.” I am thankful for new friendships and the opportunities to work with our country’s great IT governance, risk and controls professionals.
What have been some of your main career highlights to date?
I am grateful to have had many achievements in my career thus far. The most memorable are those initiatives that made a difference to people’s lives as part of digital and business transformation. When people hear of this topic, the focus tends to structure around strategy, digital capabilities, innovation, and governance, with people and culture not attracting a similar priority. Implementing programs that improved leadership, talent development, employee capability bench-strength and work environment that accelerated company growth stands among some of my most favorite my career highlights. At present, I am enjoying leading the development of a formalized mentoring program for my business unit, where mentees can benefit from the incredible experiences and guidance from senior professionals in the organization on career management, problem-solving, leadership and more.
What does being a lifelong learner mean to you?
Essentially, being a lifelong learner means that learning, whether from a personal or professional perspective, never stops, and goes well beyond the traditional notions of education. This mindset, however, has more to do with an innate core belief that continuous self-evolution and transformation paves the path to a fulfilling life, and necessitates an orientation toward embracing challenges and finding lessons within them, continuously building one’s capability and developing self-mastery with open-mindedness, curiosity, grit, discipline and a genuinely contagious positive attitude. Today’s economy of digitization, AI and automation requires a workforce able to adapt and build new skills for future demands.
Professionally, a few examples of a “lifelong learner mindset” are appreciating the value of agile versus waterfall software development, design thinking and lean thinking. More importantly, being a lifelong learner requires an honest self-evaluation and the courage to challenge one’s opinions, thinking and attitudes, drawing upon new information and making changes along the way. This may reveal new discoveries of what were once self-limiting beliefs that might have prevented one’s growth and progress.
I’m reminded of the following quote from Alvin Toffler: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot reach and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
Tell us about your support group for entrepreneurs and why that is meaningful to you.
Coming from humble beginnings myself, I consider myself a tried-and-true testimony of moments and encounters that have made a positive impact in my life and the ripple effect they have had in my successes thus far. When resources are limited, one tends to become more creative, resourceful and innovative, and it teaches you the value of determination, taking initiative and being proactive. In the field of digital and business transformation, an entrepreneurial mindset is key, and this support group offered me the prospect of exercising my ideation skills and inciting the innovative, problem-solving and creative energies within me.
I believe that we all have special gifts and talents so that we can help each other. Success starts where you elevate others to rise along with you. For me, founding a support group for local business owners provided me the opportunity to coach, mentor, create supportive networks of professionals in different spheres of life, and build leadership skills among local communities to compete in a digitized and highly competitive global market. I’m a firm believer in being part of the change I want to see in the world – and what that meant is empowering those around me. In my own circles, I encourage people to exemplify servant leadership and help to create the opportunity for others you wish you had. BE CHANGE-MAKERS!
You’re very into dancing and the arts – where did that passion come from, and how does that help you from a work-life balance standpoint?
My passion for dancing and the arts was steeped in many generations of my family. My late paternal grandfather of Venezuelan origin and father would dance to, play musical instruments and sing parang (or parranda), which is a popular folk music brought from Venezuela to Trinidad. I grew up seeing dancing in my home, and Latin dancing became a favorite for me – the energy, intensity, vibrancy, not to mention the rapid-fire decision-making in a salsa or bachata dance, connected with those aspects of me and became a perfect expression of “living in the moment.” The importance of work/life balance and health in general is a topic that has grown in importance particularly with the immense impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the world. While the effects are certainly not to be downplayed, I encourage everyone to seek a pastime that offers you fun – the ability to rest, rejuvenate, get energized and stimulate your imagination. Inspiration, creative thinking and innovative ideas are often birthed in environments that influence creative output and are least likely to show up in overly busy, pressured spaces. Experiment and try new things – you may be surprised to learn what you rediscover about yourself.
What excites you most about where the profession is headed as you think about your career outlook going forward?
Throughout my multifaceted career background, I’ve always had a natural penchant for driving effectiveness, efficiency and adaptability through well-designed business processes. Being CISA- certified provided me with a solid foundation in governance, risk and controls in reviewing, designing and enhancing leaner operations. As the world economy pivots on a new wave of interconnected globalization and decreasing barriers to entry for conducting business worldwide, consumer and market behavior, premised by technology and its benefits, has and will continue to change in great magnitudes. Companies with this foresight will require major transfiguration of the way they operate to adapt to the needs of the changing digital environment and consumer demands. This inevitably requires innovative, seamless, unbureaucratic, effective processes supported by digital capabilities, and moreover, a future ready leadership with integrity, empathy, intuition, curiosity and heart. At new levels of competitiveness that the world has never seen, the customer is at the forefront, and great customer experiences starts with great internal/back-office experiences that run on seamless and mature processes. Business transformation, enabled by digital, should make it easier for customers to do business with organizations. In the age of digital transformation, data analytics, agile business, cloud computing and robotic process automation has propelled career landscapes into entirely unprecedented dimensions that leads us toward paths of continuous learning, evolving and renewal. I am happy to see ISACA expanding its offerings and certifications to keep its members conversant with developing trends in the areas of leadership and governance, and I’m excited to see what lies ahead.