Gloria on how PwC Canada is empowering Black leaders

Though my family is Nigerian, I grew up in Kenya and always had a strong interest in math and the sciences. In my final year of high school, my dad came across an article that featured an actuary, a career choice that was new to both of us.

Intrigued by its potential, I pivoted from applying to medical schools to those with actuarial programs. Having been accepted to both Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania —The Wharton School, I chose Wharton since they had an actuarial science program. This was the start of my 15-year journey to becoming an actuary. 

After graduating in 2010, I joined the insurance industry doing commercial property and casualty actuarial pricing work. Over the next decade, I worked in Philadelphia, New York City and Toronto. I got married and started having kids while continuing to take my actuarial exams, which I completed in 2021, a career highlight.

My most recent career highlight, however, was joining PwC Canada in 2023, shortly after having my third child. This was an exciting moment for me, and for my dad as well, who started his accounting career at PwC Nigeria.

Today, alongside one other director and a managing director, I oversee a team of approximately 40 property and casualty actuaries within Risk Modelling Services. As a team of actuaries, we provide risk quantification services, helping organizations understand and manage their top risks by forecasting future events based on their past data and industry data.

Less than a year after joining the firm, I had the opportunity to take part in the second cohort of PwC Canada’s Amplifying Black Leaders program (ABLe). As a new hire with young children leading a team in a new environment, I found ABLe instrumental to my professional growth at PwC Canada. It taught me the importance of self-image and the need to overcome fear to embrace the discomfort of the unknown. It emphasized the importance of one’s intentionality in leadership, and it helped reinforce how to be an effective leader.

My leadership style has always encompassed the belief that each person can thrive in an environment where their holistic self is supported and valued and where they feel they truly belong. Programs like ABLe are crucial in bringing together and nurturing talent who often don’t see themselves represented in leadership—not just in the workplace, but also in their daily lives. I’m really proud to be part of a firm that’s committed to empowering Black leaders.

For young Black professionals who may be reading this, I encourage you to believe in yourself, pursue your career on your own terms and always embrace new opportunities. You never know where they might lead.

Gloria is a director in our Assurance practice. She’s a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, an associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.