London, Toronto, Durban: Blazing an international trail across the PwC network as an out role model

Emma never set out to be a role model. But that’s exactly what she’s become. From her advocacy on equal rights, shaping parental leave policy, and speaking publicly about her fertility issues, she’s become a prominent, visibly out leader both within PwC and externally. As a gay woman who wanted family and career success in an industry that – at the time she joined it – was dominated by straight men, she struggled to find relevant role models. So she had to forge her own path. And by pursuing and achieving her goals, she became an inadvertent trailblazer and an inspiration to many others. 

It all started for Emma when she developed a crush on a teacher in her mid-teens, when she was growing up in London. When she was 16, she realised that it wasn’t just a crush, and she told her two best friends that she might be bisexual. Within a week, there was a rumour going around her school: "Emma Whalley is a dyke". Her little sister was too young to understand – and as their relationship crumbled over the following year, Emma confided in a teacher at her school, who supported her through the decision to finally come out to her parents.

Even though her parents were supportive, Emma went through a period of self-loathing for the next few years. The problem was that she just couldn't see someone like her living a life that she wanted to live. She felt compelled to hide her true self to an even greater extent when she signed up for the British army at age 18 on a Short Service Limited Commission. The army had only recently legalised homosexuality and it wasn’t acceptable to be openly gay. But even concealing her sexual orientation, she stood out as the only woman in a battalion of 750 men. The experience strengthened her courage, resilience and her leadership skills.

“I learned how to relate to people from multiple different backgrounds,” she says. “And I learned how to navigate the complexities of a severely patriarchal system that was not geared toward women or diversity at all.” Little things constantly reminded her that she was different and didn’t belong — such as being told to wear more appropriate gym clothing because her army-issue shorts were distracting the men. But this experience also gave her greater confidence and resilience. She was an officer and she was being saluted everyday by her comrades. That reminded Emma that it didn’t matter if she didn’t fit the mould: she could still gain respect, build camaraderie and successfully work with people who were vastly different from herself.

When her commission ended, she started at the University of Exeter, where she attained a first-class honours degree in Economics and Finance. Alongside her studies, Emma served in the territorial army reserves and did charity work, including raising £10,000 for charity leading an expedition to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.

Emma had planned to go back to the army after her studies, but after being openly out at university she felt other avenues would be a better way for her to be her true self. Her search for internships eventually led to her joining PwC UK, as a receipts and payments clerk on summer work experience. And she loved it. At PwC UK, she felt comfortable being openly gay from the start, and she met intelligent, inspirational people who accepted her. At the end of her work experience, her bosses encouraged her to join the graduate scheme, which she successfully interviewed for. 

Although Emma always felt comfortable to be her true self at PwC UK, she felt different from many of her colleagues – particularly in the early years, working in male-dominated industries such as financial services and manufacturing. People always assumed things about her personal life and that, when in a relationship, her partner was a man. Emma often made the courageous choice to correct them particularly within PwC, however she often covered up who she was when she was with clients. She felt that she already stood out being a woman in a male-dominated industry and as one of PwC UK’s youngest directors, so she chose to hide that part of herself so as not to attract further attention, negative or otherwise.

“Although there have always been great people at PwC, there was nowhere near the kind of diversity that we have now,” Emma says. She recalls, for example, there were no openly gay managers or senior leaders when she joined. It’s one of the reasons why she became active in PwC’s LGBTQ+ inclusion network (now called ShineOpens in a new window). She was on the committee responsible for defining the LGBTQ+ inclusion strategy, running events and building social networks. 

Emma and her wife got married in 2014, shortly after same-sex marriage was legalised in the UK. “PwC UK provided phenomenal support as my wife and I navigated the challenges of building our family. For example, when the UK introduced a new law supporting shared parental leave in 2015 (while my wife was pregnant), PwC UK updated its policy to provide me and other non-birth parents with 22 weeks of full pay and up to a year of shared parental leave entitlement. While I was on parental leave, PwC UK also adjusted my Director promotion process schedule so that I would be able to attend my promotion panel at a time that worked for me and submit my business case remotely with virtual input from my sponsors. I was promoted to Director that year while still on parental leave.”

Afterwards, the couple decided to move away from London to raise their daughter with all the vibrancy and opportunities of a city, but also be able to pursue their love of the outdoors. A chance encounter with a Vancouverite had brought Canada’s West Coast to their attention, but after speaking to partners in PwC Canada’s Deals practice, there was too good a growth opportunity to pass up in Toronto. Emma took a position there as a Director, where she continued to find colleagues who lived PwC values by genuinely caring about her career progression and personal wellbeing. In Canada, Emma became Co-Chair then Partner Sponsor of the local PwC Shine network.

Momentum in their new life was just building when their two-year-old daughter fell ill and was diagnosed with epilepsy. In those first awful days at the hospital, after their daughter had been airlifted to the leading paediatric hospital in Canada, they didn’t know if she would have brain damage or was even going to survive.

A couple of months later, their daughter was finally doing better and Emma was resuming her regular work when she got a call from the emergency room: her wife had fainted and severely injured herself. During both emergencies, Emma’s colleagues stepped in so that she could stay at the hospital to be with her family. But that is not all PwC Canada did to show support and care for Emma during this time. 

These two incidents forced Emma to show her vulnerability to her new colleagues. “I was on my own in a new country, with an injured wife, a sick child, in a relatively new job, with no family around for support. I had PTSD and was suffering anxiety attacks.” When she opened up, her colleagues were extremely supportive and gave her the time and space to focus on her family and personal well-being. They were unequivocal: “Family comes first.” 

Emma’s colleagues taught her to not feel guilty about taking time out to be with her family or attend her weekly therapy sessions. PwC Canada offers financial support for staff and partners for therapy sessions, such as these, through an enhanced mental health benefit. Emma also discovered a tremendous support network when she completed the award-winning Women in Leadership (WiL) programmeOpens in a new window in 2018. “I was completing the WiL programme as my personal life was falling apart,” she says. “My WiL network was my source of strength and support. It’s because of WiL that I had the confidence to acknowledge I needed to ask for help.”

Eventually, once Emma’s wife had recovered and her daughter’s epilepsy was under control, the couple began trying for their second child. Unfortunately, Emma’s in vitro fertilisation (IVF) process was less straightforward than her wifes. She experienced pregnancy loss twice in eight months, with both cases requiring surgery and time off work. She says, “I was admitted to the PwC Canada partnership in 2020, during my first pregnancy, and even though I took this big step up in my career the support I continued to receive from my partners and PwC Canada was incredible.”

Thankfully, IVF finally worked and Emma gave birth to the family’s second child in 2022. That same year, the family moved to Durban in South Africa to be closer to Emma’s in-laws. Overall, their experience has been positive so far, although Emma and her wife stand out because they are both senior executives and mothers, in a culture where the expectation is that women stop work when they marry or have children. Emma continues to break taboos and promote diversity by continuing to challenge and educate her partners, staff, clients and the communities her and her family spend time in outside work. She says, “It is not always easy to be the one who speaks up, but I feel a personal responsibility to do so. As I’ve developed as a professional I have learned the subtle ways of addressing biases without singling out or isolating people.” Emma continues to play an informal executive sponsor role in PwC’s Shine Inclusion network.

Most of Emma’s time outside work is spent with her young family. She also loves reading and spending time outdoors. Her main focus inside and outside work is to be a positive role model for her kids. And that’s the biggest and most important job of all.

From your experience, how do you sum up Inclusion & Diversity at PwC?

Enabled by staff, empowered by leadership.

What should others know about PwC’s commitment to Inclusion & Diversity?

PwC has an unfaltering commitment to Inclusion & Diversity. But we still have more progress to make to integrate it into every single element of what we do.