Executive Leadership Support Forum: Speaker Interview

Raquel Clarke
Executive Assistant
Cardtronics

Raquel Clarke is an Executive Assistant that currently supports the CFO and SVP of one of the largest ATM processing companies in the US & Canada.

Self-described as a “Jill of all trades” the thing that Raquel loves best about her job is that no 2 days are the same, and the day is always fast paced and full of surprises. With over 5 years of Office Administration experience, she is passionate about finding new and more efficient ways to get things done and maximize her teams time and effort. A huge fan of processes and task lists, these are the tools that she uses to not only manage her two executives, but to manage a busy office of over 120 people.

Recently bit by the travel bug, you can catch her wherever the sun takes her, or volunteering at the nearest animal shelter. Raquel holds a B.A in Criminology from York University and Business Administration Certificate from Sheridan College.

Raquel will be one of the leading executive assistant contributors at the Executive Leadership Support Forum: Toronto on March 7-8, 2018.

Why is the Executive Leadership Support Forum important for Executive Assistants?
When I first decided that being an Executive Assistant was where I wanted my career to go, the first thing I did was start looking for blogs, forums and groups where EA’s come together to discuss best practices or simply bounce ideas off of each other. The ELS forum combines all of these things, I feel it is so important to have a network of like-minded people to learn from and discuss things that can make our busy days easier. Any EA that is serious about progressing in their career should join the ELS forum.

Name one thing you hope to learn or discuss with your peers at the ELS Forum?
As someone fairly new to the position, I am most looking forward to meeting seasoned EA’s that can give me the best tools and advice to be the best I can in my role currently and in the future.
I am also looking forward to learning more about project management and how other EA’s manage projects in addition to their own daily tasks and responsibilities.

In your mind, what is one tool you can’t live without or find especially helpful in your position?
The one tool I have learned recently that helps track projects and time is Microsoft One Note. It is a great tool to build out projects and tasks.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself when you were first starting your career?
As most Executive Assistants, I started my career as a receptionist and worked my way up to being an Executive Assistant. Looking back, I would give my younger self this most important piece of advice: never listen to anyone that says you can’t do it and learn as much as you can from everyone around you. Soak up as much information and skills that you can because chances are you will use it at some point in your EA career.