Meet Yvoire Whittaker | Strategy Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yvoire Whittaker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yvoire, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
If you google the definition of risk, it defines risk as “a situation involving exposure to danger, harm, or loss”, which, to me, is an incomplete definition. Now, what you define as danger, harm or loss is what determines your response to how you take risk. To me, risk can be measured with the same yardstick that measures opportunity – they go hand in hand. In economics, the Risk Return Trade Off means that higher risk is associated with greater probability of high return and lower risk with a greater probability of smaller return. This is how I prefer to look at what risk means to me and in doing so, realize that a failure is a return that teaches me something. If I don’t learn from my failures and see it as a way to change direction or propel me forward, I am just failing in a black hole. In a similar vein, risk involves being comfortable with managing ambiguity and strategizing around imperfection. If I waited to do something so well that no one would find fault in what it is that I am doing, then I would essentially be doing nothing. Those who risk going too far are the only ones who can find out how far they truly can go. In my life and career, I have attacked doing what I don’t always initially believe I can do because in doing so, I learn how to do it. As Yoda said, “Do. Or, do not. There is no try.” As corny as it sounds, having a “trying” mindset inherently formulates doubt in your mind that generates the probability of failure where you are simultaneously doing and not doing. Trying, AKA a non-commitment to “doing” makes greater room for failure. And while failure is always an option, failure to me is never negative, but only something I can learn from and improve upon. In conclusion, there is only one risk I would avoid, and that is the risk of doing nothing. I’ve learned that the difference between my successes and my failures is not necessarily what I do, don’t do, or how I do it, but the courage to bet on myself and act on the risk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I graduated Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. with a B.S. in Healthcare Management and Policy (and a focus of pre-medicine for the majority of my collegiate career). After graduating, I started working at Deloitte as a Human Capital Strategy Consultant and I also currently work for a skincare startup called Nour that is working to develop skincare product specifically for people with darker skin tones.

I have been with Deloitte for almost four years now and this Fall, I will be attending business school to career pivot from consulting into Venture Capital. One would argue that these interests and career occupations have no correlation (not to mention that I am extremely passionate about both retail/fashion/beauty and diversity, equity and inclusion), and they don’t necessarily do. One day, I hope to be working in a career where I am able to fulfill all my interests at one time, and to be honest, I am not sure that career even exists. However, that does not mean I cannot life to fulfill all in different areas of my life. As they say “jack of all trades, master of none, but sometimes better than master of one.” And, through my experiences, I am most proud of my ability to take career and life risks to follow and accomplish what my passions and interests are, taking in part in various initiatives and projects, but staying true to my purpose: closing the equity gap for people of color in every and all aspects of life.

Right now, I am most excited about pursuing a career in Venture Capital (VC) specifically to influence VCs to expand their investment portfolio to include more black-owned businesses. I believe that entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly viable pathway for individuals to build wealth. However, the barriers to entry, unforeseeable risks and the lack of access to capital are reasons why I have seen many friends, family members, colleagues, and even myself, fail at starting a business. For me, being part of the VC industry means more to me than financing a business – it is an investment in not only the start-up, but the founder, the company’s growth potential and the ability to succeed, and taking risks to bring innovative products and services to our communities. It means giving someone the opportunity to be successful, providing them with the one thing many entrepreneurs lack: capital. Additionally, I have been part of a two-person skincare start-up and supported clients in the start-up space over the last few years as a consultant. Being in consulting, I have learned to master uncertainty and analyze many startup’s biggest challenges. Being part of start-ups, specifically through a two-person skincare start-up for people of color, Nour, I have been developing my instinct, learning to ask the right questions and make on-the-spot, calculated decisions.

Similarly, for the past two years at Deloitte, I have been working with a start-up accelerator for entrepreneurs across Nairobi, Kenya. Through this work, I have supported entrepreneurs to address their business challenges and provide solutions for entrepreneurs in various stages of their company. I have also been working directly with the organization to analyze their position in the market to operationalize their financial model and go-to-market strategies, leading a team of nine to implement new strategic capabilities, transitioning their service delivery model from in-person to virtual and to develop an analysis of payment platforms to transition from manual payment processing to a digital system. Through this redesign, I helped the organization to enhance their value proposition to investors and donors, developing their first key performance indicators and providing a roadmap for the sustainability of the organization. We built a foundation of success metrics to formulate a better business case for their investors. After concluding this work in Kenya and with Nour, now, I would like to take these skills to be able to influence startups through the investment side, making investments in people, all while being inspired by extremely creative and intelligent entrepreneurs that exhibit the ability and potential for high growth within their business.

If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough. There are three things that helped me get to where I am today and have also helped me to overcome challenges that I face: 1) having big dreams and viewing them as achievable even when it seems like they aren’t, so that I am encouraged to take risks, 2) viewing failures as opportunities and 3) seeking our mentors and sponsors. If there is one thing I have learned as an adult it is that life is what you make it and it is truly that you miss 100% of the shots not taken. So, take risks. Take them often. Take them unapologetically and strategically with confidence and courage, understanding and accepting that failure is part of the process.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Sunday: tour of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium Monday: breakfast at Bread Winner’s
Tuesday: shopping at the Galleria and North Park
Wednesday: dinner at Whiskey Cake
Thursday: happy hour near The Star
Friday: walk around Deep Ellum and night out in uptown
Saturday: dinner at Reunion Tower

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
1) God, 2) My family: mom, dad, and brother, 3) My mentors: June Jimenez, Nkiruka Ogbuchiekwe, Wendy Weiss Eder, Kai Cunningham, Mae Abdelrahman 4) My friends: Michelle Darko, Corey Ewing, Audrey Djiya, Dawn Butler, Nicole Woods, Ogechi Nwodim 5) My support system: MLT, The Coworkers That Raised Me, Deloitte’s Finest, Mute

Website: https://www.makingmeyv.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yv.whittaker/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvoire-s-whittaker-03a23374/