Deborah Service, VP in Global Technology Services at Scotiabank Shares Advice on Fostering Future Black Women Leaders

Feb 5, 2021 11:00 AM ET
Image courtesy Women of Influence

Originally published on Women of Influence

By Shelley White

Deborah Service has this advice for young women looking to build their careers: Be open. Be curious.

“Don’t limit yourself and your possibilities because you’re thinking, this is what I know,” says Deborah, Vice-President, Service Management, Global Technology Services at Scotiabank. “You may not know something now, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn it and excel at it. Sometimes your career path gets rerouted inadvertently and it turns out to be the best reroute of your life.”

It’s a philosophy that has served Deborah well throughout her career. Born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Deborah says she never imagined a future in IT.

“When I was in college, if you told me that I was going to wind up working with computers, I would have laughed you out of the room,” says Deborah, who studied Psychology at the City College of New York. “As far as I thought, I hated computers and anything to do with technology.” 

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