This blog is part of our ongoing Women in Technology series.
Monique Artiles is a Director at Consilio, the global leader in eDiscovery, document review and legal consulting services.
Monique assists Fortune 500 and law firm clients with review management on their complex eDiscovery needs. Her experience covers a wide range of matters, including pharmaceutical, banking and financial, and technology. With over 15 years of experience, she serves industry leaders and AMLAW 100 law firms faced with civil litigation and government investigations. Some of her signature engagements include ongoing review management services to a large law firm over a four-year period regarding mortgage-backed securities litigation matters and review and privilege logs of over 10 different financial institutions for a large litigation case.
How did you get into this industry?
After graduating from law school and jumping right into a law firm position, I realized it wasn’t a good fit for me. I responded to a job posting for document review and figured it would be a good place to start while I planned my next career move. That was 18 years ago, and I’ve never looked back. During that time, I grew with the industry and it’s been exciting to work and develop as a document reviewer, to then managing teams as well as some of our larger law firm relationships.
What were some pivotal moments in your career that helped to get you to where you are today?
The breakthrough pivotal moment in my career was taking a chance and sticking with a non-traditional path. Document review wasn’t really a career path that was focused on by law schools. The most pivotal moments in my career have been those where people have shown faith in me and empowered me, whether that be by entrusting me with managing large, complex matters, managing client relationships, or managing our people. That trust allowed me to develop my expertise and empowered me to develop and trust my voice.
Have you ever noticed a time in your career where your gender proved to differentiate you?
Someone once told me that I had gotten to the position I was in at that time, because my superiors were only interested in promoting non-threatening women. It was an eye-opening experience in the sense that I thought that way of thinking was so outdated, but it was still something that women had to deal with. Thankfully, that incident happened over a decade ago and since then, I haven’t felt that my gender has differentiated me in any way. Consilio has many women in leadership positions, and it is refreshing to feel like gender is not a factor in how your career progresses.
What is your advice for someone working in a predominately male workplace?
Trust yourself and your expertise; you have a voice and should use it to impact things that matter to you.
What do you think companies could do to motivate more women to pursue careers in technology?
I think earlier outreach programs would be beneficial. Like I said above, I fell into this industry by accident, I think it would have been great to have been exposed to it earlier. As part of those outreach efforts, we should highlight the opportunities and paths that are available to women in this industry – showcasing Consilio as an example given the number of women we have in leadership positions would help cement the message that this is a great career path.