I joined BCG in 2000 from IIM Calcutta and am an Associate Director in the New Delhi office. I lead BCG's social impact and development practice in India.

Before I joined BCG, I never really thought I could stick to the same job for more than 3 - 4 years. Well, here I am, 15 years later.

Respect and freedom have been vital in encouraging me to explore. I have worked across practices, geographies and client types. A few years ago, BCG was as supportive as always when I came to the decision that I wanted to set up the Social Impact and Development practice in India. Three years hence, I continue to enjoy the thrills of working with clients from a diverse pool of government and non government organizations that includes the Planning Commission and the United Nations.

BCG has always been there for me personally too. At various points in my career, I have availed of options such as taking a Leave of Absence to pursue my non-professional passions, moving offices within BCG as my husband moved jobs and working part time to spend more time with my young children.

Seema holds a bachelor's in engineering in the field of electronics and electrical communication from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. She also has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Seema initially joined BCG in Mumbai, and she has had the opportunity to work in various BCG offices including a stint in Jakarta, Indonesia and a longer period in New Delhi.

As a woman, my key need is to balance my personal and professional goals. My ideal atmosphere is one that gives me the space to perform, without constraining my personal choices. BCG has lived up to its promise in giving me just that, and much more.

When I joined BCG, I was doubtful whether highlighting personal needs would be seen as a sign of inherent weakness and therefore might be considered my biggest handicap as a female consultant. Contrary to that, I was encouraged to always speak out and say what would help me fit best within the system. I was told about examples of women who had been able to balance the personal and professional and still command increasing respect amongst their peer group.

Over the last year, I have found the firm extremely flexible in understanding my changing role as a married woman. It has not only provided me with the time and space to rationalize travel but has also provided me the opportunity to work with managers who are willing to give me the opportunity to decide my own work-life mix.

With a business that is as demanding and challenging as ours, listening to these small but vital concerns is really commendable. I think that's what makes us a class apart. We will always be the employer of choice for women around the globe because we come across as a firm that one can build a long term career with, without letting one's life slip away.

Shweta did her MBA at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, in the year 2007. Prior to that, she worked with Everest Group in the area of HR outsourcing. She has also worked with Kalyani Steel as a management trainee. She is a metallurgical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

I have found BCG to be incredibly supportive of me during critical times. When my husband needed to relocate from Chicago to New York, BCG made it easy for me to transfer to the New York office, and I didn't miss a step in my own career.

I first came back from maternity leave when Noa, my daughter, was 14 weeks old. Although I had the option to return part-time, I opted to work full time. Knowing, however, that I now have competing priorities, BCG has only put me on cases that require no travel, enabled me to set my own schedule so I can spend a few hours a day with Noa, and connected me with knowledgeable, experienced mentors to smooth my transition.

BCG has helped me to balance my priorities and to feel fulfilled in both my personal and professional life.

Prior to joining BCG, Liraz worked at Caspi & Co. and Winograd, Resenboim & Co, and she has also served as an officer in the Israel Defense Force.

Liraz holds an MBA with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business, and she earned her bachelor's degrees, summa cum laude, in law and economics from Tel Aviv University.

BCG has a long history of hiring, developing, and retaining successful female leaders, particularly in Chicago. Through my involvement with the women's initiative, I've been a part of our efforts to build upon this success and ensure that BCG in Chicago continues to be a place where women thrive.

But more importantly, I've experienced this support firsthand in my own career development. Since day one, I've received great mentoring and coaching from BCG women who have successfully forged paths before me.

Since the birth of my son, flexible staffing and case assignments have helped me develop the right balance between my work and my personal life. BCG's commitment to supporting its professionals, and finding a balance that works for their families, was a critical factor in my decision to join the firm. Today, it remains a critical factor in my career progression.

Kate holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in economics from Dartmouth.

In her leisure time, Kate enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her husband and two children.

Being a woman in management consulting is definitely challenging at times since in many industries you still find all male executive management teams. With that said, being a woman also brings you a lot of benefits to leverage. Women typically have an advantage when it comes to building strong interpersonal relationships with clients, and clients are increasingly demanding mixed teams.

I also believe women bring empathy and diplomacy to the teamwork, which is something male colleagues can have a hard time matching. At BCG there is a lot of emphasis on making women succeed by offering flexible work patterns, female mentors, and hosting yearly female conferences where women meet to network and learn from each other.

I always get very inspired and energized when I meet senior female role models at these conferences as they make me aware of what I can achieve at BCG.

Mai-Britt holds a BA in international business from Copenhagen Business School and the Stern School of Business in New York, and a master's degree from Copenhagen Business School and Stockholm School of Economics.

The London Women's Initiative's overall objective is to increase the attractiveness of a long-term consulting career to women, and therefore to improve BCG's ability to attract and retain the best women available.

To achieve this, BCG is seeking to better understand what is important to women in an attempt to ensure BCG can both meet their needs as well as provide a workforce culture that is as attractive to women as it is to men. Through a vibrant schedule of breakfast meetings, training sessions, mentoring lunches, bonding and women's alumni events, we provide a forum and a supportive network where our consulting women can socialise and discuss issues and topics of interest.

Our CEO, supports the Women's Initiative wholeheartedly, and he recognizes that "women are extraordinarily effective in our client work, in ways that are increasingly important as we seek to deliver change in organizations"

Niamh graduated 1st in class in International Marketing and Languages from Dublin City University, during which time she spent a year at the University of Trier, Germany.

When I started at BCG, I was already used to being one of very few women, whether in my academic classes of econometrics and formal logic or as an intern in the Ukraine. At BCG, I quickly realized that there are so many diverse backgrounds that there is no room for gender stereotypes. Instead, there is an explicit invitation to define your individual way and style as you strive to succeed.

Consulting requires analytical rigor and structured thinking to solve client problems intellectually. But it also requires instinct and sensitivity to implement solutions effectively—attributes that are commonly seen as linked to “female intelligence.”

It was unusual for many of my senior client counterparts to work with me as a young female consultant on the key strategic questions of their businesses. Yet, consistently, they accepted and respected me in this role. This early exposure and responsibility at a high level gave me the accelerated and intense learning experience I was looking for. Being supported by a mentorship network of successful women at BCG, I always felt prepared to go to the next step.

In my current position, as a principal at BCG and the mother of two young children, I perceive BCG as unique: it accommodates individual needs, offers great flexibility, and creates a platform to succeed in a highly demanding business environment. It allows me to drive change and to assume responsibility. Since I started a family, flexibility has been very important to me as I seek to continue my business career. I can truly say that BCG is determined not only to recruit, but to retain, female talent.

Ulrike studied economics and philosophy at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, the Science Po de Paris in France, and the University of Hamburg in Germany.