Rola Dagher, President, Cisco Systems Canada
In 2019, just ahead of #BlueMonday (the third Monday in January, often credited with being the most depressing day of the year), in an op-ed published by The Globe & Mail, Rola Dagher publicly shared her deeply personal mental health struggles as a young woman growing up in the chaos of the Lebanese civil war. It was a call to action for greater support for those struggling with mental health challenges, and the official launch of an authentic and personal mental health narrative at Cisco, and beyond — combined with follow-up interviews, her story reached 3.5 million. While leading the charge in Canada, Rola encouraged Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins and his Executive Leadership Team to begin the conversations at a global level in company-wide forums shining a light on mental health, which prompted Cisco to offer internal webinars as a support mechanism for employees. She continues to champion the cause through unwavering advocacy, vulnerability, and allyship.