The 2020 Rising Stars of the Profession: Rachel Chesley

Rachel Chesley was teaching high school English right after college and, while it made her very passionate about educational equity and gave her an immense respect for career educators, she had a really hard time with it. A family member in an adjacent field thought she might enjoy restructuring communications work. 

"I reached out to a few firms, found a new role that wound up being a perfect fit, and six-and-a-half years later, here I am!"

Chesley is a Managing Director for FTI Consulting and says she's proudest of the deep relationships she's been able to build with clients that have been going through some of the most challenging moments of their careers. Everyone sees restructuring or bankruptcy headlines and thinks about the customers, the product, or the deal itself, which are all very important. But there are also really hard-working people behind those headlines facing a lot of demands and uncertainty themselves.

"This is why I love restructuring work. Helping clients work through the strategy, logistics, and emotions of those highly charged situations so they can come out on the other side communicating effectively is the best part of my job," Chesley says. "When I think back on my cases, I think about the individual contacts I had along the way and the difference our work and support made for their ability to navigate the complexities of communicating a bankruptcy or crisis."

On a personal level, Chesley says being reliable and trustworthy are the baseline for building successful relationships in this industry and she's gotten an incredible amount of mileage by simply treating people with respect and empathy and taking the time to give feedback; this is as true for clients as it is for direct reports and colleagues. 

"And, more importantly, outside of myself, I have an amazing team at FTI and sponsors in our senior leadership that have enabled me to thrive," she says. "I've never questioned if I can achieve here—it is always a question of 'how much' and 'what's next?' "

Looking ahead, Chesley says she is excited to expand the firm's restructuring communications business even further—2019 was a great year for the team and 2020 is already shaping up to surpass it by leaps and bounds. "Growing a business and expanding our foothold in the marketplace is the big picture stuff that gets me excited to go to work in the morning."

Q&A: What does winning a Rising Stars of the Profession award mean to you?

Chesley: "I work hard because I genuinely love what I do— and because of this, a lot of my identity is tied to my work. As a new mom constantly juggling priorities, it is an incredible honor to be recognized for that hard work among a talented group of young professionals."