Global Immigrant Stories of Careers and Community is a recurring Generation1.ca series by Generation1.ca Founder and CEO Arundati Dandapani. Featuring inspiring immigrant journeys and expertise, it highlights resilience, career success, and community impact. Through in-depth conversations, the series explores challenges, achievements, and insights that shape immigrant contributions to North America’s workforce and society. This chapter of Global Immigrant Stories of Careers and Community spotlights the immigrant journey of Aurie M. Escobar Ramsey, Executive Director and Privacy & Cybersecurity Counsel, The Estée Lauder Companies.
What does being admitted to the Ontario Bar mean, simply put, and what does this new milestone mean for your career?
Aurie: This accomplishment means a great deal to me, as it is a testament of my commitment and hard work. It’s a culmination of the legal goals I set for myself and it lays down roots for my legal career to continue here in Canada.
As an internationally trained lawyer, what do you think are the biggest obstacles you have to face and overcome compared to local lawyers?
Aurie: I think that, from an accreditation standpoint, it is difficult at first to come to terms with the fact that an internationally trained lawyer (ITL)’s prior legal education and experience may not be acknowledged in its totality here in Canada. I have connected with a wonderful community of ITLs devoted to coming up with ways to seek change in the accreditation process and am excited to see the impact that this community’s efforts will make for future generations of ITLs.
How have your past studies and work experience helped in this process?
Aurie: Having moved to Canada when I was 4 years old, I was fully educated in Canada up to and including my undergraduate university education, so I have a deep understanding of Canada’s political and legal systems. I then pursued a law degree in Panama and practiced law there for 10 years. Being a seasoned attorney with ample international experience in my previous practice has further equipped me with the necessary exposure to understand and embrace differences across legal systems, and to ingest and metabolize the content of the material I needed to study for my accreditation and licensing process in Ontario.
Immigration to Canada
From Panama to Canada, you already have a great deal of study and work experience, can you share with us the opportunity that led you to choose Canada?
Aurie: As I mentioned, I first moved to Canada when I was 4 years old and lived here most of my life until law school. I am privileged and blessed to call both Panama and Canada home, as I have divided my life between both countries, so it wasn’t as much an opportunity that led me to choose Canada rather than a calling to come back and continue my journey here.
What did you see as the biggest challenge in moving to Canada? How did you overcome it?
Aurie: To me, the excitement of coming back to Canada in 2021 distracted me from the fact that it was all happening during the pandemic, so my expectation of coming back to the Canada that I remembered was quite a reality check when I first arrived. The social distancing and isolation that everyone was going through made it impossible to jump right back into the life that I had before I left for law school, but burying myself into my studies for my accreditation and licensing process helped me ride it out and, when I was done, things had slowly returned to a slightly more “normal” state.
Your Career
Which do you think is more important in the profession of lawyers, the degree, the qualification or the work experience? How much of a credential-obsessed profession is it?
Aurie: I don’t think there is a straightforward response to this question, as it really depends on the setting and the subject matter area. There is no question that a law degree and a license to practice are imperative and that years of experience also correlate directly to seniority and compensation. Beyond that, however, considerations such as whether a lawyer is trying to get into private practice, an in-house position, or a public sector role and whether or not that position’s exposure is local or international, definitely impact the value assigned to certain credentials (including experience and qualifications). In terms of subject matter area, it surely varies across specialties, but I can tell you that, for privacy and cybersecurity, while certifications are desirable, years of practical experience are assigned more value. I would attribute this to the fact that the global mosaic of regulatory frameworks, and technology itself, are ever-evolving.
So you’ve been with Estee Lauder now and you work in privacy! Can you share a bit more about what your experience has been cutting across different types of audiences – customers and stakeholders across cosmetics, privacy, law, so many other functions perhaps?
Aurie: Yes, I have been at The Estée Lauder Companies for almost seven years now, well before I came back to Canada. As an in-house counsel dedicated exclusively to North American privacy and cybersecurity law, my one client is the organization, but it’s quite a large and complex one. Depending on the nature of stakeholders’ different projects, I may be called on to proactively assess how to best protect the privacy of employees, consumers, job candidates, and/or research panelists. I find it fascinating to analyze the laws that apply in our region and advise my internal stakeholders strategically, such that I enable them to achieve their business objectives compliantly. I often partner with other functions such as Enterprise Cybersecurity & Risk and the Global Privacy Office to understand how these requirements are operationalized, and we often come together for other, more reactive endeavours, such as incident response and audits. Needless to say, it’s never a dull day, and I love what I do.
Connecting with our Community
A lot of our audience are really going to love how you identify yourself on LinkedIn as a “Dual-Qualified Privacy and Cybersecurity Attorney”. Can you please talk to us specifically about why you or employers value this form of identification?
Aurie: International organizations value international, cross-jurisdictional experience. I would take a step further to say that this is assigned even more value in the privacy and cybersecurity space, as cross-jurisdictional work is a guaranteed part of the job, given the current global legal privacy and cybersecurity landscape.
As you know, we’ve been constantly exploring market insights, policy changes and identifying and thinking about the difficulties that new immigrants to Canada have to face. As an immigrant who has been successful and who has gone on to achieve very good things in your career, do you think there’s anything other immigrants can learn from you on their immigration journey? Or do you have any valuable suggestions to share with the immigrant community in your profession, and also outside?
Aurie: I find myself in a bit of a unique position, as I am an immigrant twice over, but at the same time, I am a local, as I was raised here. There are two very general things I would strongly advise immigrants to do: The first is to seek meaningful connections. I will come back to what I mean by that. Networking is invaluable, and other immigrants who have succeeded in their pursuit of a profession here in Canada are usually open and willing to connect with and support newcomers. Secondly, while I would encourage immigrants to draw from other immigrants’ experiences in ways that are beneficial to them, I would caution against narrow comparisons as a measure of success or failure. Each immigrant’s journey is unique. There is no set time in which certain goals need to be achieved and such pressure is unhealthy. Of course, it helps to set attainable goals and to work toward them, but challenges and obstacles are common and to be expected. To tie this back to my first piece of advice, making meaningful connections means setting down roots and creating as broad a sense of community and belonging as possible, rather than assessing whether or not any given connection may be “useful” in the future. In all of life’s big-ticket items, it takes a village.
Aurie M Escobar is Executive Director and Privacy & Cybersecurity Counsel at The Estée Lauder Companies. An accomplished privacy and cybersecurity attorney with over 10 years of experience in providing strategic legal counsel to international clients and organizations, Aurie excels in navigating complex privacy frameworks and providing tailored advice to the Company, with a particular focus on incident response, consumer and employee privacy, M&A, and R&D. Aurie is licensed to practice law both in the Republic of Panama as well as the Province of Ontario, and holds two CIPP certifications (US and Canada).
Enjoyed what you read above? Global Immigrant Stories of Careers and Community celebrates the resilience, achievements, and impact of global immigrants shaping North America’s workforce and society. If you have a compelling career or community journey and story to share, we would love to learn more. If you are an organization, consider showcasing your brand to a diverse and engaged audience passionate about immigrant success and professional growth. Partner with us to align your organization with impactful global immigrant stories. Email Arundati@generation1.ca to learn more about being featured in or sponsoring this series.
