Founded in 1991, Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP is the largest certified women-owned law firm in San Diego, and one of the biggest in California.
Managing partner Carolina Bravo-Karimi directs a staff of about 120, including 65 attorneys, at the firm’s downtown headquarters.
Married to a man from Italy, Bravo-Karimi is multilingual. As a child, English was her third language as her mother is from Chile and her father grew up in Iran.
An Irvine native and graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law, the 45-year-old mother of two is recognized for leadership in this year’s Top Workplaces special awards in the small company category.
She said leadership roles tend to come to her naturally. “I think my executive coach once joked, ‘Have you ever joined an organization and not become its top leader?’ And I don’t think it’s happened,” Bravo-Karimi said with a laugh.
The following interview has been condensed for space and clarity.
Do you have a leadership philosophy that you follow?
I truly value connection, and connection at all levels. What I mean by connection is getting to know the people that I work with, getting to know what makes them tick, what gets them excited and what motivates them. One of the most important things we can do as leaders is open doors for opportunities. Without that connection, you don’t know what opportunities your co-workers or your colleagues might be looking for or might be excited about.
Is there somebody you modeled yourself after when you got this managing partner’s job?
The Wilson and Turner in our name are two of our founding mothers of the law firm — Claudette Wilson and Vickie Turner. They were both excellent attorneys and excellent leaders, but each very different. Claudette was the master of collaboration and building consensus. She had a gift for that and I really admired it so I tried to emulate that. Vickie was the master of conviction, making sure that our priorities are spot on. So I’ve tried to marry the consensus and the conviction that I saw from the two of them and make them my own.
What kind of advice would you give to someone who may be on the cusp of becoming the leader of a company, or has that ambition?
Listen and observe as much as possible to determine how you want to lead. There is no one way to lead, and it has to be authentic and sincere in order for you to be effective. But you can learn so much from the people around you. Emulating doesn’t mean that you’re not sincere, but picking and choosing what’s going to work for you and what’s going to work for an organization as well, because my leadership style here at the firm might not mirror my leadership style at home, or my leadership style on the boards that I’m on. It’s also understanding the culture of an organization and ensuring that your leadership style is effective in that culture.
Anything else you want bring up?
I think when you get to work with like-minded, value-driven individuals, like I get to here at Wilson Turner Kosmo — we call it WTK — it’s pretty easy to lead. I work with kind, intelligent, motivated people so it’s a pleasure and it makes it a lot easier.