When Rachel Welch-Phillips walked across the stage on June 17 in New York City to ac­cept the Ris­ing Star In-House Coun­sel of the Year award, she didn’t just rep­re­sent her­self—she rep­re­sent­ed an en­tire re­gion.

At that mo­ment, the ANSA Mer­chant Bank ex­ec­u­tive–the on­ly Caribbean ho­n­ouree at the Women in Busi­ness Law Awards-Amer­i­c­as–be­came a sym­bol of what’s pos­si­ble for Caribbean women in law: bold tran­si­tions, fear­less lead­er­ship, and in­ter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion.

With grace and grit, Welch-Phillips made a bold leap from pri­vate prac­tice to cor­po­rate lead­er­ship—show­ing what’s pos­si­ble when women back their bril­liance and when strong men­tor­ship, like that of­fered by Frances Bain-Cum­ber­batch, helps light the path. Bain-Cum­ber­batch serves as Cor­po­rate Sec­re­tary and Chief Le­gal and Ex­ter­nal Af­fairs Of­fi­cer for ANSA McAL Ltd.

Bain-Cum­ber­batch took what many might see as a cal­cu­lat­ed risk, ap­point­ing Welch-Phillips to a crit­i­cal lead­er­ship role de­spite her lack of pri­or in-house ex­pe­ri­ence. The de­ci­sion, as it turns out, was not on­ly strate­gic—it was trans­for­ma­tive.

Her jour­ney from pri­vate prac­tice to the top ranks of cor­po­rate le­gal af­fairs is not just in­spir­ing—it’s a blue­print for the next gen­er­a­tion of women ready to make pow­er moves of their own.

Welch-Phillips’ jour­ney—from a Lon­don law firm to lead­ing le­gal strat­e­gy at ANSA Mer­chant Bank, a key pil­lar of the group’s fi­nan­cial ser­vices arm—is a tes­ta­ment to what can hap­pen when raw tal­ent meets mean­ing­ful op­por­tu­ni­ty.

Her lead­er­ship has played a vi­tal role in strength­en­ing com­pli­ance frame­works, man­ag­ing reg­u­la­to­ry risk, and ad­vanc­ing sus­tain­able fi­nance, in­clud­ing spear­head­ing ANSA’s En­vi­ron­men­tal, So­cial, and Gov­er­nance (ESG) ini­tia­tives.

But Welch-Phillips is the first to ac­knowl­edge the broad­er ecosys­tem that sup­port­ed her rise. “This award be­longs to a vil­lage,” she shared fol­low­ing the cer­e­mo­ny, ref­er­enc­ing her le­gal team whom she cred­its with sharp­en­ing her think­ing and sup­port­ing the bank’s com­plex le­gal needs, as well as a net­work of men­tors and women lead­ers across the Caribbean and be­yond who have shaped her path.

“This mo­ment is a re­flec­tion of so many peo­ple who have poured in­to me —men­tors who opened doors and of­fered wis­dom, women who showed me what strength and grace in lead­er­ship look like, and a team whose be­lief in me makes even the hard­est days worth it. This award car­ries all of their fin­ger­prints.”

What makes this sto­ry stand out isn’t just the per­son­al achieve­ment—it’s what it re­veals about a cor­po­rate cul­ture that ac­tive­ly sup­ports women in lead­er­ship. Welch-Phillips speaks high­ly of ANSA McAL’s com­mit­ment to ad­vanc­ing women across its lead­er­ship ranks.

From board rep­re­sen­ta­tion to sec­tor-spe­cif­ic roles, the group has made it a pri­or­i­ty to cre­ate space for women to lead, in­flu­ence, and dri­ve mean­ing­ful trans­for­ma­tion. 

“What’s pow­er­ful about ANSA McAL is that women aren’t just in­clud­ed— we’re gen­uine­ly seen, trust­ed, and sup­port­ed. It is tru­ly im­pact­ful to see women above you break glass ceil­ings and pave the way for you to ex­cel be­yond ex­pec­ta­tions–that is what Frances Bain-Cum­ber­batch has done and con­tin­ues to do for me. That kind of be­lief changes how you see your­self. It gives you the courage to take risks, to grow, and to lead in ways that are true to who you are. It’s rare, and it’s some­thing I’ll nev­er take for grant­ed.”

Bain-Cum­ber­batch is a pow­er­ful ex­am­ple—serv­ing as both men­tor and ar­chi­tect of the group’s Le­gal, Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and Cor­po­rate Gov­er­nance func­tion that cham­pi­ons ex­cel­lence and au­then­tic­i­ty.

Welch-Phillips’ recog­ni­tion in New York un­der­scores the ris­ing glob­al pres­ence of Caribbean le­gal pro­fes­sion­als—but it al­so high­lights the im­por­tance of struc­tur­al sup­port in help­ing them reach that lev­el. In a field that has long ex­pect­ed women to prove per­fec­tion be­fore grant­i­ng them lead­er­ship, her sto­ry of­fers a pow­er­ful coun­ter­point: with the right back­ing, women don’t need to be flaw­less to lead.

She is pas­sion­ate about the in­ter­sec­tion of law, de­vel­op­ment, and jus­tice. Known for her strong in­ter­est in cor­po­rate gov­er­nance, ESG in­te­gra­tion, and le­gal in­no­va­tion, Welch-Phillips brings more than le­gal ex­per­tise to her role—she of­fers a broad­er vi­sion of what Caribbean in­sti­tu­tions can be­come when dri­ven by pur­pose and in­clu­sion.

“I’ve nev­er be­lieved that lead­er­ship is about hav­ing all the an­swers—it’s about hav­ing the courage to ask bet­ter ques­tions, to lis­ten deeply, and to lead with pur­pose. The Caribbean has every­thing it needs—tal­ent, in­tel­lect, vi­sion—but we need to keep build­ing sys­tems that be­lieve in our peo­ple be­fore they’re pol­ished. El­e­vat­ing young voic­es, be­ing bold in fa­cil­i­tat­ing sus­tain­able in­sti­tu­tion­al and sys­temic in­no­va­tion - that’s how we un­lock re­al trans­for­ma­tion.”

Welch-Phillips views her Ris­ing Star award as, with­out ques­tion, a per­son­al tri­umph. But more than that, she re­ceives this award as a win for a re­gion whose pro­fes­sion­als con­tin­ue to prove that glob­al ex­cel­lence can—and does—rise from the Caribbean.

“This award means so much be­cause it re­minds me that where we come from doesn’t lim­it where we can go. It’s not just about achieve­ment; it’s about show­ing the next gen­er­a­tion that we don’t have to leave our iden­ti­ty be­hind to suc­ceed. I car­ry Trinidad and To­ba­go with me in every room I en­ter, and this mo­ment is proof that our voic­es, our work, and our sto­ries be­long on the world stage. I hope those read­ing this are in­spired to change the nar­ra­tive: we rise be­cause of where we come from, not in spite of it.”

And as Welch-Phillips’ jour­ney shows, some­times all it takes is some­one will­ing to open the door—and a woman ready to walk through it.