Faith at work: a life of service in Church and profession

Angela Lee Loy is a practising Catholic, actively involved in liturgical life in the Northern Vicariate of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. Over the years, she has served on the Archdiocesan Finance Council, as a member of the Archbishop’s Appeal, and currently as Chair of the Finance Committee of the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs.

For her, faith and work have never been separate pursuits. They are one continuous journey—a single vocation expressed in different settings.

Q: Can you give us a synopsis of your career path?

My professional life began as a trainee at Price Waterhouse—now PwC—at a time when the accounting profession was overwhelmingly male-dominated. I progressed through that environment and became a partner at 33, still at a time when women in such roles were the exception rather than the rule.

In 2001, I withdrew from PwC to establish Aegis Business Solutions Limited, a financial services outsourcing company. My decision was guided by a growing concern within the profession about independence, particularly the tension between providing both audit and accounting services to the same client.

As it turned out, that decision preceded the collapse of Enron and the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, legislation designed to restore investor confidence and strengthen corporate governance.

Over the years, I acquired two recruitment and HR agencies:  Eve Anderson Recruiting Limited and Caribbean Resourcing Solutions Limited, and founded cybersecurity firm, Cybereye Limited. I chair these companies, as well as Globus Energy, an international energy enterprise.

Beyond the corporate sphere, I also chair two NGOs—the Music Literacy Trust and the Social Justice Foundation and serve on the boards of public and private companies, as well as a Global Impact Organisation that collaborates with the United Nations and other international bodies.

In professional service, I have had the honour of serving as President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC), and as Trinidad and Tobago’s representative on the International Assembly of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Q: How do you think your practice of the faith led to what you do now?

I would not say that faith led me into accounting or entrepreneurship. Rather, faith has always been the foundation beneath everything I do. I have never viewed my career as distinct from my spiritual life.

That foundation was laid by my parents and strengthened through my education at Nelson Street Girls’ RC School and St Joseph’s Convent, Arima, which no longer exists. My parents could not afford to send me to university, so I began working early, including teaching at St Joseph’s Convent, St Joseph. Before taking up that post, I had applied to Price Waterhouse, knowing that the firm would sponsor professional qualifications for those who passed examinations at the first attempt—which I did—and provide study leave alongside.

From my parents I learned one principle above all others: always tell the truth, no matter the consequences. That lesson has shaped every professional decision I have made.

There have been occasions when prospective clients approached me seeking to pursue courses of action that were plainly wrong. In those moments, my response has been simple: “You have come to the wrong company.” I will not compromise professional ethics or moral principles.

While I am accountable to clients, colleagues, and stakeholders, my deepest accountability is to God. Faith provides courage. When one answers to a higher authority, no earthly pressure can override conscience.

Q: What do you now understand your vocation to be?

I see my vocation as a call to serve God through the work entrusted to me. As an entrepreneur in finance and related services, I am conscious that decisions affect livelihoods, families, and communities. That responsibility is not abstract; it is deeply human.

Business, in my view, is not solely about profit. It is equally about upholding human dignity, mentoring those who follow, and contributing to something larger than oneself. The resources, opportunities, and talents we possess are gifts and we are stewards of them.

Through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I seek wisdom in decision-making. Because of that trust, I do not carry anxiety about outcomes. When matters do not unfold as planned, I trust that God’s purpose is still at work. Experience has affirmed that truth time and again.

Q: What are some positives or benefits to you when your work is your vocation?

When work is lived as vocation, it aligns naturally with one’s deepest values. There is meaning beyond the task itself. Even difficult days carry purpose.

A vocation shapes character quietly and steadily. It influences how we mentor, how we lead, and how we serve. Ethical behaviour becomes not a strategy, but a way of life. And perhaps most simply: when work is vocation, it does not feel like a job.

Q: What would be your advice to others who may be trying to fulfil God’s purpose for them through their work?

For anyone seeking to understand how God may be calling them through their work, I offer this reflection: Take time to discern the gifts God has placed within you. Seek a path aligned with your moral convictions. Invite God’s guidance not only in major decisions, but in ordinary daily choices. Practise gratitude. Ask the Holy Spirit to shape both your competence and your character.

Lead by example. Remain humble. Let your work be an offering of service, not a pursuit of recognition.

When faith and work are woven together, life becomes not a balancing act between sacred and secular, but a unified act of worship—lived out in boardrooms, classrooms, parishes, and communities alike.