Rochelle Mello was a year into her first in-house role, running the ethics and compliance program for Avon's Asia-Pacific division in Singapore, when the global general counsel called one evening to say the regional GC was leaving the company.

He asked if she would be interested in taking the job, in addition to overseeing compliance.

"I almost talked him out of it on that initial phone call," Mello said. "All I could think about was, 'Of course I want the role!' This was an incredible opportunity. But I don't know about Malaysian law. I don't know about Chinese law. How can I lead this team of very culturally diverse attorneys across eight markets, some of whom are older than me? And I could hear that he was so disappointed in my lack of confidence."