International Women's Day: Careers, challenges, and changes

For International Women's Day this year, The Current honors global female marketing leaders around the world. We spoke with six influential women about their experiences in business, they shed light on which stereotypes need to be challenged, how the industry is changing, and the best piece of career advice they’ve received.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given in your career, who was it from, and why has it been so invaluable?
One piece of advice I’ve valued was from my manager at the time when I was juggling early motherhood and my ambitious career aspirations. My whole approach to leadership was to model myself on other successful leaders. However, this lacked authenticity and it must have been obvious to others. My manager simply reminded me one day that I could be successful and be myself. This was both profound and a huge relief, enabling me from then on to lean into a more authentic leadership style, which has ultimately brought higher team engagement and performance along with greater work-life balance.

From when you began your career to now, have you seen a big shift in the representation of women in the industry?
I have witnessed a huge shift in the representation of women in the industry from junior to board levels, along with a much stronger recognition of the need for gender diversity in all areas of media and marketing. Reinforcing our commitment to gender equity and work-life balance are initiatives such as "SCA YourWay," [a return-to-office plan] which promotes flexible working arrangements. Whilst COVID was an incredibly challenging time for all, it did accelerate many more successful flexible working arrangements, increasing the effectiveness and well-being of our people and our business outcomes.

How is your organization and the broader industry tracking in terms of diversity and inclusion?
At SCA we are committed to championing a culture where all our employees feel supported and valued. We are focused on achieving gender equity in a variety of ways, including via our policies and offerings to our people. We are very proud to be announcing on International Women’s Day this year a renewed parental leave policy, which provides 20 weeks paid parental leave for a primary caregiver, and four weeks paid parental leave for a secondary caregiver. This new initiative positions SCA as the genuine leader in the Australian media industry, and I very much look forward to seeing it change the lives of our teams.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given in your career, who was it from and why has it been so invaluable?
"Never let anyone else be responsible for your career." One of my former colleagues imparted this wisdom on me as she was leaving her role. It’s simple and essential advice, but I find that a lot of people struggle to apply this. If you report into a manager, it’s easy to assume that it’s their responsibility to make sure you’re growing and learning. And while that may be true, we need to remember that managers and executives are managing dozens of requests from across their organization. While your growth should be important to your manager, you are your biggest advocate, and you’re the only person who truly knows where you want to go and how you’re going to get there. Your career isn’t outside of your control. Your network, mentors, and bosses are going to help you along the way, but you need to make things happen for yourself too. At the time my colleague offered me this advice, I felt like it was something I needed to hear. Now, it’s advice I reflect on whenever I’m considering making power moves at work.

From when you began your career to now, have you seen a big shift in the representation of women in the industry?
I’ve been in the workforce for 10 years, and luckily, I entered during a time when I saw and reported to strong female leaders. However, I didn’t see female representation in the C-suite. I think organizations are becoming more aware that women are essential to the growth and success of their businesses and their teams. I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to see women and women of color leading and operating businesses at the highest levels.

How is your organization and the broader industry tracking in terms of diversity and inclusion?
One of the reasons I was most impressed by Tastemade is that this company truly values diversity inside and out. Like many other Black women, in my career, I’ve been “the first,” and oftentimes the “only.” It was refreshing to join an organization and see people of color having a seat at the table, (creating the table!), and creating content that connects with multicultural and global audiences. At Tastemade, we’re a group of diverse individuals across multiple ethnic and racial backgrounds. We want to authentically connect audiences to content that reflects the world around us. Tastemade is truly a leader in diversity and inclusion, and I’m hopeful that other media companies will follow suit.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given in your career, who was it from and why has it been so invaluable?
I have heard it said that when women speak up, they’re often told they are stubborn — whilst when men do, they’re perceived as confident or opinionated. As someone who has been told many times in my life that I am stubborn, it made me think about how being given feedback on my alleged stubbornness has caused me to hold back on my point of view, when in similar circumstances a male may not have. Throughout their careers, women can often unknowingly be held back by how we are spoken to; or spoken about in subconsciously gendered ways. Statements like this have helped me ensure I don’t hold back, especially on things that really matter to me. But because perception is so often reality, the way I deliver my point of view is just as important as the message itself. So, now I don’t hold back but do ensure I deliver my message in a way that ensures people are more receptive to what I have to say.

From when you began your career to now, have you seen a big shift in the representation of women in the industry?
The industry has changed so much since I started over 20 years ago. I have been very fortunate to work with many inspirational women, including several female CEOs throughout my career. However, when starting out there were certainly a lot more men, especially in positions of leadership. Now, when I look across the office or connect with media partners and clients, I am just as likely to be interacting with women as I am men. In an industry that is all about understanding and communicating with everyone, having a balance of gender is so critical to the quality of the work we produce.

In your role, what was the biggest challenge or adjustment you faced?
Adjusting to our industry as a mother was a big challenge. We work in a demanding, time-intensive industry. I remember looking around the office in my early years, before I had my son, wondering where all the women 30-plus+ had gone, and wondering how I would maintain this career that I love with a family. Luckily, by the time I started my family, Publicis Groupe had flexible working policies in place, and that made the transition back to work much easier. It is still a challenge to juggle family commitments with work commitments, but it helps that we have a huge focus on making our company as family friendly as possible in order to attract and retain the best people.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given in your career, who was it from and why has it been so invaluable? 
Set your ego aside and hire people you admire — ones who’ve created work that makes you jealous and who you believe could one day take your job. I can’t quite remember where that nugget came from, but it’s a mantra that has helped guide me as I’ve made hires and helped build teams throughout my career. Being surrounded by a village of brilliant people whose magic is different than mine means more opportunities to supercharge an idea that needs a unique perspective. Those kinds of partnerships are what creative dreams are made of.

From when you began your career to now, have you seen a big shift in the representation of women in the industry?
Absolutely, and it’s thrilling. As I’ve built my “personal board of directors," I’ve found it much easier in recent years to include women I admire, who’ve done amazing things and have been unapologetic in setting high standards and blazing new paths. But we still have a long way to go.

How is your organization and the broader industry tracking in terms of diversity and inclusion?
I’m cautiously optimistic. Meaningful change takes time. Energy. Dedication. And a whole lot of persistence. Truthfully, I’m seeing it happen across the industry. Is it moving as fast as I’d like it to? Absolutely not. But there is real momentum that I don’t see slowing down any time soon, because people are starting to “get it.” How can we not include voices that represent the world around us to authentically speak to people who live in that world on behalf of our clients? We owe it to ourselves and to our clients to champion inclusion and diversity efforts of all shapes and sizes.

Since the start of your career, have you seen a big shift in the representation of women in the industry? 
Absolutely. It is incredible to see the increase in female representation in senior-level roles and board positions across Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies. There is still a lot of progress to be made but when I think about the early days of my career working in media in NYC the representation of women at the most senior level is better.

In your organization and the broader industry, how is diversity and inclusion tracking?
Our global team at dunnhumby is made up of around 55 percent male and 45 percent female colleagues, and we have a range of initiatives in place to improve our gender balance including our Women Returners program, inclusive policies focused on menopause, fertility, and pregnancy loss; balanced recruitment shortlists; and our inclusive sponsorship program, Catalyst.  At dunnhumby, diversity outcomes are just one element of our DEI journey. Through our flagship inclusion program, Belonging@dunnhumby, we’ve set the expectation that all our people contribute to building an inclusive culture, where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is free to be their authentic self at work. The program launched in 2021 with a series of global summits and has continued into the Embed phase as we entrench inclusive behaviors into our day-to-day working by acting with integrity, empathy and courage.

In your role, what was the biggest challenge or adjustment you faced?
Retail media is an exciting, fast-moving part of the dunnhumby business, and I lead a large team with ambitious growth targets. My goal is to keep them motivated, remove obstacles and distractions, and provide the right enablers. Making sure the team stays motivated and feels like they are supported and growing in their careers whilst going through a transformation can be challenging, but it’s something they are facing into brilliantly.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given in your career, who was it from and why has it been so invaluable?
Having been raised in a family of strong women at least in the three generations above me, I am blessed that early in life, I have great role models of mostly women entrepreneurs. The most valuable advice I received revolved around two areas of raising our voices and independence as women, and also on never letting go of the glass ball (representing family) while juggling the other balls. Both pieces of advice are from my mother and I find more and more truth in them as I progress through my career journey.

How is your organization and the broader industry tracking in terms of diversity and inclusion?
In Unilever Indonesia, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values, leadership, behavior and management practices. We responded to changes in societal norms and championed the need for increased representation of diverse identity groups in our workforce. Unilever Indonesia, for instance, has a gender balanced board of directors and has specific programs such as our Unilever Female Engineer program to promote better representation in sites outside the head office. Our ambition is for Unilever to be known as the most diverse and inclusive company in the world, in a work environment where all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, celebrating their human uniqueness.

In the broader industry, I believe the progress is ongoing too, with women taking wider fields of industry and career paths, starting with their choice of education discipline.

In your role, what was the biggest challenge or adjustment you faced?
The biggest and the worthiest challenge in my view is to inspire the next generation of women leaders, staying close and being open to sharing our own struggles, as our fellow women leaders build their leadership journeys.