International Women’s Day 2022

In recognition of International Women’s Day, we have interviewed some amazing women from Anaplan, TheHRhub and Bedford Consulting to get their insights on how they lead in their own lives and careers, views on who they look up to, as well as their advice for other women in our industries.

When we asked who their role models are Nadine Pichelot, VP Finance EMEA, Anaplan, said “Marie Curie, Twice Nobel Prize winner in the early 1900’s, “nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood” and Madeleine Albright, “There is a place in hell for women who do not help women.”

Carla Moradi, SVP Partner Organisation, Anaplan is inspired by her mom. She says “Without a doubt, my mom.  She was a woman ahead of her time: an independent career woman during a time when it was unusual, beautifully balancing generations and cultures.  A patient listener and an amazing teacher, coaching young women until the last hour of her time on this earth.”

According to Sophie Kramhoft, Partner Experience Director, Anaplan, “My inspirations at the moment are Glennon Doyle (I love her writing and work around “We can do hard things”) and Elizabeth Day (author, podcaster and her work on changing the conversations around failures).  I listen to many podcasts hosted by women which inspire me on a daily basis. My friend Laura Pena who set up She is the Universe  for girls is someone I admire and learn from. (It is a global movement for the empowerment of girls.) A person that has stood out for me personally in the last 12 months is Carolyn Harris. Her work as a UK MP has been outstanding especially with her focus on the menopause. Her personal story made me both laugh and cry.”

Next, we explored their proudest moments.

Carla’s proudest moment is “having the privilege to participate in YMCA children’s feeding program in Montgomery, Alabama, touring on a bus that fed 30,000 meals a year, and returning back to the YMCA Board meeting that evening and raising enough funds with my fellow board members to purchase a second bus, providing another 30,000 meals for underprivileged kids.”

Debbie Laird, Head of People Operations, Bedford Consulting “Being made a Partner, when I worked for LEWIS PR in my 20’s. I was awarded partnership and shares after just 18 months at the company, as recognition of my talent and experience. I was particularly proud as only 10% of all 550 global employees ever achieve partner status, and I was the youngest and most junior person to be honoured with this accolade at the time.”

Tatyana Sugak, Implementation Lead, Bedford Consulting “When I overcome a fear of failing by making a start on doing the things that seem difficult.”

Claire Ward, Founder, TheHRhub has had an amazing journey to get to where she is today. “In terms of ‘career’ path, it was decidedly non-linear. Early on it was all about getting my HR expertise up, through qualifications and a series of expanding and more senior roles within tech and professional services firms, but that all changed once I had my children & I realised that I really wanted to forge my own path. I’ve always been a pretty independent person and I realised that I didn’t want to be a small cog in anyone’s wheel. I started (& failed) an internet recruitment business when on maternity leave, then did a bit of a patchwork of roles until I leaned into running TheHRhub nearly 10 years ago. My personal experience alongside this journey was just as varied: from periods of significant drive coupled with anxiety, to uncertainty and (early on) challenging biases of my own about myself, let alone others!”

Sophie also had an interesting journey. “I moved countries for work aged 25 with two suitcases, not knowing anyone except the person who had interviewed me. That shaped me as I had to build a new life and make friends in a different culture, in a language I didn’t know! I was able to both focus on my career and have children quite young. I had an amazingly supportive partner when my children were little which enabled me to travel with work (I travelled a lot when they were small). Living in Denmark which provided very good and affordable childcare also helped. I have always tried to be true to myself and made the decision to get divorced in 2011. I include this in my story as it was probably the biggest leap into the unknown I have ever taken in my life. It showed me that I could be brave and vulnerable and by following my own north star, I created a life that suited me. Today I am the owner of a gorgeous thatched cottage, have a lot of love in my life, and am still working in an area I am passionate about – partnerships.”

And finally, we asked these incredible, every day women about what advice they’d give to other women

Tatyana says “Listen to your inner voice, learn your strengths, explore, and nurture them. Define your goals clearly and stick with them.  Do not settle for the second best if you know it is not quite what you wanted. Search for a win-win without compromising. Embrace change – outside and within. And focus on the “now” and the positives. There is always a plus in anything you just have to allow yourself to see it.”

Claire says “Take charge yourself and don’t leave something so precious in the hands of any organisation or anyone else. Your personal development is just that, personal. I have been lucky enough to have a couple of great bosses when I worked in organisations who were very supportive of my personal development, but I truthfully never expected a business to give me all I wanted or needed in terms of career, and I learnt just as much from the people/ businesses I didn’t want to be like, than the ones who were supportive. Like everyone, my goals changed across the years but I sought opportunities where I could, made moves when different roles stopped serving me and created my own opportunities.”

Debbie believes “It’s great if you have a clear plan at the beginning of your career, so you can find the right opportunities and mentors to help you get where you want to be quickly. However, if you are like me and don’t have a clear goal in mind at the start, then make sure you take every opportunity that is offered to you, work out what you are good at and what you like, then find people to support you to grow and develop.

I have had some amazing female bosses and mentors along the way, who saw potential in me and gave me the confidence to do things I might not otherwise have done, like managing a project to get a product certified to the ISO27001 standard, and handling GDPR compliance for a large tech consultancy.

Self-esteem and confidence are often the two biggest things that hold women back from achieving what they want. As the famous quote goes “Say yes to the opportunity and work out how to do it later”, men are very good at doing this, applying for roles where they are only 50-60% qualified to do, women are less so, only applying for roles that they are 90-100% qualified to do. We as women need to have faith in our abilities and transferrable skills and know that we can do anything we put our mind too. We also need to be our own self promotors, shout about the great work that we do, don’t just expect others to notice it. I also believe that women need to make space at the table for other women, bringing our own chairs or getting a bigger table, if necessary, as there is plenty of room for all of us. So, make sure you are helping other women follow you as you climb your career ladder. More women at the top will help other women to get there and will help companies be more profitable and society to be better, as our voices and opinions apply to 52% of the population/customers!”

It was amazing to hear about their experiences and what motivates them and what we realised is that we can all make a difference in the world around us, whether it’s a big or small change. Many thanks to Nadine, Debbie, Sophie, Carla, Claire and Tatyana for sharing their stories and Happy International Women’s Day. #BreakTheBias