Exploring DE&I through all the lenses, with Julie Oey, VP of Finance at WeGift

Julie Oey is VP of Finance at Runa , and ex Head of FP&A at Monzo. Julie is a highly skilled and curious finance leader who thrives in ambiguous and fast-moving environments.

Tell us a bit about your career and journey to your current leadership role.?I’m interested in how and why tech, and what you love about your role.

Growing up in Sydney, my parents were working-class migrants. Job security and stability were important factors, so I went down the conventional route of studying Accountancy at University and from there taking a graduate role at Macquarie Bank, an established investment bank.?After I qualified, I had the opportunity to move to San Francisco, which exposed me to the tech environment.?I found a role at Pensco, which wasn’t a startup, but it was high-growth and tech-focused.?I had a broad role and exposure to a range of projects across the company, which allowed me an understanding of how all the pieces fit together.

When I moved to London a few years later, I joined Monzo in their early years. I was the third person in finance, and everything was incredibly fast-paced. I had to understand the competitive market, understand the product and be happy to do a bit of everything.?Once the Finance department grew to 45 people and my role became more specialised, I missed the buzz and generalist nature of early-stage start-ups, so I joined WeGift where now I head up Finance and Operations.

I love putting the pieces together and seeing the impact of what I’m doing. The freedom to be curious,?getting your hands dirty, while driving the organisation to it's goals.?

What are the benefits of having women in leadership roles and/or diverse leadership teams?

It’s not just about gender or race, it’s about having neurodivergent teams; different personalities, different opinions, and different thought processes all around the one table. If you have open discussions and create an environment where everyone can genuinely share their views, better business decisions can and will be made. The culture needs to be conducive to celebrating these differences, giving people a platform to speak up.

How have you built confidence and authenticity during your career?

Initially, I thought I needed to be invited to the table or invited to have an opinion, and often thought I didn't have anything valuable to add. That's definitely held me back. What’s been great about being in the tech world, is that people do want and expect you to speak up. Everyone’s figuring things out as they go. Two factors that really help me are:?

1. Developing a relationship of trust with my colleagues. I’m fortunate at WeGift that my colleagues give me the space to operate authentically – I need time to process and think before responding and to have that different approach recognised has allowed me to share my opinions and gain confidence.
2. Remembering that it's my job to speak and if I don't, then actually I'm not doing my job properly. Everyone in their role has a unique combination of experiences and perspective that no one else has. So you can't assume that your opinion is invalid. The reality is probably no one else quite thought of it the same way you did, and you'll be doing them a favour by providing your view.

How do you manage to stay grounded and to take care of yourself?

I’m getting better at this! I now block out my lunch hour, make sure I eat away from my desk and focus on getting back into exercise again. Also, recognising when it’s enough for the day is key. I come from a banking environment where no matter how many hours you work, you have to tick all the boxes and get the role done but there usually is a definition of done.?In a startup there is a never-ending list, and it's a continuous learning to be ok with that. I’m changing my mindset – what are the important things that need to be done and realising the business won't collapse if I say no to a few things. Also making time for the things that you want to do outside of work, letting yourself rejuvenate. Ultimately that will impact the business positively because you'll have the energy to keep going for the long run.

This year's IWD theme is Embrace Equity. But what does that mean for you and how do you do it??

Recognising the difference between equality and equity is important. Embracing all gender, race and socio-economic backgrounds is key. Of equal importance, is recognising and embracing different personality types. In technology, there are a lot of outspoken leaders who expect you to give an answer immediately. As an introvert, this can be extremely uncomfortable. I think educating and embedding how to interact with a neurodivergent workforce into your companies’ policies and cultures is an important part of embracing all.?

Pay equity is an important part of this. There have been some recent strides in pay equity with employers publishing their gender pay gap. What are your thoughts on how woman can negotiate their worth? Or how employers could improve this (should women have to improve negotiation skills or should there be more transparency)?

Being in Finance, you can see when candidates come through the funnel and yes, it’s typically males who negotiate higher salaries at offer stage, even if the salary range was discussed earlier in process. It's a tricky one as when you're desperate for staff, it can be worth paying just a little more to get the candidate in rather than restarting a search but ultimately this worsens the divide. The positive is, there is now more benchmark salary data available and companies can use this to hold firm on a compensation figure. I think women should also have more compensation conversations and know their worth but ultimately it's up to the company to care.

How well do you think the tech industry is doing in embracing equity?

I think this is still very mixed. You do see a lot more female founders which is incredibly positive and inspiring. With regards to diverse executive teams, sometimes the business calls for an experienced ‘been there done that’ executive which for now still lends itself to a less diverse talent pool. Businesses could assess which positions really require this level of experience versus positions where softer skills and potential are more important, as a way of further embracing equity moving forward.?

If you could give one piece of advice to a future female leader hoping to enter the Tech space, what would it be?

Don’t be afraid to get involved in extra projects or with other teams. The wider your exposure, the easier it is to put the pieces of the puzzle together and the more value you can add to the conversation. To the other introverts out there – you are the only person that has your viewpoint! It is unique and it is valid, and people want to hear from you.

Kinetech is a signatory to the Tech Talent Charter. We are committed to supporting the employers who use our services with their DE&I objectives. See our case studies for more insight on the impact we can make when engaged in this way.