Women's History Month Q&A

To mark the last week of Women’s History Month, I’m resharing my thoughts from Endeavor’s Instagram on leadership, inspiration, and taking on gender bias through action. I’m always thankful for these Q&A opportunities, they help me think with a wider lens and appreciate how history forged current times. It’s also been incredibly moving to watch so many women leaders and friends celebrating each other on social this month, we should do this all the time.

What advice would you give to women in your field?

Aspiring female leaders should embrace their own unique leadership styles instead of emulating examples from personal experiences. To advance, you need to demonstrate you can help inspire a highly functioning and creative culture that is based on trust. This requires leading with empathy and seeking out different opinions, along with demonstrating your own passion and competence. The older and finite mindsets around performance management that I grew up under are not effective because you can’t force or buy loyalty. You need to think about the long game by providing your teams with purpose and setting them up for success in future conditions.?

How are you breaking barriers faced by women in your field?

I believe leading by example and with transparency around my own journey allows me to take on biases on what it takes to succeed as a female leader, along with who and who can’t make it into executive positions. I’m passionate about sharing my career journey because it was less traditional, hopefully showing others that you can breakthrough with perseverance. I aspire to be an example of a non-cliché female leader that is successful because of her hard work, creativity, and ability to collaborate.?

It’s also important to note that there’s been a significant increase in women in executive positions within marketing over the last few years. I personally celebrate the fact that there are more opportunities than ever for women to steer what’s next in our field and set a new standard for how the industry operates.?

Tell us about a woman you look up to and why?

I’ve always looked up to Amelia Earhart. The example she set as the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean has inspired generations of women, as did her style and confidence. Just as importantly, her courage, determination, and words challenged the conventions of women’s role in society at that time. Favorite quote: “Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done.”