Celebrating #IWD2018 with our female leaders

Freya Smith, Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary

Which woman inspires you, in life and in business – and why? 
I can’t go past Tina Fey. She has paved the way for intelligent women in a male dominated industry and is living proof that women are ridiculously funny. To quote the great Tina Fey; “do your thing and don’t care if they like it”. 

If you had your time over again, would you change anything? 
No. My greatest lessons have come from my mistakes and missteps.

What do you feel are the biggest challenges for the next generation of women? 
Sadly I think the current issues of the gender pay gap and under-representation in senior leadership roles will continue for the next generation. Australia’s gender pay gap has hovered between 15%-19% over the past two decades and is showing little sign of improvement. Many people think women are well represented in leadership when they only see a few. Because we’ve become comfortable with the status quo there’s little urgency for change.

Rebecca Shears, Chief Marketing Officer (2016-2018)

Which woman inspires you, in life and in business – and why? 
Meg Whitman was the CEO at HP during my time there, and I found her very inspirational. During her career, she took the risk of joining a tech startup, leaving a safe role at Procter & Gamble, and helped establish and run one of the most successful companies in the world – eBay. At the time, it was a tough, unknown business, and very male dominated. She paved the way for many other women in tech to follow in her footsteps.

What's your advice to women, and how can we keep pressing for progress?
I had a great mentor at Telstra, a female leader, who taught me that self belief is critical to success. You are usually much better at the job you’re doing, than you believe you are! The turning point in my career was when I started asking for promotions, rather than waiting for someone to offer them to me. If I could have done anything differently, I would have started doing that much sooner. 

How do you find balance between work and family life? 
Love what you do. Find a career that you enjoy and it becomes a whole lot easier to find that balance. Share the family responsibilities with your partner and delegate the boring tasks if you can!

Selena Verth, Chief Financial Officer

Which woman inspires you, in life and in business – and why? 
What has made a difference for me is a supportive environment. My mum was one of 5 girls, and even back in their day they were given no restrictions on what was possible. I also have a wonderful network of mentors that take the time to talk through decisions, and have open and honest conversations about what is possible.

If you had your time over again, would you change anything? 
I was the quiet maths nerd at school, and I have learnt a lot from my two boys who are full of confidence, dedication and love their sport. The power of confidence goes a long way and it wasn’t until recently I learned this.

How do you find balance between work and family life? 
My life is organised chaos. I have a wonderfully supportive husband and we work together on finding the right balance. We also have a great network at school of mums and dads who help each other out. Once I leave the office I am a mum. Saturdays and Sundays are all about sport, family time and play dates. I’m at the school once a week, and I make sure to leave work on time to be home to do homework, read and talk about the day. We all love doing maths homework together! The boys understand my work commitments and are very curious about what I do. Proud kids of a bean counter.

Wendy Glasgow, Chief Technology Officer

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A mechanic. I liked pulling things apart and putting them together. 

Which woman or women inspire you, in life and in business – and why? 
I have some long standing friends that truly inspire me, they are strong, focused on their goals, committed. I love that they don’t apologise for their success but do things in a way that respects and considers those around them. They do what they do with passion, kindness and love. 

If you had your time over again, would you change anything?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I wouldn’t change anything because then I wouldn’t be where I am today. 

How do you find balance between work and family life?
It’s a constant challenge but what works for me is identifying times that are for family and I am disciplined in not letting work creep into that. I also split family responsibilities with my husband as close to 50% as possible (we’re nearly there), outsource what I can (cleaners are amazing!) and constant prioritisation of what is important.