This year’s International Women’s Day is focused on the concept of #BalanceforBetter. The aim is to forge a more gender-balanced world by celebrating women’s achievements and raising awareness of bias.
We wanted to share the stories of the women at Fresh Relevance, and how they’re killing it in 2019:
Nanci Kelley, Marketing Manager
As a Marketing Manager, you get to dip your toes into every aspect of the business. At the heart of Marketing lives the necessity to bridge all aspects of a business together to communicate value and to better serve the clients and target market. I love seeing the company grow and being part of a team tasked with ensuring we continue to provide the most valuable communication, resources, and content to our clients and other industry professionals.
My Mother will always be my primary working woman inspiration. However, my second year at Uni I read the autobiography, A Big Life in Advertising by Mary Wells Lawrence. Reading about a bold woman rising in the ranks of 1960’s Mad Men era inspired me to study advertising and marketing.
If I could give one piece of professional advice, it would be: get involved. If you want to get people to take you seriously, you have to take them seriously. Ask questions. Request meetings. Get your voice and ideas heard. Everyone suffers from imposter syndrome. Men, women, veterans, newbies. We all worry we don’t know enough about a subject, or a product, or a theory, or a strategy model to merit our voices being heard. But once you realize no one has all the answers, you start to feel even more part of the solution. Find your team niche, let it be known, and use it to your advantage. Oh, and document your wins and your losses. The wins will remind you (and your boss) of all the amazing work you’ve done. The losses will help you learn from your mistakes and look forward to the future.
Phoebe McEwen, Developer
My favourite thing about what I do is collaborating with other developers. The team is really friendly, and we’ve built some cool services and features this year! I’m a backend developer, so for now I’ll likely be adding and maintaining support for our ESPs. I’m looking forward to helping with the development of any new features that come along, though!
There are and have been many inspiring women in STEM (far too many to choose a single one!), so while it may feel like you’re outnumbered sometimes, you’re definitely not alone. Also, some coding advice - always document and comment your code. Other developers will thank you, but future you will thank you more.
Outside of work, I love writing stories - anything from a quick short story to creating a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for my friends to play. Also, I really enjoy knitting, dressmaking and making patchwork quilts (sometimes it feels like I’m single-handedly keeping my local fabric shop in business…)
Vicky Beech, Sales Development Team Lead
Taking on the role as the Sales Development Team Lead has been a new challenge but with it comes great rewards. The team is at the front line of Fresh Relevance, responsible for identifying brands’ challenges and supplying them with innovative solutions. Seeing the team succeed on a daily basis is the biggest win for me; we celebrate after every new deal like it’s the first!
Fresh Relevance has a very open and supportive culture, with a range of experience across the board, always willing to lend a helping hand. The beauty of working for a growing company is that if you are passionate and driven to work towards something, there is the scope to make it happen!
Martina Poehler, Director of Marketing
Over the years, I’ve been lucky to meet so many passionate marketers and been inspired by young professionals just as much as by seasoned leaders.
If I could give an aspiring marketing professional three tips, they would be: Focus on what’s driving the business. Base your decisions on hard data, not opinions. And expect mistakes. Don’t let them discourage you, rather see them as an opportunity to learn.
Looking at the months ahead, I can’t wait to work with our bright and driven team on a number of exciting marketing initiatives and watch us all develop and grow along the way.
Emily Maddox, Sales Development Executive
My role as an SDR at Fresh Relevance involves finding leads and generating new business. I find it super encouraging to work for a company that supports women to work in tech and creates a fun and positive environment.
I’m grateful to work alongside the ladies (and men) around me who encourage me to work to the best of my abilities and make every day enjoyable! Here’s to seeing many more successful women flourish in the technology industry.
Laura Ko, Graphic Designer
I produce a huge range of design work across the entire company, from digital to print, so there are lots of opportunities for me to use and develop my creative skills. I especially enjoy designing eBooks and creating email designs for clients.
My advice to anyone working in design would be to remember that 50% is objective, and 50% is subjective. There is a science behind good design – you need to know your design principles and theory, pay attention to detail, and practice to improve your skills - but aesthetically you can’t please everyone with every design, and you shouldn’t get disheartened by that.
Outside of work, my interests include rabbits, motorsport, travelling, horse riding, Harry Potter, crafts, animated films and eating chocolate.
In the rest of 2019, I’ll be expanding my knowledge through training and attending design events, producing lots more high quality design work and being awesome
Jeannie Corfield, Content Marketing Manager
I love working in marketing because I get to exercise both the creative and analytical sides of my brain. Content marketers need to be able to switch between writing, strategizing, testing and analyzing – so I never get bored! Fresh Relevance’s mission is to make marketers’ lives easier – so I can easily empathize with our customers’ challenges and goals.
The most important advice I would give – to women or men – is don’t beat yourself up about mistakes. If you aren’t messing up from time to time, that means you’re never pushing yourself or trying anything new. In the digital space especially, half the job is testing and optimizing – so it’s natural that things won’t always go as you expect. Instead of giving yourself a hard time, own your mistakes, figure out why they happened, and make a note of how you will learn from them.
Outside the office, I like to read non-fiction books, especially about technology and current affairs. I’ve challenged myself to read a book a week for the rest of the year – but with the temptation of social media, it’s hard to stay committed.
Looking forward to the rest of 2019, I’ll be working on creating more content that helps marketers to do an awesome job!
Huriyyah Dhanse, Head of Account Management
What I enjoy most about my role is working with clients. I put them in the forefront of everything that I do, and I love it! It’s so important to understand their needs and wants to succeed in the role that I do.
I feel it’s really important to take advantage of all opportunities you are presented with and to step outside your comfort zone. If you aren’t pushing yourself, who will? Take risks, you might surprise yourself!
For me, my inspiration comes from a personal place, my mother. There are so many things that I don’t think I would ever have achieved if it wasn’t for constant push for me to do better and to dream larger. She loves unconditionally, and she just loves reminding me to be confident in my abilities.
At the moment I am finding myself trying to find the right work/life balance. I have recently returned to work from maternity leave. My little boy Lu’ay takes up all my time, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. To have someone who is solely dependent on you, knows no limit to love and is so selfless is just so beautiful. I feel so fortunate to have this little man in my life.
Sophie Soares Smith, Sales Development Executive
My role as a Sales Development Executive involves generating new business and qualifying leads for Fresh Relevance. Sales is a role usually dominated by men, however since joining Fresh Relevance, the support for women to succeed in sales is overwhelming. It’s also amazing to see my female colleagues achieving amazing work milestones in the business.
The culture is extremely supportive and Fresh Relevance encourages you to define your own success! Let’s hope this leads to more women in top tech sales roles!
Dr. Alaa Mohasseb, KTP - Research Associate in AI
The most thing I enjoy about being a researcher is the challenges that come with every research - thinking of new ideas, possibilities, and solutions. Plus nothing can be as rewarding as knowing that my research contributes to the discovery or development of something that can make a difference. The rest of 2019 has in store lots of exciting research and great achievements!
I believe that no experience is ever a waste of time, whether it was good or bad, you learn.
My mother is my inspiration, she raised me to be a strong independent woman, she showed me how to be strong and resilient, always encouraged me to follow my dreams and work hard towards my goals and with brain cancer, she was a fighter. I am where I am today because of her.
Outside of work, I enjoy reading, yoga, badminton, gymnastics, travelling and exploring new places - and of course doing more research!
Natasha Kenyon, Senior Marketing Operations Executive
What I enjoy most is the breadth of my role. I interact with many departments and work on a variety of projects which have been developing with me, so I can see the impact of the work I’m doing.
There are many women who inspire me. A few of them include my mum, who returned to her career with great drive and passion after raising me and my brothers; my godmother, who has recently thrown herself into starting a new business and has truly inspired me; women I’ve never met such as J.K.Rowling who created an incredible world and brand despite facing many misfortunes; and even women who don’t even exist like Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl, who despite certain character flaws was never afraid to fight for what she believed in and take a leap of faith.
Outside of work I swim, challenge myself with many baking projects, try my hand at new hobbies as much as possible - most recently, ballroom dancing - and fill my life with all things Harry Potter related!
2019 will give me a lot of opportunity to grow. There are some exciting projects happening that will give me a chance to build and consolidate my knowledge, and to try out new marketing techniques.