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In this special episode Alexandra Ciobotaru, the host of Femme Lead joins Noa Segre, Senior Strategist at Talent Garden to converse about navigating the career path in tech and lessons from female role models. This event was live-streamed on the 8th of March 2021, on International Women’s Day.

Noa Segre is a Corporate Transformation Senior Strategist at Talent Garden, who shared insights from her experience in technology and innovation from startups and over 10 years of experience in one of Israel’s leading Venture Capital funds.

Episode Timeline:

07:15 Determine your North Star.

16:12 Your worth is not attached to a job. 

19:03 Set your own pace. It is never too late or too early. 

21:50 Don’t compare your chapter 1 with someone else’s chapter 10. 

24:30 Choose your battles.

27:02 Take responsibility for your life.

32:45 Fire Chat: Noa Segre in conversation with Alexandra Ciobotaru



See the full session on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/Mcl8ttw2kMA

Find out more about Talent Garden here: https://talentgarden.org/en/

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Product Management | Psychological Safety | High Performing Teams | Product Executive | Women and Earnings |

In this interview, we discuss with Soumeya Benghanem the role of a product manager, learnings from Soumeya’s career, and how to create psychological safety to support high-performing teams. In the second part of the conversation, we also discuss the topic of women and earnings. Some of the questions we consider are: Are you happy with your earnings, are you unsure whether to ask for more money in your discussion with your manager, what do you feel about money & earnings in your life? This is a part of the discussion that sparked some important learnings, such as seeing money as a tool to live the life you want to live.


Soumeya Benghanem is a Product Management executive with 20 years of experience building product teams and software. She is currently a Product Management Practice Leader at Pivotal Labs, a Division of VMware. She has been the Chief Product Officer and Head of Product at startups in Financial Services and Healthcare. Some of the organizations that she has worked with include The United States Space Force, Merrill Lynch, The Bank of NY Mellon, and Paypal.

Takeaways:

• What is the range of pay in my role? “I use a range because I think it is more important than the average. Average implies there are many people above and many people below. If you get an offer in the average, you should counteroffer or negotiate for higher.” 
•  “Do not let money concerns or inequity pass because it multiplies. In one role, you are underpaid. You will probably be underpaid in the next role. So make sure to take care proactively in every role you get.”
• "Some of the most challenging things I had to go through were thinking the situation was a zero-sum game. You are either a winner or a loser. When in reality, there is complexity. The zero-sum game is an unhealthy mindset to have. Yet very typical when you grow up competitive or do not think about the complexity of a situation. Most of the challenges I had in my career were around situations that I treated like either I would win or lose. "

Follow Soumeya's updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumeyab/
Follow Soumeya's updates on Clubhouse: @soumeya


Episode Timeline:

02:00 What is product management, and how did the field develop in the last years?

03:48 How did you decide to move into product management? What are some of the peculiarities of the role? 

06:30 How would you define the product space to somebody completely new to it?

09:55 Managing high-performing teams: How do you create high-performing teams? 

12:40 How do you create psychological safety?

17:41 Any advice for teams in the remote-work era? How to implement psychological safety in this new setup? 

21:20 DRIP Framework for 1-on-1 meetings. 

23:10 What was the biggest surprise of your career?

25:46 Learnings from Soumeya’s current executive role at VMware.

28:05 Upbringing and learnings from Soumeya’s life.  

33:00 Women and Earnings.

38:00 Bias towards women if they ask for money. Being greedy versus being confident. 

47: 00 Challenging situations and how you navigated the scenario.

50:00 What advice do you have for those who want to follow in your path?

55:00 Anything you wish you knew at the beginning of your career? 

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A live session with Lisette de Jonge, Global health & wellbeing leader at IKEA on the importance of well-being in practice at work, what to pay attention to deciding to implement a well-being strategy, and advice for the listeners who want to add well-being as part of their lives. 

This live session was live-streamed via the Femme Lead Podcast Facebook page.
 

You can follow Lisette de Jonge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisettedejonge/


Episode Timeline: 

01:30 Start with a reminder of what is defined as wellbeing?

03:00 Insights into the role of wellbeing in an organizational setup.

04:10 Building a career in wellbeing: where to start.

06:20 Key decision to becoming a well-being leader

08:10 How do you measure data in relation to wellbeing?

10:10 Do you think wellbeing managers are ready to hire well-being managers for their employees? Or start wellbeing programs for them?

10:50 What are the different dimensions of wellbeing at work?

12:20 How do you integrate wellbeing into your personal life?

17:05 Realizations about the well-being and parenthood. How to tackle wellbeing with children. 

18:35 How can employees start raising their voices about wellbeing at work?

20:00 What are some findings of developing a wellbeing strategy that you consider we should be aware of?

21:50 Advice for those who want to follow Lisette’s path.

24:50 Looking back is there anything you would have done differently?

27:25 Creating a network of wellbeing leaders. 

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Health & Wellbeing | Wellbeing Strategy | Organizational Wellbeing | Support & Education | How to develop a wellbeing strategy in an organization | Wellbeing Leader | Strategic Role |

In this episode, Lisette shares her journey in IKEA, how she helped develop a well-being strategy, and how 2020 was the year that saw increased adoption of this topic in organizations, and what are some key steps to consider when tackling health & wellbeing in this setup.

Lisette shares how she developed her own role as a wellbeing specialist, steaming from the desire to shift from focusing on absenteeism to focusing on improved well-being at work, a feeling of social, psychological, financial, and emotional safety.

Lisette’s role in IKEA is setting the vision and leading the global health & wellbeing portfolio, focusing on building a strong and sustainable health & wellbeing culture through a strategic combination of innovation and evidence-based approaches to accelerate development and achieve short-term and long-term results, aligned with the company strategy, global stakeholders and the outside world trends. 

You can follow Lisette de Jonge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisettedejonge/ 

Resources from Lisette:

Esther Perel Podcast: https://www.estherperel.com/podcast 

The Knowledge Project: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project/ 

Feel Better and Live More Podcast: https://drchatterjee.com/blog/category/podcast/ 

Calm App: https://www.calm.com/ 

Down Dog App: https://www.downdogapp.com/ 


Episode Timeline:

01:58 What is the role of global health & wellbeing leader? 

04:20 How did the idea of having a wellbeing strategy changed in IKEA in the last year?

05:55 What were the first tasks as a well-being professional?

07:24 How did you tackle the process of getting the findings to support the wellbeing strategy?

08:38 What were some of the tangible points of having a wellbeing strategy? 

10:25 What should leaders pay attention to when deciding to have a well-being role in their setup?

12:30 What were some challenges when setting up the agenda for the strategy?

14:25 What is your opinion on some of the lessons we should have learned from 2020?

17:50 Togetherness is important: we don’t mind seeing children in the background of your Zoom call

19:24 How can we take care of ourselves & what advice do you have for listeners?

21:14 What resources on wellbeing can you share? 

24:04 What realizations can you share from working with well-being?

27:10 How did you build your professional setup around wellbeing?

29:00 Any advice for those who want to follow your career path?

33:32 What was the biggest surprise of your career?

34:26 Is there anything you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?

36:20 What are the trends in wellbeing & changes in this regard for the future?

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A live session with Ashley Avinashi on the importance of intuition in parenting, what to pay attention to when developing the relationship with our children, and tools to use to help the journey of authentic parenting. 

This live session was live-streamed via the Femme Lead Podcast Facebook page. 

Episode Timeline: 

02:50 How can we, as adults, train to follow our intuition?

07:25 As a set of tools or practices, is there anything that parents can take away from this discussion about how they connect with their children & how to build up their relationship? 

13:00 Are there any processes or considerations to help those that want to get started on the path of authentic parenting?

19:45 How to get started checking in with yourself

28:30 How would you advise today’s parents to do plant “seeds of freedom” for their children? 

34:10 Reflection: What would you have wanted to know sooner?

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Authentic Parenting | Your authentic self | The impact of your luggage in raising children | Intuition & education | Finding out who you are for yourself and your children |
 

In this episode, we tackle the topic of authentic parenting, how do we find out who we are and what are our values, so we raise children from a place of authenticity and love, not only for ourselves but also for future generations. The main message of this episode is to take responsibility for yourself and widen your lens to see ‘what else is out there for me’?

Ashley is a certified parenting coach, international best-selling author, and founder of Raising Humanity. Ashley discovered through her own life process, deep healing, and by way of her own children, just how important it is to take responsibility for ourselves and reclaim the joy, freedom, and aliveness we were all born with. 

Raising Humanity, a transformational development platform, helps people recreate their foundation of beliefs based on their own values so that they can walk their most authentic path and support future generations in living theirs. Ashley believes that revolutionizing who we are as parents are the path to creating sustainable humanity.  

Raising Humanity's online programs are as follows: 

1. The Balancing Act, a 4-week experience that is the first step off the treadmill, helping bring awareness and boundaries into your life as a parent  https://raisinghumanity.com/the-balancing-act/  

2. The ReConnection Project, our signature 6-month experience that offers parents an opportunity to recreate their foundation of beliefs, and move towards freedom, joy, and purpose https://raisinghumanity.com/thereconnectionproject/

Resources from Ashley:

The 6C's - An assessment as to just how well supported you are on your path of evolution: https://raisinghumanity.com/the-reconnection-project-6-c/

Website: https://raisinghumanity.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/raisinghumanityvillage
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raisinghumanity/?hl=en
 

Episode Timeline:

02:35 What is authentic parenting?

04:02 How do you introduce the topic of authentic parenting to new audiences who never questioned the idea of parenting?

10:40 Where do we start understanding ourselves?

18:20 How do we deal with our luggage so it doesn't affect the way we raise children in a way we might not? 

24:30 What is the process of authentic parenting during the programs led by Raising Humanity?

36:58 How can we tackle the practice of intuition in schools?  

44:40 Ashley’s journey from a successful corporate career to building Raising Humanity 

54:30 Advice for the listeners on authentic parenting and finding their authentic self 

You can find Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-avinashi-b6443b14/

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Mobility | Impact of technology on the mobility space| Gender & VC | The role of diversity in building companies | The success of an idea and what impacts it| 


In this new season, we deep dive into new fields of work and we focus on career paths we haven't mentioned before, as well as some topics we were encouraged by the listeners to add. 

In this episode, we discuss the world of venture capital, how to get started, what is to know about the mobility space with Sohaila Ouffata, my next guest, and a great overview of how does one sees their career development through different phases in life. We touch on diversity and the workplace, building successful companies, female-led businesses, and black female-led organizations and their success, and advice from challenging situations. 

Sohaila Ouffata is the Managing Director of BMW i Ventures in Europe. In addition to this role, she also serves in the global team as the Director of Platform with a focus on developing and implementing strategic growth initiatives for BMW i Ventures’ portfolio companies. Leveraging the unique strengths of the BMW ecosystem the goal of these efforts is to establish transformative partnerships and help the portfolio companies succeed and scale, Before joining BMW i Ventures Sohaila worked as a Senior Innovation and New Business Manager within the Telecommunications and Media industry as well as a Management Consultant. Sohaila is a mission-driven leader and a strong advocate of sustainable and responsible Venture Capital investing.

Episode Timeline:

02:16 Introduction of Sohaila Ouffata, Director of Platform at BMW I Ventures  

04:20 Sohaila Ouffata: background and upbringing

08:00 What is your stance on the VC world? How will the future look like?

11:30 What does the role of director of platform entail? How do you promote diversity in this role?

14:22 Mobility and the future of the space

18:10 Women-led businesses & the VC world 

22:40 Navigating different cultural settings: the importance of diversity in the VC world

24:40 What are the most important factors to consider when entering the VC world?

30:30 What lessons can you share from challenging situations?

36:06 What was the biggest surprise of your career?

38:00 Is there any advice for those who want to follow your path?

41:10 What do you wish you knew at the beginning of your career? 

You can follow Sohaila on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohailaouffata/ 

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In this episode, we converse with Kearney Principal, Ceyda Atay Haga about her path into management consulting, pieces of advice for young graduates who want to kickstart their career in consulting or experienced hires who want to transition to management consulting. Moreover, we talk about challenges and advice for those who want to learn from Ceyda’s extensive experience across 4 countries: how to tackle an interview, the importance of confidence, and how you can showcase your skills, as well as insights into the consulting lifestyle. 

For nearly a decade, she worked across Kearney’s Melbourne, Istanbul and Oslo offices and has been a trusted advisor to multiple CXOs for their mission-critical strategic interventions including large-scale transformations, growth agenda, digital & IT, pricing, innovation, and mergers. She takes active roles in Kearney’s local recruitment and diversity & inclusion efforts. She has also been a frequent spokesperson on Technology and Women in Leadership topics.

Follow Ceyda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceydaatay/

Read Ceyda’s recent articles:  

https://finansavisen.no/nyheter/telekom/2020/10/02/7573195/kearney-mener toget-holder-pa-a-ga-fra-telenor-og-telia 

https://www.kearney.com/covid-19/article/?/a/10-ways-to-use-digital-to strengthen-your-customer-experience-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic 

https://www.kearney.com/communications-media-technology/article?/a/winning in-sales-through-technology

Episode Timeline:

02:27 What does it mean to be a Principal in a management consulting company?

03:30 Can you share more about your upbringing? Who is Ceyda?

06:00 The career path in Kearney from Turkey to Australia, to Norway.

07:48 Is management consulting an exciting path for graduates to follow? What advice would you share with those who consider consulting as the next step after graduating?

10:46 Are there any tips for students to know when applying to a management consulting firm?

13:15 What are some lessons you wish you knew when starting your career in consulting?

17:15 What do you advise listeners who want to transition to consulting, the experienced hires?

19:40 How much does confidence matter when going to an interview? 

21:45 Do you think there is a difference between women and men when showcasing confidence?

24:10 What were some of the challenges of a career path in consulting?

28:05 What is your advice for people who go through challenges in the workplace?

34:20 Perspective to consider when you receive feedback or go through challenges.  

39:20 What was the biggest surprise of your career?

41:55 What is the most rewarding activity of working as a consultant? 

45:25 What is your last piece of advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?

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In this interview we converse with Anja Monrad, the woman that leads Dell Technologies in the Central & Eastern Europe region, covering 31 countries, from Israel to Poland. This episode focuses on marketing communications and Anja's journey from starting as a graduate in IT sales to becoming an executive, all through planning her career. 

Having joined Dell as Marketing Director for the Nordic countries in 2000, Anja has since pursued an international career within Dell Marketing holding various regional and global roles. She has been in charge of Dell’s CEE business since 2013.

Anja oversees Dell Technologies entrepreneurship initiatives for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She is an ardent promoter of female entrepreneurship and has been recognized among the top inspiring women in the Nordic tech scene.

Anja is a member of the Danish IT association board and Chairman of the IT association’s Steering committee for Female IT Executives. In 2018 she has been appointed the chair of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Governing Board at the European Union.

Anja's journey is full a wisdom and in the 45 minutes of the interview, we follow her upbringing, the decisions she made to pursue a career in marketing, and how she built her career by creating one opportunity after another, finding sponsors within the company and taking on more responsibility when there was no one else to do the task.

Quotes:

‘’Life is too short for companies who are not supportive of a diverse & inclusive culture. If good talent disappears, companies will change. But you don’t have to waste your time while they figure it out. Try and change the environment, but if it doesn't work, pack up and go somewhere else.”

“Ask for help: Go ask again and then go and ask somebody else. Ask for sponsorship. There is a difference between asking for mentoring and then asking for sponsorship in the organization. Go and ask for help from people who have influence.“

You can follow Anja Monrad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjamonrad/

Episode Timeline:

02:48 Did you plan your career? Did you know you will become an SVP?

05:00 Were there role models or anything in your upbringing that made you want to decide your path?

07:00 Is there anything you wish you knew before deciding your path e.g. university? 

08:30 What do you tell people who feel they are running out of time to building their careers?

13:30 What was a lesson prior to joining Dell that helped you decide on your path? 

19:20 What was the best piece of advice you received navigating the first year of your career?

21:30 What were some of the obstacles in navigating your career?

25:00 What do you tell women who feel their promotion paths are not going the way they want?

28:20 Is there something you would have done differently in your career knowing everything you know now? What about if the company you’re in does not support your path? 

31:55 What was the biggest surprise of your career?

33:26 What is the most rewarding activity of your career?

34:30 What do you tell people who feel the pressure of always looking for a new position?

38:37 Were there any situations where you had to go “through fire”? How do you navigate difficult situations?

43:15 Final thoughts on seeing your job as part of your life, it is a marathon. Your job is NOT your identity. 

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In this session, we deep dive into 9 attitudes to take into 2021 (until minute 48), followed by introducing feminine leadership and understanding ‘’sisterhood’ rather than seeing your setup as a competitive environment. “From L&D to life skills for 2021 and the new reality: Attitudes to help you step in 2021 & the new decade” encompasses learnings from our first podcast guest, Alina Buteica, and her trajectory and professional evolution. 

Alina built from the base up the largest management programs academy for the fastest growing tech company in Africa, the first 1 billion$ company on the continent. She has collaborated with people and organizations of the most diverse backgrounds (from the automobile industry to logistics, NGOs, tech, and e-commerce). She is the founder of Growth Hives, working with executives to build transformational leadership programs for large organizations: https://growthhives.com/founder. 

Life skills to help you navigate 2021 with new perspectives:

04:45 Attitude #1 -> Be open to collaboration. 

08:11 Attitude #2 -> Daring greatly. 

10:32 Attitude #3 -> Resilience. 

15:20 Attitude #4 -> Simplicity. Having a lean-approach. 

19:37 Attitude #5 -> Empathy. 

22: 43 Attitude #6 -> Autonomy and self-leadership. 

25:20 Attitude #7 -> Curiosity & flexibility. 

29:02 Attitude #8 -> Building your creative muscle. 

31:38 Attitude #9 -> Self-care. 

38:25 What is your recommendation for dealing with co-workers who do not see self-care as an important topic?

41:50 What to do with the idea that was encouraged but is hitting a wall with the same decision-makers that encouraged it in the first place?

45:20 Do you have some tips for prioritizing self-care even if modern life offers us plenty of excuses to drop it down on our list of priorities?

48:10 What is feminine leadership, and how can we use this knowledge. The ancient feminine practice explained.