Making Waves

For the final of Making Waves, I sit down with Hillary Wild- Hirons, Director of Growth Strategy at Black Swan Data.

Hillary has worked in sales for Euromonitor, Attest, and is now at Black Swan Data, and throughout her impressive career, travel has played a hug part. She has lived in Hawaii, Australia, Spain, Costa Rica, US, and now the UK.

We speak about what she has learnt from travelling and how it has affected her as a leader and colleague.

In this conversation we also discuss:

Thank you Hillary for being so raw, open and honest. It’s so refreshing to hear powerful women speak about these topics that every woman faces.

Conversations like this make us women realise it’s okay to feel imposter syndrome, burnout, and lost in your career, but it’s how you manage it that makes the difference.

Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Hillary Wild-Hirons

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Websites:

Wiser: www.wearewiser.com

EVRYTHNG: https://www.blackswan.com/

Judy Moon is not only a “chief plate spinner and supermom” according to her LinkedIn, but she is also the Vice President of Sales at Global fashion tech company EVRYTHNG.

Throughout her career Judy has worked for Time Inc focusing on Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and Time Magazine, she has worked as a Producer in the Films industry and most recently transitioned into the world of tech.

Born and raised in South Korea, Judy was raised in a culture where women didn't have much of a voice, and so she made it her mission to be heard and to make an impact.

Madeline K Albright once said “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.”

In this episode we speak about resilience, reentering the workforce again after raising two kids and how to control the controllables.

Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Judy Moon 

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Websites:

Wiser: www.wearewiser.com

EVRYTHNG: www.evrythng.com/

Paris Petgrave, Founder & CEO of We Love Work and Investment company Rare Seed Capital joins me to speak about the importance of employee feedback and why prevention is always better than strategic responses. 

We Love Work is a data intelligence platform that helps companies build happier, more inclusive places to work.

In this episode, Paris shares her career journey from acting to entrepreneurship, lessons she has learnt along the way, the importance of financial wellbeing and how she turned her passion for people into a successful business model. 

Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Paris Petgrave 

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Websites:

Wiser: www.wearewiser.com

We Love Work: https://www.welovework.com/

Daryn Edgar, CEO at LYTT joins us for Episode 3 to speak about the importance of owning your differences, taking risks in your career, and seeing your career as an end game.

Daryn has had an impressive career working in the tech, energy, and consulting industries.  Some of her notable roles include Director at PWC, Vice President of Strategic Alliances at SAP and she is now the CEO at tech company LYTT. To add to this she has been Recognised by Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in UK IT and the Women in Technology Awards.

In this episode we speak about:

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Daryn Edgar

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Websites:

Wiser: www.wearewiser.com

LYTT: https://www.lytt.com/

Carlota Berruezo, Chief of Staff to the Senior VP of Revenue in EMEA at Global tech company, Bazaarvoice joins us for Episode 2 to discuss how team sports make you a better leader.

Carlota started her career in the sporting world playing handball for the top Spanish Women’s division and the under 18s national team. After her parents made it clear that handball wouldn’t pay the bills, she took the unlikely jump into the world of Tech. Having over 15 years of experience in the SaaS industry, Carlota has worked at Vocus, Innovative Systems, and Bazaarvoice, and has led over 13 direct reports spread across Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Austin.

In this episode, we discuss the transferable skills between team sports and the world of business, the difference between being a great leader and manager, and why Millenials should understand there's no such thing as an overnight success.

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Carlota Berruezo

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Websites:

Wiser: https://wearewiser.com/

Bazaarvoice: https://www.bazaarvoice.com/

Simonne LeBlanc, previous Global Head of HR at Ethoca, LexisNexis, and Thomson Reuters joins us for Episode 1, Season 2 to discuss how we put the people back into business. 

Having spent 30 years in HR Simonne doesn’t like to say that she works in HR, but instead is a business partner who focuses on the people function. This is a mentality that she encourages her team to have through her vulnerable, supportive, and transparent leadership approach.

In this episode, we discuss how to be a vulnerable leader, the importance of trusting your gut and how to be unapologetically female. 

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Simonne LeBlanc

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Websites:

Wiser: https://wearewiser.com/

🎉 It’s the end of season 1! 🎉

I started Making Waves back in May after learning about the serious lack of female representation in the tech industry.

🚺 Only 17% of the UK tech industry are women

🚺 Only 5% of leadership positions are held by women

🚺 52% of women in tech said they had experienced gender discrimination in the workplace

👩 I made it my mission to dig deeper and so created a podcast called Making Waves, dedicated to WiT.

😩 Coming to the end of the 1st season I have learnt some incredible lessons from some inspiring women.

👏 Thank you to my guests Louisa Gregory, Imogen Aaronson, Patricia Keating, Catherine McGrath, Lu Li, Deborah Homewood and Shelley Lavery…what a line up!

💥 For this final episode I decided to create a ‘best bits’ episode- a snapshot of the best lessons learnt from each interview.

I hope you enjoy- and can’t wait for season 2 in 2021!

This week I am joined by Leadership coach, COO and Founder of Jiminny, Shelley Lavery.

Throughout her just shy of 8 year career at Reward Gateway, Shelley ran her own teams in London, Birmingham, New York, Boston, and Australia and if that didn't make her busy enough, she was also in charge of global sales. 2 years ago, her husband Tom, business partner James and herself set up their own company Jiminny which is a SaaS platform transforming the way sales teams work, with their mission statement being “be the best version of you.” 

In this episode, not only do we hear how Shelley grew from being an actress to the COO & Founder of a successful tech company, but we also discuss the importance of discomfort and failure.

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Shelley Lavery 

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LinkedIn accounts:

Izzy Bishop: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzy-bishop-7bb525120

Shelley Lavery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-lavery-463bab32/

Wiser: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearewiser/

Jiminny: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jiminny/

Do you bring your whole self to work?

As women, we feel the pressure to put on that ‘corporate face’ and not show our true emotions. In this episode Deborah Homewood discusses how showing emotion should not be seen as being weak, we are all human and we shouldn’t be afraid to show our full selves.

This week we sit down with Deborah who has spent over 20 years working in the telecoms sector for companies such as Telstra, Motorola and Pacnet. After working in this industry for her whole career, she made the bold decision to change industries and is now the Managing Director at MAX solutions.

We discuss why she made that industry jump, what she has learnt from career setbacks, and how she has vowed to be a better leader.

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Deborah Homewood

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LinkedIn accounts:

Izzy Bishop: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzy-bishop-7bb525120

Deborah Homewood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-homewood-a059b110/

Wiser: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearewiser/

MAX Solutions: https://www.linkedin.com/company/max-solutions-pty-ltd/

What do you do when a pandemic renders your business impossible?

This week I sat down with Lu Li, who started her career as a consultant for McKinsey & Co, before moving to Proctor & Gamble. She has also published a book called Dear Female Founder and is now the CEO and founder of Blooming Founders.

In this episode, Lu discusses how she had to do a complete 180 with her events company for female entrepreneurs to continue her ambition of being her own boss in a rapidly changing landscape. Lu gives great advice on how to adapt in this current climate, and how to not be afraid of listening to your inner voice if a job doesn’t feel right.

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Host: Izzy Bishop

Guest: Lu Li

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LinkedIn accounts:

Izzy Bishop: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzy-bishop-7bb525120

Lu Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/houseofli/

Wiser: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearewiser/

Blooming Founders: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloomingfounders/