WiM Africa Kicks Off The Real Talk Series With The Women In Tech Marketing Edition In Celebration of International Women’s Day

Women have faced challenges in being seen and treated as equals to their male counterparts since the beginning of time. The effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic have in many ways worsened this situation. New challenges have arisen, not least of which include: a widening gender pay gap, lack of sponsorship, increasing burnout and women rising as stronger leaders, yet still having their work unrecognised.

The Real Talk Series aims to tackle such problems through open and frank conversations with senior professionals and industry leaders, allowing women to share their experiences of the challenges they have faced and in doing so help others. The discussions cover career progression; balancing work and home life; the impact of the global pandemic; the hard decisions and sacrifices they have had to make; and what has worked for them as ambitious professionals.

We partnered with Google and The Unstereotype Alliance to kick off the Real Talk Series with a Tech Marketing Edition in celebration of International Women’s Day on the 8th March, 2022. We addressed the importance of representation and visibility in typically male-dominated industries and took a look at the lived experiences and challenges faced by women in tech marketing. 

 

4 fabulous leaders joined us for the discussion:

• Asha Patel - Head of B2B Marketing SSA & Head of Marketing South Africa, Google
• Ifeoma Jibunoh - Dozie - CMO, Liquid Intelligent Technologies 
• Victoria Henry - Head of Group Marketing and Fractional CMO, Alphawave Group
• Dr. Stacie CC Graham, Programme Director for Global Racial Equity, WPP (Moderator)

 

Key Takeaways:

• Sponsors are key for self-awareness.
• If you do not ask then you do not get. Be your own advocate. 
• It is hard to balance work and being a mother if you do not have a role model to turn to. If you lack these at work then search for powerful role models outside work.
• I can be the best version of myself by being me and being different. Use this as fuel to fire you.
• Be the role model for your team you wish you had.
• Speak well of those who you mentor when they are not in the room.
• You must be willing to have mature dialogue around both your strengths and weaknesses.
• Emulate traits of leaders who you admire.
• When sponsoring junior colleagues, think back to when you were a similar age to consider what they might need. 
• We need to empower women throughout organisations to overcome the lack of female role models.

Did you attend the event? If so, we would love to hear your key takeaways, how the panellists inspired you and any feedback so that we can provide more value through future WiM Africa events. Comment here or email hello@wimafrica.com. 

 

If you were not able to attend the event, watch the replay here.

 

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