In celebration of International Women’s Day, here at Funding Societies, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on how we are empowering the Women here within our organisation. As we kick-start the initiative called “#makingHERstory” a women-focused leadership programme, we got insights from our very own Chief People Experience Officer, Sabrina Jaksa.

1. On International Women’s Day, what is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Believe in yourself! What’s important to remember is that we make decisions based on the information we have at our disposal. We make life choices and career decisions thinking they are set in stone and we have to follow that path for the rest of our lives. This is not true. The woman you are today will take many paths in her future, and she will ebb and flow as life moves around her. We can change our minds as time goes on and we understand more about ourselves. We can stop and pivot at any time and we should do so bravely if we are following our hearts. Go for it. Take a risk. Do what you love.

2. What is Funding Societies | Modalku doing to break barriers for Women in FSMK?

We acknowledge the talented and capable women working at Funding Societies | Modalku (FSMK) every day. We are also drawing awareness and appreciation for working moms who juggle both a full-time family and a full-time role at FSMK.

This year, we have annual OKRs to keep us laser-focused on Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (known as IDE programs) and we have quite a few powerful initiatives in our roadmap, starting with Women, to level up our gender balance, familial programs, support and benefits.

3. What is #makingHERstory? Tell us more about it.

#makingHERstory is a campaign focused on strengthening our current roster of incredibly talented Women in Leadership positions at Funding Societies | Modalku. Every woman leader at Funding Societies | Modalku will be invited to attend intensive and powerful training sessions. The program covers breaking stereotypes, networking and self-branding to name a few of the topics. The pilot batch will be led by experienced facilitators from our partner BeNext. We are really excited for this program to launch!

4. What do you think helped you get so far in your career?

I have a passion for fundamental people equality and belonging to a community. That passion translates into working with startups and aiming to get it right from the beginning. People business requires the ability to establish a human connection and drive changes from both; the ground-up and top-down. Such learnings happen on the floor and may not necessarily be taught in classrooms. Focusing on People Experience and keeping my eyes on the prize, I have built the right teams by hiring the right people and empowering them to do their jobs. By doing so, I have helped organizations transform and go on to become a great place to work at!

5. Who is the biggest influence in your career?

Ambrosia Vertesi has probably been the biggest influence in my career. We started out working in the basement together with 60 people and scaled Hootsuite to over 1000 employees globally in a very short period of time. Ambrosia was such a strong leader; she gave me the autonomy and her unwavering support to create programs,  departments and a community that I really loved.  The success of our pairing resulted in increased success for the company, it was really a magical time.

Regardless of gender, International Women’s Day presents a beautiful moment for us to reflect on and celebrate the strides made in women’s empowerment globally. Together, we can make a bigger difference and broaden the path to progress for the powerful women leaders and changemakers of the world.

 

Amanda Jacob
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