International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. In the lead up to this year’s IWD we’ll be highlighting some of the great women who are members at our spaces. Meet Filipa Preston, CEO of Software Optimisation Services.
Career
Filipa Preston had not planned a career in Tech. In fact when she was growing up she had always wanted to be a pharmacist. Two years in and which no option to switch degrees, she left Pharmacy school.
Women in the Industry
Working in Tech, where women make up only 30% of the field, is never a “show-stopper” as far as Filipa is concerned. In fact, she finds it interesting and motivating. Filipa cites several important role models in her life, starting with Oprah for, “empowering us to be heard and to speak up and be our truth no matter how hard that might be”. Her Aunt, a Pharmacist who ran her own business inspired Filipa when she was 10 years old through her independence as a working Mum.
Filipa also has business and personal coaches that she looks up to. She has been working with one of her coaches for over 10 years now. Since her coach is in the US they catch up over quarterly Skype calls. The coaches motivated Filipa to transition herself from employee to entrepreneur and are a constant source of, “support and validation”.
Success at FLUX
A recent success for Filipa and her team was being listed in Gartner’s first ever Market Guide for Software Asset Management Managed Service Providers. Since Gartner is to IT what Choice magazine is to consumers, it was, “an incredible honour and massive milestone for [their] business to have this global recognition.
In 2018 Filipa is hoping to continue her business growth, deliver profitable results and reward the team for their extraordinary success. She’d also love to get out to schools with her girlfriends in Tech to inspire young girls to technology careers. Filipa is hoping to never lose sight of, “she believed she could so she did” when she’s going through her “biz-life-wobbles”.
%20copy.png)
