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 Veronica Mayne, Managing Director at Faster Horses.
Career
Veronica Mayne always had a keen interest in business, particularly what drives growth and how to make it happen. When a role came up more than 20 years ago at a market research agency in South Africa, she saw it as a way to tick all the boxes; finding out what people wanted, how to get it to them, and how to help clients to be successful. Finally after many years Veronica set out to start her own business and put all the years of advice given to other people into practice.
Women in the Industry
Whilst Veronica admits that her industry is “quite female centric”, she finds it interesting that most of the top jobs are held by men. She was only one of 2 women at the senior level of one of the big global players. Veronica attributes the flexibility of the industry as one of the factors that makes it so female-dominated. Whilst she was a contractor, Veronica also had three kids but was still able to keep her hand in.
For women to keep on getting ahead in the industry Veronica believes that, companies should, “be more empathetic towards women when discussing things like maternity leave, and the implications of the decisions they make at that relatively vulnerable time”. Due to the break in her permanent position, Veronica wasn’t entitled to any long service leave even though she had been with the company for 19 years. For her this felt like “lack of acknowledgement for her contribution”.
Role Models
Veronica loves the way Sheryl Sandberg talks; her words inspired her to get back into work with a vengeance when she was rebuilding her career following her maternity break. She was motivated by the sentiment of, “you need to grab the bulls by the horns and wade in without fear”. She has since been lending out the book to many young aspiring career women.
Success at Spacecubed
Veronica’s business has grown year on year exponentially, having worked with most of the large players in Perth, and many on the East Coast. They have a great reputation in the energy industry, and their credentials are strong across many other industries. Veronica’s belief in collaboration being the key to business means she loves being a part of the Spacecubed community. “Because we are surrounded by very smart people doing amazing things every day, you can forget that life is not like this in other working environments. It’s nice to stand back and recognise the benefits that this gives us as it pushes us to think differently. And hopefully we contribute to that too.”
If you're a FLUX member don't miss our International Women's Day Lunch on the Deck!
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