Tomorrow is International Women’s Day and Impact would like to celebrate the cultural, economic and social achievements of women.
We have always had gender parity at our heart, with equal balance between our co-founders Julia Dosne and Nick Evans leading our business. Impact does not have a gender pay gap and is made up of 76% women / 34% male employees.
There is extensive coverage highlighting gender pay gaps and whilst it’s certainly an issue, we are also witnessing positive change. In our experience we do not see an imbalance in pay between genders in the roles we recruit for and the media and creative industry has an increasing amount of amazing women making a difference to both their companies and the industry as a whole.
As part of our contribution, we’d like to celebrate the leading ladies at Impact and find out what their thoughts are on International Women’s Day!
First up, Julia Dosne, co-Founder
As a successful woman in business, Julia co-founded Impact in 2001 and has been instrumental in its success and growth over the last 17 years. She has not only employed amazing women into Impact but has found hundreds more their dream jobs in the media industry. No-one understands more about the challenges facing women today and she is passionate about positive change for women.
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
It’s an opportunity to reflect on how far women have come and a chance to really celebrate all that we have achieved.
As a career women yourself, do you feel you have had to fight harder to get where you are today?
Personally, no. I am a firm believer in creating your own opportunities and haven’t experienced any discrimination in my career.
How do you feel the media and creative industry treats women?
We have a good number of influential and powerful female leaders in the industry who are true role models. We are definitely moving in the right direction and on the most part have moved away from the old boys club environments. I can reflect on personal experience from working in advertising in the 90’s (which was an incredible experience) to now partnering with the industry today – I have seen an incredible shift in behaviours and a more empowered and successful female representation; however the gender balance at leadership level still has a long way to go.
What would you like to see companies do to make give more gender parity?
There is a tremendous talent pool that is underutilised as we are overlooking the value of mums returning to work – The industry needs to accommodate flexible working solutions better in their businesses and this will encourage women to continue pushing their careers whilst balancing home life commitments. With a shift here, we will see greater representation of women in the board room that will result in a stronger business proposition all round.
What advice would you give to women ambitious for a great career?
Believe in yourself, know your strengths and focus on them. If you do what you love and are passionate about then you will have the greatest chance of success. Take responsibility for driving your career. Failure is part of business, it’s how you pick yourself back up, stay motivated and driven that will set you apart and on the path to success.
More from our amazing ladies coming tomorrow!