Super Woman in Every Woman
Many times a woman’s potential is questioned when she’s to be given some responsibility, especially at work. Of course this mentality is changing and lots of companies have become more and more understanding in every possible way.
I thought to interview a few women and ask them about how do they manage multiple things at a time. I hope after reading this you will feel more encouraged push yourself and work hard during the tough times.
Since last few days I have been working really hard day and night to work towards my Not-for-profit organisation “Young Coders”. My aim is to teach young kids programming. It was not hard for me to find amazing volunteers, even before the organisation was launched. What I realised is if there is passion you can work on multiple things at a time with both of family and work colleagues’ support, no matter what gender you are.
One of my colleague Kelly White who is a Project Manager, she just started a business and works full time at Isobar. I asked her, what her business is about and how she manages her time? she replied with this,
“Our new business is a promotions company for queer events with a femme aesthetic. We realised there was a huge gap in the market for parties of that nature so we’ve decided to fill it! Nat concentrates on the strat and socials and I’m across the creative parts — artwork, decorations and booking the artists.
I think it’s all about having balance and structure. Natalie and I are quite regimented about booking in meetings once a week to catch up and keeping an up to date Trello board, so we are both across what each other are doing. The kind of work I’m doing I can chip away at home in the evenings over dinner, or on the way to work on the tram. It’s all about capitalising on the small spare moments you have to bash out a quick email or make a call. The skills I’ve refined at Isobar like time management and stakeholder management are really helping me manage the whole process.”
I know how hard it is to work full time and also run a business. You have to dedicate lot of time and efforts, but I have always found her with full of energy.
I love it when women are independent and fearless. I come from an Indian family where i have seen many females being so dependent or are made so dependent on their partners/family. I had to ask my friend Abby Goode who moved to Australia alone and managed everything by her own here, I also asked how did she manage to find job and how was her experience, despite of companies having so much emphasis on having local experience. Her reply was pretty encouraging for me,
“I moved to Australia in October 2014 and I LOVE IT. It suits my lifestyle (outdoors and fitness). Plus it has a good climate and a strong economy when compared to the UK. If I think about having a family I think my children will have a better future here than in the UK. It wasn’t too hard finding a job over here as I had a network of people who put my resume out and I have a skillset that’s desired over here. I found it hard to find out about things like Tax, superannuation and medical costs etc.
I understand the need to keep local jobs for locals but experience in niche areas often happens overseas as other countries are more progressive than Australia so if the country wants to move forward then it needs to look overseas for talent.
Understanding the Australian marketplace was a challenge when I first arrived as I had to work with small businesses and the challenges they face are different to UK audience (delivery times and infrastructure set up etc due to the size of the country) but that was it really.”
I felt really inspired by her response, so many times we think so negative about the things that might go wrong if we were to travelling or moving to different country alone. Go girl! You really inspired me to be independent and have faith in myself.
One of the biggest challenge, responsibility a woman or in fact both men and women face is when they have kids. I asked one of my colleague and a mother of a newly born daughter, Liviana Baldino about how does she manage to work full time and take care of her toddler? She said,
“Overall motherhood is going well for me — so far my daughter has been relatively easy-going, generally quite happy and sleeps ok, which are the main things that people seem to talk about! It hasn’t all been smooth sailing and it has been a steep learning curve; we have called her a ‘little dictator’ on a number of occasions :smiley: But the good times definitely outweigh the bad times. The hardest thing about motherhood has been adjusting to it being all about her now — you know that will be the case but it is still an adjustment! You have to always have one eye on the little person and everyday tasks, like food shopping or running errands, or having a shower (!) are a lot harder with a little person in tow and you have to plans things a lot more — which takes a bit of practice! You also have to work to remember that you are still your own person and I think it’s important to make time for ‘you’ — and it helps that my husband and I are both on the same page with this thinking!
I work 4 days a week and have 1 day off with her, and my husband does the same — he actually works compressed hours so he does a full week in 4 days. We very much share the parenting equally, I do mornings and daycare drop offs and he does pick ups and evenings. I usually get home in time to play a little before putting her to bed. Having that all split equally really helps manage it all, and I feel like I have a good work/life balance because of that.”
I love how Liv and her partner think about sharing responsibilities and understanding personal space.
All these amazing women who are going through different phases in life and acing what they do. I am sure you can relate yourself with their stories. I would only say that don’t be afraid of more responsibilities, love what you do and just have confidence, you have way more potential than you think you have. I have learnt a lot from all the women I have come across in my life. I feel there is a super woman in every woman.
