International Women’s Day Q&A

For those of you who don’t know, I actually work for Countdown in their Digital Trading team. I started working with them last January after one of the members at the gym I used to work at approached me with how impressed he was with Ethically So. He had seen me start it from scratch back in 2019, and thought I would bring a good skill set to his team.

This Q&A came about after I was nominated to be 1 of the 5 women the team wanted to feature to share with the wider business. They too were also aware of the Ethically So. and thought it would be great to find out more about how I run both this and work full time for them.

I thought you might enjoy reading it from the perspective of somebody who not only works in the corporate world but also runs a successful small business.

What do you love most about your role?

I love the fact that as a Digital Trader we’re almost the middle ‘woman’. We get to work cross collaboratively with the merch teams and suppliers, as well as closely with the content, marketing and product data teams. The best thing however is that my chapter of Digital Trading is 100% female (woo go the girls!)

What advice would you give to your younger self?

“Don’t overthink things, and don’t take things personally” I think as a young woman it’s very easy to get ‘imposter syndrome’ and wonder how you got to where you are. Most likely you worked hard for it, but for some reason I always struggled to see that, as I’m sure many women do. Men are much more likely to go for a job if they don’t hit 100% of the skills required in comparison to women, which is sad. The one thing I would tell myself and anybody else out there listening, is to “have more faith in yourself”

Name three women you would love to have dinner with and why.

Jane Goodall: She is literally Jane from Tarzan and her conservation work is incredible

Greta Thunberg: For being the kid who choose to stand up and fight for our planet

Chloe Swarbrick: So we could have an epic conversation about mental health, arts, small businesses and the youth of New Zealand

Erica Stanford: To thank her for fighting for migrant workers during the pandemic and pushing the Labour party to make the decisions they have (finally)

Who are the women in your life who inspire you?

All the women around me. The ones who are doing side hustles, the ones parenting and working, the ones who fight for what they believe in, the ones who work on their own mental and physical health so they can be the best version on themselves for themselves and those around them, the ones who focus on saving for the future and the ones who gave up everything to travel the world and be inspired by life.

What do you love most about being a woman?

The communities we create. From observing the men in my life and especially those as they age, one thing I have discovered is that women surround themselves with a support system and that’s something we should be incredibly proud and grateful for. It’s not always easy to put yourself out there, and most of the time it’s hard work, but it’s important that we have people around us that have our backs when life isn’t all rosy.

Why do you think it’s important that we celebrate International Women’s Day?

From watching the news over the past few days and seeing the riots here in New Zealand, the one thing that shocked me the most was the ‘freedom fighting’ male protester that shouted down a microphone “some girl, wearing a skirt, on a power trip”it is clear to me that although our past and present women in this world have fought so hard for how far we have already come, there is more work to be done. I reckon I’ll be wearing a skirt everyday next week to celebrate International women’s day after that comment!