{"id":113287,"date":"2018-03-08T14:58:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T14:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=113287"},"modified":"2018-03-08T14:58:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T14:58:05","slug":"international-womens-day-2018-joanna-arnold-ceo-access-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/international-womens-day-2018-joanna-arnold-ceo-access-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"International Women’s Day 2018: Joanna Arnold, CEO, Access Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joanna Arnold is the CEO of\u00a0Access Intelligence, the parent company of Vuelio.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>On this International Women’s Day, and following our interviews with leading women in PR<\/a>, we spoke to Jo about working in tech, gender diversity and her advice for other women who are just starting their careers.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s shockingly rare for SaaS chief execs to be female, what\u2019s it like to be a woman working in this industry?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I think it\u2019s an issue for start-ups more broadly \u2013 in 2016, just over two per cent of all capital raised went to female-led businesses. That said, I wouldn\u2019t say I felt isolated; on the contrary, with some thankfully rare exceptions I\u2019ve always felt supported. What\u2019s more, I\u2019m very lucky to be surrounded by some fantastic women at Vuelio, where 70% of our management team is female.<\/p>\n

What needs to change to increase gender diversity?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>This is such a complicated question, there are just so many factors involved. Undoubtedly there are early social pressures \u2013 gendered toys, that kind of thing \u2013 which are reinforced by broader social structures as girls grow up. \u00a0And of course, those broader social structures are mirrored in the corporate world.<\/p>\n

But I do believe fundamental change is coming. For young girls today, technology is just a normal part of their everyday lives. There are apprenticeships dedicated to helping women get started in the industry and academies to help them progress. And I think of myself as part of a new generation of leaders whose approach marks a challenge to those established corporate structures. All these things are working in concert to create a more diverse, more dynamic, more welcoming workplace.<\/p>\n

We also need to be mindful of our own privilege. In particular, we need to show consideration for other factors that hold people back, such as race, age and class. I consider myself extremely fortunate in many ways, and I think women in similar positions need to examine their privileges too; we have to be sure that diversity initiatives do not focus on gender alone, thereby excluding those people, women or men, who most need support.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give women who are just starting their careers?
\n<\/strong><\/span>Being around people who support your career is so important. I\u2019ve seen it so often, when people find themselves boxed in by their accomplishments; they\u2019re good at their job, and their boss wants to keep it that way by not helping them to advance! I think women are more often subject to this because they\u2019re more likely to lack confidence (see above \u2013 though of course, it\u2019s perfectly possible for women to be the bosses keeping people back). Don\u2019t let other people\u2019s insecurities and biases stop you growing \u2013 make sure you\u2019re surrounded by colleagues with the generosity of spirit to help you succeed.<\/p>\n

For me, another key to growth is staying humble. You should always be learning, and I firmly believe you\u2019ll learn a lot more if you\u2019re open to thoughts and ideas from everyone and everywhere. Consciously try to embrace a diverse range of opinions, and in particular be open to those you might otherwise reject instinctively \u2013 you\u2019ll learn more and grow fast if you\u2019re consistently challenging yourself.<\/p>\n

Most important of all is to find something that in some way inspires you. I\u2019m lucky that I\u2019m able to do something I truly love, in a sector that I find incredibly exciting. Not everyone is so fortunate \u2013 they might not love their work, but if you\u2019re building a career it\u2019s essential that you derive pleasure from it in one form or other.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanna Arnold is the CEO of Access Intelligence, the parent company of Vuelio. On this International Women’s Day, and following our interviews with leading women in PR, we spoke to Jo about working in tech, gender diversity and her advice for other women who are just starting their careers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":113293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3680,1109],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113287"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116223,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113287\/revisions\/116223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}