International Women’s Day: Insights from Women in Leadership

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate progress, reflect on challenges, and uplift the next generation of leaders. This year’s theme is Accelerate Action, calling for increased urgency in addressing systemic barriers and biases faced by women in personal and professional spaces.

With insights from women in leadership at Zest, this blog post shares some of the lessons our contributors have learnt along the way and the advice they’d give to women looking to step into leadership positions.

Learning and growth

Continuous learning, whether through mentorship, exploring new ideas, or simply observing experienced leaders in action was outlined as impactful when seeking career development.  

Reflecting on this, Head of Bid Sarah Rodgers shared the significance of finding a mentor to provide guidance and support: “Having a mentor can be incredibly helpful. It needs to be someone you really get on with, really trust and can be completely honest with. They can be a sounding board, help with career development, and identify blind spots.”

Beyond mentorship, there are plenty of opportunities to learn. Lucy Matthews, Head of Customer Success, highlighted the power of being present in the right spaces: “Attend as many meetings as you can—shadowing is a huge learning curve. You pick up on what to do, what not to do, how others communicate, and how to respond to difficult questions and situations.”

Continuous and proactive learning were also identified as key traits when stepping up by Marketing Director Kerry Rhodes: “Be curious! Ask questions and explore new ideas, being in the know keeps you relevant and shows you’re invested in the bigger picture.”

Confidence and leadership in action

Stepping into a leadership position can be intimidating. However, our contributors emphasised that confidence isn’t about knowing everything but rather taking action and owning your decisions.

Lucy Parsons, Senior Technical Delivery Manager, encouraged the next generation of leaders to make choices and learn from them: “Stand by a decision even if it is the wrong one because failure is progress.”

Similarly, Mandy Jordan, Lead DevOps Engineer spoke about the importance of developing and projecting self-confidence: “Leadership involves projecting confidence, even when things aren’t certain. I believe that leadership involves projecting confidence, even in uncertain situations. My advice to any woman wanting to progress in a male-dominated field would be to speak up for yourself, never avoid a challenge and never be scared of being different.”

Overcoming challenges

Becoming a leader doesn’t mean all feelings of uncertainty disappear. Head of Data Analytics Sam Potter, reflected on how a lack of role models can feed self-doubt: “I still feel imposter syndrome now—I don’t think it ever fully goes away. But you deserve to be where you are just as much as anyone else. As the saying goes, ‘you cannot be what you cannot see.’ If you find yourself in a leadership role, try to lift up and encourage others—don’t close the door behind you.”

Rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity, People Director Becky Mee encouraged those looking to progress: “You will never be fully ready. There is never a perfect time. Take a leap of faith and go.”

To learn more about International Women’s Day 2025, visit https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

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