DRIVE TO SUCCEED: CAPSULE’S WORKING WOMEN’S CAREER HUB, POWERED BY TOYOTA
We know how important networking is for the professional woman – we’re up against it in almost every area in the workplace, from pay equity, career opportunities, discrimination and balancing work life with becoming mothers.
Having a professional network is not only a nice-to-have for women, but VITAL for career progression, stability, advancement and opportunities. One Forbes article reported that female managers are less likely to feel included in key networks within their organisations, and that women face greater challenges in (well everything, let’s be honest) networking specifically, because there are, quite simply, not enough women in high-powered positions to encourage the growth.
We say, as politely as we can, stuff that.
Toyota have a proud tradition of powering New Zealanders at grassroots level to achieve greatness – whether that’s on the sports field or in their careers. Now, we want to focus that spirit on women, and bringing wāhine together to support, motivate and inspire each other to thrive.
Women know better than anyone that life takes a village, and it’s no different when it comes to our careers. Here’s our way of changing the game for us working women! Along with monthly columns, we’ll be reaching out and forming a community with you, New Zealand’s working women, on Substack and via a dedicated Instagram channel where you can connect with like-minded gals, potential mentors and the network you need to thrive in your career.
This month, Capsule’s co-founders and writers are reflecting on their own networking and mentoring experiences and revealing how they’ve helped – and hindered – them in workplaces past.
What are your thoughts and experiences? Our inbox is open at hello@capsulenz.com, and standby for more networking and connection opportunities in the coming months!
Kelly, Co-Founder, Head of Commercial: ‘Women are the ones who NEED a professional village – but why is it so much harder for us?’
Networking is such a loaded word, and something that is always dangled in front of professional working women as a ‘must-do’. But when the hell are we supposed to do it?
Raising kids takes a village, we know this. But succeeding in the professional world when you’re up against pay inequity, inequality and patriarchal values and structures is bloody tough at the best of times – which is why all women need a professional village as well as a personal one. It’s just that it’s so hard to GET one.
Traditionally professional networking events take place after work or during weekends – conference mix and mingles, retreats, corporate golf games… you get the picture. But that’s when your mental load capacity is already taken up with kids’ sport and dinner and house stuff (before you even get to the self-care or me-time!).
Women are the ones, however, who need these connections and networks more. It’s harder for us, generally, to get a seat at the table, so we need to work our contacts and skillsets far more. It’s almost like we’re… set up to fail?!
Tell us something we don’t know.
We need to create ways to ensure women have access to like-minded colleagues and friends who are in the same space, so we can help each other, lean on each other and communicate with each other as to the realities of our working lives. Access to incredible potential mentors is a huge element that is so significant for women to build their networks and gain confidence moving and shaking (sigh, what a term) so we can get a kick-start at clawing our way to equity and equality.
Capsule and Toyota have recognised this need, and through our joint partnership, DRIVE TO SUCCEED, we’ll be connecting women with each other in easy-to-access networking opportunities online, as well as profiling incredible Kiwi women who exemplify this same spirit. Keep an eye out for our dedicated Substack posts, as well as a brand-new Instagram channel where we can connect, network and chat!
I know I wouldn’t be where I am without my own mentor Louise Wright – a former boss who believed in me from the outset, challenged me with tough but rewarding work, showed me how to fix mistakes when I made them and supported me through very tough times personally.
I also wouldn’t be where I am without the fab little network of media mavens who I rely on for advice and support or sometimes, just a shoulder to cry/rage/celebrate on. Women at their best? My god, we’re unbeatable.
Alice, Co-Founder, Head of Content: “There’s always more room for kindness when it comes to networking and mentorship”
I’ve never been particularly great at networking. In the… eek, 25ish?!… years I’ve been in the media industry, I’ve been to more than my fair share of events. And honestly? For most of them I’ve just used them as an opportunity to catch up with friends, have a free glass of wine or I’ve skipped out early to get some sleep – or in recent years, to spend time with my family.
But every now and then there isn’t anyone I know, or we have designated seats and I find myself talking to someone new, who suddenly becomes my new friend and I wonder why the heck I don’t just talk to random people more often. There’s always room for more friends in our circles – especially when it’s work related. And as soon as I’m out of my comfort zone, talking to someone new, I realise that it’s actually not that uncomfortable after all.
Because, you never know how these interactions can end up helping you and your career.
I was really lucky early on in my career that I had some great women – and a few men! – take me under their wing. They gave me responsibilities that stretched and challenged me, had my back, helped me learn and let me make a few mistakes to grow from. As female leaders, some of them had walked tough roads to get there and they sure as heck didn’t want me to tread that same path – they wanted to support me, lift me up and open doors. I still get calls from recruiters who say that one of those women (or men!) have recommended me for a position they’re trying to fill. Or sometimes it’s even from one of those friends I’ve made at an event.
But, I soon came to realise that not everyone comes from that same school of thought. I’ve had a couple of female bosses in my life who have been… well, the opposite of mentors? They’ve had more of the line of thinking of ‘well, I had to go through all of that to get where I am, so you really should have to suffer too’.
I used to curse these women, but… maybe they’re an important part of our journey too? Maybe we need to experience the good and bad – a bit like dating?! – to work out who we really want to be and how we want to treat people ourselves in the workplace. Because most of the time, when I’m recommending someone for a job, or stopping to help them with something, I’m thinking about how someone did that for me – but, I’m also thinking about the women who went out of their way to make things difficult for me, and how much I don’t want to repeat their behaviour.
There’s always, always room for more kindness in the workplace – and, it also certainly can’t help to strike up a conversation with someone new. You never know where it might take you.
Sarah Lang, Features Writer: “Women supporting women is where it’s at”
My first magazine job was as North & South’s editorial assistant – a role that combined administration and providing editor support with writing. I thought I’d struggle with the admin, but I was actually pretty good at it. I had a degree in English literature – and another in communications, with a journalism major – so I thought I’d be good at the writing. But I just wasn’t. I realised I knew nothing – okay, not nothing, but my writing was what you’d call ‘green’ at best and cringe at worst. I felt like an impostor. Was I going to fail at the career I’d wanted for so long?
Virginia Larson – then the magazine’s senior writer – is one of those rare people who are both efficient with their own work and generous with their time. I’d done some short pieces, and Virginia encouraged me to work on a longer feature. She looked over my drafts, and I eventually got it to a decent standard. I remember Virginia saying to my editor ‘I looked over it, but this is all Sarah’. And my editor… liked it?
That gave me confidence. Virginia was always willing to give me feedback and, if she was ever impatient with me, she didn’t show it. She really was a mentor – and by the time she became editor, my writing was up to scratch.
When a story I’d spent some time on didn’t work out, I felt ashamed –like it was a massive personal failing, maybe even a death knell for my career. Virginia put it in perspective for me – it was just a story.
I’ve never mentored anyone, but I’m up for it. I’m a believer in putting back into the universe what is given to you, especially if it helps the sisterhood. Women supporting women is where it’s at.
Vivien Beduya, Writer and Content Creator: “Mentorship isn’t just about workplace managers… it’s about a person in your corner to remind you who you are”
A random account followed me on Instagram a couple of years ago. She was a Filipina like me, probably in her mid-30s. She just seemed like a really cool chick. Her page was filled with photos of food, travel and art – all the things I LOVE!
She lived in Auckland too, and I really wanted to grow my Filipino community so I followed her back. When we met, it came as such a huge surprise that she’s old enough to be my mum’s sister! She definitely did not look like it and she had such a youthful energy to her.
I quickly learnt that she’s a master networker – she was approachable, friendly, down-to-earth and genuinely curious about people’s lives, opinions and interests. Then I learnt that she’s CEO for a non-profit organisation. She was such a role model. It’s rare enough to find women in leadership – even rarer to see a Filipina there.
She has always followed my work as a journalist and had an inkling about the troubles that the media landscape was facing. When my journalism career felt like dying, the doom hit hard – no job, no prospects and my confidence crumbling. The application fatigue was feeling all too real.
I told her about how lost I felt, how I wasn’t quite ready to let go of being a journalist, but that I was really open to other opportunities but just didn’t know how to do it. She talked so passionately about the value of communications in organisations and how my love for inclusive storytelling is a real asset for non-profit organisations.
Next thing you know, she offered me part-time contract work as a social media specialist at her organisation, which eventually worked nicely with my part-time work with Capsule too!
Thanks to her belief in me, I never had to worry about having a gap in my CV (and my bank account, because gosh those bills just keep on coming!). She saw all the great things I could do when I was too busy being drowned with self-doubt – signs of a great mentor. Maybe mentorship isn’t just about workplace managers, sometimes it’s about a person in your corner to remind you who you are – even if you met them on Instagram!
Emma Clifton, Co-Founder: ‘Mentoring can feel like a masculine word… but it’s about purpose, longevity and having a nice life”
There are three factors that are the most meaningful to me when it comes to mentors I look up to: purpose, longevity and do they have a nice life?
Years ago at Capsule, when we were in the midst of that first ‘what do we want now? What are we ambitious for?’ post Covid values readjustment, we put together the joy mentor series, where we spoke to women who had great careers and also had great lives.
That combination sounds like a no-brainer when you’re first starting out in your career, but the older you get, the more you realise that it can be quite rare. It is all too easy to put all your eggs in the job basket and neglect the rest of your life, until you get a warning sign or two that attention is needed.
Maybe it’s your health, maybe it’s your biological clock, maybe it’s when the green-eyed monster shows up and makes you realise that there are other things you want.
Purpose and longevity can be harder to achieve than a nice life – particularly when you work in an industry like the media (or any other creative industry that feels like its currently on the endangered list) where longevity is never guaranteed.
But that is where purpose comes in – the people you know who still work in these fields are most likely still there because they feel like they have a purpose.
Purpose doesn’t pay the bills, but it does give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning – and honestly, you need both for a career that feels meaningful in the long term.
Some of my best mentors are women I have never met – I have done many an internet deep dive on journalists, editors and authors whose work and attitude I admired. Women who were just as careful about what they say yes to as what they said no to. Mentoring, to me, can feel like quite a masculine-coded word, but really it just means having a teacher, a role model; having someone in your life who can see your capabilities better than you can. And the older we get, the more we have a responsibility to act as mentors for those coming up beneath us, who also need to believe in their chosen industry, that they can carve out a niche for themselves and that they can have a nice life.