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.
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. We know how important networking is for the professional woman. 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.
Men designed networking, so how could we reimagine it in a way that actually works well for women? The two women behind the career accelerator and networking hub Powrsuit are answering this question. And Powrsuit –yes, that’s the correct spelling – isn’t only for businesswomen; it’s for any woman wanting to get ahead in her career
When Wellingtonians Natalie Ferguson and Kristen Lunman sold the thriving investment platform Hatch in 2022, they had no idea what was next. Natalie tells me about it. “We went from a 65-person company with 200,000-odd customers back to a blank sheet of paper and the two of us. We spent about six months thinking about what we wanted to do next. As entrepreneurs, did we want to spend five years integrating start-up tech with corporate tech? Or, what if we could pick any problem to solve?” Their previous business gave them the germ of an idea.
After meeting at an innovation lab, they co-founded Hatch, a platform that makes it easier for New Zealanders to buy and sell shares in U.S. companies and funds. “At Hatch we quickly realised the huge gender imbalance with investing. Most of the people who signed up were men. And the public and industry narrative – about the reasons that people thought women didn’t invest – was about women being broken, too risk-averse, too in love with shopping, all the classic tropes. We knew those weren’t true, and that there was a combination of historic exclusion and very deeply ingrained gendered norms around behaviour and mindsets.”
“So we thought, how could we apply our skills around changing mindsets and behaviours with money, to a problem that’s overlooked? A big contributor to the big gender wealth gap is the gender leadership gap. We see the advancement of women in the workforce as an economic issue, not just a women’s issue.”
“When you look at the system of work, and the system of finance, they’re actually very similar. Women have been traditionally excluded from these systems that were designed without us.”
Sixteen months ago, Natalie and Kristen set up Powrsuit: a career accelerator and networking hub to equip women with the tools and connections to succeed. Memberships are $49 – think a website, app, 15-minute online mini-masterclasses, longer interviews with global businesswomen, and peer coaching. Free offerings are their newsletter, and podcast Powrsuit PowrUp. And members get a discount to Powrsuit’s live networking events.
Powrsuit is reimagining networking – in a way that works for women. “If you look at the history of networking, it was actually designed in the Industrial Revolution to build trust and confidence when you had to send your goods off in a ship. Gentlemen’s clubs grew out of that, whereas women were at home or in informal spaces.”
“So, women need networking tools to help us figure out a system that wasn’t designed for us, and use those tools to succeed in it. We haven’t been taught certain things because the default has been [men] grab beers after work.” You know, while women rush off to get the kids and make dinner.
As we might crave long lunches and casual catchups, many of us are time-poor, or don’t have big chunks of time available. So, Powrsuit provides bite-sized learning, including 15-minute online masterclasses by different accomplished leaders. “We don’t want public speakers. We want people who’ve got hands-on knowledge – who are in it, doing it.” Topics span everything from negotiating pay rises to impactful delegation, training your Linkedin algorithm to asking for feedback, addressing a conflict to adopting a smarter prioritisation framework.
“Then you join a ‘breakout room’ for 15 minutes with two other members. We provide structured questions and activities, and you talk about applying that theory in practice. It’s not an awkward ‘who are you and what do you do?’ It’s ‘how are you applying this? How will you practise your elevator pitch?’. By doing this, you’re actually participating in micro-networking.”
Also, each month, an accomplished global leader shares her story in a 45-minute livestream (or watch the video later). For instance, American financial powerhouse businesswoman Shelly Lombard talks about how networking secured her a Fortune 500 board position.
Another way to spend 45 minutes is peer coaching. PowrMatch connects you with small groups for tailored sessions, and you each have 10 minutes to talk about something top of mind for you. “Going into peer-coaching sessions, people are often a bit nervous and they come out laughing or crying – realising they’re not alone, but that they’re surrounded by people who have experienced similar things and can help them. All of this is networking.”
Powrsuit’s live, in-person events are spread across a range of times and days. “Even if you can make after-work networking events, it can be scary to walk into a room of strangers . Our job is to lower any feeling of awkwardness going in and create the conditions for connection. We have guided conversations and opportunities to talk, so that you’re not thinking, ‘gosh, what should I talk about for the next hour?’.”
“It’s about lowering that fear barrier by helping you make connections, then transitioning these into the real world. Whereas starting in the real world can feel a bit scary, especially if you’re an introvert or shy. If you’ve made some connections online you’ll feel so much more comfortable turning up in person because you’ll see familiar faces. We also teach tricks like ‘make Us not circles’. As in a horseshoe shape. “When you’re talking, leave a gap for someone to come and join.”
And yes, friendships are forming. Some members are starting to organise their own independent, informal events in their towns.
Powrsuit has around 700 members – mainly in New Zealand. “But we have members from around the world.” Word of mouth is crucial, and they’re also targeting Singapore and Australia.
Around 60% of members come from Powrsuit’s 30-odd corporate partners. Global organisations, including NZ Rugby and Fonterra have staff around the world who find this a good way to network with colleagues, as well as improve their approaches.
“We’re partnering with companies that really back and invest in their people. Our partners tend to operate in traditionally male-dominated industries like finance, construction, and energy. Industries where the leaders recognise that there’s often only one woman in the room, or that women face unique barriers. They partner with us because they recognise it’s the right thing to do. They also want to make sure they have a strong, diverse pipeline into leadership. Even those who have solved their executive diversity gap need that to be sustainable. We help organisations with retention, because every person you lose costs about $50,000-plus.”
Powrsuit creates an ‘impact report’ to show they’re making a difference and how. Among other numbers, a whopping 95% of their members have strengthened their relationship with their managers. “That’s critical, especially with retention. Most managers don’t actually get a lot of training. They often get these roles because they’re great technical experts. We’re about ‘self-leadership’. If we learn to influence those relationships positively, we can influence a lot more.”
Powrsuit’s free offerings are their email newsletter and weekly podcast Powrsuit PowrUp. On the pod, Natalie and Kristen dig into a topic or challenge, “going slightly more into personal experiences. We call our listeners power walkers because they often listen on a walk.” Or while they’re commuting, cooking, cleaning, or just chilling on the couch. “All our mini-masterclasses and interviews are available in podcast format on our app.”
Powrsuit has a $25 a month membership for male allies. Around 50 male allies are currently helping them design a safe space to have monthly conversations that men don’t usually have. “We want to surface these conversations, normalise these conversations. The goal is to spark a conversation or action that helps organisations tweak their way to change.”
“Because this isn’t a women’s problem, it’s also an economic problem, and we all have a role to play in the solution. We’re huge fans of things like unconscious-bias training and allyship courses.”
Also, maybe stop asking women to take on more? Natalie and Kristen’s presentation ‘Saying No So You Can Say Less’ for the Ministry for Women– watch it here (women.govt.nz/women-and-leadership/leadership-learning-hub/saying-no-so-you-can-say-yes-powrsuit) – explains how learning how to say ‘no’ professionally will protect your time for more important, strategic work.
Oh, I almost forgot to ask: why does Powrsuit not have an ‘e’?
“There are two answers! One is because we couldn’t get the domain name of powersuit.com. The second is that, when we first thought of the name Powersuit, people said that made me think of the 1980s.” Yep, with the businesswomen’s shoulderpads. “We wanted to reinvent the powersuit as the thing that makes you feel powerful, strong and brave.”
“Many people think you have to make massive changes to succeed. But if you take small steps and bite-sized actions, before you know it you’ve made a massive change.”
