Celebrate International Women’s Day with our female leaders

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we want to share stories from some of our amazing leaders at parcelLab. We asked five of our talented female leaders about their experiences, their inspiration and what advice they have for brands hoping to recruit more talented women. Meet Felicitas, Caroline, Paula, Frankie and Heidi!

Felicitas Schweiker

VP People, Operations and Culture

What is your role at parcelLab?

VP of People & Culture, serving parcelLab’s biggest asset and key to success: our crew.

Describe working at parcelLab in three words

Dynamic, exciting, challenging.

What one piece of advice would you give to brands that want to attract female leaders?

Focus early on to be inclusive and make your teams diverse. It’s much harder to try to do so later, and bring in a female leader when she’s the only one. Diverse teams win. They are more successful, as they communicate better, challenge each other more openly and respectfully, focus more on facts, data and processes, and are much more innovative. So ideally, you’d start this early on, as it’s in your best interest!

Who is one woman in leadership that inspires you and why?

Angela Merkel, Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsberg … and there would be so many more! I love brave women. Women who dare to pursue their dreams, visions, principles and values unapologetically. To me this is utterly inspiring as it requires courage to dream, continue, and succeed on their journey. This is great leadership, as all of them have challenged traditional models, dared to lead, opened up pathways for others and made the world better.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring female leaders

Let curiosity drive you. Go beyond what’s in your job description. Learn more about the things you’re passionate about and what brings you joy. Meet people, talk to people, learn from them, all the time. Across departments, companies, seniorities. Talking to others and learning from their experiences help understand what’s out there. And we can build networks, form communities. Asking people in your own organization for a 15 min chat will bring new insights. Most people love sharing their experience and expertise; people like to be asked! Reach out on LinkedIn to whom you find interesting and connect with them. As humans, it’s natural for us to form bonds and support each other on our journeys. And it’s fun!

Caroline Heil

Team Lead Technical Account Management

What is your role at parcelLab?

I am leading the Implementation Team at parcelLab. We take ownership of the customer once our Sales and Account Management colleagues have settled the commercial part. We make sure to set up and implement our product in the best way and create bespoke solutions for our customers.

Describe working at parcelLab in three words

Adventure, Journey, Rollercoaster

What one piece of advice would you give to brands that want to attract female leaders?

Create an environment in which women and anyone else can find themselves in again. Start, for example, with your advertising, marketing and outbound communication. Make sure it’s diverse!

Who is one woman in leadership that inspires you and why?

Basically any female leader that believes in her own convictions, follows them and does not only take part in ‘the game’. Because it’s important to show the world how colorful work life can be if you dare to just let everyone be their own, individual self.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring female leaders

The journey is the destination. Make sure you understand your strengths and intuition and stand by them. Don’t judge yourself on what you can’t do (yet!). Either embrace it as the next growth-challenge or just leave it behind if it’s not in your nature anyway.

Paula Morales

Head of Marketing Operations

What is your role at parcelLab?

Head of Marketing Operations – connecting numbers, people and systems.

What do you love about working at parcelLab?

I love that we are Digital First. I love that we are in growth mode. And we are actually solving a problem, not creating one.

How can other brands increase the amount of women in leadership positions?

Representation matters, companies that promote deserving internal female talent attract more talent to fill in positions. As colleagues, we can help each other by giving our female colleagues the stage and help lift their voices. Something as simple as celebrating each other’s success and amplifying it in different circles and meetings can go a long way to get fresh and deserving faces recognized and motivated.

Who is a woman in leadership that inspires you?

A lot of historic figures come to mind, but I have a lot of appreciation for everyday women who are doing it every day (having successful careers while raising a family). A real life example – Sarah Jones, we worked together some time ago, and she was one the best managers I had. She runs her own Marketing Consulting business now. Her content and reels on social media inspire me to keep going

What is one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring female leaders

1. Just go for it! Somebody less qualified is probably doing the same job already.
2. Never hold back on your ambitions due to fear. You can do it. Yes, it will be hard, but you will find the right balance that works for you and your family.
3. Give it some time. Somebody once told me that it takes at least one year to really get know a new company/team. And that stayed with me. I especially remember this advice when I am about to make a big decision. I remind myself to give it some time, discover all the facts, let scenarios play out, and re-assess.

Frankie McEnery

Head of Learning and Development

What is your role at parcelLab?

I am the Head of Learning and Development.

Describe working at parcelLab in three words

Fun, friendly and fast-paced

What one piece of advice would you give to brands that want to attract female leaders?

Female representation in senior leadership positions for me is the most important thing brands can do to attract future female leaders. It clearly demonstrates to any potential female leaders that the organisation talks the talk and walks the walk.

Who is one woman in leadership that inspires you and why?

There are so many to choose from but right now I am finding Mel Robbins incredibly inspirational. She comes across as passionate, fearless, and straight talking and I find her story fascinating.

Who is one woman in leadership that inspires you and why?

Back yourself. A lot of women intrinsically seem to doubt themselves and their abilities. Have confidence in your decisions and yourself.

Heidi Tombs

Director of People Operations

What is your role at parcelLab?

I am our Director of People Operations, working across our global team to deliver exceptional employee experiences.

Describe working at parcelLab in three words

Collaborative. Challenging. Refreshing.

What is one piece of advice would you give to brands that want to attract female leaders?

Be intentional about bringing women to the executive team so that other women, whether candidates, individual contributors, or managers, can share in the vision of themselves as leaders. When they can see that women have a place at the table, they are empowered to aspire to the same. At parcelLab, we have amazing female VPs who bring this inspiration to our team through their thoughtful engagement and leadership.

Who is one woman in leadership that inspires you and why?

My former boss Susan Dawson, the Chief People Officer to whom I reported for 5 years with an SaaS company in scholary publishing. Even in a fast-paced, ever-changing tech environment, she found time to be really present with me and intentional about my career development, mentoring and coaching me in meaningful ways. She passed along big, scary opportunities for my experimentation. And she brought to life a vision of leadership that was empathetic, empowering, and transparent.

She was also deeply personally invested in diversity, and challenged me to see how celebrating differences in background and differences in thought is essential to growth – how broadening our understanding means really trying on diverse perspectives and not making others “wrong” or “bad,” especially in times of navigating conflict. I hope to pay her investment forward as I lead my own team.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring female leaders?

Don’t be hesitant about asking for the things you need to succeed in your desired career path. If you feel you need more business context to connect your work to the success of the organization, talk about that with your manager. If you are interested in the leadership program where you work, but weren’t invited to participate, reach out to inquire about an “aspiring leaders” track or request the reading list for your own growth and development. And if you want to start tackling higher level responsibilities to take the next step in your career, share that openly with your team so they can support. And ask a female mentor to be your champion and advocate!

Happy International Women’s Day!

parcelLab is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where individuals can thrive. We’d like to thank each of the women that shared their insights with us to mark International Women’s Day. If you’re looking for a new role, check out our careers page or learn more about us here.