Breaking Barriers: Five Women Shaping the Future of Customer Management

Over recent years there have been meaningful gains when it comes to working toward gender parity in the workplace, but there is still a long way to go before we’re at any kind of equilibrium. More women are assuming roles in the upper echelons of business, yet they remain under-represented, and they continue to face more obstacles to professional growth, and experience more microaggressions, than their male peers.

To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we speak with five inspirational women who have risen above the challenges to lead their respective organisations in the world of customer management. Together they offer incredible advice to women who might be holding themselves back and they share some tangible examples of when they embraced change to move ahead.

Let’s dive in.

The theme of International Women’s Day this year is #InspireInclusion. What does that mean to you? What actions can business leaders take to drive gender parity and open more doors to help women advance their careers?

Abby Etoe, Contact Centre Director, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.: When I think of inclusion, I think of it mainly in a workplace setting, and that is making sure we blend cultures, ages, life experience, religions all together to create that strong workforce. But inspiring inclusion runs deeper. We need to foster this attitude throughout our teams and get everyone on the same page – people achieve what they achieve by what they put in and by earning it. As a business, we have every opportunity to develop women equally as much as men and to get them ready for the opportunities that lie ahead.

Zoe Spurgeon, Vice President Operations, SmartestEnergy: I love this year’s theme; it focuses on inspiring from within and creating understanding of women’s value within the workplace. There are many tangible ways to ensure there is fairness through recruitment and management approaches, which I see as foundational. The richness is overlayed by ensuring that women start to believe and feel empowered to drive for leadership roles. Leaders have the responsibility to lead by example and as individuals by sharing their stories and providing inspiration to others.

Francesca Rea, Director of Customer Operations, NewDay: It’s about helping great people get great roles and especially supporting our female colleagues get ahead. In NewDay, we have a very strong diversity and inclusion culture – we have numerous ways we get involved and we’re even extending our diversity data out to include female-specific data in our ESG output. We have an inclusion network team, we celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month, we support Stemettes as a business and celebrate IWD, and we have many talks from people across a wide range of diversities. We’re also proud to have women in senior roles on our agenda at executive meetings.

Claudia Nicholls-Magielsen, Chief Customer Officer, SimplyHealth: I’m a big believer in the importance of role modelling. The saying is “if you can see it, you can be it”. In other words, it’s incredibly important that when you look for inspiration to others in your organisation you can see other leaders who look a little bit like you. And this can cover many characteristics, from gender to age to race to neurodiversity and beyond.

One of my friends and former colleagues Malou Cornet identified that children’s books are lacking female role models; lacking strong female protagonists. She’s launched a successful series of books called Mo’s daughters, because every girl deserves her own hero. I want to inspire inclusion at work, and I make it my business to do so, championing working mums and having comfortable conversations around women’s health, including menopause. Here's a link to the books if you’re looking for present ideas for 0- to 6-year-old kids.

Annalise Watson, Head of Customer Experience and Strategy, Philip Kingsley: This year's theme reflects a sense of belonging and empowerment for women who often find themselves marginalised or underestimated in the business world. It serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing journey toward gender equality, both within and beyond the workplace, while also challenging ingrained gender stereotypes. I think the fact that many women in leadership roles experience "Imposter Syndrome" highlights the importance of actively working to reduce it and giving a louder platform to those who are dealing with it courageously. Business leaders must take proactive measures to cultivate a nurturing work environment that prioritises the well-being of women. This includes addressing their mental and physical health needs, as well as providing support during significant life transitions such as menopause and maternity.

It's remarkable to witness the resilience and achievements of women amidst these challenges, and it's time to dismantle the stigma surrounding them. Business leaders can take the first step for us by fostering an environment that speaks openly about these challenges, so women feel valued and supported in advancing their careers.

Research shows that women typically face disproportionately more obstacles on their journey toward their first management position. This is a hurdle you have overcome: What advice can you offer women in the customer management industry who are looking to make their jump into leadership?

AE: It’s a hard line, but nobody will do this for you. Only you can lay out the path that you want to take. There will, of course, be people along the way who will influence you and facilitate your path to that final destination, however without your own sheer dedication and determination, it won’t just happen. You have to display that desire and you have to work hard. Put yourself out there if there’s an opportunity – grab it with both hands even if it doesn’t involve a promotion or a salary increase. If there’s an opportunity for job shadowing, or to participate in mentorship programmes or leadership chats, get yourself involved. The willingness you show will be rewarded. I struggle with confidence sometimes, just like the next person, but I always believed in myself and my ability – I knew my brand, what I represented, and what value I could bring. I continue to hold those values every day.

ZS: In my career I have reached many “pivotal movements” – these are key decision-making moments that can define you and your career journey. It’s in these moments that you need to look inside and either take the opportunity or not. I went to a Leadership in Women event some years ago when I was at a crossroads, and it changed my life. It showed me, through the power of other women and men, that I could achieve a successful career as a working parent and to focus more on being brave and the best version of myself I could be. So, that’s what I do now! Go and be brave: believe in yourself as this is where the journey starts!

FR: In many situations in life, I have been the first or the only female in a large male group – the only girl in a boys school, one woman amongst 40 men when I joined a company, and later in roles where I've been the only female figurehead I've worked to raise profiles and help bring more women into senior roles. My advice: it’s not about being aggressive or expectant; it’s about being better and delivering effectively but also being demanding about your rights – this is your time!

CN-M: The piece of advice for women looking to make the move into more of a leadership or managerial position is to not undersell yourself. What I mean by that is: “don’t beat yourself up over things, let someone else do that”. I see women in particular question their own ability and start a presentation or meeting by saying “this is not finished yet…”, or “this is not perfect”. By saying these things, you’re underselling the quality of your work. Don’t volunteer insecurities, don’t question your ability. Silence the voice in your head. Instead, consider saying something more upbeat and confident, for example, “let me take you through my work in progress”.

AW: I never imagined myself in a leadership position, thinking it was too difficult to feel seen and heard in such a position if you don’t exude confidence or a natural ability to command the room. The advice I would give is not to “wait until you’re ready” for the leadership position at hand – jump in feet first and challenge yourself. Just having an ambitious mind and the will to succeed will be enough for you to start making moves even if there are some obstacles in your way as you go. I think, as women, we have the “default setting” to learn and prepare as much as we can before making decisions, but bravery and assertiveness should be our instinctive reaction to the next step in our careers.

Can you share a key moment in your professional journey where you stepped out of your comfort zone in a move to advance your career?

AE: The best example I can give is around the time we went through the Covid pandemic. My role changed significantly overnight – I was always very sales-led in my role, and guest experience was also very important, yet the needs changed from guests booking to guests wanting to cancel. We suspended sailings for 500 days in the end, so all that booked business needed to be managed, we became experts in health and safety protocols, vaccination requirements, country requirements. I really found myself stepping up not only to support in leading these areas, but more so my own team who had been largely office-based to this point – getting everyone ready to work from home, ensuring they had everything they needed to do so, making sure we maintained our communication and engagement with them, that they understood all the protocols we were working towards too, and simply that they were ok. This period of time challenged me in every way possible both secularly and personally, but I threw myself into it and it paid off: I had two promotions through this time.

ZS: Absolutely! The one that I always refer to was when I was looking to move to a senior leadership role – I experienced barriers within my company, yet I knew this was the next step for me. A maternity cover came up running a different area of the business I knew very little about. You will all identify with the fact that I saw only three things on the job specification I could do and seven that I could not! But I knew I had the skills and experience to do this. It was at this moment that I decided to be brave, take the leap, and apply... and I was successful getting the job and successful within it, which opened up more opportunities at this level when I looked for my next role.

FR: Women often want to feel they can do a job 95% before taking a role. I have taken roles in highly technical positions where I knew my leadership, process improvement, and engagement would help me do the job better – for example I became a Head of Executive Pensions (a highly technical area in pensions) above two senior actuaries, and by using their technical knowledge on every decision, I was able to lead from the front and turn the department into a highly effective operation not held back by doing things as they always had done. You don’t have to know everything, or always be the expert, as sometimes it helps to just ask questions and bring other macro ways of thinking to a new role. But you do need to engage and use the experts – imagine how rewarding that is for them to actually be asked for their views!

CN-M: I get my energy from driving transformational growth, in service of making the world a little bit better. One of the ways to drive growth is by pushing through discomfort, by consciously stepping out of your comfort zone. When you look at my career, you can see I have done that quite a few times. One of the first times was by accepting an opportunity to live and work in Geneva, Switzerland. You learn so much about your own culture as well as working with other cultures by doing that. I would advise anyone to work and live abroad if you can: it’s been a formative experience for me.

Another specific moment in my career when I stepped well out of my comfort zone was last year as Chief Customer Officer at Simplyhealth. We exist to improve affordable access to healthcare for all in the UK. To do this well and to do this at scale, we had to automate some of the customer experiences. The team and I decided to introduce artificial intelligence into the customer service experience. This wasn’t easy and there wasn’t really a guide how to do it as it’s all so new. And although it felt uncomfortable at times, we got there and have significantly improved the customer experience, and our business performance as a result, by affording our team the time to solve more complex problems.

AW: I stepped out of my comfort zone and put myself forward for the Head of Customer Experience and Strategy role I am currently in at Philip Kingsley – hoping I had enough skill and determination to land the position. Thankfully I did, and I’ve not looked back. Sometimes it’s a case of persuading yourself you have what it takes, to empower yourself, even if the world around you can make you feel, as a woman, your advancements are “lucky” or “by chance” alone. It’s that sense of relevance and recognition we need to spread between us to develop diverse talent and economic empowerment for women.

And lastly, here is your chance to celebrate your female colleagues. Either from outside your organisation or within, who in our industry inspires you every single day?

AE: I’m fortunate to work in an environment where women represent the largest population in terms of the senior leadership team in Guest Services and I’ve learned so much from each of them. I particularly look up to my own direct line manager, Sally-Anne Beasley – I’m fortunate to have reported to her for six years now. It’s unusual to have the same line manager for that length of time, but I think that speaks volumes in itself. We understand each other very well and the respect we have for one another coupled with the amazing brand we work for drives me every day. I’m very lucky.

ZS: There are a few women along the way that I have gained inspiration from! Sarah McMath, now the CEO of MOSL – I knew Sarah at Thames Water and was one of a few senior women in the business. Also Lorna Fitzsimons and Baroness Margaret McDonough - I was lucky enough to attend a female in leadership “The Pipeline programme” – not only did I learn a lot I also gain much of my determination and inspiration from these two women.

FR: Dr Anne-Marie Imafadon, the CEO and Creator of the Stemettes programme supporting young girls to get ahead in the male-dominated environment of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths.

CN-M: I work with so many amazing inspirational male and female leaders. Of course, it’s International Women’s Day so let me call out a couple of the women I continue to be inspired by.

Internally, in our own organisation: firstly, Tina Kennedy who is the Product Director at Simplyhealth. She has big, bold ideas, continually challenges the status quo in a soft-spoken yet determined way, and she combines work with being a mum as well. Secondly, Camilla Brooke who is our head of sales for Simplyhealth: she’s been with the business a long time yet continues to push herself, thus extending her positive impact on individuals, teams, and the business performance. She’s also a working mum and a real champion of other women.

Externally, I am inspired by: Laura Simpson who’s re-inventing beauty at Liberty’s; Lauren Lewis who’s championing inclusive and sustainable fashion with Glassworks, the fashion brand she founded. And last but not least I am inspired by our 9 year-old daughter Ella, who is a real trailblazer for inclusivity and the fact that women and girls can do anything they set their mind to.

AW: In my company, Philip Kingsley, Lauren Duncan, our Head of Ecommerce, showcases tireless dedication and ambition in enhancing the digital customer experience. Her boldness and relentless drive inspire me daily to question our existing practices. Lauren is a pivotal and esteemed figure within our organisation, and she should take great pride in her remarkable accomplishments so far.