Our Co-Founder and COO, Sukhi Jutla, was invited to the British Embassy in France, Paris, for an event that celebrated Women in Tech. Sukhi has previously been named as a Top 100 Woman in Tech and is a leading influential figure in this field. Read her blog post below where she shares her trip to Paris and what she learnt.
I was honoured to receive a personal invitation to the British Embassy in France for a special event to celebrate women leaders.
The event was hosted at the Ambassador’s Resident 39, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, and a panel of speakers shared their inspiring journeys with us during this event. They included:
- Roxanne Varza, CEO of Station F
- Cecile Verdier, President of Christie’s France
- Fiona Dawson, President Global Food, Multisales and Global Customers of Mars
The British Embassy in Paris maintains and develops relations between the UK and France and this event was to celebrate and promote women working in tech in the UK and France and to discover how we can work together to encourage more women to consider pursuing entrepreneurial.
Here are some key takeaways that resonated for me:
Be yourself
When working in male-dominated environments, it is sometimes expected that women need to emulate men. But being yourself, and the BEST version of yourself is what will help you to stand out from the crowd and do your best. Everyone has something of value to offer.
Ask for help
Sometimes we think we need to know it all but the best thing to do is to ask for help. Building a company is hard so asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of courage.
Learn from difficulties
You will no doubt come across many challenges in your career and these can serve as the best lessons to create change. So whenever you incur a setback or challenge, don’t let it go to waste and ask yourself “what can I learn from this experience?”
Embrace the challenge
Your business, if you are going and stretching, will undoubtedly go through rough patches and difficulties. Don’t shy away from them. In fact, the rough patches are needed so you can chart a smoother future. Embrace the hard stuff and you’ll become stronger.
Ask for what you need
Everyone has a right to choose how they do their job so don’t be afraid to ask for flexible working or different hours to suit you.
It was humbling to hear such inspirational stories from the speakers and to meet with incredible men and women striving each day to make a difference with the products and businesses they are building.
The event concluded with a lovely lunch reception!