Event #7 Reinventing Your Career in 2020

Context

I am currently looking to start a new career however, I am unsure on exactly where to begin. I'm a big believer in seeking out as much advice as possible in order to help guide my future judgements whilst giving myself a lil confidence boost to just go out there and seize the day! One positive of lockdown has been the high-quality online resources that have popped up to support young professionals during a time where many have lost jobs, been made redundant and/or furloughed. I'm in a position where I quit my job on my own accord- the only issue is the fact a global pandemic followed and therefore, most job opportunities shrivelled up as well... classic really but we keep going.

As always, I turned to what I know best: sources of female empowerment as a pick-me-up and also to refocus on my plan of action for setting out my next career step. As I ate up newsletters from Anna Codrea-Rado, Ann Friedman and Arwa Mahdawi, a lil notification popped up and voila! a suggested webinar called Reinventing Your Career in 2020 flashed on my screen. Was it a miracle? A gift from Mother Nature? Or perhaps just good ol' internet cookies and algorithms that led me to book a spot at We Hate Pink's second event of 2020.

But who is she? We Hate Pink is a 'London based community platform aiming to increase the access of women to leadership roles at all levels' and is run by three wonderful women Rossella Forlè, Fiorenza Plinio + Saba Mahmood. They focus on connecting like-minded women with a range of industry professionals and experts to uplift them with real-life experiences and create a learning environment that impacts both their working and personal life. One day I'd like to lead a team, several projects and whatever else comes my way, therefore, this felt like the perfect scenario to engage with. Right, enough of my blabbing, let's get on with the juicy bit.

Header image: We Hate Pink

The main event

First things first, I was slightly apprehensive with how the event was going to play out due to previous communication errors regarding a change of date. Luckily, I was free to attend the rescheduled date (because who has concrete plans in lockdown?). What wasn't ideal was manically emailing the organisers, fearful I'd missed the start of the event. Then again, I did receive a super quick! response from the We Hate Pink team so it wasn't a complete disaster. Without a shadow of a doubt, the more communication pre-event the better. It dissolves any worry attendees may have plus there isn't that last-minute stress looking for the Zoom link in your emails...

Now I've got that off my chest, let's get to the good stuff.

The handling of the webinar was very slick and professional. Something I haven't come across yet in the webinar world was house rules at the beginning of the event which aligned everyone (speakers included!) on how this event was going to go down. They asked that attendees show face so that it retained an intimate and supportive atmosphere as well as prompting us to share our business/workplace in our Zoom names. This definitely made me more intrigued about who else was attending and with a simple search on LinkedIn, the first step of networking was done! Being an event aficionado, I do miss having those short n sweet chats with strangers which you cannot organically have at an online event, therefore, We Hate Pink's solution to this is a fat thumbs up from me.

You could tell that it wasn't We Hate Pink's first rodeo especially because their line-up of speakers was a fabulous mix of industry professionals who offered specific in-depth tips and tricks to overcome issues and also sparked further conversation starters for attendees to take on board. The speakers were Johnathan Brown (MarTech Consultant at Vodafone Group), Candace Kuss (Social Media Senior Consultant) and Laura Leuillier (Intergenerational Leadership Coach & Millenial Career Coach). Among the main topics discussed were the deeper drive to upskill, effective personal branding and debating whether job-hopping is still seen as a negative among companies. It was refreshing to hear the speakers express differing opinions and advice on what worked well from their experience- I guess there really is no right way to do it. One thing they all agreed on was that passion is key to anything you do and by being true to yourself in whatever role you do, that passion will be recognised by others and lead you to further success.

Overall it was a really interesting conversation and the discussion flowed easily between speakers tackling the different aspects of each talking point. Attendees were prompted to ask questions in the chatbox and these were answered throughout the webinar. The hour flew by yet I couldn't keep up with note-taking (thank goodness for We Hate Pink emailing out the recording post-event). I'd argue that this has been one of the best webinar experiences I've encountered. Zero lagging, misdirection nor too many individuals speaking at once so hats off to the moderator Fiorenza Plinio! What's more, I believe that the price of the ticket was an absolute bargain for the content delivered and would happily pay more for the same experience. I'm already dreaming about what their in-person events are like...

I must stress that although We Hate Pink focuses on the London professional, I got the impression that any professional could comfortably attend if their values aligned to the platform's vision of achieving gender equality in the workplace. In fact, many of their online articles are written in Italian given that the founder is Italian thus making their important work more accessible. On a more radical note, it is mad to think about how this global pandemic has accelerated change in the way we work and learn in society. More and more creatives are sharing their valuable expertise and ideas to a broader and diverse audience all through the power of the internet... 2020 may not have been the year we were expecting but my goodness, have people adapted to create something beautiful out of the situation.

Food for thought

One interesting conversation held that evening was inspired by a question from the audience on transferable skills. Now then, everyone knows how important it is to constantly upskill and learn how to apply your neat tricks into different environments, however, what stood out for me was something that speaker Johnathan Brown pointed out. He argued that whilst passion is key to doing well, you must be human first. If you understand who you are and can show that you're happy with who you are, this will leave a lasting impression on your colleagues and peers. Sometimes, we forget that the most important skills you can constantly be improving are your people skills and how much of a difference that can make on your career and public image.

Being memorable is powerful so let's make sure it's for the right reasons.

Rating: 9/10

Would I recommend this?

Yes! This event was super informative and a goldmine of advice and guidance. It offered fresh perspectives from a range of industry professionals at different stages of their careers and opened the room for debate about how best to sell yourself and what is considered 'good' in the world of work. I will definitely be looking out for more events hosted by the We Hate Pink ladies.

One final note... Good luck to anyone else out there who is currently looking for work. If you'd like to attend something similar to this event to get inspired, subscribe to my monthly newsletter for sweet sweet recommendations!

Love Poppy x

Hi, I'm Poppy

Feminism, creativity, exploring the world & having a good time are really important to me. If you liked the above, why not subscribe to my newsletter? This is just the beginning.