This International Women’s Day, Fleet Complete celebrates mothers, wives, young ladies and female team members across the globe! The success of women in their personal and professional lives is a benefit to the world and future generations.
In 2015 in North America, both husbands and wives were employed in almost 50% of families. With more women joining the workforce over the recent years, workplaces have been undergoing cultural shifts towards inclusivity and diversity, and are working on closing gaps in wage pay and percentage of leadership roles occupied by women.
In 2013 in Canada, 58% of degrees or post-secondary diplomas were earned by women. In 2017, women represented almost half of the labour force across Canada, United States and Europe, yet women are significantly underrepresented in senior management (24%) and C-level roles (5-15%).
Driven by our 5 values (Quality, Innovation, Productivity, People and Community), Fleet Complete culture is continuously evolving to provide a congenial and supportive environment for women to have equal opportunity to lead.
See some of the leading women at Fleet Complete share tips and experiences from their career journeys.
Eram Uddin
Eram is the Global Vice President of Customer Experience and Success at Fleet Complete. With over 20 years experience in mid to high leadership roles throughout her career, Eram is a role model for many of her co-workers. Eram has always considered her professional life as an extension of her personal life.
“Do what you enjoy and spend time with the people who feed your soul.”
Eram’s hard-earned confidence in herself and years of hard work earned her long-lasting professional and personal relationships, remarkable experience, and a well-respected position where she can share and enable others to grow and prosper.
“My advice to anyone, especially women, is to focus on building your self-confidence and have a deep sense of your own worth, both personally and professionally. Seek out a sponsor, great leader or mentor whom you can spend time with allowing you the ability to become vulnerable to listen and learn. In the workplace, men are not blockers to women’s success. Men can help catapult your growth.”
Join Eram’s team and grow your career. See open positions.
Louise Gabbert
“I am a great believer in embracing tasks and not being afraid to tackle new challenges. I must make the most of any challenges that come my way.”
Joining Fleet Complete as an Installation Coordinator back in 2014, Louise has been fast-tracking her career within the operations team. Today, 4 years of hard work and fearless determination, Louise is the Client Enablement Manager at our Australian office.
Thorough, responsible and with a positive attitude a mile wide, Louise is strongly appreciated and trusted by her fellow co-workers to take tasks and own them through to completion.
Her advice to others is to not be afraid of stepping up and working hard.
“Being a doer and thinker, never relying on others to do something for you, try to work it out yourself, and be constantly learning all aspects of the business around you.”
Natalie Gierveld
Managing and leading teams for many years, Natalie has earned a world of experience in digital and consumer centric marketing. Raising 3 young boys and working full time, Natalie has been continuously expanding her education and professional growth. Personal experiences have made Natalie look at life, challenges and choices with bold determination. Her philosophy is to embrace opportunities, evaluate advantages and disadvantages, and commit to them fully!
“I don’t live life according to a specific plan. Experience in my life taught me to make the most of it, day after day. For me this means driving change, innovations and challenges. In both my private life and in my career, I put 100% of my effort in, and do not step back by over-complicating things. My main drive: keep it simple, give the best of yourself and own it! Every day.“
When it comes to reflecting on her workplace experiences and professional challenges when compared to her male peers, Natalie learned a few things:
1. Pick you battles. You cannot win them all. Know this, and deal with it. 2. Don’t over-complicate it. Focus on most important things … and move on. 3. Build your support group. Find similar souls in your private life to share your work-related challenges with.
Sai Prapagharan
Starting out her career in Product Management while still earning her Bachelor of Science at University of Waterloo, Sai eagerly jumped into the world of tech, dev and product management. Go-getter attitude, fearlessness in the face of challenges and seemingly unfaltering self-confidence earned Sai a world of experience playing a key role in helping define, plan and implement product roadmaps and development.
Sai with fellow devs at a tech job-fair event
Globally, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers are primarily pursued by men, with less than a third (28.8%) made up by women. Working in an environment dominated by men, Sai is not the one to be intimidated by the odds and attributes her supportive surroundings to the combination of efforts from both men and women on her team.
“I don’t feel that I encounter any added challenges by being a woman in the tech space. I think having confidence in yourself and your abilities really breaks those barriers that can sometimes be present. I’ve had mentors, like Alan (Fleet Complete’s CTO), who have worked in tech their entire careers provide me with the platform to grow and excel in this space. I try to do the same for the women around me by promoting and supporting their confidence so they can continue to succeed in this space.”
Join our Research and Development team and work with great men and women, like Sai >
Sigrid Vilborn
Sigrid is a Director of Human Resources at Fleet Complete Europe, and has worked in various roles in HR throughout her career. Working in talent management, Sigrid was always driven to enable others to grow. Her own growth into a leadership role was not something she has strived to reach. For Sigrid, the transition into leadership happened naturally.
“Having inspirational and supportive leaders throughout the years has really helped me to grow and reach where I am today.
“Leadership to me is about creating an environment which enables others to succeed and bring the best out of them. As to my own experience, I have definitely learned a lot through challenging projects or opportunities that I have been given. Knowing that I had the support of my leader or colleagues has always given me confidence to continue and succeed.”
Utena Yokoshima
Driven, professional, and well-respect among her peers, Utena leads a team of 15+ sales professionals as a Regional Sales Director. She has taken on a role of a supportive and encouraging mentor, advisor and partner to her team members assisting them in professional development and growth. Her secret is her strong support group.
“In my journey with Fleet Complete, I don’t feel that I have faced any specific challenges because I am a woman. I believe that we have a very inclusive perspective on leadership here. I have developed a supportive group of men and women who I can lean on and hopefully, they me, to bring us all up to grow the business.”
Utena with fellow sales team members at the Fleet Complete annual summit.
Men are key to the workplace culture shift
Men represent the larger share of the top-level leadership positions and are integral in driving the change in the workplace that empower women to succeed. The path to inclusive leadership is through embracing diversity, respecting non-traditional ways of leadership and fostering collaboration.
Tim Kwan
Tim is the Global Director of Marketing at Fleet Complete. His leadership style fosters an open and safe environment to empower his teams to grow and take ownership. At his core, Tim is a coach, a mentor and an enabler. Coaching a minor league hockey team in his spare time and contributing his share at home to enable his wife to succeed in her legal career, Tim takes pride in helping others achieve their goals.
“Having worked in the tech industry for over 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to see women flourish in what used to be a very male-dominated space. Today, as a leader of a team comprised predominately of women I have had the pleasure of seeing how they gain and earn respect as experts in their field within the Fleet Complete and external partner teams.”
Larry Indovina
As a VP of Human Resource at Fleet Complete, Larry is focused on helping build one of the best workplaces for women. A father and a husband himself, Larry understands the juggle of a busy home life and channels his energy at developing programs, such as industry-leading maternity leave, that encourage flexibility in the workplace and help women succeed in their career and personal lives.
“In my early career there were a number of female leaders who invested in me as a young man, which I’ve always appreciated and known was key to me getting a great start. My advice to leaders is to invest their time: especially in those just starting out. Do your best to teach new skills and how to build self-confidence for your people to help them thrive in their careers.”
Join our team of many amazing individuals and help us build a leading workplace together.
