The 10 Most Inspiring Business Women Making a Difference, 2021

VOL 01 I ISSUE 01 I 2021

10 The

Most

Inspiring

BUSINESS

WOMEN

Making a Difference, 2021

Women in Tech Women Who Are Leading The Tech World

JACQUELINE Hudson Taking Digital Marketing to the Next Level

EDITOR’S NOTE From Leading a Family to Leading a Company

R

unning a company has nothing to do with the gender. It only demands reliable leadership skills.

And women with their exemplary leadership skills have brought a drastic transformation in almost every sector by climbing to the top of the corporate ladder or by starting their own business.

There is a dire need for more employee engagement, empowerment, and consensus building in the current corporate world. Women are believed to be empathetic leaders and thus, this need is been served by them. This empathy comes from mothering and leading a family.

Carrying an urge for taking the charge accompanied with a desire to create a better world, women have played a crucial role in changing the landscape of the business world. Not only they have imprinted their marks in various sectors, but also have set an example for upcoming women leaders.

CIO Look through this edition “The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen Making a Difference, 2021” aims to bring forward the inspiring stories of some exceptional businesswomen who have made a difference in the society and have been managed to be the role models for other budding leaders.

Featured on the cover of this edition is Jacqueline Hudson. Jacqueline has set an indispensable position in the market through her digital marketing agency

named as LUXE Digital Now LLC. An award-winning digital marketer, Jacqueline has been in the industry for over a decade as a major influencer in the digital landscape. She specializes in strategic planning and management, project leadership and design, data analytical designs and architecture, technology development, and all digital marketing principles.

In her role as a communications and brand asset executive, she is also experienced with designing and implementing communication campaigns using channel success metrics.

Apart from this, she has also been an achieved communications executive (inhouse) and consultant across multiple industry sectors including Fortune 500, technology, beauty, cosmetics, fashion, luxury, and real estate.

Delve into more alike and inspiring stories of such inspiring leaders and spread the word about their contribution in making this world a better place.

While flipping through the pages, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have the know-how about the industry.

Happy Reading!

Abhishaj Sajeev abhishaj@ciolook.com

COVER STORY

10 Jacqueline Hudson

Taking Digital Marketing to the Next Level

C O N T E N T S

ARTICLE

32

Women in Tech Women Who Are Leading The Tech World

Amie Reiman Breaking the Stigmas Surrounding Cannabinoid Therapies

22

Anne Krog Iversen Driving TimeXtender to Higher Growth through Purpose-driven Leadership

Elena Herweyer An Entrepreneur who is Defining Courage, Vision, and Success

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18

28

Jillian Hamilton A Futurist in the Workplace Risk Management Space

May Yap

From an Admin Clerk to a Chairwoman

46

Nancy Zeffman Making a Difference through Fresh and Effortless Fashion

Rita Lindenberg The Epitome of Compassion and Efficient Leadership

56

42

50

Tuula Jalasjaa Empowering Women to make Sound Financial Choices

Veronica Crisafulli Exemplarily Inspiring

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Abhishaj Sajeev Editor-in-Chief

CONTENT

Senior Editor Alan Swann Executive Editors Rohit Chaturvedi Alex Spellman

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January, 2021

Featuring Person

Company Name

Brief

Amie Reiman CEO & Founder

HIP Lives myhiplife.ca

HipLives is a digital community that specializes in helping women improve their health and well-being.

Anne Krog Iversen Chief People, DNA, & Culture Officer

TimeXtender timextender.com

TimeXtender is an automated data management platform that helps implement and operate data lakes, data warehouses, and data marts – without writing code – automating the process of getting documented data in the right place, in the right form, and ready for analysis.

Elena Herweyer CEO and Founder

Art Fresh, Inc. art-fresh.ca

Art Fresh is a multi-award winning full-service marketing agency, focusing on marketing strategy, brand design, marketing communication, building a brand and managing it.

Jacqueline Hudson CEO & Founder

LUXE Digital Now luxedigitalnow.com

LUXE Digital Now innovates, design and strategize the best delivery in digital marketing and technology solutions. From building social media campaigns, e-commerce and content management platforms that strengthen businesses.

Jillian Hamilton Founder and CEO

Safety Governance Institute safetygovernanceinstitute .com

The Safety Governance Institute of Australia is the leading association for boards, chief executive officers, safety professionals, governance professionals, directors and risk managers.

May Yap CEO and Managing Director

LHT Holdings Ltd. lht.com.sg

Established in 1977, LHT has grown to be a leader in the industry with an annual turnover of more than S$30,000,000 and is also one of the largest manufacturing company of high quality wooden pallets, boxes and crates in Singapore.

Nancy Zeffman Co- Founder

Cucumber Clothing cucumberclothing.com

Cucumber Clothing makes luxurious clothing for everyday. It means clothes that give women confidence.

Rita Lindenberg SVP Human Resources

Entersekt entersekt.com

Entersekt is a global fintech company. The company pioneered phone-as-a-token, out-of-band push authentication – over a decade later, the de facto market standard – collecting the first of 60-plus patents that recognize innovation in digital security, payments, and user experience.

Tuula Jalasjaa Founder

The Women's Collection thewomenscollection.ca

The Women’s Collection was created with the fundamental belief that educating and empowering women is the key to economic growth, political stability, and social transformation.

Veronica Crisafulli Co-founder

MO Tecnologías and KEO World motecnologias.com

MO Tecnologías and KEO World's innovative and alternative Artificial Intelligence credit score platforms use non-traditional variables and Machine Learning to predict the creditworthiness, and the probability of defaults of a potential borrower, either banked or unbanked, who has no access to traditional credit and no credit history.

COVER STORY

A

recent article suggests that the role of a CMO in certain industries was speculated to be redundant. However, marketing initiatives on digital platforms have surged exponentially during the pandemic. The necessity, being rather obvious, created an impact so significant that its ripples spread almost across all industry verticals, laying an implied emphasis on the need of pivoting one's business and related processes to everything digital.

Considering this necessity, the competition between companies in seeking quality marketing experts has become intense. In such a scenario, Jacqueline Hudson has set an indispensable position in the market through her digital marketing agency named as LUXE Digital Now LLC.

JACQUELINE HUDSON

‘‘

Take every tactical advantage you can, build successful teams, believe in the power of education in your field.

‘‘

An award-winning digital marketer, Jacqueline has been in the industry for over a decade as a major influencer in the digital landscape. She specializes in strategic planning and management, project leadership and design, data analytical designs and architecture, technology development, and all digital marketing principles.

In her role as a communications and brand asset executive, she is also experienced with designing and implementing communication campaigns using channel success metrics. Apart from this, she has also been an achieved communications executive (inhouse) and consultant across multiple industry sectors including Fortune 500, technology, beauty, cosmetics, fashion, luxury, and real estate.

Her extensive skills set in the digital arena include but not limited to editorials, senior writing, copywriting, brand marketing, project management, and creative content management expertise in all digital platforms. Besides, her knowledge base in web-based content management systems includes data analytical systems, ComScore, Google Analytics, Quantcast, SEO, SEM, and social media developments.

Jacqueline earned her PgD from the Digital Marketing Institute, in Dublin Ireland. Being a global speaker at the BCMA (Branded Content Marketing Association), she has lectured to 14 countries globally. She has been honored to contribute to the MusiCares Grammys', featuring Sir Paul McCartney, Barbara Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond and Aretha Franklin.

She was also named Top 40 under 40 in the Top 100 Magazine within the U.S and was award winning AMA nominee at the American Marketing Association. In addition, she is also an award recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and inductee for 2020.

A Purveyor in Digital Marketing Technologies LUXE Digital Now LLC was founded in 2018 with a mission to be the best and most innovative in the

industry, developing and restructuring the landscape in digital marketing, especially being the purveyor in digital marketing technologies and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies for the industry. It is a U.S. based digital marketing and technology software solutions company located in Portland – Oregon.

The company was set to be the leader in the digital marketing technology industry not only in the U.S. market, but across the globe. The company has revolved all its efforts around its premier software technology AiDAS. AiDAS is an artificial intelligence cloud program, designed exclusively for global corporations to gain complete autonomy of all their digital marketing, ecommerce and digital technologies data.

The company also has dynamic technology for the beauty and luxury industries, including Liquid Beauty AI, a premier product for the AR/AI smart mirror cosmetic technology solution.

Success is not an Overnight Triumph LUXE Digital Now has transformed from a boutique digital marketing agency to a technology solutions developer on a global scale that specializes in luxury brands. Jacqueline mentions that the path to success is never an overnight one, this triumph is thanks to a decade's worth of research, hard work, team development and education. Having to build longterm and valuable relationships with corporate beauty and luxury clients is a feat in itself. Excelling in project solutions and partnerships with its clients is what sets the company apart from its competition.

It believes in being the best and offering the best.

Besides being passionate about digital marketing, Jacqueline also has a love for travelling, yoga, fencing and academics.

Current Scenario of Digital Marketing According to Jacqueline, the digital industry has evolved tremendously over the years, with the new development of social media platforms to stronger data usage for marketing purposes. The revenue

generated in the industry has grown tremendously over the years. The digital marketing technology industry will continue to experience sustained growth, as the proliferation of digital devices, such as tablets and smartphones, provide new streams of income.

Another common trend in the digital marketing industry is the majority of digital marketing companies no longer rely on traditional media for advertisements, they now fully embrace new digital media and technology trends. As a result of this trend, they no longer settle for clients within the location where their physical office is located but also from any part of the world.

The truth is that with the advent of the internet, it is now easier for a digital company to work for clients in any part of the world. For instance, a digital company can be located in the United States and have their biggest client in United Arab Emirates or in China.

The digital marketing industry will continue to evolve due to the advancement of computer technology and software applications designs globally.

Empowering Emerging Entrepreneurs All the efforts of Jacqueline are in the direction to pursue her goal of seeing LUXE Digital Now as a unicorn company; innovating digital marketing and data technologies around the world.

In her advice to aspiring leaders, Jacqueline says “As entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand the landscape of the ever-changing business world. Take every tactical advantage you can, build successful teams, believe in the power of education in your field.

And most of all carry the torch of ambition – it will take you places you never dreamed possible as success is there for the taking – believe in it, and take it, because it's yours.”

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Amie Reiman Breaking the Stigmas Surrounding Cannabinoid Therapies

I

f one person embodies the old adage “adversity makes you stronger”, it's Amie Reiman.

An Undulating Journey For Amie, HIP Lives is more than her company- it's an extension of herself. As Amie herself puts it, “I started HIP Lives because I saw how few resources were available to women who struggle every day with mental and physical health issues while trying to put food on the table and raise kids, many of whom are special needs. The world doesn't need another aspirational ecommerce site to sell vaginal eggs. HIP Lives is about helping real women, many of whom are struggling to just get out of bed in the morning.”

An ardent working professional and single mother of one, Amie knows firsthand how precarious one's health can be. Through her website and blog, Amie shares her wellness journey in the spirit of wit and honesty. From finding the right cannabis dosage to help her special needs child to teaching other women how to be “boss-bitches” in male dominated fields, no topic is off-limits on Amie's blogs, podcasts and social channels.

Amie knows all about mental health issues. From overcoming a violent sexual assault to then battling analgesic meds addiction and severe depression after a car accident left her in excruciating pain, Amie knows trauma firsthand. The knocks didn't stop with her own health. In 2015, Amie's now 10-year-old son was diagnosed with fragile X, a genetic disorder considered part of the Autism family with side effects that include severe ADHD and anxiety. Fed up with the mindnumbing effects of prescription medications on both herself and her son, Amie began to explore holistic alternatives. Her son has one of the first pediatric prescriptions for medical cannabis Canada and a result Amie possesses an immense wealth of knowledge on how to use this potent natural medicine.

Amie knew she wasn't alone in these struggles and realized that there was no definitive resource or support system for many parents, children and corporations in terms of coping and taking a positive approach to health solutions. Through controversial research and personal development, Amie launched HIP Lives from a desire to convert her and her child's medicinal regiment to one entirely based on medical cannabis.

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Amie Reiman CEO & Founder HIP Lives

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Advocating Medicinal Cannabis

Difficult roads lead to

As a result of her advocacy, Amie has been able to become both an influencer and connector in the burgeoning cannabis industry. Having come from a marketing and sales background, Amie thought she could support the supply chain while helping others gain access. In only a few short years, Amie has become a sought-after marketer, consultant and connector for those seeking broader exposure and invaluable industry contacts. Amie shares the benefits and the challenges faced in the Cannabis Industry from her hands-on professional experiences in the space.

beautiful destinations. other like minds and hopes to inspire other women. “I have found such synergy with other strong female leaders in the Cannabis community” she says, “There is so much to gain through collaborating and sharing the mutual passion for the plant and it's medicine with other like minds. We are all pioneering a new industry and female mentors have truly empowered me to stay strong no matter what obstacles we face, not only in the Cannabis community but in general, health itself.”

Humanity driven, Amie is looking forward to the work and growth for Hip Lives ahead, 'It is an exciting time in plant medicine and I am so grateful to be involved in the learnings and growth in its early days”.

At the core of Amie's platform is motherhood and one of HIP's main pillars is Help in Parenting. Amie says, “as moms we need to learn it's ok to ask for help- lots of it. I don't mind being the lady you call at 2 in the morning when you need to calm your child from an autism related seizure or just need reassurance that you're going to make it through another day.”

Enlightening Aspiring Businesswomen Stay compassionate, stay true to yourself. I think that having compassion rather than just my own passion has got me where I am. I often think that going after that so called “shiny thing” doesn't always prove to be the best approach. You may see something and want it so badly that it almost becomes a necessity, and eventually, the greed takes over. It may come from a good place in your heart, but I think that compassionately things fall into place when you lead with integrity. Do things humbly so that you're giving back at the same time as you're receiving.

This leads to another of HIP's beliefs; health is not an overnight miracle, but rather an endeavor that can only be successfully achieved through small steps, quite literally HIP means Health in Progress.

Aspiring to Make Cannabis a Global Option Ask Amie her long-term vision for HIP Lives and she'll say very clearly, “In a perfect world moms anywhere in the world could click on my site and find out how they can have access to cannabis for both themselves and their children. With partners and networks all over the globe, this is what I'm working towards.”

Amie knows that cannabis is not the panacea for all problems. This is why she also offers access to a wide array of holistic therapists and therapies that she herself can proudly stand behind as well as various products that have benefited her own recovery and coping mechanisms. Hip CBD launched recently with a specific set of formulations vetted for healing in both women and children which aligns with the Hip Lives and her own mission towards a Health in Progress.

With 2021 speaking engagements and a monthly voice as a co- host on the popular Cannabis Podcast network, The Canna Mom Show, Amie plans to keep aligning with

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Anne Krog Iversen is a different kind of entrepreneur.

he is the Chief People, DNA, & Culture Officer at TimeXtender, and a Co-founder, along with her husband and CEO Heine Krog Iversen, both of whom founded the company in 2006.

TimeXtender has been growing in revenue, customers, partners, and employees ever since.

S

slowing business economies. However, given its purpose-driven leadership, and strong grounding in core beliefs, the company has fared well and better than one might expect: TimeXtender is on course to exceed 70 percent in new customers compared to the same time period last year.

Given the company's 14-years of success, for that accomplishment alone, Anne is a successful entrepreneur. But her entrepreneurial spirit goes much deeper, and is shown day in and day out with her innovation, inventiveness and ideas for organizational progress and resilience.

This is quite remarkable given the uncertainty of these times. So, how was this achieved?

It starts with a combination of technology innovation and work-culture innovation. For its work culture and progressive workplace, TimeXtender has been recognized time and again. Led by Anne, the HR team regularly evaluates its culture and keeps a close eye on business climate, looking for ways to improve operations, systems and programs for the organization as a whole.

Along with being an entrepreneur, Anne is also what we might call an “intrapreneur,” one who creates and implements new business methods and models inside a company. At TimeXtender, she has identified a unique corporate DNA, and from there, built, advocated for and advanced numerous initiatives to guide a thriving workforce at this growing company.

A great example of this has been her leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown that has occurred across many regional economies.

Just prior to the global pandemic hitting, Anne and TimeXtender's management team implemented organizational purpose circles (OPCs) throughout the company. With OPCs, TimeXtender was able to adapt rapidly with a “new workplace” and continue its business progress as, what Anne calls, “One Global Team” – working from anywhere.

We've all felt the pain of the global pandemic.

Layoffs. Shutdowns. Remote. It's been a turbulent 2020 for sure, but TimeXtender, a global software company providing the fastest way to build and manage a modern data estate to support advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), has had the good fortune to continue to move ahead and actually achieve new levels of business growth.

While technology innovation is at the heart of TimeXtender's mission, its creative, technical developmental focus could not reach its potential without this supporting – and innovative – work culture.

The OPCs run alongside its long-standing corporate mindfulness program and its following of Stephen Covey's “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” program. All in all, purpose-driven leadership has become the central theme for the company, as OPCs

The company has had to adjust, like most organizations, to maintain business continuity while moving from office workers to dispersed teams and remote work; all this, while trying to adjust to

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Chief People, DNA, & Culture Officer

Anne Krog Iversen

Driving TimeXtender to Higher Growth through Purpose-driven Leadership 23

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enable TimeXtender staff to be mostly self-managed, translating into an organization that has become more innovative, creative, and sustainable. This has also led to an environment that is adaptable and suitable for current times.

“Purpose-driven culture continues to help TimeXtender flourish and maintain its roots as a true technology innovator.”

OPCs have propelled TimeXtender to improve processes by leveraging freedom, strengthening trust among employees, and achieving greater success with a structured framework. Purpose circles inspire individuals to get more involved across different areas of interest. This modern-day organizational framework is helping the company advance to new levels of agility, productivity, sustainability, and innovation, inspiring employees towards greater personal and organizational growth.

corporate mindfulness and other resilience training initiatives also plays a keen role as it is now available on virtual platforms and helps to support its refashioned, remote workplace.

With OPCs, group synergy has come alive with extensive idea sharing, mentoring, and learning.

Blending individual purpose with organizational purpose provides encouragement for each person to strive for a higher purpose in life and at work.

All in all, purpose-driven culture continues to help TimeXtender flourish and maintain its roots as a true technology innovator, even in the midst of the global pandemic and with teams dispersed around the world that are working remote on different time zones.

Team members have responded favorably to working in a culture that enables sharing of the responsibilities of technical leadership, management, planning, implementation, and delivery assurance of final solutions. They cherish the opportunity to strive for a bigger purpose while working with colleagues to try and reach new heights, greater success, and ambitious goals and objectives.

For their work in the area of building a modern-day business culture, TimeXtender and Anne have won many industry awards, most recently and most notably, being named the winner of the Gold Stevie® Award in the HR Department of the Year category for Employee Relations Team of the Year.

And here's where TimeXtender's technology innovation and work-culture innovation meet. The company's OPC environment is supported with a focus on automating workflow, speed on the job, efficiency of tasks, and utilization of technology, driven by purpose, focused on strategies and results -- all without mid-level supervision. In other words, OPCs are designed with innovation at the heart of its purpose.

For these reasons, Anne can be considered a “10 Most Inspiring Business Women Making a Difference for 2021.” We expect to hear more great achievements coming from Anne, the Xtended leadership team and the X-People (as they call themselves) at TimeXtender in 2021.

TimeXtender's innovative and progressive work culture has shaped out nicely with OPCs as the primary business accessory. The company's

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Elena Herweyer An Entrepreneur who is Defining Courage, Vision, and Success

T

he current pandemic crisis brought to all of us new challenges and tough questions that we have to respond to. In marketing, the media channels and business models must quickly assimilate new time requirements and technologies to help businesses survive and even find a way to grow. In this new economic era of high-speed changes in the market where new technologies bring new ideas and opportunities to open new amazing horizons, and Elena Herweyer, founder, CEO and creative director of Art Fresh, Inc., and her team work hard for the clients' objectives and strive to exceed their expectations.

development and obtain a deeper understand of the target audience, the sales drivers in order to find new approaches and media channels for effective communication of the brand values. We never stop to sharpen our marketing tools to develop a brand vision and methodology to deliver new more effective solutions that will work and help our clients build powerful brands in the highly competitive environment where the Covid-19 crisis has changed the businesses significantly.”

Elena is known for increasing brand recognition for well-known international organizations such as Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Giorgio Armani, Gillette and Samsung.

Elena is a talented, proficient and award-winning creative director. She is having expertise in creating visual concepts and communicative tools for branding, marketing and web strategies. Art Fresh is growing and strives to respond fast to the new reality, digital technologies and creative innovations and to be on the cutting edge of all innovations in a fast-changing market.

A Born Leader Elena likes to take responsibility and organize people to achieve the results. She always wanted to be an entrepreneur and start her own business even being a professional fine artist and graphic designer. She is a team player and loves to work with like-minded people who are passionate about what they do, who want continuously to develop professional skills, who have an open mind and who dare to make the impossible possible.

Speed is the keyword in today's business world. She asserts “With an increasing volume of information that we receive every day, fast changes in the markets, new economy realities we must be more creative in brand

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Elena Herweyer CEO and Founder Art Fresh, Inc.

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“Follow your passion, do your best at what you love and the impossible will become possible"

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In 2009, Elena came to Canada from Kyiv, Ukraine. She understood that here is the chance to make her dream come true and she decided to start her own business.

She says “My startup was launched without partners or investors — only based on my passion and expertise. It may sound like a crazy idea to start a new business being a newcomer to Canada without entrepreneurial experience, but intensive learning of new business tools such as marketing, business management, and accounting helped me gain new clients and develop my business into the multiaward winning full-service marketing agency that I have now.”

business success is a clear vision of the objectives that one want to reach, the ability to be a good team player and to learn fast every day and to not be afraid to take a risk to try something new that one never did before.

“You have to have open mind, not be shy, and be “a student” when you learn from your own experience or experience of others. Another vital trait I think is a strong love and passion to what you do,” she adds. This all is true for women as well for men in business.

Continuing Excellence The challenges, Elena is facing to grow the business, are to organize the business process in such way as to not lose the creative spark, to develop a fresh approach and new vision for the services that Art Fresh, Inc. provides to its clients and to strive to exceed the clients' expectations and deliver much better results that it promises.

A Team of Mindful People For Elena, Business is an intellectual sport and, like every team, she and her company aim to win and want to be a leader in the market. She asserts “Our creative team of like-minded professionals wants to be the best at what we do and to deliver the most effective business and marketing solutions for our clients. We always look deeply at the root of each problem, each challenge that clients bring to us, which can require sometimes creating a new business strategy or do repositioning of the product to obtain the desired results.”

Empowering Women Recently Art Fresh, Inc. was a proud sponsor of the campaign “New Life Girl” of The Vulnerable Children Society (www.vulnerablechildren.ca) that was created to rescue girls from the sex trade, and over a period of a year, provide them with skills training, counseling, personal hygiene education; and when possible, reunite them with their families. The company believes that all together we can make a big difference in the lives of those who need help, even if it is seems a small contribution from a global perspective.

For the team, it is very important deeply understand the current business position in the market, the uniqueness of the client's product to offer a right solution which can require improving of the business offer or a stronger focus on the ideal target audience with its desires to help grow the business in the highlycompetitive business environment.

Future Objectives Using this comprehensive methodology, Art Fresh, Inc., helps businesses save time and budget by taking the right steps in achieving their goals much faster. It transforms visions of brands which lead to the business transformation and the opening of new exciting opportunities.

Elena has a strong passion and love to help businesses grow and succeed as entrepreneurs indeed are the ones who change the world. She asserts “In a new economic era with high-speed changes in the market where new technologies bring new ideas and opportunities to open new amazing horizons, my team and I will continue to work intensively for our clients' objectives in order to exceed their expectations.” Marketing, new media channels and industrial design quickly assimilate new trends and technologies to transform businesses, so her goal is to further grow the marketing agency to the level where the company is able to address the new and more complicated business challenges of the clients and help them grow their businesses quickly. She adds “For Art Fresh our clients' success is our success.”

The AF team has a strong passion and love to help businesses reveal their passion to the products or solutions that they provide in the market to grow and succeed even in the uncertain times like now.

Advice from a Proficient to Novices “Business requires constant developing of not only your professional skills, business intellect, but also your personal and human qualities” says Elena. She believes the key to

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Women in Tech

WOMEN WHO ARE LEADING THE

TECH WORLD C

IO Look has always been appreciative of people who make the difference, and more so, if they come from among those who have an inherent disadvantage;Women. They work on farms, fields, factories, homes and everywhere. And yet, it has taken to be their “duty” to do so beside in most cases being subjected to discrimination, consciously or otherwise.

She is the Managing Partner for a huge swath of the world economy which includes Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East forming 90 countries where under her stewardship she oversees the working of an astounding hundred-thousand employees providing critical business services ranging from complete digital transformations, to guidance in tax laws across continents and in audits. With close to two decades with E&Y, her tenure known for its unwavering integrity and managerial sense, is said to have shown marked growth in central Europe including Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

But for every hurdle that they negotiate and every jibe that they take in their strides, there is a motley bunch among them who do not let opportunities pass, remain gritty, ever perseverant and patient, and mark their presence with more than expected results! We mention below twelve such women who have done wonders in the world of technology, and who shall keep being torchbearers to humanity, man, or woman, to take hurdles in their strides and aim for the skies.

3. Virginia Rometty, IBM Virginia “Ginni” Rometty has been with IBM for close to three decades where her stint led to tech innovations and advances. Otherwise, she is known for as an ‘inclusionist’ who introduced diversity into not only the working at IBM but the entire industry, as also furthering of tech-based education worldwide.

1. Aarthi Subramanian, Chief Digital Office, TCS Over three decades of first-hand experience in technology, the CDO of the formidable TCS of India leads the group’s various initiatives in the digital domain that bring forth the group innovations and technologies. Promoted from the position of Executive Director, she is a much-known name in the field of technology who has served markets as wide apart as the North America (US and Canada), Europe (Sweden) and India. A product of the NIT Warangal, she went on to do her MS from the University of Kansas in the US and was adjudged the Tech Leader of the year 2019 by ETPrime.

4. Julie Sweet, Accenture An alumnus of the Columbia University’s Law School where she did her Juris Doctor, Julie Sweet’s association with Accenture commenced as the Head of the Legal Division besides the position of the Chief Compliance Officer. In these positions she has seen closely the working of Accenture’s defence and aerospace divisions.

5. Kelly Manthey, Kin + Carta She is a B Sc in Business Administration from Kent State University who went on to do a plethora of professional certifications from the famed Harvard

2. Julie Linn Teigland, Managing Partner and Global Leader, Ernst & Young

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Business School. With close to 25 years of experience in the field which includes a stint with a pharma company which she successfully turned into a digital-ready entity; she is today the Group CEO of Kin + Carta for the Americas.

McAfee, Sun Microsystems, and Cisco, she knows the field with special emphasis on Info-tech and digital enterprises.

10. Teresa Barreira, Publicis Sapient A Bachelor of Arts with majors in Economics and Political Science from the Massachusetts University followed by an MBA from North-eastern University, Teresa Barreira has over 25 years of experience in creating client-centric digital strategies for marketing, branding and solutioning. At Publicis Sapient she is known for transforming and branding, reinventing marketing strategies, launching new products and organization, and driving growth of business that see exponential changes.

6. Riju Vashisht, Genpact Genpact’s Global Transformation Services business has her as its head-honcho where she has been instrumental in Robotic Process Automation, transitioning and finding complete digital solutions.

With close to two decades with Genpact (not taking into account some years that she worked form Walmart in India) where she held varied roles in markets and locations as far apart as South Africa, SE Asia and India, she is equally known in the field for her role in learning and development. At Genpact she has fronted roles in healthcare, retail, life-sciences and consumer goods worldwide bringing about perceptible transformation and engagements across markets and verticals.

11. Shelby Austin, Deloitte Canada She is today the Managing Partner of a subsidiary of Deloitte Canada, Omnia AI and Growth Investments who has done her BA from an American University besides a Degree in Law from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She is the founder of ATD legal services that used advanced technology in the area of documentation and its review and managed to quickly scale up the venture. Its success attracted the right attention and in the year 2014, ATD was taken over by Deloitte, world leaders in audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to the world's most admired brands. Shelby then became part of Deloitte heading Omnia AI which specializes in end-to-end AI-based solutions meant to enhance client experiences and thereby accelerating growth.

7. Jennifer Kilian, McKinsey & Company As a Design Partner of McKinsey & Company since 2014, she has been instrumental in getting effective and efficient design and UI/UX as standard offering to the organization’s clients. Helping her in this activity is her experience into actionable client insights. She has to her credit having served a range of industries and entities including those on the Fortune 500 list like HP, Disney and Chrysler.

8. Patricia Brown, SAS A Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina Patricia Brown is one of that rare breeds who has served with the US Marines as a paralegal. An extensive experience of over three decades gives her the edge in terms of knowledge and experience bringing her to the present position as EVP & CLO of SAS from the year 2019. She is today responsible for legal and licensing services worldwide prior to which she worked on protecting Intellectual Properties and governance at SAS operations worldwide.

12. Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics As a woman in the male-dominated military-industrial complex of one of the world’s most renowned manufacturers, she serves in an industry where “few women have gone before” and not many men would care to! And she does that in a very powerful manner in a very powerful position. Phebe Novakovic is the Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics, a worldrenowned defence-related manufacturer and has been so from 2013. So powerful is her position that she appeared on the Forbes’ raking of powerful women in the world in 2018.

9. Katie Ebrahimi, Unisys A Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento, she did her industrial and organizational psychology from the San Jose State University. Ebrahimi is the VP & Chief Human Resources Officer of Unisys, a company with global fame in Information Technology and related aspects.

She has in the past worked with Landec Corp, Sutter health, Clorox Com leading to her acquiring immense knowledge and experience in HR roles and what it entails. Diversifying to Info tech companies including

If you though she is guns blazing all the time, you could be wrong! She is on the board of a handful of charitable societies, is on the board of Abbott Labs and Northwestern University!

These by no means are the only one thought they do hold a torch to what women can do and are doing!

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J H

“We are treacherously exploring the great ever unknown which is the now century and tomorrow's already redundant.”

Realization is not enough to bring change; it requires constant efforts to build a roadmap for making transformative difference. Jillian Hamilton, the Founder and CEO of Safety Governance Institute has been one such change-maker.

Jillian is a known expert in Australia within the discipline of Safety Governance, serving on various Boards and regularly advising boards and senior leaders. As a global business leader, Jillian creates an environment for change and emergence of true safety governance. Her entire working career in Risk Management has been successful on one factor – the ability to influence purposely and consciously.

This process began when Jillian worked for a business where safety was not a cost of doing business; it was a true cost and noted as “the dark side”, quite literally as it was seen as a hindrance to being commercial savvy. During her five years in that business she realized the value of damage.

JILLIAN HAMILTON A Futurist in the Workplace Risk Management Space 36

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Realization that led to the Inception Jillian realized that unless businesses could converse with their audience and decision makers via their language i.e. money, they were speaking in a language they did not understand.

Whilst primary safety ideals have been born from compassion or influence, she knew that this did not affect everyone and primarily the ones who made key business decisions.

The first evolution was to make safety a business case and commence a conversation about damage costs and the costs of damage via Risk Dollarisation.®The next conversation is about safety governance and safety getting its seat at the Board Room table globally to ensure less damage and increased quality of life.

Safety-TrustTM & Safety Governance will be a feature of Non-Financial Risk TM. These are all words, phrases, aspects, and acumen that Jillian has brought to the business and safety tables. These are specific terms she has coined and used first for the industry.

Patenting the Idea as Doctorate Jillian was able to export Risk Dollarisation. She chose to patent the idea as “her doctorate”. As a self-funded business owner, she could not afford the time to complete her doctorate at this stage but she had a unique and key idea that has emerged as brand new and in our safety world of ’file - save as’ she had to mark it as her own. She wanted to make sure that her theory of safety relativity was known, marked, and measured as she did it first!

This approach has had much challenge within the safety community as she did not do it under another university professor. This ruffled a few feathers, but also, she made a connection of safety, risk, and business.

A crevasse which has merely been crossed in the past and for most safety professionals without a business or financial acumen, this has really placed some confusion at varying levels.

“Safety for years has struggled with the key part required to sit at a Board Room Table with confidence due to lacking in influence – “influence” at board levels, primarily as safety professionals often fail to take a full risk view and have even lesser understanding of macro-economic and microeconomic factors and drivers which push and mould a business, which in turn means a safety professional speaks

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in a different language to business leaders and board people,” asserts Jillian.

expert, agent, a go-to, elite, guru and person who can provide straight, honest, ethical and practical advice to my customers,” says Jillian. She made sure that she knew her topics and only when she had had years of working in businesses of various sizes, did she think she was qualified enough to provide advice and consultation to other businesses. Her ethos and mindset have always been focused upon goal setting and directional ideation.

The emergence of Jillian’s work has paved the way to export this process of non-financial risk management and applications in many nations of the world. Jillian is seen as a futurist as she is predicting outcomes and suggesting future workplace risk management.

A Leading Association The Safety Governance Institute of Australia is the leading association for boards, chief executive officers, safety professionals, governance professionals, directors, and risk managers. Its membership is open to professionals with qualifications and experience in the field of safety governance. Being a member is the ideal way to advance in one’s career, expand their network and build on their skills. It provides the exclusive certificate in Safety Governance in Practice and is a business advocate for safety getting a seat at the boardroom table.

When she decides to go somewhere, she makes the proclamation, then she makes a plan, and then takes the desired steps to achieve it.

A Roadmap for Future Jillian is committed to promoting safety governance and the safety governance institute. She will be releasing her book Safety Governance in Practice later this year. Safety governance is a new space which needs more attention that she will drive to reduce deaths globally. She realized that the quality and style of teaching in this area is some of the key reasons for errors in understanding and action in this area. She is committed to repairing this area of safety governance education gap and creating a framework and guideline for international use.

Within the SGI business is the newly formed “Global Framework Project Team” dedicated to development of a Global Framework of Safety Governance that will be accepted by businesses, nations, and regulators globally for the governance of non-financial risks.

Jillian aspires to work with and influence the World Economic Forum in this area. She has created all the opportunities for herself and has done this intentionally and purposely.

Safety-TrustTM has become a vital key, as revisiting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs sees people focusing more on core lower-order needs for safety of service and product more than person ideations (self-actualization) of success, trends and excitement and adventure.

Further to this end, Edelman found 90% of customers want to see brands “protect the well-being and financial security of their employees and their suppliers, even if it means suffering big financial losses until the pandemic ends” (Edelman & Reis 2020). SGI will assist companies to achieve these product goals and organizational survival of stakeholder capitalism and to drive this contribution throughout the global community.

She will continue to drive the path for safety governance globally and to help grow and develop board leaders, leadership and safety professionals to deliver safety trust at work and best outcomes for society by eliminating loss from work processes, no matter the stage of work.

Vital Attributes According to Jillian, Consistency, Honesty, Ethics, and firm handling of finance are some of the vital attributes every business leader should possess. She has displayed these attributes through her work. In her career, she has set a path from the very beginning and that is, to be the absolute best person in every room she is present.

“As a business owner in advisory and consultancy, it is critical for the success of my business that I be known as an

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From an Admin Clerk to a Chairwoman

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LHT has been one of the largest manufacturing companies of high-quality wooden pallets, boxes, and crates in Singapore. LHT has staff strength of 180, serving the areas of administration, manufacturing, and warehousing.

hey say difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. May Yap has also overcome numerous hurdles to earn the coveted position of Chairwoman, CEO and Managing Director at LHT Holdings Ltd. Her entrepreneurial ride had lot of undulating moments. Let us uncover her journey of becoming a businesswoman in an exclusive interview with CIO look:

Another opportunity came by when I was appointed as the acting Managing Director in 2016 and followed by re-designation as the chairman, Managing Director, and CEO in 2017.

Give a brief overview of your background and your role as a businesswoman.

In December 1977, after graduating from my GCE 'O” level, I joined former Lian Hup Timber Trading Co and commonly known as “Lian Hup” by the pioneer generation of the timber industry in Sungei Kadut, before its rename to “LHT Holdings Limited”.

And now, with over 20 years of experience, I play a key role in seeking opportunities in the markets. My responsibilities rest in monitoring market developments and to assure that LHT's product development efforts are in line with the industry.

What people, what books, what life factors have influenced and impacted you?

The only person who influenced me was my mother, even though she had little education or none. She was the only person who looked after eight children. She can single-handedly built a chicken and duck farm, and a vegetable farm. She was a tough woman, even the weather was never her concern. She spoke little but her actions were great which remind me the statement “Action speaks louder than words”. She was perseverant, determined, with a never-say-never attitude. My mother works better than any man does, and the money she earned from the farming was used to pay for our siblings' school fees and our daily needs.

At that time, the firm “Lian Hup” had around 10 employees and on leasing land size of less than 100 sqm situated in the Mandai Village in a rural area. As a teenage admin clerk, I handled multiple positions including receptionist, delivery arrangement, stock inventory, accounts, and housekeeping, amongst others.

In the year 1999, the Lian Hup Timber Pte Ltd went listing in the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and was renamed to LHT Holdings Limited. I was then a senior sales manager and took the opportunity to buy a ten percent of the company shares.

For this reason, I was appointed as Sales Director in charge of all sales and marketing functions. Perceiving the opportunity to be an Executive Director, I took up to be one of the major shareholders during the company's reconstruction.

What is your vision for the company for the next five years?

Green products and sustainable business with digitalization will be key success factors for our business. Technical Wood: Compressed wood formed of original tropical hard fibers. The new wood

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May Yap Chairwoman, CEO & Managing Director

“Deforestation is one major cause of climate change.

Recycling is one of the many efforts that reflect our commitment toward mitigating climate change and global warming”

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Our Green Energy: Recycling wood waste to 'Technical Wood' and waste management. Technical Wood is the raw material and bio-products that are used to make furniture components for Greenflo Doors (fire-rated) and flooring strip.

How do you sustain your creative leadership spirit in this changing technological era?

Wood pallets have been traditional for more than 60 years since World War II, to entice our target audience we need to provide a competitive one-stop solution.

Besides selling wood and plastic pallets, we have technology pallets known as system pallets that cooperate with the RFID system. We also manufacture environment-friendly pallets that are made from recycling wood waste.

By 2013 we took over a big plant at Johor, Malaysia for Green innovative GPAC molded pallet production and became a multi diversity of wide ranges of ECO Green pallet leadership to distribute all kinds of wood packaging and champion in the green journey and scaled the company with a more effective business model and longevity sustainable for success.

substitutes the natural wood made from wood waste material.

What advice would you like to give to the emerging businesswomen?

There is no advice I would give to the emerging businesswomen of today, as I believe these women are already making the move towards their destiny. The IoT or I would rather call it “IoE” (internet of everything) gives them access to the knowledge on what they want.

I would only say, where there is a will there is a way, and never give up till your very last breath.

The Innovative Process Product Conversion (IPPC) Pallets: A strong foothold in the arena of green products designed and produced to reduce carbon footprints. The environmentally friendly packaging solutions enable customers to comply with international eco-friendly standards and regulations.

ECR Leasing Pallet: The 'Efficient Consumer Response', or ECR is a strategy to improve consumer choice, satisfaction, and service and at the same, reduce total costs, inventories, and physical assets.

What are your future objectives and where do you see yourself in near future?

The Covid-19 pandemic is a testament that our company is sustainable over the majority of companies that were shut down due to the lockdown period and we were one of the few companies that provided the essential services to the community as well as the society.

Industrial Packing: Providing services and solutions to customers' large machineries, unique design shapes that require special care, and the packaging that starts from a commercial sales point and arrives at the consumer as a sales unit.

Even though we are in business as usual, we will not stop here. In good time and through a good opportunities, Mergers and Acquisitions will be a part of the near future of our global expansion journey and also R&D collaboration to develop green products with our resources.

RFID Technology: Enhances productivity by eliminating all unnecessary manpower wastage on information retrieval for customers' verification documentation, provide accuracy, control, and efficiency for your business.

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Nancy Ze man Making a Difference through Fresh and Effortless Fashion

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othing great was ever achieved without walking the extra mile. It is certainly a zealous mindset and perseverance that have taken people closer towards their goals. The story of Nancy Zeffman aptly exemplifies this chain of thought. She has worked her way up to the top along with her co-founder Eileen Willett to establish Cucumber Clothing.

Through Cucumber Clothing, Nancy is making women feel confident through effortless dressing. Let's find out how in this exclusive interview with CIO Look: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader.

The foundation of Cucumber happened organically. I love to work out, as does my Co-Founder Eileen Willett. We also love to wear our gym kit and found ourselves hardly changing out of them as the material used are so comfortable, crease-free, and easy to care for. They keep us cool and dry as we go about our busy lives, whether that's trail running, downward dogging in hot yoga, jumping for the ball in basketball, walking the dog or popping to the local shops.

Our light bulb moment came when we realized there must be a way to reproduce this, but with a material that looked as gorgeous as it felt. We wanted to replicate all the qualities of our gym kit, but in more stylish, everyday luxury pieces that we would want to reach for time and time again.

It took about two years form having the idea to reaching market. This time was spent researching the market, materials and making up samples (and testing them), fine tuning our designs, photography and setting up our website, plus so much more, in time for our first capsule collection that launched in September 2017.

How do you diversify your organization's offerings to entice the target audience?

Our clothes are part of balancing a busy lifestyle. We use the latest technical fabrics that feel soft and luxurious, that are super easy to care for and style them into flattering designs for all body shapes – we go up to a UK size 20 in some styles.

How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market?

Our customers are women looking for a solution. Our fabrics are long lasting and require minimal care. We care about how we create our products and consider every step of our production to minimize our environmental impact. We are building a Cucumber community where we encourage customer engagement and offer an exceptional level of customer service.

What are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess?

I think that to launch a brand takes three main characteristics; determination – if you want to go for something, you have to give it your all and see it through; organization – there is always so much to do and not all of it can be done at once; which leads me onto prioritizing – and this means in a personal capacity too. You have to learn to

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prioritize yourself sometimes so that the business can be supported by two mentally and physically fit and happy co-founders.

Clothes should do more than just dress a body. Our clothes breath, they cool, they stretch but don't crease; they move with your body; they are easy to care for and are made locally, ethically, and sustainably. Our all-inone style was created to fit seamlessly into every woman's wardrobe – dress up, dress down, sleep, stretch, work, train, travel. Cucumber is effortless dressing that keeps you feeling fresh 24/7.

As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them?

We have had to learn some hard lessons along the way.

For example, quite early on, we decided to outsource our fulfilment (picking, packing, and shipping to the customer). We pride ourselves on excellent customer service – we personally answer every email and actively encourage feedback. Fielding out this part of our business was nerve-wracking as this was the first time, we had no control over part of our customer's experience with us. We were horrified when we began receiving complaints of wrong garments received, double order sent, and boxes marked 'shoes' (we only make clothing)! It was a month-long very expensive experiment with endless firefighting, but it underlined to us the value we place on customer service.

What kind of support was required and gained, by you, while emerging as a business forerunner?

Launching a brand (on a shoe-string budget) and setting up a website are one thing; driving traffic to it is quite another. We have had to really put ourselves out there and shout about our brand to anyone who will listen.

In terms of support, we have been lucky to have attended some courses run by the London College of Fashion, that helped us hone our business plan and gave us the original confidence to launch. During Covid, we have been receiving excellent help from the London Growth Hub, that supports SME's and in turn, the DIT (Department of International Trade). These are all amazing free support networks that have helped us navigate the ever-changing landscape of the business world.

Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment?

We make luxurious clothes for every day. Our clothes empower women by using the latest ultra-modern performance fabrics that work to dissipate sweat and odors away from the body to leave the wearer feeling cool, uncrushed, and confident to get on with her day.

We marry technical, high performance fabrics to cleverly cut-to-flatter designs that function optimally and always feel amazing next to the skin.

We are also part of various female entrepreneur forums in the UK that have provided support and encouragement.

What are your future endeavors/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

We have been expanding into luxury spas around the UK and have also been involved in various pop-up events which have worked very well. Despite the uncertain situations due to covid-19 pandemic, we believe we can build on our existing wholesale customer base. We are also expanding overseas and are stocked in a sustainable concept store in Amsterdam, as well as a French on-line store.

“

Don't sweat the small stu ; so ma y things can get in the way of your bigger dreams and aspirations.

We are hoping to grow in this area, whilst also constantly reviewing and upgrading our website to offer a fantastic shopping experience online.

We hope to be established as the premier fabric led fashion brand for women in the UK; will have a firm foothold in countries where we have already started to make in-roads, namely the US, Australasia, South Africa and the Middle East.

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“

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If you want to improve your organization, you must continuously work at improving yourself and the employees will get pulled up by you.

“ Rita Lindenberg SVP Human Resources Entersekt

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RITA

LINDENBERG THE EPITOME OF COMPASSION AND EFFICIENT LEADERSHIP

In an interview, Rita Lindenberg, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Entersekt, shares with us her journey, experiences and opinions on impactful female leadership – and indeed its necessity in the contemporary corporate landscape.

Below are the highlights of this insightful conversation with Rita.

Take our readers through your professional journey that led you to your current role as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources.

I started my journey by ensuring that I had a solid foundation of relevant skills, which I achieved by studying at a tertiary level. I completed a diploma in HR consulting, a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Psychology, an Honor's degree in Public Development Management, and a Master's degree in Leadership, Performance and Change. I completed the latter while in employment, which made the theory much more relatable and gave me the opportunity to apply my leadership skills in the workplace.

advising line management on people practices. From there, I moved into the niche domain of global fintechs, which are typically smaller in size, fast paced and complex.

One of my first jobs was leading an organizational diagnostics function in a small management consulting practice. Here, I was able to hone my skills in using survey data to improve employee engagement.

Tell us more about Entersekt.

Entersekt has a lean HR function serving 150+ globally dispersed employees. To ensure we remain relevant and add the most value to our stakeholders where it matters, we automated a large part of the function through an integrated HRM system that provides reporting, data, a recruitment platform, and

From the beginning of my career, I made sure I learnt as much as possible from the senior leaders I reported to or worked with. I selected role models that I could draw on. I am naturally curious and fascinated by people's behavior, and this curiosity encouraged me to ask questions, conduct research, observe, and distil information so that I could form a clear picture of how things work.

After four years, I transitioned into the corporate financial services sector as a human capital consultant,

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performance management, amongst other functions, to take care of the vital HR processes.

In a corporate environment, I find myself working 12–14-hour days and having to compromise personal relationships. I have found that the best way to deal with this is by having open and frank discussions with my manager and asking for additional support, team members or resources.

This gives the team more time for value-add functions such as understanding and addressing the changing needs of our employees. We also partner with selected leadership consulting firms to bolster our employee training and development offering.

The key is to approach the problem with your end goal in mind. Try to propose a solution to the issue rather than waiting for others to change your world.

We have also implemented an OKR (objectives and key results) methodology in the business to help us focus on meaningful strategic objectives with clear key results that are measured quarterly. HR has also designed a team brand, underpinned by our values, and we revisit this brand promise and goal attainment on a regular basis.

I regard myself as an experienced HR professional, and as Oscar Wilde once said, “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” I have made lots of mistakes along the way, but the important thing is to always learn from them!

What, according to you, are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess?

Women tend to have an innate ability for empathy and kindness, which are very powerful traits. If we lead by instilling values such as treating others with respect, extending empathy and compassion, practicing gratitude, and constructively managing conflicts, then kindness becomes the cornerstone of your business culture. In this way, women can become organizational architects – and the bridge builders that connect people.

Have you contributed towards the cause of women empowerment?

Absolutely! I actively hire women and enable their career development and promotion. I have also supported women's activities in business by helping to establish a women's network forum. It is important for women to have an equal voice, and the status quo needs to change so that we do not need to establish specific forums or special provisions. We should be able to “just own it”.

What are your future objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

As SVP Human Resources of a global fintech company, my objectives are aligned with that of the business: “To create a world where everyone can interact and transact digitally without fear or compromise.” And, to create a work environment where our employees can thrive.

What roadblocks or challenges did you face in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them?

While I prefer not to dwell on my career challenges (and there have been many), they were the moments that provided the most opportunity for personal growth.

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TUULA JALASJAA

Empowering Women to make Sound Financial Choices “Whatever stage of life you are at, make wise financial decisions” is one advice you will always come across. Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works. Its understanding how someone makes, manages, spends, and invests money and effectively use various financial skills including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. It is important to have some platform that helps to make those choices less difficult.

It is important because as worldwide wealth increases, women's wealth and incomes are also growing rapidly. Women will increasingly need more financial knowledge (and advice) because their finances are often more complex than men's. For example, women's longer life expectancy can result in sudden additional and assumed financial responsibilities relatively later in life.

There are many other life events that are unique to women and impact their finances negatively or positively. Because there is a lack of knowledge on how to deal with these situations, financial literacy for women is increasingly in demand and absolutely required.

Rectifying Financial Issues After being in the industry for many years and recognizing its complexities as well as seeing very unfortunate situations happen to women due to lack of financial literacy, Tuula wanted to build something that could rectify these issues. The Women's Collection was the perfect name

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Tuula Jalasjaa is the Founder of The Women's Collection. She is a financial services and wealth management senior executive with extensive experience domestically and internationally, spanning 23 years successfully managing various retail, commercial and corporate businesses for a major global financial institution. She has run several key wealth management businesses including HollisWealth, Scotia Private Investment Counsel and Institutional Investment management distribution and, Scotia Asset Management U.S.

Tuula Jalasjaa Founder The Women's Collection

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because although one can find resources in many places, there is no true “collective” of them in one place.

choices to achieve their goals and financial wellness.

The program uses a combination of “education, networking, tools, and resources” as well as a digital investment platform (a.k.a. robo-advisor) “designed for women, by women.” This robo-advisor, called Smart Money for Her, was recently launched by Tuula and is Canada's first and only robo-adviser platform for women.

Simply put, The Women's Collection is a collection of knowledge, resources and tools supporting financial literacy, financial wellness and financial security for women making it 'Simpler, Accessible and Engaging'.

Increasing Female Financial Literacy

Strategic Direction of Wealth Management Tuula has pioneered and led several initiatives for women throughout her career and is a tremendous advocate for achieving more diversity in business for women and raising the number of female leaders and board directors globally. She is also passionate about empowering women with their finances and financial futures with a keen focus on increasing female financial literacy rates around the globe.

Tuula is also working with senior leaders to help shape and guide the strategic direction of wealth management across the Caribbean, including how to better serve female investors in all segments as well as business owners, to increase their financial knowledge and empowerment.

Tuula holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. She has also

To this end, she founded The Women's Collection to empower Canadian women to make sound financial

“ Have passion and a love for what you are trying to accomplish.

Passion will keep you on your journey and push you to succeed.

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earned the ICD designation from the Rotman School of Management Corporate Directors Program.

The purpose of Smart Money for Her is to help women by offering a live resource to implement what they have learned through the learning modules offered on The Women's Collection platform. It is a key component of financial literacy initiative.

Leading by Example There are many traits of an effective leader but for Tuula, a true leader helps others reach their goals and leads by example. Due to adverse market gaps, it was important for her to champion and lead the development of a platform to educate women on financial wellness to achieve their financial goals.

Wealth Creation for All Women The future for The Women's Collection looks very promising with interest in the platform from other countries growing. Tuula can see herself driving a global platform and mission that democratizes wealth creation for women around the world.

Assessing Opportunities

The Women's Collection develops content that educates women on how to wisely make financial decisions that are right for them and their families. The program offers online and offline educational learning programs; combined with events and additional information sources to support women in building their confidence.

Tuula's journey has been exciting with lots of twists and turns along the way. She says that there was never a dull moment. She learns from her mistakes and celebrates every accomplishment and milestone. The biggest roadblock for her was trying to do everything and capture every opportunity and finding not enough hours in the day. Her biggest learning has been that setting a framework to assess opportunities and sticking with the principles of that framework are uber critical.

Leaving a Legacy When starting her own company, there were so many nuances Tuula came across that differ significantly from the corporate world. She thinks she would have taken a course early on how to start a business so she could have been more prepared for all the things that arose.

Unique Online Investing Platform Smart Money for Her is a unique online investing platform, the first robo-advisor designed specifically for women in Canada. It has a goals-based approach, which is an intuitive way of investing that starts with the question, “what are you saving for?”

The most pertinent driving factor for Tuula was to pursue a dream and passion that helped others and to create a legacy that her daughters would be proud of.

Her advice to other women leaders is to follow their passions and do not let roadblocks stop them but make them wiser and stronger.

Women are able to learn investing in a simple fashion because it is index investing,” she said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “It's a tool to help women apply their financial knowledge and just get their feet wet when it comes to investing.”

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Veronica Crisafulli Exemplarily Inspiring

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uriosity is the foundation of innovation. Everything new that has been emerged in our world may it be from necessity or just accidental inventions; all have been derived from a curious mind.

In this exclusive interview, we are showcasing one such curious mind, Veronica Crisafulli – Co-founder of MO Tecnologías and KEO World. She is currently leading a FinTech company that is on its way to revolutionize the credit space by empowering credit inclusion for businesses and customers. How is she doing that? Let us ask Veronica: Describe your background and what did you do before you started, or came into this business?

'An earthquake', 'the lady with a luggage' or 'the dreaming girl' are some of the ways my family used to call me when I was younger. My willingness to know the world and to make of it a better place never changed during the years. I have done my studies in Italy, from the University Bocconi of Milan, where I was born.

During this period, I had the chance to do an exchange program for 3 months in Cuba at Universidad de la Habana, and a 6 months exchange in Madrid at Carlos III. Both opportunities opened my eyes and made me realize I wanted to discover the world, traveling as much as possible, to then find the way to start my own business somewhere. Then, I finalized my studies in Spain at ESADE and Denmark at CBS studying international management.

Describe your company and its cutting-edge services which address all the needs of your customers.

I co-founded MO: a fintech that revolutionizes the credit space empowering credit inclusion since 2016. MO is targeting the 3Bln users worldwide without access to traditional credit. Mo has a SaaS business model licensing the technology to partners of all verticals from the financial industry to fintech, as well as non-financial industries such as CPGs, GIGs, BPOs and service companies. Mo generates revenues through a simple and scalable commercial model mainly based on a recurring fee per user or product scheme.

It also has a proprietary, complementary, alternative, and innovative credit scoring technology which uses non-traditional variables along with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models to evaluate the creditworthiness of a client. Additionally, MO has been focusing in creating a 360ocredit solution for our partners: from the digital on-boarding through a white label open-data platform to a credit management platform.

I co-founded KEO World: an innovative lending Fintech focusing on promoting financial inclusion by giving its clients´, both consumers and small businesses, the

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Being positive and enthusiastic it is also something that makes a big difference. I focus my attention on the positive ways of looking at a fact or problem and on how to solve it. That helps me cope with any type of situation on top of the fact that it makes the working environment more pleasant.

I believe in embracing financial easiness through credit inclusion

Last but not least, a businesswoman should never feel less than somebody else.

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What is your greatest achievement in life?

My greatest life achievement is to still feel myself passionate, dedicated and in love with my family and friends as when I was a teenager. I am still that positive, with the same willingness to do something for the good and to be an inspiration for all the people around me.

possibility to access credit on fair terms and with an alldigital process, independently from their credit history (or lack of it).

I am also very happy to have achieved and co-created two companies because it was a long-term goal. Being an entrepreneur is challenging but at the same time very rewarding. Today, I feel grateful for all the experiences and all the people I have met in my journey.

What strategies do you undertake to make your employees resourceful?

I always try to find a good balance between work and fun moments. I know that if I do this well, I can maintain high motivation, high productivity, and efficiency. What I do is pretty simple but it's a successful recipe.

First of all, I believe each one of them is the best person for the job, so I help them to take responsibility without leaving them alone in the journey. Secondly, I share my experience and knowledge every time I can, or if they ask for it.

Where do you see your industry in five years?

The Fintech industry will keep growing fast over the next 5 years. First of all, a collaborative environment between financial institutions and fintech firms will be totally normal. Banks are finally changing their mindset to perceive fintech as competition, understanding the need to work with technology startups to succeed.

Secondly, disruption will come from the following main fintech area: digital lending, payments, blockchain, insurance and digital wealth management.

Thirdly, I think it is important to give recognition when a job is well done. And finally, I am always myself with my employees, I think being authentic is fundamental to be trusted. I believe in the magic of the teamwork, so I push for it every day keeping alive a company culture of positivity and reliability.

Additionally, disruption will definitely come from an increasing variety of business models across geographies, segments, and technologies. Thirdly, artificial intelligence, machine learning models, robotics and big data will become the day to day solutions. As a focal point, we will start seeing more consolidation as larger players get involved in mergers and acquisitions to satisfy their expansion goals and this will lead to better fintech valuations.

What are some of the vital attributes, in your opinion, that every businesswoman should possess?

I love what I do, I am confident, and I am a risk taker and I believe these are important traits for a businesswoman to have these days.

What one thing, more than anything else, do you want to accomplish in your business before you get out?

The one thing I would like to accomplish is my vision to outlast me. I really hope to leave a mark, leaving behind a lasting innovation that improves people's lives in a tangible way every day, giving access to credit in an easy and fair way.

I have the courage and I am able to make decisions rapidly understanding the business and related risks.

Besides that, I have always looked for the human side, because it is a big and valued differentiator.

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In order to do that, I want my team to be empowered and able to move forward with the right principles whenever I'm out of the game. It's a sort of entrepreneurial legacy concept that motivates me every day and drives the majority of my decisions more than the only financial and sustainable success.

What advice would you like to give to the emerging entrepreneurs?

My advices for the emerging entrepreneurs are as following: Ÿ Do not be afraid if your life feels like a roller coaster ride. I ensure you that you will enjoy the entire journey. Even if you will be moving up and down, you will learn so much. Ÿ Have a concrete idea and take action. Do not start just to be a wantrepreneur. Ÿ Make a plan (project plan and business projections) and focus on the plan but be flexible enough to change it in any moment and more than 1 or 2 times. Ÿ Share your idea with a mentor or people in the ecosystem to avoid as many mistakes as possible. Ÿ Start it with the best team. 3 people could be enough, but you need to be very aligned on the company's norms and values.

How do you sustain your entrepreneurial spirit in this changing technological era?

We live in a dynamic world where the changes are constant and not the exception. For me, the key to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit alive has been to dedicate time to read about what is happening in the ecosystem of different countries and different sectors.

I always look around and think about consequences and future outlooks, supported by an internal dedicated team for innovation. I constantly organize brainstorming sessions, as well as challenges for new ideas. We definitely work to anticipate better and actively be a part of the change.

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