Leading Women: breaking glass ceilings and the battle against gender roles

As part of our Leading Women series, we want to highlight the professional challenges and career aspirations of the women we work with here in Asia.  
 
In this story, we speak to three leading women from Heineken Asia Pacific: Anna Campagna, Director Sales Transformation APAC; Maud Meijboom, Brand Director for Tiger Beer and Heineken; and Sarah Maddock, Marketing Transformation Director. The three empowering ladies from Heineken share how gender roles have evolved over the years, how they have carved out spaces of their own in a ‘masculine’ industry, as well as how their childhood homes have shaped their attitudes towards leadership.  

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Q: What is one lesson learnt that’s unique to being a woman?  

Anna: The one that sticks out for me is being proud of being the only woman in the room, and it happens all the time. It never bothered me in the past but, over time, I understood what it meant to be there, how to leverage the opportunity and minimise the constraints that come with it. It’s about getting a seat at the table, remaining there and enjoying every minute of the rollercoaster.  
 
Maud: It’s something that my father told me. He used to say, “You have to do the best you can when you want something. And when you want something, you can do it”. He instilled that in me, that confidence, to go after something, and to speak up. I think that’s also a lesson that we, as women, can give to one another, that it’s OK to speak up for what you want and go for what makes you happy.  
 
Sarah: For me, it’s a lesson that I wished I had learnt earlier in life. I feel that women, and that includes myself, feel a need to prove themselves, probably more than their male counterparts, and it’s something that I’ve recognised. It’s commonplace, and once you recognise that within yourself, it becomes incredibly liberating. You get so much more out of every interaction because you’re listening better and actually thinking about other people’s perspectives.

This is an abridged version of the full interview with the leading women from Heineken Asia Pacific. For the full version of the interview, click here.