In this thought-provoking op-ed, Eimear Colleran, head of marketing at Prophet, details its intentional journey to becoming a more diverse and inclusive business over the past 18 months.
International Women’s Day often prompts the same conversation in tech and marketing. Why are there still so few women shaping the products, platforms and decisions that define modern business?
At Prophet, we decided not to wait for the answer to emerge organically.
Eighteen months ago, our team looked very different. In August 2024, there was just one woman on staff. Today, 10 of our 24 employees are women, including three in leadership roles. That represents a 900% increase and a shift in who is helping guide the decisions our company makes every day.
It was not the result of a grand diversity program or quotas. It came down to intentional hiring and a belief that the best teams are built when different perspectives are present in the room.
Startups do not naturally become diverse. They choose to.
Our hiring philosophy has always been simple. Find the best person for the role. That principle has not changed. What has changed is being conscious about how and where we search for talent, the signals we send about culture, and the type of environment we want to build.
In a fast-growing startup, every hire shapes the company. The way people solve problems, the way teams collaborate, the way ideas are challenged. When those perspectives become more diverse, the quality of thinking improves.
That matters in our world. Prophet is a decision intelligence platform built to help businesses test and optimise decisions using data. Better decisions require curiosity, creativity and healthy debate. Homogeneous teams tend to approach problems in similar ways. Diverse teams rarely do.
Personally, one of the reasons I joined Prophet as one of its first hires back in 2024, it was the opportunity to help build something from the ground up. I love seeing complex challenges simplified and creating those “light bulb” moments where data suddenly reveals the answer.
Building the marketing function in a young tech company offered exactly that challenge. It also meant helping shape what a modern tech culture can look like.
Today, the women at Prophet span engineering, marketing, analytics, talent and operations. Some came from traditional tech pathways. Others arrived through less conventional routes. What they share is intellectual curiosity and a willingness to tackle difficult problems.
That diversity of background shows up in the work. Different approaches to problem-solving. Different ways of collaborating. Different questions being asked.
One of those perspectives comes from our engineering team. As Senior Software Engineer Aysa Matueva puts it: “Back when I was a barista, the IT crowd were always my happiest customers. Jokes aside, I’m drawn to an industry that never stands still and is filled with open-minded people. As for Prophet, the challenge of building data pipelines at scale is exactly the kind of ‘fascinating puzzle’ I live for. Plus, once I met the team (and the resident doggos), I knew I’d found my people.”
For women considering careers in tech, my advice is simple. Do not wait until you feel perfectly qualified. Tech moves too quickly for that mindset.
Most importantly, seek environments where your perspective is valued. The fastest growth happens when you are stretched and trusted to contribute.
As we approach International Women’s Day, there is a lot of discussion about representation in tech. Representation matters, but it should not stop at numbers. The real impact comes when women are influencing decisions, shaping products and helping define company culture.
And yes, our growing team did lead to one practical change. At one point we realised we had hired so many women that we actually needed to build another bathroom.
Not the most sophisticated diversity metric perhaps, but it is a sign that change is possible when companies choose to make it happen.
