We believe women and their achievements should be celebrated, every day and always.
However, unfortunately, the achievements of women often go unnoticed. That’s why we launched our annual Women in Media Awards – to recognise the amazing accomplishments of women across the marketing, communications and advertising industry.
Today, we are hearing from Mars Wrigley Confectionery’s marketing director, Suzanne Morrison.
I believe the Women in Media Awards are important because seeing a group of women being recognised in your peer-set is really inspiring and empowering. Ultimately, awards like this are about recognising great female talent and empowering other women to have the confidence to reach their potential and step up to the next level with conviction.
Many people are surprised when I tell them our leadership team is 70 per cent female, and all the women are mothers. There are enormous opportunities for us to rethink the way we view parental leave and childcare. European countries are strides ahead of us in driving greater equality here. Right now, it just doesn’t make sense for a woman with two kids to return to work. As a business, we haven’t put any gender-balance targets in place and I believe that’s a testament to my boss Andrew Loader, General Manager for Mars Wrigley Australia. The focus was on ensuring he took on the right people for the job and empowers us to make decisions to set our business up for success.
I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without the influence of two very important women, my mother and my aunt Gill. My mum is a huge inspiration in the pursuit for equality. Growing up it was Mum, my two sisters and me. We lived in a small town in rural Victoria and we were raised to believe that ‘you can do anything and be anything’ and not to doubt yourself. I’m really grateful for that. My aunty Gill was also a real inspiration and role model. Growing up she opened my eyes to how to be a strong woman and that it’s OK not to conform. When she was 20, she went off to travel the world alone.
It was through that experience she discovered her true passion and where she wanted to make a difference in the world. Today she’s a school principal and works tirelessly to influence how education is delivered by helping children learn better. She’s also the linchpin of our family and creates space for everyone to come together each year. She’s shown that it’s possible to have a fantastic career and not to let that undermine the importance of family.
If I could offer any piece of advice to working women out there who may be struggling, it would be to trust your genius. Your intuition does matter and women especially, are quite in tune to this. We have strong emotional intelligence and are quite adaptable to peoples’ needs. This can be really powerful and it’s important that we trust and act on those instincts with confidence when the situation calls for it.
