Happy International Women’s Day! Celebrated on the 8th March all around the world, it celebrates achievements of women and continues to highlight the importance of gender equality. Today, we’re celebrating the women of Map Marketing! In this blog post, read about some of the women from our team and what they do within the business.
Clare Owen, Sales Director:
“Manufacturing is often associated with a male-dominated industry, but at Map Marketing that is not an accurate description. I so enjoy working in a creative and inclusive environment where women are represented in every department from Sales, to Marketing, Design, Procurement, Finance and machine handling. Two female members of my customer services team are currently on a Lean Manufacturing course we enrolled them in.”
“The women here at Map Marketing play a vital role in every sphere. The aspect of the job as Sales Director that I enjoy most, is helping a company take a new jigsaw product to market and guide them along the way in what makes that product successful. I have been supported by the company while I work from home during lockdown, as I have my two children to look after. Having a mum that can bring home a puzzle we can all do in the evening is a bonus and my kids love to hear about the new designs I talk about. My teenage daughter tells me she wants to have a summer job picking and packing jigsaws at the factory next year, so I know she thinks positively about mum’s job, which makes me happy. I know how lucky I am to have a job in the current climate and one that I really look forward to going to every single day.”
Dani Webber, Marketing Manager
“I’m Dani, I’m the Marketing Manager for our All Jigsaw Puzzles brand and also line manager for some members of the team. I handle the day-to-day marketing tasks for All Jigsaw Puzzles and make sure we are always offering a new, interesting, and fun mix of jigsaw puzzles on our stores for our amazing customers. In my team we have an amazing woman called Bev, who makes so much of this happen and is a wonderful person to work with. My wonderful manager Cynthia has really helped me carve out my career, from when I started as an assistant to where I am now! I have had the pleasure to work with many amazing, strong and powerful women at Map Marketing who are so hardworking and have adapted so well over these difficult times. I love how well we all, men and women, work together and it’s hard for me to comprehend that not so long ago in history, our current work environment isn’t something that would have existed.”
Emma Helliwell, Product Marketing Manager
“My name’s Emma, I’m the Product Marketing Manager for Map Marketing and manage the design team. I am forever grateful for the team here at Map Marketing; they’re supportive without question and I know they will always have my back. From being hired with minimal qualifications as the Junior Graphic Designer, I was always encouraged to create the best work, whether it was creating my own puzzle designs, working with trade clients or making marketing materials for the team. It’s testament to the environment of strong women here that I have progressed professionally so much in such a short space of time. Coming from a background of retail jobs with mostly male managers, it’s a huge breath of fresh air to have so many women in managerial positions at Map Marketing as well as throughout the company. They have taught me so much by way of handling myself professionally as well as forming real friendships that I have relied on so much during this past difficult year.”
Cynthia Yeoh, Marketing Director
“Being a woman in Business can be challenging but also rewarding. I am also British-born Chinese which adds another interesting layer. I have been a strong advocate for the women in our business since I came here in 2016 and am lucky enough to be in a position to be heard and be able to impose action. However, the past year has also highlighted to me the disparities in experience for People of Colour. My experience as an Asian woman in business is very different to a Black woman in business. I am ashamed to say that I had not considered that before and I needed to learn that the privilege of my race contributes to the problem too. There is obviously much more work to do, not only for gender equality but also in recognising and correcting all social bias.
Saying that, I am very proud of the fact that we have a Leadership team that is 50% female and the company is well balanced between genders.
To me, International Women’s Day is vitally important to raise awareness of the inequalities that we face, but also to inspire and celebrate women. We are only small but if all the small businesses put their voices together it becomes a ROAR and that’s what we need today. I wish you all a Happy International Women’s Day!"
At Map Marketing, we have so many wonderful women working in all areas of the company. We also work with some extremely talented artists for our jigsaw puzzle ranges and within the next year we will be launching our equality range, featuring the artwork of talented female artists, to continue to celebrate women and equality!
Happy International Women's Day to all you amazing women out there.