International Women’s Day – Q&A with some of the Ingenious team

07 Mar 2024   |   2 min read

Ingenious Team

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere.

What motivates you professionally?

A good, inspiring manager!

Davinya

HR Business Partner

I have always enjoyed a good challenge, and for me, the most fulfilling part of my job is being able to apply my skills to solve a problem for the business, be it analysing a dataset to identify a trend, or building a new forecast or model to help with decision-making. Working to solve new problems has also been great for picking up new skills along the way!

Kristiina

Finance Analyst

Tackling challenges.

Christelle

Investment Director

Helping the Real Estate team to find solutions and to manage risk appropriately. I also enjoy working with great people, sharing knowledge by training junior members of the team and in an environment where we are happy to challenge each other and have robust discussions.

Wensde

Head of Legal, Real Estate

What is your role and what does it involve?

A HR Business Partner
collaborates with business leaders to align HR strategies with organisational goals. We are responsible for talent management, employee relations, organisational development, and change management. We analyse data, provide HR guidance, and drive initiatives to support business success and employee engagement.

Davinya

HR Business Partner

As a Finance Analyst, my day-to-day work involves looking after the accounting and financial reporting for our IEP funds. I collaborate with various stakeholders in the business to get the most up to date information and then use this to prepare the accounts, monitor and report the performance of our investments, and analyse the key performance indicators that ultimately help management in deciding on future strategy.

Kristiina

Finance Analyst

I am an Investment Director within the Media Team which entails deploying capital in Film & TV projects as well as managing assets under our management to achieve optimum returns to our investors.

Christelle

Investment Director

I’m the Head of Legal in Real Estate so as well as providing internal legal advice on real estate fund matters, I work with my colleagues to execute real estate transactions efficiently and with an eye to managing legal risk.

Wensde

Head of Legal, Real Estate

How has being a ‘woman in finance’ impacted you professionally and/or personally?

It’s allowed me to work with many talented individuals who have helped me enhance and develop transferable skills. It’s also enabled me to flourish and know what kind of person and manager I’d like to be.

Davinya

HR Business Partner

I am very lucky in that here at Ingenious, we have a very inclusive workplace culture and I’ve always felt supported by the leadership as well as the fellow colleagues. At the start of my career, coming from a non-finance background, I struggled for quite a while with imposter syndrome, which can still manifest occasionally; however, over the years I have learnt that most people are willing to share their advice and experiences to help you grow professionally.

Kristiina

Finance Analyst

It has been challenging as I was unable to fully commit to a career in media finance whilst raising my two children. Since then, it has been all about working hard and finding the right balance between my professional and personal life.

Christelle

Investment Director

Professionally, the culture in Finance has changed a lot in the last few years with a better gender balance and more flexibility by hybrid working. That has created an improved culture in Finance as it is not dominated by a particular view. Personally, I can achieve a better balance between family and professional aspirations.

Wensde

Head of Legal, Real Estate

Share with us a woman who inspires you most or a quote that inspires you most.

My mother. She’s juggled working, being a wife and a mother at a young age. It’s been hard, especially when we were young. Having to return to work full-time after 6 months of maternity leave and trusting a stranger to look after her kids. It was a challenge, in her words, ‘I just did it. I had no choice.’ Her continuous strength and love inspires me every day!

Davinya

HR Business Partner

There are countless women that I draw inspiration from in various capacities, from professional successes to their social impact and personal qualities. I greatly admire Malala Yousafzai for fighting for women’s rights to education and being so steadfast in her convictions in the face of significant personal danger. As cliched as it sounds, I also draw inspiration from my Mum for the consistent work she has put in every day into raising her family whilst maintaining her career. One quote that I feel aligns closely with what I believe in is from another brilliant woman, Michelle Obama: “Success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.

Kristiina

Finance Analyst

“Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes’, we have standards”. Marylyn Monroe.

Christelle

Investment Director

Barbara Hepworth. One of the most influential sculptors of the mid-20th Century and she had triplets in 1934! I walk past her Winged Figure on the John Lewis building on Oxford Street each day I come to our London office. The scale and beauty of its form, created by her, inspires me.

Wensde

Head of Legal, Real Estate

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