Marketing in the Madness

FLC: Finding Your Voice and Embracing Authenticity with Laura Thornley #BONUS

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We’re excited to bring you another must-listen BONUS episode of our podcast series. This week, we're joined by Laura Thornley, the EMEA Field Marketing Leader at Contentful, who is at the forefront of empowering women in the business world.

In this empowering episode "Finding your voice and embracing authenticity", Laura shares her insightful journey as a working mother and business leader, tackling the unique challenges that women face in the workplace, aiming to shed light on the struggles and triumphs of both women and working mothers in the business world and the critical importance of finding and fostering authentic voices & authenticity at work.


🌟 What to Expect in This Episode:

💬  Discover the power of embracing your true self to foster genuine connections and professional growth.

🧭  Hear Laura discuss the hurdles that female professionals and working mothers face and the strategies to overcome them.

👥 Learn about initiatives that Contentful and other industry leaders are taking to create more inclusive and supportive environments.

📣 Gain insights from real-life stories of women who are breaking barriers and making substantial contributions to their fields.

Laura not only shares strategies for overcoming systemic obstacles but also highlights the importance of supportive networks and mentorship in achieving career milestones. Her personal experiences as a leader and a mother add a rich layer of relatability as she advocates for workplaces where women can thrive without compromise.



🎙️ Tune into this riveting episode to understand the significance of authentic leadership and how it can transform the business landscape for women. If this episode inspires you, be sure to explore our other bonus episodes dedicated to advocating for equality and empowerment.



📢 Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE  to keep up-to-date with future releases. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share it with your network. Your support helps us reach more people and continue to share insights into the current market.


Links & references

Laura Thornley

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lau-thornley/

Contentful

https://www.contentful.com/

Connect with Katie Street:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
https://www.instagram.com/streetmate/

Follow Street Agency:
https://street.agency/
https://www.instagram.com/street.agency/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetagency/


Hey guys, and welcome to something that is new for Marketing in the Madness. So these episodes are coming to you in collaboration with MAD//Fest as part of that collaboration. I am going to be interviewing some incredible female leaders, female founders, and men across the industry who are leading the charge and leading the change in our industry that will enable women to reach their full potential and address the long standing inequalities that still exist, not just in the marketing industry, but across every single industry. So if you're interested in joining me and helping make the world a fairer, more inclusive place, then keep listening because today's episode is going to be a cracker. Hey, guys. Welcome back to Marketing in the Madness. And this is our very special episode, which we partner with MAD//Fest on, which is all around female leadership and how us amazing females could and should be getting ahead in our careers. So I'm back with the lovely Laura Thornley. Didn't say Thornley in the last episode, so I'm saying it now. So the lovely Laura Thornley who heads up EMEA Field Marketing at Contentful and we were talking earlier. I'm going to get straight into the episode. we were talking earlier about things that we we'd wish we'd known or told ourselves in our 20s that would help us now. So I'm going to come straight to you on that. Tell me, what would you, if you were going back to your 20 year old or 20 something year old self? What would you, as a woman in business today, tell yourself, or what advice would you give yourself as that younger 20 year old woman starting out in her career? Firstly, you absolutely deserve seat at this table without question because I think I've always had that internal narrative. And to be quite honest, you know, it's almost, almost 40. It's not going away. It's still there, but I'm able to challenge it a bit more. I think, you know, early on in my career, I used to believe that my skill set wasn't quite the right fit for business. It was like, oh, it’s too fluffy, you know? I hate that term now I hate it because, you know, actually, my skill set is what's got me to where I am now and I think will continue to accelerate my career. So I would yeah, I would tell her, you're okay, you're okay. You deserve a seat at this table and lean into those skills because they will really, really help you to, you know, propel your career to help others. and yeah, I hope that people in their 20s can look at my example and that we discussed in, in another podcast episode and, and see that and say, yeah, you know, actually I can do this too. I think you we've discussed this before. You've kind of said something that really resonated with me previously, which is we look at our male counterparts as examples, especially because, you know, let's be honest, in our 20s, because we're I mean, I'm a bit older than you sadly. I'm already in the 40s bracket, but, it was predominantly men in the room. It was, you know, most of my bosses, I hate the word bosses as well, but most of my bosses were men. So you see them behave, present ideas, talk in a certain way, and I guess we thought that we should do the same. And I can tell you now, I have done so much better since I forgot all of that and went, do you know what? I'm going to show up as Katie, as the, you know, slightly chatty all over the place, female, you know, nurturing person that I am. But and the inquisitive person because that's you know, I would I always remember getting called out when I was in meetings like, oh, Katie always asks loads of questions, but actually they're really good questions that she's asking. And I wish I, I wish I'd done that more and been brave enough to not emulate what I thought I should be like, because there were men in the room, you know, being very corporate and me being a bit more feminine and a bit more fluffy, and a bit more real, I think in today's world, even more so that's really, really important. Hugely, hugely. And actually I got feedback in a meeting that was predominantly all men. I think there may have been two females in the room, and I sat through the whole day listening to presentations and they're great. but I always feel I have to dial myself down a little bit because I'm like, okay, you know, a bit more on higher energy. And, you know, yeah, I just just kind of felt like that that isn't the way to be in business. and someone gave me, feedback and they said, oh my gosh, I can't wait for your bit. You'll bring the energy. And it was honestly, it was the best thing that they could have said to me. I think, you know, I needed to hear that, that people enjoy that and they appreciate that. And, you know, you don't have to dial yourself down. yeah. I've spent far too much of my career trying to emulate males, as you say. But equally, you know, I've learned a lot from them as well. there are many males in my current role. I really look up to and get great advice from. don't necessarily even think it's an issue created by men. I think it's actually something that we can challenge ourselves. I think obviously, you know, there's a deeper conversation here about organisational structure, and we could be here all day. but yeah, I think, you know, we just need to challenge that ourselves and lean into our male allies as well. Yes, I love that. I mean, again, we have spoken about this before. I think that the biggest change that needs to happen is we don't just need those male allies, but we need them to stand up for us to be part of that change, to help us. You know, I guess have the confidence to do things differently, to be brave enough to support us and celebrate us when you know and come to us and say, that was brilliant. You brought a different energy to the room. That's what we needed. Like, because we do do that. There's a reason that we're all different, right? And not just not even just talking male female here like everyone's personalities. How everyone shows up is different. So I think having men, act like I talk about this all the time, but having men act like activists for us and helping us make that change and celebrating those changes is also really important. Yeah, really. Couldn't agree more. you know, I think as I said before, you want them to to be that voice when you're not in the room. Yeah. To continue to be activists. You know, I've had some, some great advice off males throughout my career. and actually they've been they've challenged me as well and challenged my thoughts as a female and as a mother. Yeah. I've spent a lot of my career feeling like I can't, I have to hide that side away, which is crazy. You know? It's the biggest part of my life. Yeah. but yeah, in business, if there's something that makes me hold back and that's probably a wider conversation. Now, I've had many comments over the years about things that make you feel you've got to shy away from that. But there's been, you know, males in business that I see, put the family first and it's great. This is what we want. Yeah, actually do it. to to be the example, to say no, I can't attend that event you know, it's a really important time for my son at that point. So, and prioritize like the amount of times I honestly, I can empathise with this so much that I had missed my daughter's nativity because I had to pitch, and, like, the pitch was, I was, you know, ahead of new business and marketing whatever at this agency. And the pitch, for some reason became more important than me going to see my beautiful daughter's nativity. And the same happened to me. A male boss of mine was like Katie, it's your daughter's nativity. Fuck off. Just go like you're not going to pitch in London. Someone else will go. But I had this, like, real fear. Like, oh my God, I'm missing out if I don't do the pitch. And it's like, I didn't win it. Even though I've done all the work running and the nurturing of everything, you know, running up to that pitch, it was this, this one with the Nativity. I remember it was the Lawn Tennis Association, which we did win. I didn't need to be there to win it. I'd done my bit. But I think we put so much pressure on ourselves. Women like, we must do everything we we can't go go to the Nativity because I've got to go to this pitch, which is crazy. We feel like it's a sign of weakness when actually, you know, I would argue that the working mothers out there flipping superheroes You know, those ladies can multitask like no other. Oh, yeah. And I you know, I actually remember when I went off on maternity leave the first time and, a boss actually said to me she was like, you're going to be great because, you know, we we get our shit done. Yeah, yeah, we totally do our time management is second to none. going off what you just said there, it's crazy actually that we need validation. But we do. Yeah. And I think that is the message to the males in the workforce that you know please do that. Please speak out. Yeah. You know I've had somebody a really a senior a senior leader within the business actually sit down with me at dinner and say ask about my family. And he was like, these are the golden years, you know, enjoy them. I really regret not embracing it at that time. And it's crazy that we feel like we need permission to do that. But it's just it is the way of the world. So I think, you know, being activists and actually helping us challenge ourselves because we can be our own worst enemies. Let's be honest, sometimes we feel we've got to be everything to everybody. And if we're not that pitch that, you know, 90% of the work in I must see it through. It's all you know. It's gonna be terrible. Actually. It's fine. Yeah. And you got to see the nativity. And I'm doing exactly the same this week. I'll be leaving an event to rush back and watch a dance show and at the end of this week, that's the thing. I'll be most proud of myself this week that I’ve have balanced that. And the most important two people you know in my life, and seeing me show up at work and do great things at work, that's important as well. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of always about post maternity leave. That, I actually wanted to step up more, I had this weird thing of like, you know, oh, my gosh, well, if I'm away from my babies, I'm going to flipping make it work. I'm going to show them, you know, I want them to look up to me and go, wow, she did it. Now I fail on the daily. Yeah, yeah. I forget homework, spelling Oh my God. Yeah. The things at work because you're crazy. Crazy busy. just today, you know, I, I'm on a podcast today, but what people don't see is I had the tears this morning. Yeah. Don't do this. Don't leave me. And I've gone to events where I've had to sleep on FaceTime. with my boy, it's really, really hard. And that goes on to kind of another point. And I just think that these conversations are vital. Yeah. Need to be more honest about it. Yeah. Rather than all shiny like I'm here. Yeah. We need to be honest. And I think this is it helps just having these conversations like female to female of like I see you. Yeah. It’s bloody tough. you know, but I think when you know that somebody else is going through it just, it just gives you that extra fuel in the tank to keep on going. Kind of in a weird sort of way, it makes you feel good because you're like, I'm not the only one. I remember that, like, I mean, my daughter's nearly 16 now, but like, trapping her into the car seat and screaming for me like I to, I'm going to be late for work. But if work had just been like, don't work like if you're ten minutes late because you managed to have a calmer journey to drop your daughter at nursery. So I do think there's things that business leaders can do to help us feel less pressured. Like, not if I showed up at ten minutes work, it like didn't really matter if that meant I could show up as a happier human because I hadn't like, had the most horrendous argument with my three year old trying to force her into a car seat. So I do think there's things that we can do as businesses to help all of this as well. Yeah, massively. And I think seeing women in leadership roles as well, I think that I mean, that's challenged my internal narrative of what's possible. You kind of sometimes can really limit yourself because you like okay well I'm a Mum now and it’s really hard, the juggle is really hard. So I'm never going to be able to give 100%. But actually seeing female CEOs and female CMOs and you know, they will mess up to they will have days where the balance is way out way out of whack, and actually some great advice I once got from a female leader was there is no balance. It’s a myth There will never be balance Some weeks you'll be giving like 90% to work and feel like the world's worst parent, and that those are the days where, you know, you feel like you're failing You're missing things. And then I'll flip round, you know, you might end up with a child in the hospital, and then you go, you know what? I'm not brain surgeon. Yeah, this stuff can wait. And having a really supportive a team around you as well, propping you up and reminding you of that, I think is just so important. I love that. Oh, I just love you. I love talking to you. Let's do this all day. Laura, thank you so much for coming on. I could talk so much more about this. I feel like we could do another hour or two on this one subject, but thank you so much for coming. I know guys that you'll have found some of that really, really helpful. Definitely. I mean, everything that Laura's kind of referenced today, especially if you're, you know, in your younger years and maybe starting out on this journey, there's going to be so much you can take from it. So a huge thank you for all listening. But a bigger thank you to Laura for joining me. Thank you for having me