It’s time we all start cracking the code.
International women’s day 2023 (IWD2023) is focused on inclusive technologies in creating a more equitable future.
This year’s theme “Cracking the code: Innovation for a gender equal future” aligns with the United Nations 67th Commission on the Status of Women. It seeks to promote awareness around the challenges and opportunities that rural women and girls face in relation to digital education.
Fundamentally, technological innovation can elevate our quality of life and unlock new doors for creative expression, scientific advancement and global communications. It allows us to transcend geographical boundaries and connect the dots between unseen potential and new ideas.
For everyone to reap the benefits of this, we must close the digital divide that keeps so many women offline. We all deserve an equal chance to learn and exercise innovation through technology.
Women’s experience in the digital world today
According to the UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital world has resulted in a reduction of $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low-and-middle income countries over the past decade.
Women’s relative exclusion from the digital world not only harms them, but the benchmark of economic success across all regions and countries around the world.
An important first step in reversing this trend is to focus on the issue of online violence. Research shows that technologies have aggravated patterns of gendered violence and introduced new forms of intrusion, abuse and violence.
While both men and women experience cases of online violence and abuse, it’s been found that women are more likely to be victims of repeated harm through technology enabling easy access.
Violence within the digital sphere (including non-consensual image or video sharing, online threats, sexual harassment and stalking) ultimately leads to a violation of human rights. This has far-reaching implications for democracy, especially as it relates to intersecting forms of discrimination (e.g. women of color, women belonging to ethnic or religious minorities and the LGBT+ community).
In light of this, IWD2023 aims to highlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces.
Lessons in digital from some of our female customers
Digivizer wouldn’t be where it is today without the continuous support and dedication from our valued customers. As well as their patronage and belief in our platform and solutions, we value the insights they have to offer on digital experience and education.
Wendy Fung, Global Communications Director, Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Data analytics has become a game-changer in informing and driving companies’ strategic communications. Real-time monitoring of communications data (from traditional to social media coverage) and using AI tools to analyze huge volumes of global data to instantaneously identify key story themes, sentiment, emerging trends, and target audience impact can completely take out the guesswork, especially when using the insights to then form and finetune meaningful and effective comms strategies.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
The digital landscape is evolving at warp speed, and it’s so beneficial to be able to tap into your network of trusted agency partners, industry peers, and broader organizations to keep a pulse on the latest outside of just your own organization.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Stay curious and embrace a learning and growth mindset. Don’t be afraid to continually experiment with new digital tools, because the efficiency and effectiveness of these tools in the long run can far outweigh the initial monetary or time investment.
Carly King, Marketing Manager of Illy
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
The ability to understand and use social media in a business context is probably my favorite digital skill. Understanding and communicating as a brand between influencers and consumers is an opportunity to have fun and be creative, while conveying brand messages in a nuanced and locally relevant way.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
There’s so much! Probably I would have started something like Net A Porter if I knew e-commerce was going to be the way of the future! Early on, I wish we had more of a test and learn mentality, and been a bit more fearless about incorporating digital into the marketing plan. These days it’s integral, so it’s important to keep a growth mindset, be open to new technologies and get the experts in the room. You don’t have to know everything, but working with people and agencies, such as Digivizer, who do, is critical.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Ask questions and immerse yourself in all areas as much as possible – search, social, paid, e-com. Appreciate that digital is integral to the marketing function, so understanding how everything works will better enable you to put the appropriate emphasis on each pillar when it comes to working out your strategy.
Sandy Halpin, CEO & Founder of Capital Idea
What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Great question…. Perhaps that I, like just about everyone in the developed world, is now ‘published’. Thanks to our new digital media platforms, what I think, write and create has an audience. That my voice and point of view can have global reach blows my mind.
What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I wish I knew there’d be a connected digital world in which you could create, not just transact – and I wish I had a real appreciation for the pace of change and innovation we were to experience. When I began my career, Excel was nipping at the heels of Lotus 1-2-3 and the internet and email were just emerging. Windows 3.1 was the latest operating system and DOS green screens were standard tools of the trade. Back then, technology changed the way we did things. Now, technology & the digital world changes the world itself. New opportunities, new threats, new currencies, new communities, new conversations, new revolutions. Our modern lives are now run by technology and the digital world, and that includes our personal & professional relationships. What previously existed in our minds as mere fantasy exists now in reality. When I reflect on the impact of technology and the digital world, I realize that most of what’s to come, probably hasn’t even been considered yet! That’s exciting.
What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. Possibilities, opportunities, innovation. And with that potential comes great responsibility – for responsible digital stewardship, responsible digital publishing, responsible digital behavior. As we delve further into digital communities and the potential of AI, we need to consciously invest in humanity as well – to maintain our own integrity, personal voice & points of view, our relationships, physical & mental health, to minimize burnout. Just because we can do more, doesn’t mean we should. If our digital world enables us to work, think, produce more efficiently – where are we then investing that time we get back? In more screen time, or more human time? Our experience of happiness relies on humanity, so as we move forward we should question how our digital world helps us to create more time for people and more time for the human experience.
Robyn McLennan, Managing Director at Easy Living Footwear
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
I have learned so much since venturing into the digital world but feel that being able to understand how important it is to read the results of your campaigns and continually make changes when needed.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I came from the old school of marketing and was skeptical about the digital world but I wish I had implemented it earlier as it’s an exciting new world full of opportunities.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
My main advice is to reach out and ask for help. The digital world changes so quickly and without someone like Digivizer who specializes in this, you will get left behind.
Deborah Tyson, CEO & Founder of Blisspot
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
My favorite digital skill is learning about Web3, particularly its potential for privacy and security in terms of data. Given the sensitivity of our clients’ personal information, this knowledge is essential for our well being-focused space.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
As a non-tech founder, I have been on a steep learning curve since day one. Initially, I was intimidated by the digital world, but I now realize that, like any other business skill, it can be learned. By working with tech experts within the business you can achieve your business objectives, and there is no need to feel intimidated.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
For those starting their careers in the digital field, I suggest having faith in oneself, even if you are a non-tech founder. You can start small with offshore contractors, then work your way up to bring in further expertise as your business grows. Embrace trial and error as a natural part of the learning experience, and ask lots of questions to expand your knowledge and experience. The digital world is a powerful way to scale your business and educate people globally.
Lessons in digital from some of our female employees
In honor of championing female inclusion in digital education, some of our lovely female employees would like to share a roundup of their digital education to date – their favorite digital skill they’ve learned, what they wish they knew about the digital world before starting their career, and the advice they’d give to those just starting out in the digital world.
Emma Lo Russo, CEO
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Collaborative Software – Slack, Google Suite, Asana, Intercom. It’s been a game changer for the business and scaling. Have loved learning TikTok too.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I love technology and digital and the fast pace of it. I would have focused my career earlier in technology, seeing the absolute transformational power and the high excitement and learning around continuous change. Plus, I wish Ileaned in and learned the power of data and data insights and hypothesis testing much earlier. I didn’t know how powerful it would be and how much I would love it!
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Be continuously curious and an infinite learner. Never be afraid of digital or technology and the rate of change. We are still so far from realizing our human potential and technology will be a key part of it. There will always be a place for someone who knows how to ask the right questions, to think critically, to weigh up risk and make good decisions. Lean in, learn, play (nothing beats learning on the job), have courage to push yourself and you will flourish and fly!
Jacquelyn Cowardin, Head of Agency
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Across all the skills and changes to the digital landscape, I am always super proud when I create a good old pivot table to better organize and analyze data!
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
Everything we learn will be relearned with digital advancements and new technology.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Know the audience, both their digital and physical footprints and habits. The study of human behaviors will never go out of style.
Sanjita Shah, CSO
Q, What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
The power of search engines.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
How to connect various data points along the customer journey.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Understanding all the elements of a customer journey and the interactions between various aspects of the journey.
Clare Jolly, Head of Platform Ecosystem
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
All things SEO but in particular using natural language search terms to optimize content and our website.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
The art and power of storytelling with real data and insights – having the skills and know-how to go beyond the obvious results. Don’t just show the data – connect your audience to opportunity through the story you tell. Analyze the why, the how and the why-not of digital results to discover the real opportunities for success and growth. This will impress your team and clients and bring so much value to every digital marketing campaign or program you work on.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Discover your growth mindset. Don’t be fixated on what you learned at uni and what your path is supposed to look like. Know your strength and harness it like your superpower, find your passion and learn something new every day. Be confident and have courage of conviction in all your communications, seize every opportunity and learn on the job. Don’t let process get in the way of progress. As a budding digital marketer, lean into new tools and ways of doing things. Work collaboratively across the business and put your hand up in areas that enable you to step outside your comfort zone. It’ll pay off and I guarantee you will discover so much about yourself, get the chance to do things you never imagined and have heaps of fun along the way.
Sophie Roditis, Financial Accounts Lead
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Integrating apps to make things faster and efficient.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
The impact and speed in growth.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Learn as many skills as possible.
Malyn Diaz, Executive Assistant to CEO
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
The art of digital marketing.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
Digital marketing, SEO and social media marketing.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Just continue learning, exploring and researching everything that you are curious about.
Madison Mooney, Customer Success Manager
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
I only recently created my first Instagram Reel (so late to the party!), but I actually loved it!
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
That it is accessible – before you are in tech, you can fall into the trap of thinking it is the “wild west” of Google, Facebook and alike. It is that, but it is also more and a fantastic way to learn more, quicker.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Be open to learning and don’t be intimidated by the pace. Before you know it, you’ll be keeping up… even paving the way.
Jemma Elliot, Digital Marketing Manager
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
I love that I’ve learned how to build and design websites and how to take shoppers on an intuitive customer journey in the digital space. I find it super fulfilling helping brands bring their vision to life – it fuels my creativity!
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I wish I knew earlier that there are countless apps and platforms available that can streamline tasks and increase productivity. I could have saved myself sooo much time. Help and support pages are your best friend for quick answers! To anyone starting out, my advice is to take full advantage of these resources, experiment with new tools, and work smarter – not harder.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
If you want to make the most of the digital world, it’s important to keep up with the ever-evolving technology. My advice is to jump right in, ride the wave of innovation, and never stop learning! Embrace the addictive and fun nature of technology, and always be on the lookout to explore or learn something new.
Brodie Smith, Senior Content and Community Specialist
What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Touch typing.
What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
Timeliness is one of the most important facets of anything online – with the sheer amount of content produced every minute, let alone every day, it’s important for anything digital to either be accurate to right now, or somehow always relevant.
What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Pay attention to detail – working thoroughly and mindfully produces not only accuracy, but quality. It sets good work apart from great work. Don’t just rely on tech tools to catch your spelling mistakes, for example – they won’t catch everything!
Abigail Stratton, Content and Community Specialist
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Touch-typing. At age 11, I wanted to formalize my passion for writing and so I committed to writing (mostly stories and poetry) on my new laptop each day. Early on in this routine, I discovered that using one or two fingers to type wasn’t efficient. So, I googled “how to touch type” and immediately plowed through the levels to become the rapid typer I am today. Being able to touch type is one of those small things that puts a smile on my face each day.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
With a proliferation of social media platforms and the increasing digitisation of the business world, a digital footprint is unavoidable. I would love to have learned the implications that this has on our privacy so I could enter the workforce not feeling so blinded and submissive to the digital world. I would like to have been armed with strategies I could implement to ensure my online experience is as safe as possible.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Balance curiosity with caution. Keep an open mind about the different technologies that come your way, but don’t go head-first into using them immediately. Take time to understand the nature of the technology, what it’s ultimately designed to do as well as how it uses your data.
Donna Rohani, Digital Designer and Creative Specialist
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
My favorite digital skill has been deepening my knowledge of the Adobe suite and other creative platforms I use on a daily basis! The more time I spend, the more I realize how much there is to learn and the infinite possibilities you’re provided to explore and express your imagination.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I would have loved to know more about the power of social media in networking and in building connections for your career. I think it can be such a powerful tool and if I’d known more about just how instrumental it can be, I would have invested more time into building my portfolio and my network.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
The world is your oyster! Thanks to the internet and the way our digital world is, you can learn everything about anything so if you have an interest, go for a deep dive and do your own research. There is no limit to what you can learn and upskill on as an individual with the internet so make the most of it and follow your passions!
Fiona Li, Data Analyst
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Communicate online using social media.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
How to effectively navigate the digital world.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Have the courage to explore!
Jacqueline Cheung, Digital Performance Associate
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Understanding different paid media metrics and knowing how to interpret the numbers that I have seen.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
I wish I knew how the algorithms across different platforms work. Sometimes, I wonder how the videos recommended to me on the For You Page in Tik Tok are scaringly relevant to my life. I want to upskill myself in not just paid media, but knowing how to produce really good content through organic channels as well and having this knowledge about algorithms is super beneficial to my career in general.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
Everything is connected in the digital world. For example, your website’s SEO rank will affect your paid media performance. So no matter how good your search ad headlines are, if your website has poor SEO ranking, this will affect the effectiveness of a paid media campaign. Because these things are interwoven (and if you’ve just started your career in paid media), make sure you have some foundational knowledge about SEO to provide holistic analysis and recommendations about your marketing campaigns to your clients.
Stella Thazin, Software Engineer
Q. What is your favorite digital skill you have learned?
Developing applications.
Q. What do you wish you knew about the digital world before you started your career?
The digital world is ever-evolving, so there are always new things to learn everyday.
Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career (regarding digital)?
That it can be really tough and competitive at times, and it is okay to feel like you’re being left behind among your peers, but keep on trying and focus on your own growth.
At Digivizer, we’re beyond grateful for all the women who support us – both internally and externally. Celebrating the ideas and contributions of all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or cultural background, etc., is one of our core values as a company. We look forward to a future where everyone has equal opportunity within the digital space.
