Historian and Author Emily Murdoch Perkins On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
Raising aspirations in our young people. Career expectations start young, so we need to start young.
Despite strides towards equality, women remain underrepresented in leadership and management roles across various sectors. In this series, we would like to discuss the barriers to female advancement in these areas and explore actionable strategies for change. We are talking with accomplished women leaders, executives, and pioneers who have navigated these challenges successfully, to hear their experiences, tactics, and advice to inspire and guide the next generation of women toward achieving their full potential in leadership and management roles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Murdoch Perkins.
Emily Murdoch Perkins is a Brit writing happily ever afters and history. As Emily E K Murdoch, she is a USA Today Bestselling Author with over 100 romances published across four languages. As Emily Murdoch Perkins, her non-fiction debut — a feminist exploration of what the British monarchy would have looked like if eldest daughters not sons inherited the throne — releases in October 2024. As Emily Murdoch, she teaches and speaks on the craft and business of writing, for which she won the Regency Academe Teacher of the Year Award in 2024.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
My parents still joke that I decided to become an author when I was about four years old — and before I turned thirty, I had enough success from my writing career that I was able to leave a successful profession as a Chief Brand Officer for a healthtech company to write full time. I’ve always loved stories, myths, legends, and the art of storytelling is something I was knew had to be a part of my future. My parents always encouraged me to not only seek out knowledge as something precious, but to read widely and deeply. It’s them I have to thank for my love of the written word.
My first novel was published in 2013, and since then I have published at least seventy more, become a USA Today Bestselling Author, won an award for teaching writing craft, and now have my first non-fiction book, Regina: The Queens Who Could Have Been, exploring the forgotten or sometimes just unknown women who could have ruled England and Great Britain.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There are so many moments, it’s hard to narrow them down to one — but I think perhaps it was when I received an email from Julia Quinn, positively blurbing my book Regina as ‘a fantastic, feminist dance through history’. As you can imagine, it was exhilarating!
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that significantly influenced your path to leadership?
When I was 29, I had a decision to make. I was a leader in the company I was working in, as the Chief Brand Officer of a healthtech company. I had achieved a huge amount in my career, and I wasn’t completely happy. I loved writing, and I knew that I wanted to write full time — but that would mean taking a personal lead in my own development, investing in myself in a way that was going to be frightening. Now I’m the leader of my career completely: every contract I sign or commitment I make has to be weighed up by both the creative in me, and the entrepreneur. And that’s a challenge, but it’s also a joy.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It’s honestly so hard to pick one person! And I think that is the sign of a healthy community, in this case in the creative sector. If there’s just one person who can make or break your career, well, they have a lot of power. Is it a good idea that one person can do that? Instead, every incremental step I’ve taken has been alongside many people who have cheered me along the way, offered a helping hand — or who I have helped in turn.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
My history teacher, when I was about fourteen, gave me a book by Helen Castor called Blood and Roses. It was the first narrative non-fiction book I ever read, and thanks to that gift (thank you, Mrs. Wells!), I don’t know if I would ever have pursued writing as a career.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
“Mind how you go.” They are the last words that my grandmother ever said to me, and encapsulated not only a farewell, but a statement about how you treat the world and people around them. Be careful of them. Take care. Consider where you’re going. Always be moving forward.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
That is a great question. I’m really passionate about empowering and equipping others to take their own steps along their creative career, and that has included a great deal of teaching and mentoring. I am especially proud of the work I’ve done with Arts Emergency, a mentoring organization that seeks to empower young people to flourish in higher education and the arts.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this report, only about 31.7% of top executive positions across industries are held by women. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from leadership and management?
I think your question itself holds the key — historical progress. Only by looking back in time can we understand how we got here, and as we look back, who is it that we see sitting on the top of the tree? Most often, it’s men.
My book Regina completely flips that on its head, and asks a different question: what queens would England have had if firstborn daughters, not firstborn sons, had inherited the throne? It’s a new way to look at history. Yes, it’s speculative, but sadly we have to speculate a little as we look into the gaps of history which to date hasn’t really been told.
Thank goodness we are now seeing more and more women rise to the top ranks of leadership through merit, but not every organization is interested in having that very difficult conversation if they are not seeing that happen. Is it that we’re not equipping women early enough in their careers? Are there other gatekeeping practices that are unconscious? Are we as women discounting ourselves and ruling ourselves out?
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become leaders and managers?
There is no reason why a woman should not be as good as a man as a leader and manager. It’s as simple as that. If we start to gender personality characteristics, that’s a very dangerous path.
Having said that, our society currently socializes girls and boys differently. That means we currently have generations of adults where men are more vocal and dominant in the workplace, and women who are more nurturing and caregiving — and all of those skills are what we need to see in our leaders.
Can you please share “5 Things We Need To Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management?”
1 . Making women in leadership visible. You cannot be what you cannot see.
2 . Raising aspirations in our young people. Career expectations start young, so we need to start young.
3 . Equipping women of all ages. Being past 25 doesn’t mean you can no longer achieve your career goals.
4 . Ensuring men don’t ‘lose’ for women to ‘win’. Equity means that everyone benefits.
5 . Look back in history to learn for the future. Books like Regina show us that there have been many women in the past suitable for leadership.
In your opinion, what systemic changes are needed to facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles?
We need to systemically break down the gendered expectations in the ladder to leadership. If all your business meetings are happening on the golf course or the bar, those aren’t male-only spaces — but they are spaces that are historically been unwelcoming to women.
What strategies have you found most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions?
We have to ensure that we’re not seeing each other as the enemy. Other women are people who we can advocate for, and can advocate for us. There’s not a limit to how many women can be at the top — after all, there are plenty of other underrepresented groups at the decision table.
How would you advise a woman leader about how to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role within a male-dominated industry?
One of the lessons that I learned while writing Regina is that there is always going to be a challenge that you think you can’t overcome. The princesses in my book were faced with a total lack of freedom of choice, but many of them simply ignored the stop signs and drove forward.
How do you balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behavior in professional settings?
We only have those stereotypes because of historical precedent. Some women are naturally shy, quiet, demure — and some men are. Some women are naturally dominant, loud, and bold — and some men are. By looking at the past in books such as Regina, we can see that leadership comes in all sorts of flavors.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Use your libraries, everyone! They are incredible resources, and I want to see as many of them stay open as possible.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can purchase Regina: The Queens Who Could Have Been here. You can find me on social media everywhere as @emilyekmurdoch (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok), find my website at www.emilymurdochperkins.com for non-fiction and www.emilyekmurdoch.com for fiction.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
