International Women’s Day 2022
Julia Ront, CEO & Founder of Vespia — Breaking the bias
Women’s Day interviews with inspirational and strong female leaders continues…
Julia Ront is CEO and Founder of Vespia, a platform for verifying and onboarding business customers, partners, investors. By building Vespia Julia and her team of superheroes (as they call themselves) have been shaking up an industry that is known for rigid manual processes. In fact, Julia often refers to dinosaurs when talking about the existing players in the industry.
What has been the driving force to get you where you are today?
I wanted to shake things up in a very strict prehistoric industry dominated by dinosaurs. Before Vespia the words “Anti-Money Laundering compliance” made me tremble because it made me think of manual processes and a lot of legal jargon. So I made it my mission to make verification of businesses accessible and easy for anyone that cares about trust and may not always come with a professional compliance background.
I want to build something that will become a new category and an industry standard while motivating the generations to come.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your career?
Biases, such as sexism and ageism are the two main ones. Oftentimes in male-dominated industries, they look at you when you are a 1,6m petite young-looking lady and treat you like an assistant or secretary from Mad Men that would bring the boss coffee and take notes in meetings. And God forbid you to have an opinion and passion for what you do — that just means you are emotional (sarcasm).
What are you most proud of?
I have managed to build Vespia, gather a team of superheroes that believe in it, a queue of early adopters wishing to use it, and a lot of supporters wishing to become part of it. And I am proud that I did all that without sacrificing my values and staying true to myself. And the best part — I managed to find a team of people that are just like me: misfits.
Who is your biggest inspiration/role model?
I am a true fangirl of Merit Valdsalu, Founder & CEO of Single.Earth. I love how balanced she is. On the one hand, she is an activist trying to save the planet (which I totally support the cause), but on the other hand, she is a professional businesswoman building an awesome startup. Not to mention, she is a fellow Estonian startup founder, how cool is that?
What advice would you share with fellow entrepreneurs for this year’s International Women’s Day?
Don’t wait for the world around you to change — be the change! You can’t just think in the scope of today’s needs and possibilities, but instead, start thinking about how your fresh ideas can shape the future.
