International Women’s Day 2020: women in marketing leadership at SumUp
Sibylle Jost shares her SumUp story and discusses the importance of strong female role models.
Throughout March 2020, we’ve been celebrating the incredible women making an impact at SumUp. While we’re proud of the fact that over 50% of SumUppers are female, we’re committed to reducing the gender gap in our engineering, finance and leadership teams. With this in mind, we caught up with a few women currently thriving in these areas.
Sibylle Jost leads SumUp’s European Marketing team. “My official title is VP Marketing and Comms, but we barely use titles at SumUp, which I really like. I’ve been here since October 2012. When I joined there were around 50 people in total, so it’s mind-blowing when I step back and think about how far we’ve come. I remember struggling to get 1000 Facebook fans; today we have almost a million!”
After studying business in Germany and France, she joined the Marketing team at L’Oréal. “It was a dream in many ways. I was in love with everything French, and I was quickly given a brand to manage.” However, in 2010 she found herself packing her bags for the US. “I moved to Silicon Valley and joined a startup called Cooliris, which was later acquired by Yahoo.”
While the tech scene was, and to some degree still is, somewhat male-dominated, Sibylle immediately felt welcome. “There were more men at Cooliris for sure, particularly on the engineering side. But the overall environment was very diverse and inclusive. It was certainly a culture shock coming from a corporate background, but none of the challenges I faced had anything to do with my gender.”
Now that she’s a leader, Sibylle is determined to ensure that her colleagues feel equally welcome at SumUp. “It’s clear to me that diverse teams are the strongest teams. So I always keep this in mind when I’m hiring. I’m also mindful of different personality types, and keep an eye out for quieter people. I try to create an environment where everyone feels safe to express their opinion.”
By establishing good practices and being visible in her role, Sibylle hopes she can encourage other women to follow in her footsteps. “I think the best thing that anyone can be is a role model. If you have an organisation with many inspiring women in leadership positions, other women will naturally feel encouraged to aim high. So I think it’s important to celebrate our successes and lift each other up.”
As discussion turns to inspirational female figures, one name instantly jumps to mind for Sibylle. “I really like Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. She started the company with $5000 of savings while she was selling fax machines. Today it’s worth $1 billion and she still owns 100% of the company. She has tons of positive energy, and she’s created a really safe-to-fail environment at Spanx. And she’s achieved all this while raising 4 kids!”
As a parent herself, Sibylle is grateful for SumUp’s flexible culture. “If I have to shift my schedule because something comes up with my kid, I never have to worry about what people at work might think. At SumUp we don’t dictate that people should stick to rigid working hours or sit in the office all day — all that matters is that the job gets done. As a leader, I’m not a fan of micromanaging — I try to empower everyone in my team to find a way of working that suits them.”
Despite her positive personal experiences, Sibylle stresses that women still face significant challenges in the workplace. “The biggest for many remains the issue of balancing family and career. If you want to have kids, you have to accept a degree of professional setback, in terms of taking time out and catching up once you return to work. And I think that, especially in male-dominated industries, women sometimes feel pressure to act a certain way. In both cases, positive role models can again be very helpful. By sharing our stories, we can prove that it’s completely possible to have both a fulfilling career and a family, and to be your authentic self at work.”
