Female Heroes Empowering Porsche
For International Women’s Day, we at Porsche want to take a moment to celebrate the women who shaped our history and who will shape our future. They have shown us supernatural powers in their daily work, enabling Porsche to drive its vision further. Today, five women at Porsche are telling us about their inspiration, proudest moment and the kryptonite they overcome.
In 2020, Porsche AG ranked second place in the Women’s Career Index (FKi) for its strong commitment to diversity in all work fields. To celebrate this in line with International Women’s Day, we exchanged with five female employees from Porsche AG and subsidiary Porsche Digital about super heroes. First, let us introduce you to:
Anna Roizman, Agile Coach at Porsche AG, who brings teams together to help them find and organize their common work mode.
Randi Bauer, IT Lead Sustainability at Porsche AG, setting up IT enablement for Porsche’s sustainability strategy.
Sophie Schwandt, Product Owner of sounce.io, working on artificial intelligence-based acoustic testing for Porsche Digital.
Claudia Feiner, Project Manager Esports Community and Founder of Proud@Porsche, enforces diversity and supporting communities at Porsche.
Shari Langes, Chief Product Owner Digital Workplace, helping employees at Porsche AG to simplify their work through implementing intelligent and collaborative workplace solutions together with the product teams.
A female hero that inspires my daily life…
Anna Roizman: The strong women I work with on a daily basis. For example, Kerstin Hess (Director Finance Strategy & Organization) inspires me through her strategic thinking and always taking her time to listen carefully. Moreover, Helena Balles (Agile@Porsche, Office Board Committee Digitalization) encourages me to show no fear towards new challenges through her contagious positive attitude.
Randi Bauer: Elisabeth Selbert is an inspiration to me. It is to her we owe Article 3, sentence 2, in Germany’s constitution: “Men and women are equal”.
Sophie Schwandt: My mother. As one of the first female principal conductors of an orchestra in Germany, she taught me perseverance, discipline and the joy of creativity.
Claudia Feiner: That’s clearly Carla Harris , who is Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley. She is my role model when it comes to achieving purpose and affect change. From her, I learned to ask: “What can I do, that had not happen yet?”
Shari Langes: My daily life is inspired by wonderful women of all different kinds and with many facets — each and every woman is a hero in her own field.
At Porsche, my super power is…
Anna Roizman: My empathy for people and the fact that I would walk through fire for them. This superpower has helped me to build what is now a large network at Porsche.
Randi Bauer: Persistently taking the small steps. The bigger ones will then suddenly happen by themselves.
Sophie Schwandt: Focus & Interdisciplinarity. I love working together with experts from different domains to build meaningful and intelligent AI products. With the multitude of issues that arise in scaling our products, it is essential to keep the overall goal in mind and prioritize accordingly.
Claudia Feiner: I am authentic and strong. And thank god I’m a natural networker; that pays off because I can achieve a lot this way.
Shari Langes: To connect people and share my knowledge.
I would save the world by…
Anna Roizman: My never-ending curiosity to learn, improve and strong will to take action.
Randi Bauer: Listening empathically.
Sophie Schwandt: Reading books and learning about other people’s perspectives.
Claudia Feiner: Inspiring other people to experience, how much you can change by having the courage to stand up, question and do not accept the status quo.
Shari Langes: My positive spirit.
My proudest accomplishment so far has been…
Anna Roizman: Professionally, building Agile@Porsche into an established brand. On a personal level, my coaching for my son’s gap year project. And, the most important thing: finding a balance between career and family!
Randi Bauer: That I could inspire younger female friends and mentees to believe in their abilities and now see them celebrating their successes.
Sophie Schwandt: Keeping a great team spirit despite Corona and purely remote work.
Claudia Feiner: I founded the Proud@Porsche Community some years ago. By doing so, we fostered a culture at Porsche that celebrates diversity.
Shari Langes: Crossing the Alps by foot in less than 7 days with a great team and realizing that the best views come after the hardest climbs.
My biggest kryptonite is…
Anna Roizman: My ambition and commitment. I always try to keep my word, feel connected to the organization and sometimes put myself at the back of the line.
Randi Bauer: Black Forest cake, for sure.
Sophie Schwandt: Impatience.
Claudia Feiner: Overcoming white male patriarchic structures and people who don’t care.
Shari Langes: Missing coffee in the morning and not being outside in nature enough.
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we’re tackling new challenges, develop digital products, and think digital with a focus on the customer. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, smart technologies, and the people that drive our digital journey. Please follow us on Twitter (Porsche Digital, Next Visions), Instagram (Porsche Digital, Next Visions, Porsche Newsroom), and LinkedIn (Porsche AG, Porsche Digital) for more.
