Today we celebrate International Women’s Day and we wanted to take a moment to recognise one of our outstanding colleagues, Hannah Nash.
Hannah has been an invaluable asset to 10Eighty, consistently going above and beyond in her work. Director and Business Development Executive, a mum of two and a huge support in her husband’s business, Hannah is an inspiration to those around her.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Hannah is a beacon of support and empowerment for her peers and colleagues. She strives to create an environment where everyone feels valued and heard.
We asked Hannah about her career to date and what may have influenced her, what challenges she faced and what she loves about her career…
Tell us about your career to date including your recent directorship
So, my career has been quite different in the sense that I started my early career within the local authority working as an employment support officer. I started working with clients one to one coaching and then moving as a team lead on the employability pilot projects that were to be run all over the UK. I absolutely loved this, and I used to work with vulnerable adults to help them find success in their career whatever their ambitions were. My biggest success within this role was working with someone who’s ambition was to become a superhero. Initially I thought this wouldn’t be possible and I found myself trying to manage my clients’ expectations. However, after many job interviews and seeing how unhappy he was not being able to fulfil his dream. I decided I needed to think outside of the box, this led me to find him a role working for a well-known theme park where he would become their super character that dressed up for work every day.
This is where my love for helping people to find a career that they are both passionate about and successful in, really blossomed. I started working with 10Eighty to support the back-office function and to understand much more about HR and what really drives people’s careers and inevitably their career success. I then moved into the project management space helping to support members of the team in the career management projects. Alongside this, I also started coaching which I really loved and gives me so much energy. I then moved into business development within 10Eighty and more recently, into the directorship role.
What challenges have you faced across your career?
I would consider myself very lucky, as the challenges I have faced have been relatively minor. I would guess one of my biggest challenges was managing returning to work after having my son and the confidence drop I felt in my ability to do my job and be a mum. I found the transition from maternity leave back to the office very difficult and the new responsibilities of juggling my desire to have a career as well as being a good mum. What I have realised is ‘mum guilt’ is a real thing, but I’m a much better mum for going to work and it makes my time with my boys even more special. I have been very fortunate to be a part of a supportive team and have some very good role models showing me when is a good time to focus on me and when was the right time to step back from my family.
What are the lessons you’ve learned?
It is hard to note down all I have learnt over the years- but I have been very lucky to have been given lots of opportunities to learn from others and I have always embraced the chance, even if I am unsure what is it that I will learn.
I do always try to live by my values and mirror behaviours that I most value in others for example kindness, empathy, and determination.
What do you love most about what you do?
I most love helping others and the opportunity that brings me to work with a diverse group of people. I’ve learned so much from my time coaching and developing others and this has led to my growth and development in turn. Success to me has been seeing others succeed and fulfil their career goals. I also love that I get to see so many different people’s opinions and views that’s it enabled me to change my thoughts and thinking for the better.
Can you share some experiences where you’ve championed diversity and inclusion in your career journey? How do you plan to continue promoting these values in your role as a director?
I’ve always been a massive advocate for making sure the workplace is reflective of society.
I feel very strongly that everyone has the right to a job that they love, and the businesses need to support inclusivity and sculpt the job around the individuals. I feel that this will bring a kind of diversity into the workplace that will really benefit the business and your employees.
The 10eighty team know that I champion diversity and being an inclusive workforce and we extend this to the people that we work with. I personally do lots to support young people in their early careers and love my CIPD mentoring.
As a woman in leadership, have you encountered any specific barriers or challenges related to gender diversity? How have you navigated through them, and what advice would you give to other women facing similar obstacles?
I have faced a few challenges related to my gender. The first being when I returned to work after my first son, the organisation had an undertone that after having a child, your career may not be as important. I think for me, my career became even more important as a mum raising a son. I wanted him to see that his mum had a job she loved and was also able to be a good mum at the same time. I also think that when you are working with people, you must be careful not to put your biases onto them and actually let them tell you about their experiences and barriers so you can truly embrace them and help them make a difference. The other thing I would say I’ve noted more recently with diversity is being brave enough to say what you’re thinking and feeling without worrying about judgement. I would definitely say this has been a barrier for me as a ‘people pleaser’ I’ve not always said what I thought because I wouldn’t want to make anyone feel I’m being challenging or disrespectful of their opinion and this has led to barriers that I have then had to overcome.
How do you see diversity and inclusion contributing to the success and innovation of teams and organisations?
I absolutely think that diversity and inclusion is key to any organisation’s success. If you think about any business its goal is to serve in some capacity. To do this properly you need to ensure you can see things from all perspectives in order to be successful. One of the main things I think you have the potential for missing if you are not a diverse workforce is this ability to innovate and generate ideas. It also means that you will miss opportunities because that ability to see lots of different views and opinions are not there and so you become quite narrow in your thinking. As many people have said before, we only know what we know and without other opinions, we will know no more and this is why I think diversity and inclusion is so key to success.
We hope Hannah knows how proud we are. Here’s to celebrating you and the countless other women who make a difference every day.
Happy International Women’s Day!
