Pledge 1%'s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Briany Kalms
Chair of the Envato Foundation and Customer Success Director, Envato
Melbourne, Australia
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
Established as Envato’s philanthropic arm, the Envato Foundation is focused on opportunity creation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. As chair, my role is to help drive and shape the direction of the Foundation, along with managing our charity partnerships. I also look after the global support function for Envato managing a team of ~40 people across 7 countries.
What’s the best part of your job? What do you enjoy the most?
I love being able to connect with people from different organisations and locations and learn about their experiences and how they’re making a difference. It helps me to learn and grow.
We’ve all faced personal and professional challenges, especially during these past two years - what motivates you to keep going?
Knowing that every day, even the ones that aren’t great, is an opportunity to reflect and come out stronger and wiser. It’s not always easy but when I get those “aha!” moments of clarity it really does spur me on.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. I’ve certainly learned this the hard way over the years but I’ve also learned to do a much better job of listening to my gut. I still don’t always get it right but it’s a piece of advice that has always stuck with me and I find it a grounding thing to come back to.
What does generosity mean to you?
Generosity to me is about more than just money. It’s also about time and empathy. I think being truly generous means putting in the time to listen and really understand the heart of a problem before you rush in to solve it.
How do you feel businesses can play a larger role in solving today’s biggest challenges? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
Lead by example and be deliberate about it. The more it becomes normal for businesses to have a dedicated philanthropic focus the more that businesses who don’t will start to feel left behind. This helps create a movement and a community towards a greater good.
The establishment of the Envato Foundation is an excellent example of this. We're a company that's built on values and we wanted to take a more coordinated approach to how we supported causes we believed in. Opportunity creation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities, especially through the development of children and youth, is a pressing need in Australia. We honed in on this issue because we know completion rates across primary, secondary and tertiary education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth is far below those of non-Aboriginal children. We believe that early intervention is pivotal and that we could play a role in supporting organisations that are doing great things to empower the next generation.
There wasn't an obvious way to do this through our day-to-day business, so the Envato Foundation was born to facilitate support of this mission.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Real. What you see is what you get. I don’t try and pretend to be someone I’m not - warts and all.
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
I’m really excited about the work for the Envato Foundation this year and continuing to see it grow and evolve. I’m also looking forward to becoming more involved in the Pledge 1% community and how we can come together to really pick up the momentum.
