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.
Kaia Vincent
Director, Brevity Marketing
Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
My role is to direct, nurture and empower the team, through support and guidance as well as scale-up the business by discovering new opportunities for growth.
This year's International Women's Day theme is "Embrace Equity." What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
My motto has always been treat people like you want to be treated regardless of age, disability, gender or race. I think there's a lot of top levels talk about EDI but organisations, especially SMEs do struggle to successfully implement as it's a huge subject. A good starting point is to address the personality of the business through the development of authentic values. But like anything it requires continuous development and improvement.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
I've always invested in a coach and she supports me on both my business and personal journey. Having someone neutral to soundboard off is so important for any business owner.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
That's a hard one. But for my SME business I think the best advice was from my accountant when I was a start-up. Have four bank accounts. One for the everyday, one for VAT, one for Corporation tax and one for savings. It means Brevity always remains friends with HMRC!
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
On the first week of lockdown I had a business coaching session and my business coach told us that in times like these to ride through the storm we had to reset our sail. It really resonated with me that the way to get through this immense change was to not expect to do things in the same way - embrace the change. 2021 was our best turnover year ever.
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it's important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
My belief is that sharing your success for the greater good is how we can fix the world's to do list. Along with the 1% pledge we support UN Sustainable goals 3 (good health and wellbeing) and 8 (business and economic growth) through a system called B1G1 which provides easy access to aligned charities across the globe. Our impacts are action-led. So, for example, if we gain a new client, we fund a life-changing eye operation for someone in a developing country. Our aim in 2023 is to reach 10,000 impacts which we're smashing.
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Assertive - I like to get things done and am skilled at seeing the bigger picture.
Do you have any unique or useful life hacks to help get through your day?
Delegate and empower your team. It's the only way you will be a successful leader.
Do you have any go-to apps or tools use love to use?
Monday.com is our go-to client management system which allows the team to track time and to communicate with each other.
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
We've completed and submitted our BCorp assessment so our goal is to become a BCorp company in 2023. The certification aligns so well to the way we naturally are, so our hope is that it will provide us access to work with other likeminded business people.
