Stephanie May: Supporting and empowering women in the automotive industry through the Women Automotive Network

Stephanie May is Commercial Director of the Women Automotive Network, a global community of 34,000+, whose mission is to support and empower women in the automotive industry. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry, and strongly believes in the power of working together for a better future.

In her role, she is responsible for strategic partnerships and steering the Network’s community activities. She is committed to bridging the gender gap in this traditionally male-populated industry, and ensuring talent is both attracted to join and has the resources to develop and be successful.

In our conversation we talk about her career, the development of Women Automotive Network and where to from here.

I very much enjoyed getting to know Stephanie through this conversation and look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

If you're listening for the first time, hello, I'm Andy Follows. I help business owners and executives to enable Fulfilling Performance for themselves and those they lead and care about. If you'd like to know more about Fulfilling Performance, check out: Release the handbrake! - The Fulfilling Performance Hub. In it you will find easily digestible ideas on how to increase levels of performance and fulfilment for yourself and those you lead and care about.

Connect with Stephanie
LinkedIn: Stephanie May
Email: hello@womenautomotive.com
Website: Womenautomotivenetwork.com

Connect with Andy
LinkedIn: Andy Follows

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae Academy Guided Peer Mentoring
Email: academy@aquilae.co.uk

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Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk
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Episode recorded on 10 July, 2024.

Transcript

Stephanie May: 0:00

It was really touching. I remember getting up on stage which I've never done before, and just kind of thanking all the women and the few men that were in the audience for coming together and kind of being a part of it. It was really emotion. And ever since then every event that we've done the feedback and knowing that we are supporting women and their allies in the industry and making a difference makes it all so worthwhile.

Aquilae: 0:27

Welcome to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers to share insights to help you with your own journey. Here's your host, Andy Follows

Andy Follows: 0:41

Hello, listeners, Andy here, thank you for tuning in. We appreciate that you do. We're also very grateful for our guests who generously join me to create these episodes so that we can celebrate their careers, listen to their stories, and learn from their experiences. In this episode was celebrating the career to date of Stephanie May. Stephanie's Commercial Director of the Women Automotive Network, a global community of 34,000 Plus, whose mission is to support and empower women in the automotive industry. She's an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry and strongly believes in the power of working together for a better future. In her role, she's responsible for strategic partnerships and steering the network's community activities, she's committed to bridging the gender gap in this traditionally male populated industry, and ensuring talent is both attracted to join and has the resources to develop and be successful. In our conversation. We talk about her career, the development of Women Automotive Network and where to from here. I've known Stephanie for a little while now and I very much enjoyed getting to know her further through this conversation. I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. If you're listening for the first time, Hello, I'm Andy Follows I help business owners and executives to enable Fulfilling Performance for themselves and those they lead and care about. If you'd like to know more about Fulfilling Performance, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter. In it you'll find easily digestible ideas on how to increase levels of performance and fulfillment for yourself and those you lead and care about. Go to Andyfollows.substack.com, or use the link in the show notes to this episode. If you listen to podcasts like CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, I'm guessing that you recognize you can learn from other people. When I'm not recording these conversations with inspiring individuals. You'll find me facilitating guided peer mentoring teams in our Aquilae Academy. We bring together small groups of business owners and senior leaders from non competing organizations and create a virtual environment in which they can get to know and trust each other and share and support each other with their current challenges. If that sounds interesting, email academy@aquilae.co.uk. And we'll send you more details you'll find that address in the show notes to this episode. Hello, Stephanie, and welcome. Where are you coming to us from today?

Stephanie May: 3:12

Good morning, Andy. I am in the south of England today in Kent.

Andy Follows: 3:17

Oh, lovely. The garden of England.

Stephanie May: 3:19

Yeah, exactly. Very green and blue and rainy. As is most of the UK at the minute, isn't it?

Andy Follows: 3:27

That's why it's so green. Because we're blessed with so much rain even in July. With all my guests. I like to start right at the beginning though. So you're in Kent. Now where were you born?

Stephanie May: 3:37

I was actually born in Kent. Originally, I spent my first 10 years here. Then I moved up with my mother to Cambridgeshire and spent 10 years there. And now I'm back down south again.

Andy Follows: 3:49

So would you mind painting a little picture for us of your childhood? The family you you found yourself born into? Siblings? That sort of thing?

Stephanie May: 3:59

Yeah, so I am an eldest of five.

Andy Follows: 4:01

Wow.

Stephanie May: 4:02

Yeah. Nice. Big family always been mother hen. as it were. We're all incredibly different. But that makes the world go round, doesn't it?

Andy Follows: 4:11

It does. So you say mother hen? How did that show up? Then? What did that look like when you were a little girl?

Stephanie May: 4:16

very bossy, very controlling. I remember kind of getting everyone's packed lunches ready and you know, walking them all to school. Even now, my little sister's half living with us. She's back from China where she teaches English.

Andy Follows: 4:33

So if your siblings are listening to this, they'll be nodding already will they at very bossy and

Stephanie May: 4:39

Yes, definitely.

Andy Follows: 4:42

And I'm always curious what roles my guests had sight of what professions or jobs my guests had sight of when they're growing up. So what did you see your mum and dad doing or family members?

Stephanie May: 4:54

So Mum was stay at home until the youngest went to school. And then she became a teacher herself primary school teacher. And then my dad has always been in sales. And then he set up on his own business in gardening and weed control Fabric and other kinds of materials.

Andy Follows: 5:14

Okay, so some entrepreneurialism in the family, some sales DNA mayber there. What were you like at school? Stephanie, how would your teachers have described you?

Stephanie May: 5:24

I was a very good student. I was a prefect and things. But I always had a motto of kind of, I know, it's old fashioned now work hard, play hard. So yeah, I love school. I love getting my head down. But I had an amazing group of friends who I'm still friends with to this day, and yeah, always kind of had that work life balance and made sure I knew what was important.

Andy Follows: 5:45

And what about subjects and areas of interest? Did you have particular areas that you preferred?

Stephanie May: 5:51

I was was quite arty, but I never really thought I'd make a career of it. I looked at architecture for a little while. And then I moved into history. But yeah, I just always kind of followed my passions, really, at university, I ended up doing History and Sociology, I was pleasantly surprised with sociology. But I have to say, that's always been a hobby, and never really a career.

Andy Follows: 6:15

Let's talk a little bit more about sociology, what drew you in that direction? And what did it actually mean? What was it the study of?

Stephanie May: 6:23

So I was looking at social policies really, and specifically at uni, the prison system, and the ways to better society really, to stepping away from the norms, looking at governmental policies and how they kind of run away really, and how difficult it is to kind of start from scratch.

Andy Follows: 6:44

So was there a sense already then of wanting to make a difference?

Stephanie May: 6:49

Maybe, I've always been very aware of, you know, historical events and human beings trying to learn from the past, I think and not making the same mistakes.

Andy Follows: 7:02

Okay, so History and Sociology making a good combination. Where did you go to university whereabouts in the country were you?

Stephanie May: 7:11

in Leeds, fantastic city.

Andy Follows: 7:14

So you moved away from home? How was that as an experience for you?

Stephanie May: 7:18

Amazing. I love Leeds, still in touch with the core four who I lived with from the first year until the fourth year. Yeah.

Andy Follows: 7:25

And when did you start to have ideas about what you might do career wise,

Stephanie May: 7:29

I honestly left uni and had no idea. So I thought I'd do some traveling, but also make some money at the same time. So I took a English course. And then I first of all moved to South Africa. And I volunteered at Red Cross Hospital and worked on the vinyards there teaching the children English language. I did that for six months.

Andy Follows: 7:54

So you did a TEFL course teaching English as a foreign language. went to South Africa worked in a vinyard. This is not sounding too bad. So far.

Stephanie May: 8:02

No, like I said, I always tried to balance working and playing. And South Africa was an absolutely incredible experience. It's a wonderful country, but again, you know, with really big social divides, and it was good to kind of feel like I was making a difference whilst enjoying a brilliant country, beautiful country.

Andy Follows: 8:22

And how long did you spend there?

Stephanie May: 8:23

Just six months, then had to come home for Christmas, and then was supposed to get a job, but still had kind of a travel bug and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life. So I ended up going to Vietnam for the next six months and teaching English over there.

Andy Follows: 8:39

Oh, right. And how was that?

Stephanie May: 8:41

Again, fell in love with Asia, beautiful Culture, beautiful human beings, amazing food. And yeah, I keep going back to Asia. I finally persuaded my husband actually to take our daughters there this Christmas. So yeah, I've always absolutely love to travel. I love to see different cultures. And in all of my jobs, I've had the ability to travel. And obviously since COVID, and becoming a mum, you have different restrictions or different considerations. But I'd like to hope you know now that they're two and four that we can enlighten them and we can get them involved. Now.

Andy Follows: 9:16

When did you first start traveling?

Stephanie May: 9:19

When I was a child, we always went away with my grandparents in their campervan around the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, when we started to get older we even ventured down to Italy and Switzerland. So I've always been exposed to different cultures and different people. As a family with my parents, we tend to kind of stick to more traditional holidays in kind of Spain and things. I think it must have been yeah after uni when I met different people from different countries and wanted to visit them. I did a year abroad and Erasmus year in Holland, and that's where I met a lot of different people stayed in touch with them hence moving to South Africa, Vietnam, America,

Andy Follows: 10:04

you talk about doing an Erasmus year. And some some courses have that kind of international sandwich year, but many, of course, don't. How valuable Do you think it is to get overseas for a period of time, as soon as you can, if you like when you're able to independently?

Stephanie May: 10:22

I just think it's absolutely incredible. To go abroad and to meet different people and different cultures. And University is one thing, but in the UK, it's a different type of experience, I think these days, but to actually go abroad. Yeah, it's fantastic.

Andy Follows: 10:39

Yeah. So you spent six months in South Africa, came back home for Christmas, went back out then to Vietnam, taught again in Vietnam, and fell in love with Asia. What happened after that?

Stephanie May: 10:51

Then I realized I needed to find a job and support myself. So I applied for everything under the sun. And I ended up working for an event company as a researcher in London on energy conferences.

Andy Follows: 11:05

Okay, what was it that appealed about that anything particular? Or was it that that was the first thing that

Stephanie May: 11:11

honestly, it was the first job that I got offered and I just thought, yeah, sounds interesting. I like researching. It also had the travel aspect. So the energy conferences were all in South East Europe and the Baltics. So I thought I get to travel around whilst kind of learning about different things. And energy was an is, you know, hugely important to the world. Wind farms, solar panels, etc.

Andy Follows: 11:37

Sometimes my guests grew up with a very clear idea from an early age, what they want to do, and other people feel they have no clue. And it really is a case of just getting out there and trying some stuff. So what was your experience? You had this, you obviously got offered the job? You thought that sounds interesting. Energy is interesting. I like researching, there's some travel. Yep. What was the actual experience, like when you got into your first proper job, if you like,

Stephanie May: 12:00

I have to say it was as expected, it was brilliant. I spent half my time you know, researching and learning about the energy industry and companies and policies. And the other half networking with people bringing people and businesses together. And traveling. So I felt like I was still making a difference. I was still connecting people. And at the same time was kind of feeding that interest inside me, you know, to constantly learn more.

Andy Follows: 12:26

Yes. And it wasn't that random really was it. You knew enough about yourself, there was enough self awareness going into that role that I'm likely to enjoy this.

Stephanie May: 12:33

Yes, yeah, definitely.

Andy Follows: 12:36

And what were some of the things you learned in that first role?

Stephanie May: 12:40

I learned to be I think business savvy. And, you know, matching the right people connecting the right people learning about different roles, learning about different countries. And, you know, kind of the different nuances between cultures.

Andy Follows: 12:57

Yeah, there's so much to learn isn't there when we first start out, because there's so much new stuff. How long did you spend doing that? What was your next step? And what's the story?

Stephanie May: 13:07

I think I spent four or five years doing that. And then I moved to a more a corporate, a larger company, in the telco industry, again, attraction because they did global events. So I got to go to Singapore and Brazil. And then I did that for another five years or so before I decided to take a little bit of a step back, go to a smaller company.

Andy Follows: 13:31

Okay, before we rush on too fast. So you liked the event space enough to look for something else? And what was it you were looking for when you moved on? What was it you gained from moving to the second business?

Stephanie May: 13:44

So the first company that I worked for was very small, it was a great team. But I felt like I'd grown as much as I could grow there. I was leading the team. I was, you know, organizing new events. I was creating new events, but I peaked. And I wanted, first of all more corporate company, I thought it was very relaxed environment. So I joined a big event company who organized big global events. And actually, by this point, I'd also moved across into sales.

Andy Follows: 14:13

And when did that happen? Did that happen in the first business? Or?

Stephanie May: 14:16

Yes, so during the first company, I started off as a researcher, and then I was building relationships with the key speakers and the key sponsors, and I ended up kind of creating packages for them. And then I was moving and doing sales. And then I went into the project management where I was seeing everything, so I was overseeing kind of the creation of the events and where they should be and the topics they should cover. I was leading the team of researchers who would confirm the speakers and then I was also leading the sales team. So I got to kind of cherry pick. Yeah, best of everything really.

Andy Follows: 14:56

It sounds like that was a really good first opportunity. And obviously you did well to grow in it, you were succeeding and clearly delivering and contributing to the business. It sounds like it was perhaps a really good sized business for you to get a good breadth of experience and to get promoted fairly quickly within that time and get responsibility, oversight of different areas and to understand which bits you liked, and to recognize that what will be good for you going forward will be something maybe something more corporate bigger. So you How did you go about getting this second position?

Stephanie May: 15:33

A friend actually, who used to work at the same company, put me forward. And she helped me massively with the interview process and meeting the team beforehand, because we'd stayed in touch. And I'd been out on social occasions with them, I was kind of already known.

Andy Follows: 15:50

Fabulous. So you're already known by some of the people within the organization that you went, yeah. Very common theme that comes up is networking.

Stephanie May: 15:59

Yep, you never know when you're going to meet someone, again, when your paths might cross again. And I think especially networking, and staying in touch with people is incredible

Andy Follows: 16:10

Let me ask you then. How do you go about that? Now, let's have a little diversion down that networking topic? How do you approach networking now, because I imagine it's incredibly important for your role as a commercial director, what are some of the things you do?

Stephanie May: 16:24

So networking is incredibly important. And I think after COVID, we all learnt you know, the true value of face to face connections, there's always going to be a place for online events, online sharing of stories, but a physical handshake and eye contact, there's no replacement for

Andy Follows: 16:43

so you'd peaked in the first organization, you'd done very well got yourself into a good situation learnt a lot. When you went into the second organization, how did that deliver against your expectations.

Stephanie May: 16:57

So it was incredibly corporate. And I was just doing sales, getting my head down working towards targets, which was brilliant, and I loved, you know, the buzz and the energy of the sales. And I was incredibly grateful for the new travel experiences that I got. And it was a global event company. So I got to go to Brazil, South Africa, Singapore, but again, just felt like I'd peaked really, and I wanted something more. So I joined a friend's company, which was slightly smaller, again, more intimate, had a little bit more, say so on, you know, the details and the direction that the company and the events could take.

Andy Follows: 17:40

I love this. So you started off with the benefit of being in a smaller business having wider responsibility, wider opportunities to learn, then you stepped up, if you like in terms of business size, more corporate, but then we see the classic narrowing, then they just want you to focus on a much smaller area sales. And you did that for how long were you in that business?

Stephanie May: 18:03

Three or four years?

Andy Follows: 18:04

So how did the conversation go with your friend? Talk me through the transition to joining your friends business,

Stephanie May: 18:11

it was honestly a case of personal circumstances and things just falling into place. You know, I'd done a lot of travel, which is fine when you're younger, and you can take holidays and things afterwards. But I'd just got married. And it wasn't the same anymore, you know, as doing a trip to Singapore, and then having a week in Bali afterwards, versus just doing that 12 hour flight three days at an event and then flying home again, I realized I needed a change. And I wanted to focus more on my personal life and actually do a little bit less travel. So I joined another smaller event company, very, very niche on the automotive side of things which was brand new to me, I'd always had a slight interest in kind of fast cars and doing race days, but didn't know much about it. And then that's when things really started to get interesting. If you don't mind me going down that route already.

Andy Follows: 19:06

No. Go ahead.

Stephanie May: 19:07

So when we started to work on the automotive events, I've always done events, I've always, you know, been one of the very few women in the audience. But with the automotive events, it was just to kind of next level really we were talking about five women out of 500 attendees. But the special thing was the women that you did meet just seemed to have this different energy, this different desire and just a real drive to kind of share experiences learn from each other and connect. So that's when the wheels started to move the reins started to kind of think about ways that we could connect these women starting off with workshops, panels and breakfasts and eventually creating a single event for women in the industry.

Andy Follows: 19:52

Right. So when was this When did this transition happen?

Stephanie May: 19:55

So from 2016 to 2019 alongside the automotive events, we started to run panels, workshops and breakfasts. And the audience kind of five fold grew from five women to 50 women. And we realized that there was a global interest or as I say European interest in creating a single event. So in 2019, we ran the first women automotive summit in Stuttgart, 170 people, the idea being to celebrate some great leaders. So we had Linda Jackson, CEO of Peugot back then, talking about her story, really personal, really insightful. And then following it on really with kind of a little bit of DNI conversation, but more just kind of career development and sharing experiences and lots and lots of networking throughout the 36 hours.

Andy Follows: 20:48

So that was the first conference for women automotive networking in Stuttgart. And how did you find those 100? And how many did you say 170 attendees

Stephanie May: 20:57

174. It was that first year, it was really touching. I remember getting up on stage, which I've never done before. And just kind of thanking all the women and the few men that were in the audience for coming together and kind of being a part of it. It was really emotion. And ever since then every event that we've done the feedback and knowing that we are supporting women and their allies in the industry and making a difference makes it all so worthwhile.

Andy Follows: 21:26

I'm sure. What is the attitude towards men coming to your events,

Stephanie May: 21:31

we need more. So we've always had the events or the network was about women, not just for women, we've always tried to say how much we're better together. And I think now more than ever, the conversation is not about diversity. It's about inclusion. And yes, it's great to have all women automotive networker women automotive Summit, and it's great to connect women and discuss some of the challenges that we're having within the industry. But unless everyone is part of that conversation, it's only going to be a conversation, it's never going to make a difference. And we're not going to really improve the automotive industry. And also understand why we're trying to get more women in the industry and why that would improve the industry.

Andy Follows: 22:20

If a man goes along to the women automotive network, do the women there think Oh, for goodness sake, haven't you got enough stuff of your own to go to without coming to without coming to you know ours as well. But clearly, what you're saying is that isn't the perception that men are very welcome.

Stephanie May: 22:38

Definitely. I think when we first started, it was very refreshing to have 95% of the audience women. But the conversation's has changed. In the last five years, we've had a lot of networking opportunities and a lot of events, we've had 12 or 13 online events, where we can talk about challenges. We can talk about career development, we can talk about personal stories, but it's got to that stage now. Where if we're going to make any real difference within the company, we've got to get those CEOs involved. We've got to get the colleagues and the managers involved, and really understanding why we're having a women network or why we're having a women automotive Summit,

Andy Follows: 23:20

right. So the men who come along to your events, they're going to have their eyes open, they're going to be immersed in some different perspectives that they might well not otherwise get exposed to in the more traditional events that are happening.

Stephanie May: 23:35

Yes, I think so. And I think one of the most important things is about opening the conversation and inviting people to get involved. You know, we're not reaching, we're not saying this is what should happen. We're just inviting everyone to become more aware of society and changes that's happening, really,

Andy Follows: 23:57

you mentioned at the beginning about balancing work and play, you're introducing balance into the industry by creating some more women focused events that make it a bit more balanced.

Stephanie May: 24:12

Hopefully. Yeah.

Andy Follows: 24:14

And you said that the women you noticed in the early days of this when this idea was just the beginnings of an idea that it was because whilst there was a big bias towards men in the audience of the conferences that you were going to, the women that you met seemed to be a little bit special, different. Has that continued to be your perception that women in automotiv are a bit of a special breed if I'm not putting too many words in your mouth.

Stephanie May: 24:43

No I think you've hit the nail on the head definitely. I've never met a more supportive community. And I honestly don't think that we would be where we are today, or that we'd have the numbers that we have got today. If it wasn't for community spreading the word, community connecting with other people. And having this incredible give back feeling.

Andy Follows: 25:06

Excellent. If I'm a man listening to this, if I'm on board mentally, I'm sort of I believe in equal opportunities for men and women, if I'm a listener, and that's what I think, what can I be doing to become a better ally?

Stephanie May: 25:22

Inquire internally, if they have any internal events, or join an external conversation, to really understand what the challenges are? And what are the small differences that you could make to make a better industry.

Andy Follows: 25:38

So be guided by your colleagues and get involved in what's happening in your organization in order to make sure I suppose that what you're doing fits with the direction of travel. And

Stephanie May: 25:50

yeah, and I think it's just about opening the conversation and understanding what's happening within your company, or what your colleagues might be facing, because everyone will have different situations. Some companies are very progressive, they're very vocal about the menopause policy, for example, and maternity leave policy. And until you've met someone who's gone through a very individual experience, and learnt about that, that you can really relate to it and implement it maybe with the next colleague or the next employee or the next manager.

Andy Follows: 26:22

There's lots of topics here, Stephanie, take the menopause, for example, which I think a lot of men know zero about until their partner goes through it. And so the whole host of topics that are now coming to the fore, I interviewed a wonderful woman, Dr. Lucy Ryan, who wrote a book called Revolting Women, which is how women in their 50s are leaving the workplace because they are met by this perfect storm of things that happen at the same time. So menopause is one of them. Taking care of elderly parents is another, that tends to fall more to women. But because people are having children later in life, they've still got children at home. So you get these multiple factors all happening at once. So to my male listeners, there's a lot to think about that we don't even realize some of the challenges that our female colleagues are facing.

Stephanie May: 27:13

The UK compared to other countries is more privileged in terms of our awareness and our openness, so mental health is very much on people's agenda now, the menopause, even losing a baby, for example, people talk about it a lot more now than people have in the past and in other countries.

Andy Follows: 27:33

Let me take a moment to tell you about our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by ASKE Consulting who are experts in executive search, resourcing solutions and talent management across all sectors of the automotive industry in the UK and Europe. I've known them for almost 20 years and I can think of no more fitting sponsor for CAREER-VIEW MIRROR. They're the business we go to at Aquilae When we're looking for talent for our clients and for projects that we're working on. ASKE was founded by Andrew McMillan, whose own automotive career includes board level positions with car brands and leasing companies, all ASKE consultants have extensive client side experience, which means they bring valuable insight and perspective for both their employer and candidate customers. My earliest experience of working with Andrew was back in 2004, when he helped me hire regional managers from my leasing Sales Team at Alphabet. More recently, when Aquilae was helping a US client to establish a car subscription business, ASKE Consulting was alongside us helping us to develop our people strategy, and to identify and bring onboard suitable talent. Clients we've referred to ASKE have had an equally positive experience. Andrew and the team at ASKE are genuinely interested in the long term outcomes for you and the people they place with you. They even offer the reassurance of a two year performance guarantee, which means they have skin in the game when working with you. If you're keen to secure the most talented and high potential people to accelerate your business and gain competitive advantage, do get in touch with them and let them know I sent you. You can email Andrew and the team at Hello@askeconsulting.co.uk or check out their website for more details and more client feedback at www.askeconsulting.co.uk. ASKE is spelt A S K E. You'll find these contact details in the show notes for this episode. Okay, let's get back to our episode. So what's going on at the moment and what's coming up?

Stephanie May: 29:35

Well it's been an incredible year for us. We've just done our first event in Detroit, which was an absolute showstopper. We had 428 attendees which is our most attended event yet. And incredible discussions for example with the co chair of the women at Ford network Mr. Steven Livingston, really interesting conversation again, why men should be part of the conversation why they should be part of internal events. And then another super panel about kind of attracting and retaining talent. And we were really lucky in the end to have the big three represented. So GM, Ford, and Stellantis. And we were talking about the next generation. So we had a recent graduate from GM join the panel. And it was more like interviewing her actually, and kind of learning from her. So excited to listen to the new generation, their different experiences, their different expectations, what makes them tick, and their perspectives of the world really

Andy Follows: 30:40

That's an incredible turnout, amazing to have cracked the US.

Stephanie May: 30:43

It is. But again, it's a testament to this community. So we do surveys every year with the community and say, What can we develop? And kind of that's how the mentorship program came about. And that's how these monthly interviews have come about. And they've been saying, for a long time, when are we going to do a US event, and we were hoping it was going to be a good one. But we weren't quite prepared for that same energy and that same emotion and that same yeah just walking away going. We've done it, we've inspired more people, we've made more connections, and yeah, it was great.

Andy Follows: 31:20

So you're on a mission, aren't you? This isn't a job?

Stephanie May: 31:25

No definitely not. I've had two children in the last five years, and I love them to bits. But I also love coming to the office or you know, to work and seeing what's next. And really speaking with women and men in the industry to work out what else needs to be done. So we've touched on, you know, it not being a conversation about diversity and women, it's a conversation now about inclusion, and real ways that we can make a difference. And it's just constantly learning. You know, we've always done workshops and interactive sessions, because we understand, you know, people want to meet each other, especially since COVID. But it's constantly evolving, isn't it? As is the automotive industry? You know, it's not a boring industry to work in

Andy Follows: 32:16

No. And you mentioned in a couple of your previous roles that you reached a point where you sort of peaked or gone as far as you could go, could you imagine that happening in your current situation? Or have you arrived in a space now and at a level where this is just going to keep on offering you new challenges and opportunities for growth?

Stephanie May: 32:38

I wish I could say that there wouldn't be a need for a women automotive network or a women automotive Summit. But we've been doing this for five to eight years. And the conversation hasn't changed that much. You know, there's not that many new female leaders in the industry. Yes, there's some fantastic rising stars. But we still have a long way to go. And in terms of the network's mission, and the network's outreach, I would like to see us being that truly global network. So with 39,000, at the minute, we've got great footprint in Europe, we've cracked America. Next year, we've got plans to enter the Mexico and the Singapore Asia market. But I think the future would be to retain that current talent. We did a poll a few months ago with the community and we said obviously, there's a small percentage of women in the automotive industry. Are you happy in your current role? And 51% said no, and that they were considering to leave. So it's not just that we've got so few women in the industry, half of them are considering to leave. So I think the network's activities and support network might change in its mission to being less about diversity, maybe, but it's always going to be about how to retain current talent, and how to be supported in your current role.

Andy Follows: 34:11

That's a shocking statistic not entirely surprising, based on what I've seen elsewhere. But that does suggest you're going to have stuff to do for the foreseeable future. And a lot of value to add and a mission that will keep you fulfilled and engaged yourself. What are some of the so I've asked you about, you know, men's role, how to be a better ally. Welcome at the conference. You've raised this kind of striking challenge of the number of women already not enough women in the right positions. Yes, there are some rising stars as you say, but still a long way to go and then the challenge of people leaving what are some of the other key topics that you think it would be helpful for me to ask you to get the message out to my supportive listeners?

Stephanie May: 34:59

I think it's about keeping the conversation open, always questioning what challenges you're going through, and where you need support. And also really understanding what you want or what you need. So, you know, not everyone wants to be a CEO, not everyone wants to be a leader, they might just want to be in their current position, which you know, is a junior engineer, or, you know, a mid level manager, but having that support network, and having the tools to succeed in your current role. So if we think about some of the challenges, or some of the reasons why women are leaving, you know, it's the stereotypes, it's the biases, it's the the unsociable hours, it's the flexibility of working, returning to work after mat leave so many different considerations within the automotive industry and others, but especially within the automotive industry, and kind of keeping on top and always questioning how we can improve the industry.

Andy Follows: 36:00

Is there anything else you want to say before we wrap this up?

Stephanie May: 36:04

No, I don't think so. I think we should shout out to you, Andy, for being you know, a male champion and a male ally, and being involved in the network for the last few years, you know, you've hosted workshops yourself, you've run some of our interviews, we're working together, aren't we and celebrating some of those role models within the industry? Because I think that's one of the ways that we can actually keep the talent, you know, by sharing stories, sharing experiences being really open, and working together, and celebrating each other.

Andy Follows: 36:35

Absolutely. And thank you very much. I appreciate that. Long, may it continue, and I look forward to further collaboration. How can people get hold of you? If they want to get hold of you? How would you most like people to do that?

Stephanie May: 36:49

I'm very active on LinkedIn, Stephanie May, or obviously the women automotive network.com or women automotive network on LinkedIn, and following us there.

Andy Follows: 37:00

Okay and we'll put links to those in the show notes to our episode. Thank you very much for joining me today and sharing your story and helping me to understand what else I can do and helping me to share with our listeners today what what else they can do to help improve the situation for our female colleagues in the industry and make the industry better together.

Stephanie May: 37:22

Definitely. Thank you so much, Andy.

Andy Follows: 37:24

You've been listening to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR with me, Andy Follows if you'd like to connect with Stephanie. You'll find her contact details in the show notes to this episode. If you enjoy listening to my guest stories, please could you do me a favor and share an episode with someone who lead parents or mentor or perhaps a friend of yours who you think would also enjoy listening? Thank you to Stephanie for joining me for our conversation. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode ASKE Consulting and Aquilae and thank you to the Career-view mirror team without whom we wouldn't be able to share our guests' life and career stories. And above all, thank you for listening