​​To celebrate International Women's Day, this week we are putting the spotlight on inspiring women in digital leadership roles. In this instalment, our own inspiring leader, Forward Role’s first-ever female Associate Director Rachel Wheeler, chatted with Hannah Campbell , Head Of Ecommerce at La Redoute UK.

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1. ​Please can you provide an overview of your role? 

I am the Head of Ecommerce at La Redoute UK who are a leading online Home and Fashion retailer. As Head of Ecommerce, I get involved in lots of different areas of the business which I love because it means no day is ever the same! My key responsibilities include; managing the Web Merchandising and UX teams, taking ownership of the onsite performance of the web and app where CVR is our key focus, feeding into campaign and CRM activity based off trading results, optimising the customer journey through AB Testing and CRO, managing relationships with the French Digital Experience teams to drive the web development roadmap, using data to develop and deploy the overall department strategy, monitoring purchase funnels to identify areas of concern and missed opportunities. The list goes on!

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2.What are the biggest challenges you have faced in your career?

The biggest challenge of my career was returning to UK workforce after living overseas for 4 years. The landscape was competitive, and my experience wasn’t as vast as it needed to be to land the jobs that I wanted and that knew I was capable of, so I took the difficult decision to move back in with my parents and use my time to intensively upskill and get the necessary experience I needed. This involved unpaid work placements, temporary contracts and self-funded courses which all contributed to an accelerated learning and development path which helped me really kick start my career.

3. Let’s be more positive! What are your biggest success stories?

My biggest success story is landing my first Head of Department Role at La Redoute. I am really ambitious and always push myself to my limits, so this was a very pinnacle point in my career that I am very proud of and something I had been working towards for years.

4. What advice would you give to women who aspire to get to the top of their game? 

My advice would be to ask for help/ support/ guidance when you need it and be patient with yourself. Asking for help isn’t a weakness and no one is born knowing how to be something we have never been. I have had some amazing mentors over the years which I have a lot of my career to thank them for because I felt like giving up on many occasions. It takes time to upskill and become an expert in a field so not being too hard on yourself for failing is key.

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5. What factors do you think have caused a gender imbalance in the workplace, specifically amongst Senior Leadership, Board and C-suite roles? What do you think we can do to overcome these challenges?

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I think historically, not having women in leadership positions has made it difficult for women to progress into male dominated roles. Not having role models or examples of women In power can make it difficult to see clear career progression. I am lucky that I am surrounded by strong women at La Redoute (and supportive men) who inspire me every day and show me the sky’s the limit.

6.Lastly, what does International Women’s Day mean to you? 

IWD is a special day to take a minute to reflect and celebrate the accomplishments of women all around the world. We definitely don’t just need one day to celebrate this; it should be celebrated every day.

At Forward Role, we help some of the UK's biggest and most exciting employers to attract the brightest talent and empower candidates to build exciting careers, if you are looking to hire talent or take the next step in your career- get in touch!