{"id":10267,"date":"2025-03-24T13:18:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T13:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=10267"},"modified":"2025-03-24T13:18:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T13:18:47","slug":"career-advice-for-my-younger-self-bossing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2025\/03\/24\/career-advice-for-my-younger-self-bossing-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Career advice for my younger self \u2013 Bossing It"},"content":{"rendered":"

In celebration of Women\u2019s History Month, we reached out to inspiring alumnae leaders for their top career advice. Read the key tips they\u2019d share with women who are just starting out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shaikha Alothman (BSc 2008)<\/h2>\n

Shaikha<\/a> is the Co-founder and Director of Haus<\/a>, a nonprofit that supports family caregivers in the Arab Gulf. Known as the \u2018AgeCare Whisperer,\u2019 she is establishing the foundations of home care and the care economy in the Arab Gulf by advising Kuwait’s Ministry of Health on evidence-based policies, establishing community interventions, and developing AI-powered tools.<\/p>\n

Trained in both American and Kuwaiti home care systems, Shaikha is the first Kuwaiti woman named in MIT Technology Review\u2019s \u2018Innovators Under 35\u2019 list. Her contributions have been recognised by leading global institutions such as Weill Cornell, MIT, and the U.S. Department of State, as well as by prominent leaders, including Kuwait\u2019s Prime Minister and Dubai\u2019s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t buy into the disempowerment narrative<\/strong><\/p>\n

My biggest advice is to be mindful of the difference between acknowledgment and acceptance. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I lived on both ends of this spectrum \u2013 once never acknowledging gender biases and later allowing them to limit me. And I see this pattern in many of the women I mentor as well, when we talk ourselves out of opportunities that we think we can’t have or be accepted to have. It took me years to notice this pattern!<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

I urge younger women, and their supporters, to be mindful of this invisible <\/span>behavioural<\/span> limitation<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>that sweet<\/span> spot is where empowerment is!<\/span><\/p>\n

Candice Defontaine (BA 2007)<\/h2>\n

Candice<\/a> is Head of Philanthropy at UK for UNHCR, where she leads the organisation\u2019s strategy and team for philanthropic fundraising. She has over 15 years’ experience in this area and has worked across a range of issues she is passionate about, including the environment, homelessness, medical research, and refugees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Embrace failure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Midway through my career, I went for an internal promotion at an organisation I loved working at. Following the interview, I was confident that I had a good chance at securing the role. Turns out I didn\u2019t even make the second stage. The disappointment was crushing.<\/p>\n

On the advice of a friend, I decided to embrace this failure as an opportunity. I requested detailed feedback from the panel, found a mentor to help me develop, and I now look back on that period as one of tremendous growth. I\u2019ve carried the lessons from embracing failure throughout my career, from how I manage teams to how I build resilience. Failure doesn\u2019t have to be the end \u2013 it can be the door to exciting growth.<\/p>\n

Francesca Chang (BSc 2004)<\/h2>\n

Francesca<\/a> is a Business Director at Red Bee Creative, working with global TV brands such as Disney+ and NBCUniversal. Her clients at previous advertising agencies include Nike, Timberland, and Diesel. For the past few years, she has been writing fiction in her spare time, and with her agent is looking to publish her two novels. Both touch on themes of culture, identity, food, and generational dynamics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Take time to find your path <\/strong><\/p>\n

You will have many years of working ahead of you, so use the time after you graduate to explore, travel, test, and see what motivates and gives you joy. Your first job might not be right for you and that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

I took a career break when I was 30 and went to South America. I used this time to make myself more employable \u2013 while travelling, I wrote a blog about advertising and interviewed one of the most respected Brazilian Creative Directors in Sao Paolo. I then took a sabbatical at 40 to finish my first book. I believe a work\/life balance can be as much an ambition as running your own business.<\/p>\n

Anna Smith (PgDip 1994)<\/h2>\n

Anna<\/a> is a well-known film critic and broadcaster. The former President of the UK Critics\u2019 Circle, she is the host and co-founder of\u202fGirls On Film<\/a>, the world\u2019s leading podcast about women in film. Since its\u202ffirst episode\u202fin 2018, Girls On Film has welcomed 13 Oscar-winners onto the podcast, been nominated for seven awards, and launched its own annual awards show.<\/p>\n

As a writer, Anna is a regular contributor to major publications including Time Out, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone UK. Having been the film expert on many\u202feditions\u202fof the BBC News Channel Film Review, Anna now\u202fappears regularly on Sky News and BBC Radio 4. She has hosted hundreds of on-stage Q&As and film premieres and has been a judge at ceremonies including the BAFTA Film Awards. You can find her on Instagram at @annasmithfilmcritic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Talk to everyone in the same informal, friendly manner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early in your career, it\u2019s easy to think that formality and deference are required. While respect is important, people mostly want to work with folks who are fun to chat to, who don\u2019t stick to a script, and who aren\u2019t afraid to be irreverent when it feels natural. This can make you memorable.<\/p>\n

I interview a lot of famous women and they always respond to an open smile; an honest, spur-of-the-moment question and a confident bounce. To aid this, make sure your\u202ffriends are those who help you to be your best self \u2013 and vice versa, of course.<\/p>\n

Ready to connect with fellow Cardiff alumni?\u00a0Join our LinkedIn group<\/a>\u00a0and get networking.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In celebration of Women\u2019s History Month, we reached out to inspiring alumnae leaders for their top career advice.","protected":false},"author":904,"featured_media":10268,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,39,99,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bossing-it","category-cardiff-connect","category-careers","category-news"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10267"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10270,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10267\/revisions\/10270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}