International Women’s Day 2024: Interview with DLA Piper Business Advisory

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day by recognising the achievements women accomplish every day. To celebrate, we spoke to two talented women at DLA Piper Business Advisory to better understand their motivations, how they’ve navigated their careers, the factors they believe need to be in place for women to succeed and how women can pilot through challenging circumstances.

Can you tell me a bit about what you do?

Sabrina: I help clients improve their sustainability practices and navigate the complexities of upcoming ESG regulations. I've worked with a wide range of clients on all sorts of sustainability issues, including designing and implementing sustainability strategies, ESG reports, stakeholder engagement and materiality assessments.

Based on your experience, what would you tell the women starting and building their careers now?

Sabrina: Embrace the uncertainty of not knowing exactly where your career might lead you and never stop being a learner. It's common to start with a specific goal only to find new passions as you evolve. I experienced this firsthand, transitioning from aspiring to work in the development sector with organisations like the UN, only to discover a passion for corporate sustainability. Our paths and interests shift, but our drive to learn, stay curious, and embrace new experiences should remain constant.

What is the most important thing you’ve done or learnt that has helped you in your life/career?

Sabrina: Working and living across eight countries taught me to be adaptable and to get out of my comfort zone. Embracing these experiences has not only strengthened my resilience but also enabled me to forge connections with diverse cultures and enhance my communication skills. It’s true that steep learning curves are challenging but they’re going to make you grow and improve. If you're comfortable, you're not growing. When you're challenged, you're forced to grow and adapt.

What is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Sabrina: Be bold and embrace failure! As women we sometimes undervalue our abilities and shy away from risks due to societal pressures and personal doubts. We also tend to be more risk averse and seek to avoid failure. This is something I’ve struggled with myself (and still do today). Someone once told me that failure is not the opposite of success, but rather a stepping stone to it. In my view, the experiences gained from trying and failing are extremely valuable. They offer insights into what is effective and what isn't, they also build resilience - a key ingredient for enduring success.

What role do you believe mentorship plays in career growth, and have you had any impactful mentors yourself?

Sabrina: Mentorship is essential for career growth. They provide a fresh perspective that help you grow and learn. They also push you into new challenges. In my career I have been guided by two exceptional mentors. One has been instrumental in empowering me, providing the autonomy to explore and learn independently. The other always provides direct, unfiltered feedback on areas for improvement - their insights, while challenging, have always helped me better develop my skills.

Can you tell me a bit about what you do?

Kersten: I work in Marketing & Business Development (M&BD) for DLA Piper Business Advisory. My focus is developing and implementing the international go-to-market strategy for Business Advisory. I also work with our service lines on M&BD initiatives.

Business Advisory is the international management consulting team working across three solutions which strengthen DLA Piper’s core business by providing strategic, transactional, operational and consulting services. We provide solution to clients' complex challenges through integrated teams of highly experienced advisors and lawyers.

Based on your experience, what would you tell the women starting and building their careers now?

Kersten: Be yourself, work hard but have fun, be receptive to feedback and get yourself appropriate mentors at various times in your career. Be open to getting your hands dirty and getting exposed to lots of different areas of the business. Know your product or service – deeply.

What skills do you believe have helped you succeed in your field?

Kersten: For me, it hasn’t been so much about the skills (because you can always learn new skills) its more about attitude. Some of the key attitude attributes I believe have helped me are resilience, adaptability, ability to accept and act on feedback, creative thinking, and the willingness to be a team player.

Is there anyone that inspires you in your career?

Kersten: Gina Cass-Gottlieb who was a Competition partner at Gilbert +Tobin for more than 25 years and is now the Chair of the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).

Gina inspires me because she’s broken barriers (in male dominated legal partnerships). She’s an incredible role model because she embodies intelligence, understated confidence, strength, resilience and success. Characteristics that I think all people should aspire to. And her influence on the modern Australian commercial environment, both while at G+T and now as the head of the ACCC, has been profound.

Can you offer any advice for effectively networking and building professional relationships?

Kersten: It’s a work of art to see a good networker work the room at an event. It takes confidence, an ability to speak comfortably with people you don’t know, insert yourself into conversations and groups, leave a strong impression and ensure the conversation is not purely social. None of which are the natural traits of many young women starting out in their careers. I would suggest that women don’t shy from networking opportunities, think in advance about how to engage confidently and professionally during those opportunities, and ensure there’s a follow up path established. And always remember, if the going gets tough, people love talking about themselves!

Can you share a standout moment or achievement from your career so far?

Kersten: I was working at a law firm in the US in a comms & PR role when one of the firm’s Washington DC-based senior partners was arrested, tried and imprisoned as the ring-leader in an extensive corruption scandal. As the first port of call for the US national media (NYT, WAPO, LA Times, Miami Herald etc) it was a challenging, nerve-wracking time with a steep learning curve in Crisis Comms 101.  But it really challenged and stretched me, and I learned a tremendous amount. Would it be completely crazy to say it was “fun”? Perhaps that‘s stretching it a little bit too far.  But a formative learning experience all the same.

What is an important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Kersten: This was an interesting point that Gina made at an event she was speaking at many years ago and it really resonated. Think of your career as the arc of experience that happens over 30 – 40 years. A year off for a child, to travel, to care for ageing parents (whatever it might be) is a small part of that period. So don’t limit yourself, and the life you want to lead, because you have a corporate career. If you take time off, you can easily come back from it.

Business Advisory is the management consultancy arm of DLA Piper. We pair high quality advisory with legal know how. The team supports senior executives and general counsel on high priority projects as their businesses face increasing stakeholder and competitive pressure.

Our international advisory team has developed our services drawing from decades of experience in strategy, transformation, risk management and organisational change to support the firm’s areas of global focus like M&A and ESG, with an emphasis on regulated industries.