People of Honeypot: Celebrating our amazing women!

At Honeypot, we are committed to actively promoting women in tech. Our 2018 Women in Tech Research Report revealed how far we, as an industry, still have to go. But small, consistent steps lead to big change. To celebrate International Women’s Day we asked several of members of our team to tell their personal story. Be it in Talent or Customer Management, Marketing, Product or Data, the women featured here are creating impact and showing the power of a diverse workforce.

Over to you, Isabel..

Isabel Hübner, Accounting and Finance Manager

“My daughter is my biggest motivation. I want to be someone she can be proud of, someone who lives independently, someone who earns enough money to build a life. I love learning new things, playing with numbers and helping people - that’s probably the perfect description of my role!

Sometimes it’s really hard timewise: I’m a mother, I’m going to school at night, I have a job. I have to manage myself well, even though I feel overwhelmed, I have to work to not get too emotional. This is something you live with. The advice I would give to young mothers? Please throw away ideas of a perfect mother. You will never be a perfect mother: you can have a career and a kid and it’s really fine. It’s fine if you eat out instead of cooking, it’s fine if you aren’t with your kid 24 hours a day; just enjoy the moments you do have with them and focus on quality time. It’s all about acceptance of your own limitations.

I am lucky I have help from my family, so twice a week I can study. At work, I have flexible hours so sometimes I work four hours a day, sometimes ten hours. I set the time, some days I need to spend more time with my daughter, other days when she is with her father I can dig deep into my work. Sometimes I am so so tired, but trust me, you can find time for work, education and family. Just don’t expect perfection.”

Wiktoria Vowles, Customer Development Manager

“I was so shy when I first joined Honeypot. Not just in a professional sense, but also personally. It was difficult for me to share my ideas, to be more out there or to feel like part of a group. But something changed for me here. Being surrounded by people who challenge me and care about me injected confidence and drive; I learnt to speak my mind, to share my ideas and to not question myself so much. I learnt its ok to fail, to make mistakes. We all do. You have to make mistakes to learn. Its sounds very cliche, but I didn’t necessarily know that.

There are many things I love about Honeypot. First is the people. I dare say there aren’t many companies like ours. The atmosphere and sense of community is incredible. It makes coming to work a real pleasure. My parents and so many people told me I would miss my university life when I started working, but that’s not the case here. I would never change my life back to what it was before. I’m really happy. The other reason I like working here is the impact we make. In the past I helped international developers to secure their visas. You get first hand experience of how a job can change your life. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of that.

Even though I’m not 100% sure what I will do with my life professionally, I know that I want to keep facing my fears, my challenges and my flaws. If you do it and you look back to compare yourself then and now, it’s an incredible feeling. It’s like you turned into a completely different person, in a good way. It pushes you forward because it makes you think, if I keep on working, what could be next?”

Emma Hunt, People Operations Manager

“In uni, I never knew what I wanted to do. At the time, it seemed like all my friends had an exact career path in mind. All I knew was I wanted to work closely with people. It was pure coincidence that I managed to develop a career in People Ops - it’s all thanks to some amazing managers who saw the potential in me.

At the start, I was so unsure of myself. I used the classic fake it until you make it. But in the last year, I’ve gained confidence and realized how much I have learnt. I know now how to approach most situations. I think it’s really interesting to see how People Ops has changed and developed. In the past it typically was Human Resources, focused on legal and admin requirements, with an element of recruiting. Essentially it was focused on the company’s needs. I think the switch to People Operations really reflects a positive change towards people in work.

I know this is the career for me; I love what I do. Not only am I helping people get a job, but more importantly I am impacting how much fun they have at that job. That’s something I really get a lot of joy out of.”

Sarah Blech, Customer Development Manager

“I’m very people oriented, so I thrive in this client facing position. I feel I can be an ambassador and put the word out about what we are doing. Inside Honeypot, I love to make people smile and feel good. I love to go to work. I have finally found a place where work is connected with friends, not only colleagues, where the well-being of everyone is central and people truly care for each other. I am so often astonished by the huge potential everyone brings to Honeypot.

Sure there are also days when I have the feeling I am not mastering my tasks and they just keep piling up: I know this will also change with new tools we will implement, new processes we will agree on and the things we will learn while testing and trying. I like the challenge, the exchange of ideas, the support everyone offers and the freedom of seeing failure as learning.

Besides taking care of my clients I also reach out to potential clients. I do enjoy this sales side, too - client outreach, pitching and going to events, for example. But I don’t 100% see myself in a sales role in the future. I don’t believe sales is one of my true strengths and I want to focus on what I can do best. As I deeply care for people I want to be the social glue in a team that works close together. I see myself as a driver, mediator and connector. My strength lies in my drive for quality and detail.”

Tabea Müller, Head of Data

“It’s very hard to convince me to do something if I don’t think it’s logical. In high school, I always loved math. When I finished high school, math was the obvious choice for me. But going into studies, I realized how utterly different mathematics at university level is, compared to school. In school it’s more about calculations and analysis, in universities it’s more about proofs and linear algebra. After my Bachelor and my first experiences of work I felt like I finally knew what I wanted. I wanted to be closer to software development, well, close to business logic rather than hardcore coding.

I joined Honeypot as a working student in Talent Management. I recently got promoted to Head of Data. I love to be part of our data team, because I think Data is so powerful. At first you may think it’s just a byproduct, but it’s so much more. You can discover patterns, support decisions, automate processes and understand behaviors and shape strategy.

I love that I am part of shaping the future of the company. I translate our business processes into first models which our Data Scientists then turn into fully fledged algorithms. And of course I support the team with whatever is needed. It’s been really nice to see the data team grow and I love empowering skilled people. It’s rewarding to watch ideas become reality.”

Laura Schukkink, Country Lead the Netherlands

“When I was a kid I dreamt of becoming a musical star. On Wednesdays and Fridays I attended a musical club where I danced, acted and sang. Although I loved it, it turned out my talent for singing wasn’t my strongest suite. My colleagues can back that up after hearing me sing at our Christmas party. Looking back it was clear from a very young age that I wanted to work with people and end up in a position in which I could lead. During my bachelor studies I loved being in debate teams and also enjoyed taking the lead in group projects.

A year ago I started out at Honeypot as a Customer Success Manager for the Dutch market. I have a background in hospitality and that proved to be useful for my new role. In a nutshell I was building relationships with clients and making sure they were finding the right candidates for their teams. After being in that position for half a year, Honeypot gave me the opportunity to develop my leadership skills as Country Lead for the Netherlands. It’s great to feel that kind of support and have such an opportunity, and I’m learning and developing every day.

Being responsible for both our client and developer-facing initiatives, as well as overseeing PR, marketing, HR and events for the Dutch market makes it a great and diverse role. Although the role is still new to me and I’m discovering and learning many new things, it is very rewarding, and challenging. Mistakes, falling down and getting back up again, it’s all part of it. The biggest motivation for me currently is the steep learning curve and seeing the Amsterdam team grow and develop. I really enjoy leading, coaching and guiding the team the best way I can. Going forward I’d like to leverage that to have an even bigger impact on business results.”

Debora Lasoen, Head of Talent Management

“Growth motivates me: my personal growth, growth of people, the growth of the organization. When I joined Honeypot, we were around 14 people. At the time, I had just finished a coding bootcamp and I joined as a Customer Success Manager. It wasn’t the role I applied for, I wanted to be in Talent Management and be in touch with the developers.

As soon as the opportunity came, I joined the Talent Management team. First I became the Team Lead, then I became the Head. There is a big jump when your team grows to seven or eight people and you have to start delegating. We are the biggest team in the company. My job now is really about empowering people, giving guidance and clearing the path for them to flourish.

We really help people with a huge life decision, we know their hopes and wishes and we help them build a new life if they relocate. Those are scary things, so it’s nice to be there to personally support them. I remember I even invited one developer to join me and my friends at Berghain! The challenge for us as a team is to maintain the personal relationships we have with developers as we scale. I’m confident we can.”

Priscilla Tenggara, B2B Marketing Manager

“I always thought I wanted the stability offered by big tech companies. I had previously interned at Facebook and loved it. But when I received offers for full-time roles, I had a weird, sinking feeling that doors to unknown adventures were closing. In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted something a bit different.

Right after graduation, instead of moving into big tech, I bought a one-way ticket to Berlin. I was always drawn to the excitement of living life with unpredictability but there’s a side that anchors me to the comfortable choices like my parents, friends and just overall societal norms. In university, I was part of a business organization. My mentor, Ryan, was the person to give me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone. He’s one of the key figures in my life encouraging me to explore different paths. Having people like this who push you is really important.

When I joined Honeypot, I had zero experience working in startup environments. The adrenaline of ‘will I make it or will I not?’ is the type of rush motivating me to push forward. Working here has forced me to think outside the realms of small responsibility and to focus on the big picture. I get to work on all aspects of the marketing process from ideation, creation to execution - and I have a lot of responsibility. It’s scary and requires self-focus and determination, but so far so good. And I’m learning a lot. I’m excited to see what’s next.”

As you can see, our women are driving the company forward, leading teams and shaping our future. Know that we sadly couldn’t showcase each and every amazing woman contributing to our success, there are just too many to mention! As you can see below…

Who run the world? 🤩