Women in Industry #7: Laura van der Merwe

Diversity and inclusivity are vital for the industry's growth, acknowledging the crucial importance of promoting gender diversity and inclusivity.

Hosted by Marie Tyler and powered by OrangeDoor, in partnership with IPSA and DARE - the Women In Industry series shines a spotlight on the journeys, perspectives and impact of women across the industry.

Episode 7: Laura van der Merwe – Comelit-PAC

Motherhood, Ambition, and the Myth of Balance

A candid conversation on the pressure for women to succeed professionally and personally, challenging the idea of “balance” and exploring ambition, guilt, shifting priorities, and what sustainable success can really look like.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Women in Industry Podcast. I'm Marie Diane Tyler, and this series was recorded live at the security event in partnership with IPSA and Dare, powered by Orange Dorf, an unbridled company. Let's get into it. Laura, yes. Nice to meet you, you two. Thank you for being on here. And uh the lovely Francesca had suggested that we meet, and she's very proud of you, of course. Great employer, great company. Um we haven't met in person before. In fact, we haven't even really spoken, actually. We we did a bit of conversing and actually, and and this this topic I'm really excited about that you're going to talk to us about today, which is motherhood, ambition, and the myth of balance. Absolutely. But before we fully tuck into it, tell us who you are and how you got into this industry.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So I am the marketing manager of Comla Pack. Uh it's my fifth year of BK this year. Um, originally from South Africa. I've been in the UK for five years, so lots of anniversaries this year. Um, I've been in the industry since I was 20, um, and it's just currently it's just evolving and changing as much as technology is in the security industry, so is marketing and the demands of B2B and the crossover with consumer to consumer. Um yeah, I think that's how it began. Yeah, it's how it began, and it just constantly, every day is different, um, and how things change. And the security industry is a really interesting industry because it's got so many different facets of um, you know, time and attendance and the security aspect and um the CCTV surveillance, that there's just so many things that you can get involved in.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

So motherhood, yes, ambition, the myth of balance. Yes. What why do we pick that topic? What do you want our listeners to to maybe learn or hear from you on that topic?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I think as a woman, you are always told, I think you almost always put on a pedestal. You always have to be at your best. Um, and I'm incredibly lucky. I have an amazing supportive husband, he's an incredible dad, so I feel like I have a really good partner, so I don't feel like I'm in this my own. I mean, coming away here for four days. I know my daughter's well taken care of, I know everything's being done at home, I don't need to worry about that. But I think one thing that I really battle with is being a perfectionist and making sure everything at home and everything in my motherhood life is perfect, is balanced as well as work. Um I grew up with a single mother and her career was always really important to her, but she was also a really incredible mother, always there when we needed her. Um and I think I was really lucky I had a wonderful role model, but it's also really difficult to live up to that. Um being a perfectionist is something that is really it's been challenged in my life since I've become a mom, and I think it's you know, it's always oh you have to have a balance, you have to have a balance in your life, and that isn't true. I think having a balance is setting you up for failure. In life, there's seasons, so there'll be a really career-heavy season where unfortunately you're having to take a bit of a step back from motherhood and not be there as much as you want to be. Um and then there's family seasons that are really family focused and family heavy, and career has to take a bit of a step back. But the one thing that really resonates with me is what I want to show my daughter and the type of person I am. Um, I want her to know you can have it all. You don't need to fail as a mother to have a career, you don't need to have a career and fail as a mother. Um and I don't ever want to look back and for her to feel that she took away from my career, my ambition. I want her to know that she was right next to me the whole time. Um, and I think one thing, I mean, Comelett's an incredible company to work with, and I'm in a fortunate position where I have flexible working. So I work four days a week, and then Friday is my day with my daughter, and that's our special time, and it's just balancing that where Monday to Thursday can be really work-intensive and heavy, but I know on that Friday it's our special time together.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Um I think that's interesting because when you were saying about the method balance, I wondered if your anger was going to be around. Well, there just isn't one. You just you know carry on, you know, doing what you're doing, and all everything just falls where it falls. But actually, the fact that you've got some structure in place to ensure that you've carved out that time, um, I think it's really special. And as you were talking, I was picturing my own family thinking that's a great idea. Um, and like yourself, very lucky to have the same. My husband is dealing with ours. In fact, it was his birthday this week, and I fly back today, and I'm only back for an hour to get dressed and have to go to another event. So it's literally like hi, but that strength and that teamwork and having that um at home is it's just as important as what we have in the workplace, right? Absolutely. Being that flexible hours thing as well, it's not new news anymore. Like any company that's not doing it, why are they not doing it? Because you're gonna get a strong talent who has structured out the time and how they're gonna do things, and they're gonna smash it on the days that they're in. Uh, and then by being refreshed and having that personal time, you're a better person all round, you're not worrying about that while you're trying to work because, like you say, you've got your Friday absolutely in addition to everything else, but you still have that moment in the week, which is lovely, yes. Um, ambition then. Are you in the dream job? No offense, Francesca. Or like what's what's the goal?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

My goodness, I think every day it changes. Um, am I in my dream job? I would say at the moment, yes, because it fits in with what I want to achieve in my career as well as my personal life. I think when I first fell pregnant and we were evaluating, okay, well, how is this gonna look for our family and how are we gonna go ahead with us both working? Um, as I mentioned earlier, we're from South Africa, so we don't have a family support system here. Um so it's just the three of us against the world. Um and it did, it scared me a bit when I had an honest conversation um with my manager at the time. How is it gonna look going forward? What is it gonna be? And I almost felt it it was so difficult because I was so excited about being pregnant and you know it was a dream come true, but at the same time, I was also so scared of losing a piece of myself. Um and I think it really it does take two years for you to bounce back and really find yourself even your life. Oh absolutely. Um, and I think the one thing that scared me was that I was gonna lose my ambition, but it hasn't, it's just evolved, it's evolved in a different way. Um and it's almost I think having all these roles to play in your life, when I sit in front of my desk at the moment, I'm like, what do I want to achieve? What is the best for the company? What is the best outcome for these certain tasks? It almost helps you prioritize with what's important. Um and you can't be everything to everyone, you're not gonna achieve everything. You don't want to be a jack of all trades, a master of none. So I think it's really helped me prioritize in my sense and what I want to do in my career and as a mother. Um I think with the way that the marketing world is changing, digital marketing is a huge passion of mine, and that's definitely something I want to get more involved in. Um I actually recently completed a um digital marketing qualification, and that was also, I mean, my mom when I left school, I was like, Oh, I don't know what I'm gonna do, now you're gonna do this. And she said, You have to go study at university, you can't take a break, and I completely agree with what she said because trying to get back into studying and working full-time and being a mom was such hard work, but it was so worth it. Um, how does ambition look now? I'm content when I'm where I am, but it doesn't mean that there's not further things I want to do and new skills I want to harness.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

And that that ambition is clearly supported by your employer. Absolutely. I mean, because I said earlier, she literally your leader, put you forward. Um, is that generally how you feel the culture is at the business as well? It's it's very much lifting others. I mean, I get that impression that that's what it's like. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Umlet is like I said previously an incredible company to work with. The support is I know I can pick up the phone anytime to Francesca and say, you know, this is going on, that's happened, and she's always like, you need to do what's important, your family needs to come first. And I really like to harness that with my team as well, where um there are three of us, and there's three people on my team, and I always say to family needs to come first. If you phone me and your child's sick, or um, you know, there's school plays and school parent meetings, those needs come first. You need to show up for your children. I want to harness that type of culture in my team, and I'm really lucky that I have that support with you know from our top management. Um, I think it's really refreshing because in a company like Comnet, there's over a thousand employees globally, and you don't just feel like a number. And it stems not only in our UK branch but in our other branches as well. I work quite closely with our talling colleagues, and you can see with their families and how their hours and how it shifts, and it's really refreshing to have that. And when people talk about it, it's almost like you're sharing a load. So you'll have a chat, how things have been, how's the weekend? Oh, this was really tough. I've battled with this. Um, my daughter's doing this, or my son's doing that, and you're like, oh, okay, it's normal. I'm not the only one. Yes, not the only one, you know, fighting the good fights and the soft play.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

And so I suppose then what what I'm taking away from what you're saying is that that the balance is really just about prioritization, absolutely. Um, and embracing the support, whether that be at home and or work, um, and uh recognising what's important and if there are things you can't do, that's okay. Yes. Um, because of course you will have prioritised the things that that are you know that have to happen and make it work, absolutely. So you're a woman in the industry, proud to be one, feeling like you're a minority still, or do you feel like actually we're we're starting to make some good progress?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

I think when I initially joined the company, I would have said I was we're still a minority, but the way things have been over the few past few years, I mean the podcast and the opportunities you've created from your side, from Satya, from um wise and the other women within the industry, we definitely have a stronger voice. Uh we're definitely shouting, we're definitely getting our points across. Um I'm really fortunate where I have Francesca, so you have that incredible leader that sets a standard at the off at our office where you don't have that um male domination within our company. She really stands up for what she believes in and what the company should stand for.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Um so I'll say at the moment we're getting there. We are getting there, aren't we? Absolutely. And that's all we're saying here. You know, we're all we're all uh fans of each other, but we do need that balance, and when we when we get to that point and we don't have to necessarily talk about that challenge, but actually we just celebrate everybody and we're all just working together. I'm sorry, I'm slightly distracted. There is a jumping robot dog in the background. Um, anything else that you want to say to our listeners before we wrap it up?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Um, I think when I was thinking earlier going through, you know, what we could discuss and what could come up, and I was thinking, well, what happens if you ask me what advice would I give? And to be honest, I wouldn't know what advice to give because everyone is so different. But I think when you're feeling overwhelmed and when you feel like everything is everywhere and you're batting to prioritize, you have to take a step back and say what matters most to me. And take take balance out. Balance, if you say you're gonna have balance in your life, you're setting yourself up for failure. It's just it's disappointment.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Love that. Prioritize yourself. And actually, if you're doing well, guess what? Everything else will absolutely go well too. Look after your people, and everything else follows. Real pleasure to meet you. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so much. And I'll uh no doubt speak to you again very soon. Wonderful, thank you.