International Women's Day: Inside My Vapery

Women’s rights and gender equality are taking centre stage in 2020.

Women’s rights and gender equality are taking centre stage in 2020. This year’s International Women’s Day is bringing people together of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country, to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world we all deserve. We can all have a big impact in making this vision a reality. On Sunday 8th March, join #GenerationEquality and become part of the #IWD2020 movement.

At My Vapery UK, we want to celebrate our amazing female entrepreneurs, designers, production workers, creatives, technicians, account managers and all the other incredible women that play a vital role in our business and industry.

We ran a Q&A campaign within the business to find out how women felt about gender equality, their inspirations and the progress of the rights movement. The response was overwhelming and we’re so proud that so many women have got involved. In light of the response, we’ve decided to upload a feature post every day on our social media channels, highlighting individual women at My Vapery UK and share their stories.

Our International Women’s Campaign highlights the power of women within our workforce, sharing their stories and views on a range of gender issues, and showcases the real difference their work makes every single day.

1. What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

International Women’s Day is very important to me; all women can celebrate how amazing they are. Nevertheless, we should not support each other only that day, we should do it all year long! All women please do not be jealous and unpleasant, we need to be a unity! All the best for all of you girls!

Aleksandra Gradoska
Junior Developer

Celebrating women of all over the world and raising awareness of the inequality that is still present.

Stephanie Hindley
Graphic Designer

A celebration of women everywhere and a day for inspiring women of all ages and nationalities. Women’s voices in history have been undocumented for so long. So much of women’s achievements even today at home, in the community and in the workplace often go unrecognised.
Women’s day recognises the achievements, triumphs and challenges of women and we hear the stories and voices of our fellow sisters. It is a day that inspires women everywhere and we hope empowers our sisters whose voices and stories are still unheard and undocumented.

Anisha Hansrod
Operations Director

To me, International Women’s Day is about unity, to recognise women’s achievements and to celebrate being women, all they have come through with a reminder of how much further there still is to go.

Nikita Mhatre
Production Manager

2. Why do you think gender equality is important in the workplace?

Employees shouldn’t face any sort of discrimination because they are male or female or are undergoing gender reassignment.

Joanne Riley
Purchase Ledger Clerk

Because a woman can do anything a man can do in the workplace but in heels!

Stephanie Hindley
Graphic Designer

Gender equality is crucial and benefits everybody. The objective of equality is to ensure that both women and men has access to the same opportunities, treated fairly and women are rewarded the same as men for equal work.

Nikita Mhatre
Production Manager

3. Which women are you inspired by and what have they done to inspire you?

Ada Lovelace inspires me as she proved that women’ can achieve whatever they desire regardless of sex. She was the first computer programmer in the XIX century.

Aleksandra Gradoska
Junior Developer

Former Olympic rower Carla Devlin appearing on latest series of Channel 4 show SAS Who Dares Wins. The Mother-of-four had treatment and surgery after 2018 breast cancer diagnosis started training for shoe while undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
I was very inspired by this amazing woman and watching her through the whole show made me think anything is possible. She even made it to the final!

Joanne Riley
Purchase Ledger Clerk

As a Muslim Woman I am inspired by the story of Khadija رضي الله عنه who was a prosperous businesswoman in 7th Century Arabia, A time where women were often buried on birth as they were considered a burden. She shattered stereotypes and persevered as a successful businesswoman in a man’s world.
My greatest inspiration however is my mother. A gentle soul who defied her peers and community to push her daughter to believe she can achieve anything she desires. She refused to compromise my education to fit people’s perception of what is suitable for a young girl and supported me when I pushed my boundaries out of my comfort zone.

Anisha Hansrod
Operations Director

The beautiful Audrey Hepburn, why she inspires me? I have million reasons why. Audrey was a talented actress but the main thing I love is her effortless beauty. Audrey had so much respect for herself and if all the women in the world decide to be like her then society would be much happier and in different place.

Nikita Mhatre
Production Manager

4) You have an integral role in the company. Tell us more about your job and how it makes an impact?

Normally I would say that as a Junior Developer I am working in a team of men, but it is not true. Surprisingly, in the IT department, we have more women than men, even though most people would think otherwise.
As a Junior Developer I am always coming up with new ideas on how to improve our work and make it even more efficient! Moreover, as a well-organised team, we are always trying to meet changing customers’ needs and provide the best customer experience while shopping our products online.

Aleksandra Gradoska
Junior Developer

As the Purchase Ledger Clerk for our company. It is my job to ensure all orders that are placed following the correct procedure. Once we receive the invoice and it has been authorised, I will process for payment when the payment is due. I feel like it is a very important role I play within the company as I know who and what needs paying!

Joanne Riley
Purchase Ledger Clerk

As a graphic designer in the company, I combine art and technology to communicate ideas through images and the layout of websites, socials, videos and printed pages.

Stephanie Hindley
Graphic Designer

As Operations Director, all areas of the business from Order to Manufacturing to Dispatch fall into my remit. The processes and efficiencies I introduce impact the day to day work that our teams do – My aim is to make the work easier for all our staff, provide opportunities for training and multi skilling and allow our teams to achieve more than they thought was possible. In return I hope we provide them with a greater skillset than that which they came to us with.

Anisha Hansrod
Operations Director

I’ve got 3 years of experience as a Production manager at Xyfil Ltd. Making an impact means seeing what needs to get done and taking the initiative to make sure it happens. There are three things which I think is required to make successful impression in the workplace:
1. Attitude
2. To do things without being asked
3. Lastly, to have a positive mindset

Nikita Mhatre
Production Manager

5. What is an achievement that you are most proud of during your time here?

I am very proud of the progress we made as a business. It is a huge step, comparing where we were last & this year. I am very proud that I could be a part of it.

Aleksandra Gradoska
Junior Developer

I am happiest when I see our people laying down roots – buying houses, having babies, getting married. It makes me feel like we have played a part in giving them a sense of security and confidence in the business we are developing.
I have seen the business move from a start-up of 2 people to a business with over 80+ employees in the UK and internationally. I have been directly involved in the growth and that is an achievement I am most proud of.

Anisha Hansrod
Operations Director

6. Do you think the women’s rights movement has made progress in recent years and do you think we are heading in the right direction?

Sure, I think women’s rights movement made progress in recent years and definitely we are heading in the right direction, as proof I want to point out that every year there are fewer sectors dominated by men.
Before university, I was in a technical college with many IT subjects. I had 30 students in total, including only 2 girls! When I was in the final class, I noted that there is a change in how many girls want to study IT, new classes had even 6-7 girls, which is amazing. Based on that example, you can see that male dominated areas are becoming more popular in women society and therefore industries are more than open to employ women in male dominated sectors.

Aleksandra Gradoska
Junior Developer

I think it’s amazing how far we have come but more need to be done. In nonwestern countries there is still significant change that needs to be made. FGM needs to be stopped. The lack of women in positions of power. Reproductive Rights are being taken away. Child Brides and sex trafficking is still happening.

Stephanie Hindley
Graphic Designer