We Are Power Podcast
The We Are Power podcast is the podcast for your career and your life. A weekly podcast with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice, and key leadership insight from amazing role models. The podcast not only aids your personal and professional development but also delves deep into conversations around Gender Equality and Social Mobility. Each week the We Are Power Podcast will bring you a new interview from a leader within the 100,000-strong We Are Power community, hosted by Simone Roche MBE.
We Are Power Podcast
How to Embrace the Uncomfortable with Jess Stevens
Jess Stevens, after being recognised on the 2024 Future List, shares her journey of self-discovery and growth.
From teaching English in South Korea to helping students with additional needs and managing projects at CGI, Jess has had a diverse journey.
Jess doesn't just excel at her job; she also believes in nurturing creativity alongside her professional duties.
Listening to Jess's story reminds us to make time for the things that truly excite us, whilst also to contributing to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Listen to learn:
- How travel and exploration can be a catalyst for personal growth
- The importance and impact of mentoring relationships
- Strategies to conquer the fears surrounding public speaking,
- How to transform anxiety into an opportunity for growth
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Hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast Northern Power Women podcast. For your career and your life, no matter what business you're in. Hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast, which is all about chatting with role models, getting some of that brilliant advice, guidance, people's stories, people's sort of top tips, strategies and advice that we can pass on to you, that you can use, whether it be in your life, your career, whatever adventure you may be on. And talking of adventures, someone who does have lots of adventures is this week's guest uh, jess stevens, the cgi. Welcome to the we are power podcast and new to the northern power women 2024 power list.
Speaker 2:Welcome hey, simone. Yeah, excited to be on.
Speaker 1:Um, can't wait for the conversation, just excited where it's gonna go oh, and I mentioned adventures because you've had, I think, for when I sort of read and find out more about you, I feel like travel has been part of your adventure, I think, have you you not long got back from Costa Rica?
Speaker 2:yeah, I went to Costa Rica at the beginning of Feb, um, because I was doing my research about it and they were saying that January or February is kind of the best time to go to Costa Rica, and then I was thinking about like half term and then Easter as well. So I was really sort of meticulously trying to like fit it in, where do I go? But no, february was the time and I went with this company. I don't know if you've heard of company g adventures. Um, they're a canadian company that kind of arrange uh sort of like adventure activities, um, so like pre-arranged holidays, but they have really interesting activities. Uh, that's the company I went with.
Speaker 1:What did you learn from your adventure?
Speaker 2:then what did I learn from my adventure that I need to wind down more? Yeah, it was a wellness adventure, so there was a lot of yoga scheduled, there were massages scheduled, there were different kinds of beach activities scheduled. I think it was mostly just a break from the grind of work really every day, isn't it?
Speaker 2:it's the every day, yeah, and it was something new and it was just really cool to meet new people. They had Canadians, americans, and it was just sort of nice to get out that the bubble that I kind of found myself in in work. Um, but, and get back to, you know, chatting to all these different people, international people around the world, and you know, I learned actually that I've not lost the ability to talk to people like from international, because, you know, covid, covid, like shut down travel, didn't it? And um, I just, I, I missed going and like traveling internationally, and I'm like, oh god, um, like preparing, doing the prep and planning it and booking it and everything. And then I went and got there. I'm like, oh, here we are. I know I'm comfortable with this, it's like it's and it's just felt natural towards me.
Speaker 1:And it is those people like you that you meet along the way, isn't it on every adventure or holiday that you have, whether it's the person you sit next to on the plane or the people that you meet when you're traveling? I think that's always interesting. So, yes, so you would travel, because I know one of the things that you've done in your career so far is that you've, having gone through navigators, sort of hospitality industry you were teaching English in South Korea as well, and also being a special educational needs teaching assistant as well, so you've had quite a. It's been quite varied, hasn't it, along the way, been about, haven't I? And tell us about what your role is?
Speaker 2:now at um, the canadian organization, again cgi. So in the project that I'm on right now, I'm a release manager, so that involves a lot of talking to stakeholders um, organizing um activities and the software development and lots and lots of different interactions with my team. Um, I would say, the rules quite varied in terms of what I'm learning, what I'm picking up, because obviously it's a tech company um, and I don't really come from a tech background, so there's a lot of um learning, a lot of technical things. Um, although I've been, I've been here so I've picked up, I've already picked up quite a lot um, but it's nice to have the balance between the technical side and then speaking to all the different people and stakeholders throughout the week. So I think, um, I like to be that kind of person who communicates um with lots of different people, so it's nice to have that aspect of my job throughout the week alongside the technical stuff. Yeah, it's quite varied.
Speaker 1:I would say the role. And this year as well, you've been recognised and joined the Northern Power Awards Futurist 2024 alumni. What did that mean to you? Because you're now part of this cohort of amazing, amazing humans from different sectors, different parts of the north of England and beyond. What was that to you? Was that a surprise?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it was a bit of a surprise. It was a nice surprise Because, I don't know, I was just working so hard like during the day-to-day and you kind of get a bit lost in your work. But then to have someone from the outside your organization, you know, recognize all the you know talent and hard work that you put into I don't know your day-to-day, that is kind of like outside the job. It's refreshing and it's motivating and, you know, on the bad days we all have them. It's nice to go and I actually asked the person who nominated me why she nominated me and I think that's important to sort of like, like I was just about to say, on the days, on the bad days, you can read through why they nominated you and that kind of gives you a little bit of motivation to, you know, get you through and be like okay, these, this day is not going to last. You are all of what this person has said.
Speaker 1:You are, um, and the thing that that was really helpful in terms of my motivation and in terms of powering through and going through the next step of my career and you have had have had, as we talked about just a few moments ago, about your different roles and your different experiences and the fact you're now in a tech industry but you didn't necessarily come from that tech background. How important do you think it is to have that sort of variety of expertise and knowledge to help you kind of navigate your next steps, if you like, and your current steps of your career?
Speaker 2:It was a lot to learn from having a variety of experiences and you pick up a lot of different things from each experience that you have. Um, and it's also important to be open to what you might learn. Like it's going to feel scary like I even these days someone would suggest something new to me and I'm like good, um, but be open to the experience because you're going to learn something and never know what new skill that you're going to learn that's going to help you moving forward. And I think the overall, the biggest skill that you're going to pick up is confidence.
Speaker 2:Like I've been talking to my mentor and I would say that I probably wouldn't have had the confidence to do this like I don't know like five years ago or something. I mean she's been getting involved in like various diversity um initiatives within cgi and I'm like, hey, I really want to get involved in this too. Um, and just having that confidence to say, hey, I want to get involved in this too, because I think this is really cool. And that's been built up from all the experiences that I've had and all the bits and pieces that I've learned from other people, what I've grown in myself. So the overall thing you'd learn from the variety of different experiences is confidence, but you can definitely pick up little bits and pieces along the way.
Speaker 1:So I think it's important personally, and is that continuous learning piece? And you just talked about your mentor. How important has having a mentor been, sort of through the different advantages that you've had?
Speaker 2:Very important. Actually, she provides a different perspective because she's not on the project that I'm on. She's outside the project that I'm on, so you can get very caught up in like the grind of the project. I'm like this, this and this Because, like I said, it's quite a high, intense project. But catch up with people who are sort of like outside the project is really helpful too, because there's other things that you can be getting involved in with CGI, like diversity and inclusion. There's CSR initiatives that you can get involved in, and also how to maybe move about within different projects, and I will probably get tips and tricks from her and she was actually given to me. That sounds weird. We met With a bow on, yeah she was given to me.
Speaker 2:We met because I was going through my promotion and she was initially assigned to me because she was getting me through my promotion, which I have now achieved. So that was a really big shout-out to my mentor because she was, you know, getting me through my promotion, which I have now achieved, um, so that was a really big shout out to my mentor for providing that assistance for me, um. But now we've just kind of moved on to different topics, um, she's obviously like higher, higher ranking than me, and it's really good to chat with her about, like so how do I get to those high ranks? How can I maybe shift about um in different positions, based on, you know, my interests, of what projects I want to work on? Obviously it's all an ongoing conversation, um, but I would say there, the outside perspective based on um, the project that I'm in, is really helpful because you can get quite caught up um, but no, it's like a nice, nice little chat with someone.
Speaker 1:And one question I'd like to ask, which I think might be useful as well, is, if we're kind of just talking around mentoring at the moment and you've just said about, you know, the originally got the mentor, um, to help you through your promotion process, but actually it's now moved on to a new level, how did you approach that? Because you thought, oh, actually I was given for this reason, but now I want to actually extend the relationship. How did you approach that?
Speaker 2:it wasn't really a strict negotiation, I would say. Um, I think she was the one who initially said hey, let's go get your promotion and we'll see what happens from there. So it was a very kind of open-ended conversation and it's an ongoing conversation, um, and I just asked, really, I said, like, can we keep this conversation going after I have my promotion? I think it's important for me to have that person outside my project. So I would just say ask, have that conversation and have that courage to ask the person. Be like hey, I really appreciate your advice. Can we keep this conversation going Because I would like to learn more from what you can give me in my career journey? Um, but it was. It was much more like fluid and natural, how it's kind of evolved, which is really helpful, um moving forward, because she's got a lot of interesting experience. She's involved in an area that I kind of want to get more involved in, which is like diversity, inclusion and uk learning, so that. So that's really it's really cool.
Speaker 1:No, and I just raise it because sometimes people think it is just a start end piece, and actually mentoring comes in in so many different vibes and is something that we are, is in our DNA here. We're very passionate about role models and mentoring, so what was really interesting is how people navigate their own sort of mentoring experience, something I know you're very keen on. You love people and you like reading people. You like these adventures, as we've we've highlighted, but one of the things that you love doing is, um, you know, sharing your voice, using your voice for good, um, and that often out there can be one of the things that people think, oh gosh, the last thing I want to do is speak up at this meeting or go and stand up in front of my peers or go and stand up in front of strangers. What are your kind of hacks or top tips for anyone out there that has the fear or the uncomfortableness of public speaking?
Speaker 2:I would say number one it's going to be uncomfortable whether you're going to do it or not. So accept that it's going to be uncomfortable, whether you're going to do it or not, um. So accept that it's going to be uncomfortable, um, and understand that it's. It might not be perfect on your first time, but the more and more you do it, the more confidence you're going to get and the better at it you will be. Uh, talk to people around you. I would Get as much practice in as you can. Maybe there's I know there's public speaking classes that I've been to. So just practice as much as you can, get yourself out of your comfort zone, and then you'll get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, if that is kind of like makes sense. So, yeah, like you're going to be uncomfortable, embrace the uncomfortableness. You will get better at it. Yeah, you will get better at it, definitely. Um, like.
Speaker 2:Just this week I had to um speak to a client on various questions that we had and I was still feeling nervous. But once you get going, um, it does get easier because you've got, you know, you've made the prep, you have the questions in front of you, you know that you need to get something done and you need to get an answer from your client. Um, so, going with that, be like, hey, I need to get these questions answered. Um, and believe in yourself and just just do it. Just do it. In the end, I would say that yeah definitely just go for it.
Speaker 1:There's another one for our tote bag. And you have so many interests out there. You know we talked about traveling and dance, piano painting. Um, that side it's important to have those interests, isn, isn't it? And the creativity hobbies how do you keep all of that going? Because you've got to feed that, haven't you? And even practice, if you like, that leisure time or that creativity at, how do you feed that creative spirit?
Speaker 2:I feel it's gonna sound counterintuitive to like freedom and creativity but schedule creativity um. So schedule stuff to do. Schedule the painting like. I've just had a conversation with my friend. We've got another painting session, not a painting session, a pottery session actually, um, next, not next Wednesday, wednesday, after um. So make that time to schedule creativity um, and be organized about. You know, making, uh, booking that dance class and booking that painting class.
Speaker 2:I set some time at the weekend just to like go over, do I want to go to this class? Do I want this class? What about this one here? So, yeah, set that time aside to organize, like, what you want to do and make sure you actively are booking that time, because if you just say, ah, I'll do it, like life takes a little bit, doesn't it, and life gets super busy. So you have to make a conscious effort to book that creativity in, because at the end of the day I was just talking to a friend actually, at the end of the day sometimes you're going to be really tired and you're like, oh, I don't want to do this, but if you booked it in, you're sort of like subconsciously, um, giving yourself more energy to do it, um. So, yeah, pre-book it and make that time to organize that creativity, because then you're gonna want to do it in the end. I hope you're gonna want to do it.
Speaker 1:I really recommend it. It's those intentional goals, isn't it? And and I'm talking to those goals, what is next for you on that? What's the next thing you're booking? What's the next thing you're putting into that calendar, um, and what is the, the, the next sort of, I suppose, career goal that you are excited?
Speaker 2:about next career goal I'm excited about.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I was talking to my mentor about working with UK learning. So there's something that I want to get involved in in terms of um assisting the company with, um what courses they're they're offering, um helping different like, maybe like early careers in their diversity and inclusion efforts. Um, yeah, this is kind of some a bigger aim I've had since coming to like the corporate world, because I came into the corporate world in a very sort of unconventional way, I would say, and I want more people to come through in an unconventional way. Um, not just, you know, through the regular like university, like going to university, go to this, which is fine and great, but what if there's a mum coming back to work and she has all these like IT skills and she needs to, you know, come into the tech company in a different way and she sometimes gets overlooked because she's not going through that graduate route and this is the thing like that my mentor is getting involved in. So this is something that I kind of want to get involved in too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, looking forward to seeing how that goes and what's the next thing? Personally, you're putting in that calendar More pottery.
Speaker 2:So I've got a dance class next Wednesday, and then the pottery is the Wednesday after, and then, yeah, I've just got the different options as well. It's nice to have those different options that I can just kind of like look at and say like, oh, look at my schedule, does this one suit, does that one suit, yeah, so next one is a dance class.
Speaker 1:Brilliant, I wish I had all the rhythm for the dancing, but I am definitely never going to be in a strictly Northern Power women or we Are Power dancing. Jess, thank you so much for joining you. I love the energy that you bring. I love the top tips that you bring to us. Please keep dancing, please keep planning uh um and please keep scheduling in that creativity. Thank you so much for joining me, jess, thank you so much to samaya.
Speaker 1:It's been really cool to come out and thank all of you for listening and please do leave us a review. We'd love that. Drop us an old school email podcast at northernpowerwomencom. We'd love to hear from you. We love a bit of old school activity going on and join in the conversation on all of our all of our socials. We would love to know what you are intentionally scheduling and scheduling creativity into your world. Tell us about it, we'd love to know. Thank you so much for joining us. This is the we Are Power podcast, a what Goes On Media production.
