Today marks International Women’s Day, a chance to champion and recognise the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the globe. Whilst it’s an important day to recognise success, it also provides an opportunity to raise awareness for equality.
Each year, there is a different theme for International Women’s Day, and this year the day is centered on the theme of Choose to Challenge. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements and help create an inclusive world.
Equality, inclusion and diversity are at the very heart of the ThoughtRiver ethos. Today is a day to celebrate the inspirational women in our team and below we ask Kristin Shevis (VP Sales) and Sarah Leek (Sales Development Representative) what International Women’s Day means to them.
Firstly we chat to Kristin.
What attracted you to working in legal tech Kristin?
I actually took the LSATs and got into Law School when I graduated college. I decided however, to pursue a career in technology sales and get my MBA along the way instead. This career path fortunately provided the opportunity over the years to negotiate literally hundreds and hundreds of deals and work closely with a number of amazing lawyers. ThoughtRiver combines my passion for innovation and leading technology with the most important step in the sales cycle, negotiating and closing deals!
Are there any women working in the industry who inspire you and why?
There are two women that have really made an impression on me since joining ThoughtRiver. One is Jennifer Hill, the COO of one of our customers, Remedy Analytics. Jennifer is a forward-thinking leader who understands how technology can be a powerful strategic differentiator. She is also a champion of women entrepreneurs and has volunteered her expertise and passion in election efforts to get people to vote and to protect their privacy. Simply put, she's super impressive and an amazing role model.
The other is Mary O'Carroll, Director of Legal Operations, Technology and Strategy at Google, as well as the President of CLOC. As a Xoogler who worked closely with Google's legal team for seven years, I am inspired by her leadership and vision and wish I had the opportunity to meet her in my time there. She is a strong leader, and she promotes learning from the legal ops community, "learn, apply, and give back," and sees technology as an important part of the strategy. We're looking forward to becoming part of the CLOC community and I'm very excited about learning more from her.
Kristin, what is the mantra you live by?
My favorite saying “Time is the enemy of deals”. This aligns so well with our mission to help lawyers safely and swiftly negotiate contracts and has been something that has resonated with me over and over again throughout my entire career.
Next we asked Sarah who inspires her in life and why?
Sarah says - "I am fortunate to work and be related to incredibly strong women. I have been privileged to have female role models to confide in and go to for advice. My mother and sister are strong, fierce, resilient, and incredibly kind. I am grateful to have a supportive father and boyfriend who continuously encourage me to fuel my own ambitions and to be my true self."
Sarah are there any sayings or life quotes which really resonate with you?
The mantra I live by is - “And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.” ― Mark Anthony, The Beautiful Truth.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can make a difference on International Women’s Day and beyond, please visit the website here.
Read more about our wonderful team on the about page of our website.
