Published on January 18, 2021
#8 Gillian Attard - Navigating motherhood and a professional career
“I don’t think I let the fact I wanted to become a mum stop me or slow me down. In fact when I was pregnant I actually applied for a position to manage a team.”
Born and raised on the beautiful island of Malta, Gillian has lived all over Europe for half of her life. Her husband is Austrian, their daughters are "French", and she considers herself an international European! :) She graduated in Computer Science and worked as a front-end developer. She then discovered her passion for people and orchestrating projects, so she followed an MBA in General Management. The mix of studies opened great opportunities for her. She has held functions such as Product Management & Ownership, Business Analysis and Team & Business Relationship Management. She loved all her jobs but being a BRM is her favorite as her objective is to help customers reach their goals. Gillian loves diversity in her personal life as well. Her islander life has made her love diving and sailing, and her travels have thought her to enjoy discovering new places. Finally, Gillian is a partisan of Marie Kondo-ing, her secret to a healthy work-life balance!
In this episode we talked about :
- the journey that brought Gillian from Malta to the French Riviera
- Amadeus, we all know it’s a big company but we don’t really know what they do.. so Gillian told us about their core business and her career in the company
- the decision of having kids while navigating her career and her tips to be present for her kids, thrive in her career and achieve her goals
- PWN and how she joined to invest in herself and what she learned through mentoring, especially a method to feel more self-confident
Books she’s currently reading :
- Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
- Mayo clinic guide to stress-free living, by Amit Sood, M.D.
Video she recommends:
- Dare to lead like a girl: https://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_feldheim_dare_to_lead_like_a_girl?subtitle=en&lng=fr&geo=fr
- Video mentioned in the episode: Don’t leave before you leave by Sheryl Sandberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGIyOR62dlU