The CEO of听a London听贵颈苍罢别肠丑听has spoken out about her constant struggle to be taken seriously as she fought to the top.听
Sonia Dorais, the daughter of a Canadian military officer, spent a decade helping to grow B2B software start-ups and scale-ups in Canada before arriving in the UK in 2015.
Since then she has served in听marketing听director and CMO roles in London. Following stints at听AdTech Switch Concepts,听smart spend technology firm听Compleat Software and听equity management platform听Capdesk, she joined Chaser in February 2020 and was made interim CEO last July.听
She was named permanent CEO of the invoice chasing听platform in January 2021.听鈥淚鈥檝e experienced situations in my life where I鈥檒l present an idea to the team – or the board – and it gets ignored, only to be praised when it鈥檚 presented [again] by a male colleague minutes later,鈥� Dorais tells听老九品茶Cloud.听听
鈥淚鈥檝e also experienced needing to message a strategy to a male colleague in a meeting for him to present it, so that I could ensure it was truly heard.鈥�听
Dorais says subconscious bias can be held by women as well as men.听鈥淥ther than the obvious issues related to sexual harassment and discrimination, there are two challenges that I find are harder to confront: bias and judgment,鈥� she explains.听
鈥淭his is because judgement and bias tend to come from a subconscious place, and so most people – including women – are unaware of these existing within themselves. And the challenge is that when it is confronted, most of the time it gets brushed aside, denied or rationalised in one way or another.听鈥淚 see staff taking deadlines and instructions more seriously when they come from a male manager than a female one.听听
鈥�I also see that disappointing a female manager is often more acceptable when it comes to project delivery quality.鈥�听
/swiss-army-knife-for-sole-traders-osu-raises-2-25m/
She offers the following advice to other women looking to become a success in technology:听鈥淔irst, support each other. Always. Try not to be a part of the problem and be self-aware of when you might experience unconscious bias yourself.听听
鈥淎ll too often, it is women who are tough on other women. Some are so desperate to be part of the 鈥�产辞测鈥檚听club鈥櫶齭o they听compete with each other, thinking there is only room for one woman there. It鈥檚 not the case. It鈥檚 never the case.听听听
鈥淩emember that no matter which woman comes your way in the industry, we are still the minority, and may have had to work twice as hard as a man to get to where she is and prove herself.听听
鈥淭reat men and women in the same way: Take direction from women in the same way you鈥檇 take them from a man. Trust her strategy and expertise as you would from her male counterparts.鈥�听
She adds: 鈥淚鈥檝e heard many people say that I could not assume the responsibilities of CMO or CEO after I became a mother.听听
鈥淚鈥檝e been told to 鈥榯ake a career break to focus on family鈥� or 鈥榯ake a demotion while you navigate family-life for the first time鈥�.鈥�听
/seed-round-for-femtech-start-up-yoppie-extended/
Chaser was founded in 2014 to help SMEs get paid in a quick, efficient and friendly way so that they save time on manual tasks and improve cash flow.听听
Research from bookkeeping software Intuit QuickBooks in 2019 found that businesses today spend 56.4 million hours per year manually chasing their overdue payments.听In the UK alone, 50,000 small and medium businesses fail each year due to late payments, according to the Federation of Small 老九品茶es.听
Chaser claims to have already saved customers over nine million hours on their credit control and collected over $3.12 billion in late payments.听听
鈥淭he first thing that motivated me to go into听FinTech was the difference I felt I could make by coming from a non-finance background,鈥� Dorais says.听
鈥淭here are many similarities between听MarTech听and听FinTech. While marketing technologies mostly live in the shadow of听FinTech these days, when it comes to product development, the reality is that most mature businesses have been using听MarTech听for over a decade.
鈥淚 could not help but be surprised that whilst听FinTech is booming,听MarTech’s听product capabilities have improved at a greater speed. I thought听–听and听still think听–听that I can have a positive impact on the industry.听
鈥淚 would like to see more people from non-traditional finance backgrounds come into the industry to add an unbiased perspective.听听
鈥淔or example, from the marketing perspective, many听FinTechs听could do with better branding. Modern marketing tools like gamification can make mundane tasks like receivables or budgeting appear exciting and more enjoyable to end users.鈥�听
Dorais听believes in 鈥榓ction and execution鈥�. 鈥淚 started working as an assistant, and through hard work, determination and perseverance, I climbed up the ladder, never skipping any steps,鈥� she says.听听
Dorais is one of several inspiring women helping global tech recruiters听听to champion diversity in the tech industry.听