International Women’s Day – Meet Pam

Meet Pam

Account Manager

On International Women’s Day, discover the journey of four wonderful women at Kalray (Pam, Barbara, Cristina and Suzanne) their visions, their dreams, the challenges they face every day.

Pam, an Account Manager at Kalray since 2019, shares her thoughts with us. Pam is based in High Wycombe, United-Kingdom.

Pam, can you tell us about your background and your job?

When I left university, I fell into the world of IT, starting my career in sales at a hardware distribution company. It was here I learnt key foundational knowledge about basic servers and storage. I used to account manage companies that work in the Media industry, as that had always been of interest to me. When the opportunity to work with clients almost exclusively in the media space came around at pixitmedia, I couldn’t turn it down! I’ve now been here for 5 years in the commercial team, starting in account management and recently taking on partner management.

What job did you want to do when you were a child? 

I wanted to be a singer! I auditioned for the X-factor when I was 14.. it was a humbling experience..!

Do you think that being a woman could have been a hindrance or an asset in your career? 

I would say it has brought along challenges in isolated incidents over the years.

Why do you think there are so few women in the engineering and tech industry? 

When I was a child, I don’t think engineering was something many young girls embraced as a career path as it wasn’t an obvious one – probably because there were very few female role-models doing these sorts of jobs. Back then I think we still assumed genders in certain job roles, but thankfully that is changing.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you? 

For me, it’s a day to recognize inspirational women, celebrate their achievements, feel empowered to be a woman, and empower other women! I think it’s also a day that reminds us there’s a lot of work to be done to reach gender equality, especially in parts of the world where women still don’t have fundamental human rights.

What is your vision on gender equality at work? 

For me it’s seeing more women in leadership roles, and transparency on equal pay.

What do you think is the most dangerous stereotype about women? 

Society paints the image that women are too “soft”, “emotional” or “weak” for positions of leadership or to be simply taken seriously in the workplace. This perception creates an ‘authority gap’ that often sees us taking men much more seriously than women.

What do you think is the biggest challenge of being a woman today? 

Challenging systemic sexism where people don’t think it’s an issue! I would also say a big challenge can be to call people out – it’s a difficult thing to do, but necessary for change.