Our Women and Leadership programme is designed to equip women from across the business with the tools, skills, confidence and support network to progress into senior leadership roles underpinning our ambition to have 40% women in leadership positions, globally, by 2020. In our regular series, ‘Five minutes with’, we catch up with some of this year’s cohort to hear about their experiences on the programme.

Why did you apply for the programme?

I’ve always leaned in to opportunities where I can not only soak up new ways to harness my leadership skills but ultimately learn from and be inspired by others who are paving the way for a new generation of female change-makers. As I sit in a global function, I’m also keen to build stronger connections with client-facing colleagues in market, not least so that I can enhance my proximity and awareness of our core proposition and offering as a business. I’m also learning a huge amount about client management, the pitch process and the intricacies of our supply chain from fellow members of the programme. Simply connecting with a broad range of driven, female leaders is not only beneficial for learning about the wider business but hugely inspiring, giving me a lot of hope for strong, diverse leadership in the business.

What do you hope to achieve from being on the programme?
I believe the Women in Leadership programme will not only help me harness and build on the leadership skills I’ve grown through my career so far, like knowing how to better coach or inspire my team, but (and arguably more importantly) to strengthen and expand my circle of strong female leaders and friends, learning from as well as giving back to more colleagues from across the business.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt so far?
I’ve already learned plenty of things in a short space of time… but the key insight for me is that you’re not alone. Sometimes it’s easy to feel you’re the only one facing certain challenges, whether it’s managing particularly tricky situations at work or at home or simply tackling your own inner imposter voice. Everyone is constantly facing their own challenges, so it’s just made it so much more clear to me how important it is to have a strong network of friends and peers to help you overcome those challenges, address your limiting beliefs and encourage each other to push further.

Sabrina Rodriguez is Global Head of Digital Marketing at dentsu