In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, we looked inwards—specifically to some of our leading women—to capture their insights around what inspires and drives them, and how they keep leading despite a rapidly-changing world filled with increasing challenges and constraints. We even asked them to share their advice for the next generation of leading ladies set to make waves in the public relations and business development spaces. Here’s what they had to say…

The mantra ‘be a radiator, not a drain’ is top of my agenda. PR can be busy, stressful and emotional. But it can be so rewarding if you can keep trying to channel your inner radiator in all situations (‘try’ being the operative word here)! I’ve laughed with clients during a crisis and used my own mistakes to cheer up glum colleagues all while working hard to keep everything moving. To me, radiating means: have fun and do the job well. That, more than anything, means I have to bring my full self to work, because pretending gets boring—and fast.

— Gill Browne, Senior Account Director

Being accountable for growing the BD side of a business is a huge responsibility that drives me and motivates me to do my best for our company, as does supporting the team in delivering agency-defining wins for our clients. Although working in a male-dominated industry isn’t easy, I’d advise women to not let that put them off taking on a role in business development as it’s rewarding. You just need to own it!

 — Georgie Power, Associate Director

Women have made seismic strides as leaders, but as Mary Ann Sieghart has exposed through exhaustive data, an Authority Gap still exists. Whether we are today’s leaders or tomorrow’s leaders, we need to carve our own narrative, give a hand up to each other and help bring about systemic change to close that gap. This is what inspires and motivates me every day.

— Rose Bentley, Group Director, Clients & Strategy

Speak up: It can’t be said enough and is something I wish I had been encouraged to do from the beginning. If you’ve got an idea, speak up and share it—and most importantly, keep using your voice and keep sharing your insights until you’re heard. In our industry, as in so many others, you must be your own champion and your own advocate from start to finish. Yes, you’ll have others that come along the way to echo your triumphs and celebrate your efforts, but that constant ra-ra shouldn’t come from the sidelines—it should come from within.

— Mary Cirincione, VP, U.S.

PR has a (somewhat outdated) reputation of being female-dominated—but I’ve never seen that as a barrier, I see it as our superpower. We’ve got such an array of incredibly talented women, with experience across so many different areas—and most importantly, so many lessons to share. I think women in our industry are more inherently generous with their time and their experience, and we’ve always got an anecdote for any type of situation. We’ve all had to jump through hoops or navigate through sticky situations to get to where we are and that makes us all the better at our jobs.

— Mykayla Carr, Senior Account Manager