Wonder Woman doesn’t exist…

As a younger single mother, I developed a strong support system that enabled me to juggle the demands of my career whilst ensuring my son was safe and happy at home. I was going through a divorce while also facing uncertainty as a Ukrainian who had only lived in Switzerland for a few years, with my work permit dependent on my job at a startup trading company. I had to work and travel a lot, the same as the men I worked with, but they had partners taking care of everything back home. I was wearing both hats - mother and provider - and had no room for burnout. It was one of the most challenging periods of my life.

“How does she do it all?” She doesn’t!

It was never discussed that I might not be able to travel or work long hours because of my son or my personal commitments. To manage everything and keep going I developed a strong support system around me:

• Delegating household work: I relied on my mum and a nanny for practical support.
• Receiving professional help: I sought help from a psychologist to manage stress, and an executive coach to guide my personal and professional growth. These were life-changing decisions.
• Creating my recovery toolkit: I made my wellbeing a priority - setting clear boundaries, limiting work outside working hours, subscribing to yoga classes during lunch breaks, and incorporating meditation and exercise into my daily routine. It was a challenge to maintain these boundaries, especially with male colleagues who were used to me being available 24/7.

People said, “Oh, you’re like Wonder Woman”, but Wonder Woman doesn’t exist – you need to ask for help, and you must have a strong support system to make it all work. If I don’t feel good psychologically, I will never perform well at work.

Building my support system was not easy, and I had had no positive female role models in the trading environment. Joining Baringa, the company’s culture and multi-layered support systems that underpin our ‘People first’ philosophy really spoke to me.

We understand the importance of making allowances for those who can’t travel, supporting flexible working and providing part-time work options for young mums. There are lots of tools to support and understand every individual’s challenges, such as reversed mentoring, and advisors and coaches who can help career navigation. We have a helpline for psychological issues, various diversity support groups and digital tools for stress management. It's great to see that the support system I had to build myself is now available at Baringa.

Let’s normalise asking for help

We manage complex, large-scale projects for our clients while driving internal initiatives in parallel. This can feel like a lot, and so I’m grateful that Baringa is actively building a culture where we are not ashamed to ask for help. That’s so different to the working environments I started in, only a bit more than a decade ago, when asking for help would be considered a sign of not being able to cope.

I encourage everyone to ask for what they need and raise concerns – as a consultancy business, our people are assets. As a leader, it’s important for me that my team not only knows that they can succeed, but also that they understand how to. I have regular conversations about their personal goals and priorities, and genuinely want to support them in finding the right role or development opportunities.

Show up for yourself

We are all different, and while Baringa provides a strong organisational framework and support, it’s us who should take the responsibility to build our own support system and ask for the help we need. Nobody should be doing it all by themselves, it’s just not possible. Find out what works for you. Build your own toolkit and network. Help others and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. If I could do one thing differently in my early career, it would be recognising sooner that asking for help at work isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. Wonder Woman doesn’t exist, and that’s OK.