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__ Celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and this year’s International Women’s Day theme is #ChooseToChallenge because from challenge comes change. __

We caught up with five women across the Lendi team to learn how they challenge the status quo every day.

### Tell us about your role and how you got to where you are today? 
__Sarah Moore (Head of Learning and Development): __I started as an Associate six years ago and now I’m the Head of L&D. My journey has been an incredible opportunity to grow individually and with the business. I am passionate about learning and developing our people, always happily taking on a mentoring role which I feel is a characteristic that has led me to where I am today.

__Paras Jones (Inside Sales Manager):__ I’m constantly looking for ways to improve myself personally and professionally. I challenge myself to grow in my industry - not to mention the long hours! 

__Freya Wheatley (Senior Performance Manager):__ I come from quite a traditional marketing background, working my way through various agency roles, before making the switch to client side and arriving at Lendi three years ago. I now manage the performance or acquisition aspects of the marketing team, with a focus on paid social and search.

__Andrea Lin (Front End Software Engineer):__ My passion brings me to the technology industry. I am a software engineer at Lendi. I am enthusiastic about creating web applications that help people get better lives and help engineers have better development experiences.

__Mahzabin Anindita (Senior Sales Manager):__  It's not good luck or hard work that got me to where I am today. I choose to keep an open mind and be positive in most situations. Sure the negatives swoop in daily but, rather than letting them settle, I sweep them out before they can gain momentum. I am myself. I learn from my mistakes, I learn from others in my life. I’m far from perfect but I strive to be a better human, a little bit more at a time. I’ll continue being who I am and see where life takes me. In Rumi’s wise words, “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” 

### What is working in technology/financial services really like? 
__Sarah Moore:__ It is exciting and challenging. The space is always changing not just in technology but the way we operate. We challenge the status quo and I find it personally rewarding to be working for a company that delivers on what they promised they would set out to do. 

__Paras Jones:__ It’s rewarding as it’s a constantly changing environment, there’s never a dull moment. 

__Freya Wheatley:__ My client background before joining Lendi was largely telco and insurance based, so the transition to technology and financial services felt quite natural for me. That being said, moving from agency to in-house came with its own set of challenges, but overall it has been both really fun and challenging, which I quite enjoy.

__Andrea Lin:__ You are learning every day and collaborating with genius.

__Mahzabin Anindita:__ It is certainly different given the constant changes we need to go through regularly. I love how it's shifting the traditional way of getting a home loan.

### How has Lendi supported you to be the best version of yourself?
__Sarah Moore: __I feel Lendi has listened, trusted and invested in me. They have given me the opportunity to grow astronomically since joining and have given me the right support and autonomy to make my own decisions and when I make mistakes, constructive feedback is given so I can learn and grow from these instances.  

While working at Lendi, I’ve had two babies. Which means going on maternity leave and re-entering the workforce twice. Lendi has a world class maternity and paternity leave policy and are incredibly supportive during the return to work process. Whilst coming back after a long period of time can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, the support I felt from my manager and fellow Lendi mums was great. Additionally, the flexibility I now have as a working mum is another great incentive for me to work at Lendi. Flex first has absolutely been welcomed on my end and gives me the opportunity to manage my time and workload around my very busy family.

__Paras Jones:__ Lendi embraces my personality and style and encourages me to be myself in every way possible. 

__Freya Wheatley:__ Coming from an agency background where ongoing personal development and training are really built into the culture, I was unsure how this would work in a client side role. What I’ve found though, is that Lendi has been incredibly encouraging and open to this - whether that be allowing me to simply carve out time in diary or in providing access or funding for resources I feel could help with my development.

Within my team, there’s a lot of trust and good, open communication forums that have seen me not only take the reigns on big strategic projects, but also get experimental or creative in our approach to acquisition and this environment and management style has allowed me to thrive.

__Andrea Lin:__ Lendi has supported us by empowering us and increasing psychological safety so that I am not afraid to take on the challenges I want to try.

__Mahzabin Anindita:__ Lendi has provided me the opportunities to develop myself personally and professionally by providing the necessary guidance and support, effective training and development and the recognition of achievements. Just as importantly the company has allowed a good work-life balance by adapting a flex-first approach. 

### The theme this year for IWD is Choose to Challenge. What is your most recent #choosetochallenge moment?
__Sarah Moore:__ One of our objectives is to take strategic control of the decisions we make for our people. I have done this many times already this year pushing back on "training requests" if I feel this is not the right solution or it has not been investigated thoroughly. 
Additionally, I am passionate about creating or expanding our learning culture. I have challenged myself to intentionally learn every week of this year and am posting my learnings in a blog and sharing them with the wider business.

__Paras Jones:__ I challenge myself to be more active and to go outside my comfort zone. I’ve tried new sports and social events, as well as exercising more and just trying to focus on my health! 

__Andrea Lin:__ Talking to strangers in English. 

__Mahzabin Anindita:__ Tackling the gender confidence gap. We still struggle to believe in ourselves, to feel confident in who we are, about what we do or come out of our comfort zone and that’s something I am challenging.

### Do you have any resilience tips and tricks we can all learn from? 
__Sarah Moore:__ The challenges you face make you stronger. Build a solid network around you and go for it. If you "fail" it will be a valuable learning opportunity. 

__Paras Jones:__ Don't overplan and take too much on at once, break your tasks and goals down into manageable bite size pieces and then set a realistic plan to get there. Also, don't be down if you didn't get their first time, just realign and try again. 

__Freya Wheatley:__ Be adaptive - there are obviously some big company changes coming up on the horizon for us all. Let's use this as an opportunity to learn from other teams, and grow together as a business. 

__Andrea Lin:__ It is okay not being able to do something that you want to do for some reason; keeping those intentions in mind is enough.

__Mahzabin Anindita:__ Find a sense of purpose or long term goal, believe in yourself and never stop learning.

### Want to know more?

Hear from our team members about their career journeys, work from home experiences and Awesome Days on our [Life at Lendi blog](https://www.lendi.com.au/inspire/category/life-at-lendi/).
