Chewing the Channel - Women in Channel Takeover

‍

‍

For this special edition, Teigan sat down with Claire Cawthorne, Managing Director of Millgate Connect Limited, to explore her fascinating and unconventional career journey. 

‍

From early days in frontline sales to leading a business at the highest level, Claire shared candid insights about resilience, mentorship and navigating the challenges of gender bias in tech and telecoms.

‍

Highlights include: 

‍

• What Claire learned from her early career in sales at Orange, EE and Experian, and how moving into leadership encouraged her to embrace opportunities even without feeling fully prepared.

• The importance of asking for help, trusting others’ belief in your potential, and growing into new roles despite self-doubt.

• Discussion of Claire’s competitive edge, which was a natural and somewhat unsurprising result of having a Dad that never let his children use bowling bumpers!

‍

Claire also reflected on the broader challenges of being a woman in such a male-dominated field. Early in her career, she was overlooked for promotions and even labelled as ‘too opinionated.’ 

‍

While we’re seeing an overdue shift towards more inclusive and supportive environments, Claire’s observed an important difference in how men and women approach risk-taking. Men often leap at opportunities, while women wait until they feel completely ready. Watch or listen now to hear Claire’s thoughts on building the confidence to seize the moment, even when your brain’s telling you not to.

‍