(1) What I love about my current job is...
...that my work helps provide and manage space for teaching, research and justice in North Rhine-Westphalia. As a risk manager with “Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW” – the owner, lessor and builder of real estate for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – I oversee construction and renovation projects, including construction projects at Paderborn University. Something I’m particularly pleased about.
(2) I’ve long been passionate about...
...gender equality, diversity, inclusion and combating poverty. We’ve come a long way as a society with all of these issues – but we’re still not where we should be in the 21st century. When more women are sustainably involved in the decision-making mechanisms of society, we’ll succeed in solving ethical, economic and political problems.
(3) One of the highlights of my career so far has been...
...my decision to go to and work in Shanghai, China for two years. That was a step into the unknown. In retrospect, those two years (2016-2018) were not only extremely valuable on a profession level, but also extremely enriching and formative on a personal level.
During my two years in China, I worked with people from different cultures and learned different ways of working and seeing things. The way people live and work in China, or in Asia in general, is very different in terms of mentality and circumstances. A lot of what we take for granted or consider “right” in Germany is actually a privilege or special achievement elsewhere.
(4) When I look back on my career so far, I’d say that what has particularly shaped me has been...
...my childhood and youth in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, this was a period marked by financial worries, high unemployment and great uncertainty. Nevertheless, I was optimistic that I’d be able to afford to study and go on to have a good life. Paradoxically, growing up in those uncertain times ultimately made me and my generation in general highly resilient.
The fact that I’m the eldest child in my family has also had a particular impact on me. As the oldest, you’re used to taking responsibility, making decisions and taking care of others from an early age.
(5) I’d advise any young women wishing to pursue a career similar to mine to...
...trust your instincts and don’t worry too much about making the wrong decision when it comes to your first job.
I’m sure you remember your first car or flat. Well, the same is true for your first job: You’re delighted with your first car when you buy it, but a few years later, you find you need to buy a new one because your needs have changed. It’s the same with your first job. Your interests and needs change over the course of your (professional) life. And as people are working to increasingly later in life, I assume that today’s young professionals will find that they need or want to change their jobs more frequently over the course of their career.
(6) Networking with other women in my field is important to me because...
…we can only make things happen or instigate change together. The mutual support of women is a resource that we urgently need today in order to deal with many challenges that we’re currently facing. The challenges of the 21st century need the special skills that, in my experience, many women possess, such as empathy, a holistic mentality, inclusiveness and long-term orientation.
For us to succeed, we women need to tackle all these challenges together. Lone warriors are only successful in Hollywood movies – in real life, we need solidarity, mutual support and common goals.
With HerCentury Germany – my non-profit women’s initiative based on an international network of and for women, with sister organisations in China and France – I’m therefore aiming to bring together committed women in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) region, to promote the sharing of ideas and experiences, and thereby achieve common goals.
One achievement that I attribute to this mutual networking and support is...
...my participation in the “Hall of Femmes”. An amazing, talented woman from my network nominated me for it, and thereby gave me the opportunity to tell my story.
“Be thankful that you were not born in Kyrgyzstan or Afghanistan,” Lars Amend once said in a podcast. Well, when you see me today, you see a woman who calls herself successful despite, or perhaps precisely because of her Kyrgyz origins. Our origins do not have to define our future! And with that, I’d like to encourage all young women with a migration background to recognise their potential and to nurture and develop it. A migration background can also be considered a competitive advantage. In the labour market, flexibility and adaptability are in particular high demand as soft skills. Women from migrant families often have a particularly keen ability to adapt and the associated “hands-on” mentality due to their life experiences.
I firmly believe that our society is diverse and that this same diversity must also be visible on the labour market. Greater attention should therefore be paid to the potential of women with a migration background.
(7) I associate my time at Paderborn University with...
...like most students, fun house parties, friendships that endure today, cafeteria food, the student union’s summer festival, Thursday parties and 8 a.m. Friday morning maths lectures, the Pareto optimum and Adam Smith’s invisible hand 😉
I’m particularly grateful for all the opportunities I had as a student. All the student clubs and initiatives you could get involved in, depending on your interests – the wide range of sports activities and facilities, the opportunity to meet and get to know international students and, an especially valuable experience: the opportunity to spend a semester abroad. My semester abroad in China ultimately enabled me to work in China and other Asian countries in my subsequent professional life.
(8) For the next 50 years, I wish Paderborn University...
...to continue to be bold and successful in the areas of innovation, sustainability, diversity, digitalisation and new teaching and learning concepts. The university is a place that prepares young people for the challenges of today’s complex world of work, and for this we need innovative concepts. Particularly impressive are Paderborn University’s successful equality strategy and its strong networking activities with regional, national and international industry, from which both students and academics benefit.
(9) To conclude, I’d like to share the following with “Hall of Femmes” readers:
Invest time in networking and sharing experiences with other like-minded women. Seek support from those around you and from official and non-official mentors. In particular talking to successful women who have a similar background to you can help you identify or re-evaluate your own resources and opportunities.
For me personally, it’s important to promote this kind of networking in our OWL region and to bring like-minded women into contact with each other, especially on the topics of diversity, inclusion, career paths for women with a migration background and working mums. I hope to achieve this with my “HerCentury Germany” initiative.
Photo (Saikal Gerlach)
