To celebrate International Women's Day, we decided to bring the women of Tag together to discuss women who are inspirational to us personally and professionally. We talked about what advice we would give to our younger selves and to the younger generations that follow us.
Ali, Studio Support Lead
First of all, a shout out to all the incredible women out there who are paving the way for future generations of women in the world and workplace. Your resilience, strength, and determination are truly inspiring! One woman in particular in my career that has been instrumental to my development is Jacqui Henderson. Jacqui cultivated my natural curiosity to always keep learning, growing and developing as an individual and as a professional in my field. She believed in me. She helped me push boundaries. I will forever be grateful for her commitment to see me succeed. Thank you Jacqui.
To my younger self and all the young women out there, I would offer this advice:
Believe in yourself - You are capable of achieving anything you set your mind to. You got this!
Build your network - Network as much as you can in your industry and beyond. You never know where a connection could lead to.
Find a mentor - Find a mentor who can provide guidance, support, and advice as you navigate your career and life.
Keep learning - Always be curious and open to learning new things. This will help you stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changes that come your way.
Speak up - Your ideas and opinions matter. Don't be afraid to share them, even if you're the only woman in the room.
Don't be afraid to chase your dreams and aim high. With hard work and determination, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
Lauren, Producer
I often forget the challenges that being a woman in a male dominated industry brings. I genuinely don’t pay attention to it 90% of the time. There have been a few occasions where I see the women around me doing so well, and feel an absolute sense of pride in regards to how far we have come to be represented, present, and listened to. I have heard stories of difficulties, and continue to see the prejudice on social media, but I am so fortunate to be in a workplace where I haven't felt that struggle myself.
I'm extremely lucky that the person who has inspired my career, and helped me grow as a Producer - is someone I get to work with every day, Carol Clark.
Carol ensured I was given every opportunity at Tag Games, and dedicated time to help me understand game production. She encouraged my learning as an individual, and with peers. Having come from a different industry, it was a whirlwind of information. Since then she made exceptional efforts to help me understand the importance of culture - and how to work best with the people I engage with on a day-to-day basis. I feel so unbelievably lucky to have had this amazing support system directly for over 3.5 years. Carol has taken intentional steps to bring female Producers in the Dundee area together, to help create a support system that was not just contained within Tag Games. She inspires me every day with her strength, consideration, and at times, vulnerability. In truth, I wouldn't be who I am today without her support and push to empower me to be a better Producer, and person.
To my younger self and all the women out there, I would offer this advice:
Try not to doubt yourself, your ability or compare yourself to other women. Everyone has their own journey, and yours will be completely unique to you. Remember to look up to others, admire, seek advice, community, mentorship etc. - but don't beat yourself up over not getting to the same place as other people in the same timeframe. It will work out and you will learn so, so much.
Maria, Finance Assistant
There have been so many inspiring women both in my personal and professional life too many to mention. I believe that things are improving year on year and the next generation will hopefully not need to make gender inequality a talking point.
Women can achieve anything that they want to if they are hard working and tenacious. Women often lack the confidence of their male counterparts - this is the biggest challenge that we need to work on because if a woman believes she can do something she is normally right!
To my younger self and all the young women out there, I would offer this advice:
“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m Possible”.
Indie, HR Administration Assistant
Joining a company like Tag where women are automatically respected and listened to despite being in a male-dominated industry makes it easy to forget it isn't like this everywhere. For me, multiple inspiring women have helped me, all in different ways, to become the person I am. Anyone who talks to me for more than five minutes will quickly learn about my love of football and most likely hear me rant about the need for better visibility of sportswomen in general. One player who quickly comes to mind when thinking of inspirational people would be former Scotland player, Jen Beattie. Purely for her determination to play through her cancer diagnosis as well as continually being unequivocally herself at all times.
To my younger self, I would say, don't be afraid to speak up for yourself and advocate for what you want, even if you feel that others may disagree. It is just as important for others to hear what you're thinking as it is for you to hear their ideas.
Mina, Mid-Level Programmer
I have been fortunate enough so far in my career that I have had very few issues with being a woman in a male-dominated industry, which I know is not always the case, especially in programming. I am very grateful that I know that I can speak up about anything and be heard at Tag.
While I don't have a particular person to mention, there have been many women who are close friends that have been an incredible source of inspiration and encouragement for me, even through what seems like incredibly minor things, words of encouragement and offering advice and support go a long way and I will never forget it.
To my younger self and all women I would say, Don't give up, despite how difficult the road might seem it is not insurmountable.
Fru, UI Artist
It’s funny—or ironic, or maybe sad—how difficult I found adding to the document that was meant to gather inspirational thoughts from all of Tag’s women. It’s not as if I have no thoughts on the matter: I could talk about the maths teacher in my high school I barely knew, who offered me remedial classes when my parents wanted to take me out of the arts program for almost failing maths. (I know she will never see this, but it is worth saying anyway: Kézér tanárnő, I owe you more than my awkward 16-year-old self could ever express.) I could also talk about my own complicated relationship with being a woman, the comparisons that naturally emerge in conversation when discussing working in male-dominated industries, or my experiences with other women in academia. But no matter how much I thought about it, there was really only one thing I wanted to say on this day.
To me; age 16, sitting in 8th period remedial maths: you’re going to be okay. Not soon, not all at once, but you will be. Don’t give up. It will be worth it.
