Sponsored article: Celebrating influential women across the drinks industry
Hannah Ingram
Head of Marketing at Eden Mill
What has been your experience as a woman working in the drinks industry?
I came straight into the drinks industry via a graduate programme as soon as I left university, so it is the only industry in which I have ever worked.
I’ve now been working for drinks companies for almost a decade and, on the whole, it has been very positive experience for me.
I know that this is not the case for everybody and that there is still some distance to go with regards to more equality in the drinks industry but over the course of the past ten years or so, I think there has been a lot of positive change with more women being present in the industry and with people in general calling out inequality or sexist comments and behaviour.
What challenges and obstacles have you personally overcome?
When I was 22 and going through the recruitment process for the graduate programme, I remember an interviewer telling me that being ‘young and female’ can be challenging in this industry, so how did I think I would overcome that?
I told them that those were two aspects of myself that I couldn’t change (nor did I want to) and that I felt it could be advantageous to bring a different outlook and perspective to the table. It must have worked, as I ended up getting the job!
I was abroad for those first two years of my career, and it was definitely tough at times working in a foreign language and being outside of my comfort zone but staying confident in myself and occasionally having to have a thick skin definitely helped.
How is female equality enabled at your own organisation?
At Eden Mill, we are a small team and we are pretty much an equal split between male and female, including within the senior leadership team, which feels quite unique.
From the moment I started working here, I have always felt included and have also been very inspired by fellow female colleagues in roles that are normally very male-dominated.
Can you tell us about positive experiences where inclusivity has helped you in business?
I have always had a positive experience with my managers and have felt very supported by them and I think that has had a huge impact on the trajectory of my career.
I have had both male and female managers, but each and every one of them has always looked at and valued my skills, capability and attitude ahead of my gender or age.
A big part of inclusivity is helping others see their own strengths, encouraging them to take on new challenges and helping to elevate them and I have been fortunate to have consistently been surrounded by people who do this.
Can you tell us about any instances where a failure to be inclusive has impacted negatively on you or on your business?
I can’t think of any instances that have affected me personally, but I have certainly noticed a negative impact on other businesses in the industry when they haven’t been inclusive.
For example, there have been occasions in recent times where certain brands have released ‘lighter profile’ Scotch whisky products that they have openly marketed towards women.
However, many women already enjoy Scotch whisky, drink it regularly and are very knowledgeable about it so these brands rightly experienced a backlash for trying to create something that absolutely wasn’t needed and that fed into the narrative that ‘whisky is only for men’ which the industry has – rightly – been moving away from for a while now.
