THE CHANGING FACE THE GROWING NUMBER OF WOMEN IN OUR TRADE
Last month Rachel Dale, Business Manager at AAA Taxis, Herts, wrote about how she ended up in the male dominated taxi industry and asked why are there not more women in the trade? This month Rachel presents her interview with Tilly Rostron, Sales Manager at Autocab, who is an example of a woman carving out a successful career within the industry.
When did you start working in the taxi industry, what were your first impressions? What was your first role? How have you developed your role?
I joined the industry in 2018 fresh out of university. I’d just completed my degree in Media, Communications and Cultures in Leeds and stumbled across Autocab while looking for a new role. The idea of working for a tech company and working within the taxi trade really interested me, as it wasn’t something I’d previously considered.
I joined Autocab as an Internal Sales Executive, not really knowing what I was getting myself into, as it’s such a niche market, but I had a gut feeling I should just seize the opportunity and take on a new challenge, despite it being so different to my degree.
After a year I was promoted to Team Leader and subsequently, Sales Manager a year or so after that. My role now means I head up the Sales Team and work on expanding Autocab both in the UK and internationally, which means a lot of late nights and early morning working on different time zones. Building relationships is key for my role, building trust and networking is what this industry is about, and I am proud to be one of the faces driving Autocab forward.
For me, the industry is a little “rough around the edges” and has bundles of personality, it was quite daunting at first to step into such a lively industry which was notice- ably male dominated, but with a drive to learn, confidence to lead and the right support network I was able to really enjoy shaping my role at Autocab.
At the time I started at Autocab, there were only around ten women within the company, but they were strong women, some in leadership positions, so it was positive for me to see, and I saw opportunity through them to develop and progress.
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There has been a huge shift in the number of women at Autocab in comparison to how it was three years ago. Now, you can see there’s a focus on making the company, and industry, more diverse.
Who has helped you? What support have you had?
I think the strong women who were at Autocab when I started gave me a confidence and reaffirmed my thoughts that I would be able to climb the career ladder. Even though it was quite clearly a male industry, seeing successful women in such positions meant I had role models to learn from. Specifically, Kirsty Blease who’s Head of Customer Care and Veni Nalluri, our Finance Manager.
While Autocab has a male dominated support system, it’s always been apparent that every team wants you to succeed and is open to being diverse. I’ve felt really nurtured within my role and I believe Autocab and every employee champion woman within the industry and don’t shy away from breaking the mould.
Hassan Abod has mentored me along the way with his wealth of knowledge in the industry, which been a key fac- tor in my development, I now back myself 100%.
When I think back to how the industry was when I first started, I rarely spoke to women, and if I did, they weren’t often key decision makers. There’s been a real shift in women being treated more equally and holding positions of power, and Autocab has been fantastic in mirroring this and bringing more women into the industry as a career and creating a positive working environment where we’re all treated the same.
We must change with the times, and it has been humbling that the leaders within the team have embraced women being at the forefront of the company direction, I believe that all opinions matter and a diverse mix of people is key to success for us.
What has been your high / low?
I think for me, like most people, the low has been the effects of covid, working from home, not being able to meet with customers or my team, and watching how the pandemic has negatively impacted customers and the industry has been hard to deal with.
FEBRUARY 2022
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