Roshaan’s story: finding a female community

Two years ago, I interviewed for my first role at Sodexo and met an inspiring female leader who would become my manager and mentor. I instantly thought ‘this is a woman I want to work with’; she was a powerhouse. I loved her energy and the complete trust she placed in her teams. Like me, she had young child and helped to banish any doubts I was having about opportunities stalling when you become a mum.

I was confident I was right for the role, as a regional health and safety (H&S) manager for Western Australia, but the way she spoke about the company and its values really resonated and that interview helped decide Sodexo was the place for me. I felt Sodexo was a business that could challenge me and be a place where I could grow.

I’d come to Sodexo with lots of previous H&S experience from roles in transport, manufacturing, non-profit, a global pharmaceutical, and also worked as a consultant. It wasn’t a career I’d planned as I had studied psychology and law at university. It was a chance conversation with a careers counselor that put health and safety in my mind and from that point I never looked back.

What I also love about this role is the ability to see the impact you have. During my time as a H&S consultant I was able to go into companies, define problems and find solutions, but I never saw the solution put in place. I can see that at Sodexo.

I’ve recently completed Sodexo’s SheLeads program, one of the best experiences of my career so far. It’s connected me to like-minded women in leadership roles around the world. The program is a safe space to share experiences, with learning modules, tools and resources to support our career journeys.

The mentoring aspect was amazing, and I built up such a great rapport with everyone. We could be honest about some of the challenges we’d faced, and I shared some experiences of making my way as a female in a technical environment – I’ve had times before I joined Sodexo where I’d walk on to sites and it was obvious that people didn’t think I should be there. So that led onto conversations around the importance of self-belief and advocating for ourselves. Sometimes as women, we don’t do that enough. Supporting and celebrating other women in our business is important – it’s a community, and I mentor others now. You never know when you are inspiring other young females to take the same pathway as you.

As a global company, Sodexo offers incredible opportunities to work in other countries and down the line that’s something I’m interested in. I love travel, and last year I took my first trip to Paris for the Olympics. It was mind blowing that Sodexo was involved and I felt so proud. Outside of work I’m involved in coaching young people in track and field and represented Australia as a young athlete myself. 

Professionally, the immediate future is exciting. At the moment I’m looking to build up my operations acumen – safety is a business partnership between HSE as a function and the people on site contracts and we need to work together and break down barriers. Being a female in a traditionally male dominated field can help to do that.