Women in the workplace: Lian Markham
In South Africa, August is National Women’s Month. In honour of the women who work at PG Bison, we’re taking this opportunity to profile some of them. Our first “woman at work” is Lian Markham, our PG Bison Communications Manager.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’ve been at PG Bison for five years in March of 2022. Before that, I had worked in the motor industry, where I managed a few different portfolios, on brands including Fiat, Fiat Professional, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Chrysler. I’ve worked across internal communications, customer relationship management and managing advertising, among other things. Before that, I spent a yearin Milan in Italy, where I did my Masters in Corporate Communications through a scholarship at Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. I’m also a wife and mom to two young children.
What are some of your highlights and challenges of being a woman working in the manufacturing sector?
Working in this industry and at PG Bison has given me the opportunity to try and learn many new things. One of my highlights has been bringing things I have learned in other industries, such as banking and motoring, into this space, and making a difference.
The challenge has been that this sector is still very male-dominated, and while we’re seeing that changing, working in manufacturing has shown me how much responsibility women still juggle. As a mother with two young children, there’s a lot of responsibility on me, over and above my full-time job. Women have a lot of demand placed on them and need a voice and a platform in this industry to recognise that.
That’s one of the reasons we are prioritising not only this Women in the Workplace series at PG Bison, but also stepping up our internal communications.
For this series, we asked our people to nominate women in the company they think are doing exceptional work, and we’ve selected several women from these to start (but that by no means takes away from all the other women who contribute to this business). Our goal is to showcase how women contribute to making PG Bison the company it is, and to profile their work as we launch our new internal communications efforts during Women’s Month. From there, PG Bison employees can expect more exciting developments from us on an ongoing basis.
Why are you passionate about internal communications?
While you can’t have a business without customers to buy a product, you also can’t have a business without the people that make the product and the company. Without good people and happy people, it’s very difficult to have a good company culture, a positive work environment and people who give of their best to make the company work.
Internal communications realises that we don’t have one self for work and one outside of work – our lives are intertwined. And that means we need to really pay attention to giving people a voice, making sure they are heard, which impacts their overall well-being for the good of the organisation.
What gets you up in the morning?
Other than my responsibility as a mother to contribute towards my family, I’ve always been driven by personal growth. My motivation is about challenging myself and growing as an individual – I can’t sit back for too long or be stagnant. I’m always pushing myself to improve.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
To sit at the table – to be present and to own my space.
What words of encouragement do you have for other women?
I feel like as women we need to embrace that we are women. We don’t have to try to emulate men in the workplace. We are different. We bring a different perspective. We can bring gentleness. It’s okay to wear high heels and put on lipstick. Be brave in being feminine.
