Celebrating the Women of Playroll: Accelerating Action Every Day

The theme for International Women's Day 2025 is “Accelerate Action". This is a call to move beyond conversations and into action: implementing strategies, accessing resources, and creating meaningful progress for women’s advancement. In that spirit, we sat down with the women at Playroll’s UK and South African offices to discuss what has helped them navigate their careers and keep pushing forward.

Their insights are practical, real, and shaped by experience – tried-and-tested strategies that have helped them grow, thrive, and carve out space in their industries.

We’re sharing them here not as a one-size-fits-all formula, but as a reminder that progress happens in the choices we make every day. Whether you're just starting out, pivoting careers, or mentoring women and girls, there’s something here for you.

Let’s dive in.

What's the Most Unexpected Thing You've Learned in Your Tech Journey?

• Jackie Ostrov, Head of Marketing: The most unexpected thing I’ve learned is that tech isn’t just about code or systems – it’s about people. Turns out, the best tech connects humans, not just systems.

• Simone Giuricich, Chief Operating Officer: Just how rapidly things actually move and change. As soon as you get to grips with one thing, it’s already outdated and the next piece of tech or functionality or tool is released. It’s quite remarkable, and at times overwhelming. But that’s also why it’s so important to surround yourself with brilliant people and push yourself to keep learning as much as possible!

• Alexandra Hillyard, SEO Manager: I used to think tech was all about hard skills and technical know-how, but I’ve learned that empathy, understanding people, and communication are just as important. Whether it's understanding user pain points or building strong relationships with stakeholders, soft skills make a big difference.

• Kristi Achilleos, Senior Software Engineering Manager: That everyone regardless of seniority and experience can teach you something. All you have to do is listen.

• Danielle Beetge, Product Designer: That there is never a quiet and dull moment; technology does not stop evolving, it's a race to stay on top of all the new trends in technology. You need to be Usain Bolt!

• Kayla Braans, Demand Generation Manager: That soft skills often matter more than technical skills. You can learn a new tool or system, but the ability to communicate, adapt, and build relationships is what drives success.

• Nikki Keys, Director, Customer Success Management: That so many skills can be transferrable. It can be easy to worry about being pigeon-holed especially early in your career in tech, but it's incredible to see how many people can transition to new teams, industries or disciplines during their journey in tech start ups – it just takes the right mentality.

If You Could Give Your Younger Self One Piece of Advice, What Would It Be?

• Jackie: Stop worrying about being perfect – just do it and learn along the way. You’re capable of more than you think and own your mistakes because when you own your failures, you're setting up your later success.

• Simone: I’ve never really thought about advising my younger self before, but now that I have a daughter I think about what I want to teach her all the time. To my Milana, and all the young girls and ladies out there, I encourage you to be courageous and brave as you make decisions in your life. Lean in to the opportunities that come your way - no matter what phase of life you’re in. You can do so much more than you give yourself credit for! And remember to stay always true to yourself along the way.

• Alexandra: Trust yourself more. You’re often more capable than you think you are, and second-guessing yourself only holds you back. You can embrace new opportunities and roles, even if they feel intimidating.

• Kayla: Trust yourself more. You don’t need to have all the answers right away—confidence grows with experience, and mistakes are just part of the process.

• Kristi: To stop second guessing myself so much!

• Danielle: Take IT in high school and open an investment account

• Navania: Own your expertise – speak up, take space, and trust your skills.

• Nikki: The amount you can do is endless, so don't get fixated on trying to improve or reinvent everything at once. Focus on finding impactful 'low effort' wins in tandem with higher priority high impact more mid to long-term projects. I've fallen into the trap of trying to focus on too many things at once, which in turn just prolongs moving the needle effectively!

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How Do You Encourage Collaboration and Innovation in Your Team?

• Jackie: Team huddles are our secret sauce.  When we come together, we don’t just brainstorm; we build initiatives and products that impact the world. The trust and respect we have for each other is what makes it all possible. And while I won’t claim a direct correlation, I will say this: our all-female marketing squad is proof that when powerful women come together, they create a space for others to flourish too.

• Simone: I am very intentional about how I guide or coach my teams when it comes to working together. Every department in a business has a supplier and a customer of their own - and that in and of itself should establish the guidelines for effective collaboration. I also encourage open dialogue and conversation, and promote learning in meetings and other channels from any failures so as to encourage ideas and innovation. I would rather have my team try and fail, than not try anything at all.

• Alexandra: I like to encourage collaboration by being transparent and open with my ideas, sharing pain-points, and offering a supportive environment where the team can come together to share ideas and solve-problems - SEO can sometimes be subjective, so having a space where we can hold feedback sessions means we can test new ideas we or competitors haven't yet thought about, and it always means we're constantly striving to be better than yesterday.

• Kayla: Encourage more casual meetings or coffee chats —some of the best ideas come when people feel relaxed and heard.

• Kristi: We encourage a lot of discussions, pairing up to work on problems and we keep reminding ourselves to ask for the why behind things. Asking why usually leads to way better solutions than what originally planned.

• Danielle: By sharing information and being open to new challenges.

• Navania: Build trust, communicate and create a safe space for ideas!

• Nikki: If you don't ask – it'll never happen! Sometimes in a startup environment when everyone is so busy, your default assumption can be that something may not be possible. So people just stick to current ways. No matter what your idea is – voice it. It may materialise!

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If You Could Have Any Superpower in Your Role, What Would It Be and Why?

• Jackie: Instant Multitasking Mastery – Juggling emails, meetings, and personal goals like a pro? That’s the dream. I’d love to be hyper productive on every front.

• Alex: I’d choose the power of perfect foresight, being able to predict algorithm changes and industry shifts before they happen, and having the upper hand on all of our competitors.

• Simone: 24 extra hours in a day 😆

• Kayla: The ability to clone myself – one to power through work and the other to be at home with Harper, playing and watching her grow. I want to be present for her while also setting an example that you can be both a dedicated parent and passionate about your career.

• Kristi: The ability to see and show people the future. As a manager, most of the work I do takes a long time to feed back. Things like setting up new processes or coaching people takes weeks, months or even years to show results so it would be nice if I could have a glimpse into the future!

• Danielle: Teleportation saves a lot of money on traveling, and you can quickly go get an espresso in Italy in your coffee break.

• Navania: I'd like to be a human lie detector (Which recruiter wouldn't!)

• Nikki: Anticipate customer needs or plans before they do!

What's Your Go-To Productivity Hack or Tool?

• Jackie: Time blocking + Monday.com = my dynamic duo. I lock in focus time (no distractions allowed!) and use Monday to keep my life from turning into chaos. Completing tasks and seeing progress in one place? Pure satisfaction.

• Simone: I’ve found success in using the "Ivy Lee Method”, which is a top 6 list productivity technique that involves writing down the six most important tasks you need to accomplish the following day, prioritizing them, and focusing on completing only the first task before moving on to the next, repeating this process daily. This limits your daily focus to just six prioritized tasks to maximize productivity. It’s definitely a muscle one needs to build, but I have found that when I am able to use this method, it is highly effective.

• Alex: No-meeting, deep work days, where I can have an entire day to work on one task without having to context switch. I also love the Pomodoro method when I'm not feeling that productive or find that I'm getting distracted easily.

• Kayla: Staying active! A happy mind and body filter into all things work, and movement helps keep me focused, less stressed, and productive. 

• Kristi: Putting focus time on my calendar so that other meetings cannot fill the space, and having a to-do list for each day. Focus time is sacred for anyone doing work that requires a lot of thinking. Context switching is very expensive!

• Danielle: ChatGPT and a good fast paced playlist 😉

• Navania: I always prep for my day the evening before, organisation calms my mind and sets me up to start each day fresh and with purpose.

• Nikki: I love an important vs urgent to-do matrix (the Eisenhower matrix) which I tend to do each Monday, and update at the end of each day! In previous companies I've used Notion, but I've just started Microsoft To Do.

What's Your Favorite Thing About Working at Playroll?

• Jackie: Ideating and launching products that impact thousands of people all over the world. It's been amazing to build MVPs with my team and then see them actualized in the wild. It's a powerful thing seeing what's taken up space in your head, being utilized by customers across the world.

• Simone: I just love the incredibly talented and wonderful people I get to work with every single day. In an industry as complex and high pressure as ours - the combination of talent and genuinely nice people across an entire organization is truly unique. I feel exceptionally fortunate to work in an environment that constantly pushes me to be better than I was yesterday (a core value of ours by the way) while supporting each other along the way.

• Alex: My favorite thing about working at Playroll is our marketing dream team and having such a social office space - coming from a strictly remote background, and often working async, meant I didn't know how important cross-functional work is. We're always able to work together to bounce ideas off each other, challenge and question each other, and support each other - and these sessions often end up with laughs, which makes them even better.

• Kayla: The people! Working with a talented, supportive and ambitious team makes all the difference.

• Kristi: Working with very smart, capable people.

• Danielle: The people and everyone's willingness to help!

• Navania: The PEOPLE! When you're surrounded by kind, smart & phenomenal human beings - you can't help but want to be the best version of yourself!

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