Meet Nancy (She/Her)
Nancy Poleon – Founder of BrandedU
“Basically, we want to get more women to the top – and keep them there!”
Nancy Poleon is a true Game Changer who tirelessly advocates for gender equality. After an impressive career in the music and film industry, where she mentored numerous top artists, she now uses her expertise to help women rise to the top. With BrandedU, she supports women in discovering their power to make themselves and their talents more visible. Nancy demonstrates the importance of female role models for gender equality and breaking through persistent stereotypes about women, such as the notion that women are ‘too soft’ or ‘too emotional’.
However, her work goes beyond gender equality in the workplace. She is also dedicated to raising awareness about the pain gap in healthcare and strives for more visibility and knowledge-sharing among women.
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What sparked your passion for female empowerment, and how did that lead to the creation of BrandedU?
The first time it really hit me was in 2003 when I was working in London and attended the Woman of the Year Award ceremony. I was in a room full of top women, something I had never experienced before. It felt so powerful and inspiring, especially since I was from Hilversum, where I was often the only woman in the room and one of the few people of color. The diversity there and the power radiating from all those top women in the room deeply moved me.
Seven years later, when I was nominated for Best Dutch Music Manager, there was another dinner with women from various fields, for the VIVA400. I thought it was so cool to see how they made their work so visible, and I thought, “We need to do something with this”. I got in touch with Marjan Spier from TEDx Amsterdam Women and helped with those events for three years. It was beautiful to see the impact those inspiring stories had on women, which would make you think, “If she can do it, so can I”. That gave me the idea for BrandedU: not just sharing inspiration once a year, but throughout the entire year.
With BrandedU, you help (aspiring) female leaders develop and grow themselves. How do you do this?
I believe every woman needs three people to reach the top: a coach, a mentor, and a sponsor. A coach helps you discover the treasures within yourself, a mentor tells you how she did it, and a sponsor opens doors for you.
To do this, I help women build their Personal Brand. For me, Personal Branding means aligning with your core values and daring to be authentic. So, we turn inward to discover what your strengths are and to do what you’re good at. We also never told Johan Cruijff, “Yes, you’re a great striker, but you also need to be a goalkeeper”, right? If you do what you’re good at and gain energy from it, you only get better at it. So: discover your superpower.
Additionally, you need to build relationships with the people around you. Men often have their old boy network, so build your own sisterhood. Find a mentor by showing interest, building a relationship, and asking about their experiences. Make friends before you need them. If the relationship is too transactional, it’s easier to drop you.
Lastly, you need to make yourself visible to the right people and gather sponsors. If you’re serious about your career, you need your own cheerleading team. Men do this too. And you may think, “But he’s just a show-off”, but he understands that he needs to make himself visible. Your hard work must be seen; otherwise, it’s been in vain. Work 80% in your career, but also 20% on your career.
You have a background in marketing & branding in the film and music industry and believe that top women need to learn to present themselves more like artists. How do you ensure that you stay authentic to yourself with your Personal Brand?
By asking the right questions. When you truly know why you do what you do and what you have to offer, you will carry yourself with pride. If you only compare yourself to others, you’ll never win, because you will never be someone else. For example, a woman from PwC said, “I thought my young age was a disadvantage, but you made me realize it’s my superpower, that I have a different perspective to add.” Discovering for yourself what you’re good at gives you strength.
Many of the BrandedU events and workshops focus on the exchange of experiences between women, both the ups and the downs. Visibility is an important aspect of your process. Why is this so important?’
Visibility is not only important for yourself, but also to show an entire generation of women what’s possible. There are still too few role models, and women often don’t own what they do or are held back in their visibility. How often do we only hear stories much later about what women have achieved, like those who worked on the Brooklyn Bridge or the NASA rocket launches? By making yourself visible, you help show other women that they can do it too. I try to change the norm for how women are seen by making different women more visible.
But is everyone equally suited for making themselves visible?
Personal Branding doesn’t mean you have to be the loudest and most dominant voice in the room. I think many people confuse this. I believe that even the most introverted person in the world can still be visible in her own way. It doesn’t mean you have to post a thousand times a week on LinkedIn or attend every networking event. What I really mean by visibility is that when women believe in something, they need to advocate for it. They need to share their knowledge. Visibility is more than a social media post. You can make yourself visible in other ways and ensure that people can’t ignore you.
Making yourself visible also requires a lot of courage and can make you vulnerable to external opinions. Is that something everyone can handle?
What’s happening in the world right now, where certain women are afraid to make themselves visible because they fear being attacked, we shouldn’t let that belittle us. You see this with political figures like Sylvana Simons and Sigrid Kaag. As women, we should stand behind them and protect them, and maybe even move from platform X to safer spaces to express opinions. Because we still want equality, and we won’t go back in time just because others are afraid of it.
Myself, I experience it too. Just three years ago, someone said to me, “You are very much present on LinkedIn”. That affected me. I thought, why are you telling a black woman that she can’t be present on LinkedIn? Because my voice isn’t allowed to be heard? Because it bothers you? But at the same time, it affected me too. I thought, “Am I too much?” Women are belittled by the system, whereas we give so much attention to a bunch of idiot men with their idiot ideas. That double standard. So women think, “If I take up space, I could lose everything I’ve worked for”. It’s a challenging time, and that’s why everyone is afraid of being cancelled. But I think, precisely because you’ve worked so hard, you should take up space. Because what good is your position if not to use it?
Together with WOMEN Inc you raised awareness for gender equality in the workplace, with the successful campaign Mijn Naam is Peter (My Name is Peter). The Netherlands ranks 16th in Europe in terms of economic participation and opportunities for women and only 14% of CEOs in the Dutch publicly listed companies are women. Not to mention the representation of people of color or LGBTQI+ at the top (Great Place To Work). Why do you think equal opportunities are so hard to create?
That women have to work twice as hard as men—those double standards—men often don’t even realize. They can only realize it when you engage in a conversation with them about it. So, you also need to build relationships with men.
The anti-D&I (Diversity & Inclusion) fight that you see rising now comes purely from fear. But why would you be afraid? I mean, the fact that others gain rights doesn’t mean you lose yours. So that’s what I say to men: “It isn’t scary if women get more rights.”
On March 25th, your book How to break the Rules (Co-author: Ingrid van der Chijs) will be released, about the unwritten rules that exist for women in the workplace, and that we all quietly adhere to. Can you tell us more about these rules?
In our book, we discuss 28 rules, exploring why they exist, and either debunk or reinforce them. For example, “girls can’t do math.” Yes, if we always give girls dolls and boys LEGO, we’re already creating a disadvantage from a young age, making it seem like girls are less good at math. We also interviewed women, like one top executive who made her softness her superpower, showing that women are definitely not ‘too soft.’
What is the most important (unwritten) rule(s) that we need to break in organizations, in your opinion?
That women are too emotional. Because men are more emotional. I have never seen as much anger as I’ve seen from men like Trump and Geert Wilders. We get to see all these emotions; frustration, anger, fear, jealousy, bully behavior. And what have I seen on the other side? Sylvana Simons holding back. Sigrid Kaag holding back. All women who are holding their emotions in. Donald Trump can get angry, and no one says anything about it, but when Michelle Obama says, “I’m not going to the inauguration,” it becomes a big thing.
Or a woman in our book, a KLM pilot, who has gone through all kinds of intense experiences as a pilot but has been doing this top job for years. We are not too emotional.
Last year, you co-hosted the first edition of the Dutch Women’s Health Forum together with Hologic and &FLUENCE, and a new edition is scheduled for May 27. Can you tell us why you organized this event?
Once again, it’s about visibility. We know so little about the female body, and because of that, there is a huge pain gap: women go to work in pain, men do not. If I lose eight days a year due to menstrual pain or poor sleep because of perimenopause, I’m already 1-0 behind. This holds women back in their development. That’s why I helped establish the Dutch Women’s Health Forum: to share information.
Returning to your mission “basically, we want to get more women to the top – and keep them there!” When is your mission accomplished, and can you rest on your laurels?
How do you think it looks? According to the World Economic Forum, it will take another 133 years at this pace before gender equality is achieved in the workplace. So, I will just keep on fighting.
Reading and Listening tips:
- Book: How to break the Rules (Co-author: Ingrid van der Chijs)
Links
- Find more information on BrandedU´s website
- Here you can follow Nancy and BrandedU on Instagram
- For professional insights: check out Nancy´s and BrandedU´s LinkedIn profiles
