First and foremost, I would tell them: Take better care of yourself! It sounds cliché, but with all of the business and societal expectations of and pressures on women, female career leaders are often putting their health on the back burner. Once you take care of yourself and address your health needs, you can then make sure your team will thrive!
As a part of my series about strong female leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristina Roth.
Entrepreneur Kristina Roth launched a successful tech consulting firm that skyrocketed from zero to $65million in revenue between 2008 to 2016, earning her a coveted spot on Forbes’ list of Top 10 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned or Led Companies — twice. Throughout Roth’s illustrious IT career in multiple countries, she felt there were very few women she could turn to for support and guidance, inspiring her to create an innovative women’s lifestyle brand : SuperShe
Thank you for joining us Kristina. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
This career found me at a time when — after many years in management consulting and successfully selling a tech consulting company — I decided to chill out, find a passion project that I believed in, and meet interesting women around the globe who inspire me or who I can inspire. This career was a very happy accident, rather than a choice!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
The most interesting story so far is definitely that I bought an island in Scandinavia and decided to make it my passion project — I opened it only to my female community, and the world truly went nuts over it! SuperShe Island really went viral.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funny story — rather than a mistake — is that SuperShe truly began as a passion project with no business plan in mind, and it emerged into a company where I literally work my butt off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The lesson I learned was to never underestimate where passion might lead you. If you would have told me three years ago that SuperShe would become the global, virtual community live in 154 countries that is today, that we would have a physical office space, that we would have an island for women, that we would have created an entire brand, and that we would have created around 20 products, I would have told you that you must be smoking something hallucinatory. The lesson in black and white: don’t underestimate the power of creation when you really immerse yourself in a passion project.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
This company was born from a passion project — specifically, the passion for connecting and helping women to come together and harness the power which lies within us as a global community. This company is, by definition, diverse, all-inclusive, and non-intrusive. Since we care deeply about preserving our planet, we are actively pursuing the most sustainable path in each section of our company, too. These values have made up our core since day one, and that’s what makes SuperShe stand out.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
The SuperShe app is a learning experience for the global community and an alternative to anything that resembles your run-of-the-mill social media platforms — it’s ad-free, and we don’t sell your privacy or data. We are a platform for women by women that is built on a healthier, sustainable model; specifically, it’s a model where the user is most important — not the advertisers.
What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?
First and foremost, I would tell them: Take better care of yourself! It sounds cliché, but with all of the business and societal expectations of and pressures on women, female career leaders are often putting their health on the back burner.
Once you take care of yourself and address your health needs, you can then make sure your team will thrive!
What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Divide and conquer! Get the right helpers to lend you a hand. Also, keep the organization flat — company hierarchies are old-fashioned. And finally, always have an open door.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My parents! I did the opposite of everything they modeled for me — and voila, it worked! But actually, on a serious note: anyone who I encountered along the way who was trustworthy, truthful, and generous shaped me! There are so, so many people, and I couldn’t possibly name them all — but they know who they are.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I have used my success to bring goodness to the world through SuperShe. This company is disrupting the all-talk-no-action reality of the “women supporting women” movement. More often than not, we begin with these amazing ideals of lifting other women up, but there’s no follow through. At SuperShe, we’re actually putting our money where our mouth is. Not only does the SuperShe Millionaire Contest literally invest back into women and the SuperShe community by giving a $1,000,000 grant to one community member’s idea or project, but our app also gives women from all over the world (154 countries and counting!) a space where they can showcase their skills, learn from one another, and meet new people who shake up their perspectives. We’ve created an uncensored place where women can be their truest selves and get out what they put in.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Start today
2. Don’t be afraid
3. The time is now
4. What’s the worst-case scenario?
5. It’s okay to fail
I personally like to start projects with confidence in my success, no matter how long it takes to get there. The rest you can figure out along the way. Being a quick learner helps; you’ll make mistakes, but rather than beating yourself down, use that energy to fix problems and march forward. Put one foot in front of the other and know that the path will never be how you imagined it. Sometimes it will be easier than you anticipated, and sometimes it will be so hard that you think you need to stop. Find an alternate route and realize your goal, your dreams, and your future.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am working on that movement myself with SuperShe, a global community for women worldwide on an uncensored, ad-free platform — it is truly my dream movement. For me, change for women can only happen if we really find a platform where we can support each other and learn from each other — rather than having our nipples censored on platforms that were all built by men with certain business plans in mind. I am living my dream and making SuperShe — my passion project — work in sync with how I want to change this world. We’re starting the movement with the help of one woman at a time joining and working towards major change.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“The time is now.” It’s tattooed on my wrist, and it is a constant reminder. We really don’t know what tomorrow brings. In times like these, with the global pandemic looming, it’s more relevant than ever. We need to try as much as possible to stay in the moment and take advantage of the present — which can be hard, because our brain really is programmed to worry about what’s coming down the road. Try to find the power to override your worries and live in the moment; don’t worry too much about the future and — unless it is to learn some lessons — don’t look back into the past.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with Carly Fiorina — as a female tech CEO, she was absolutely groundbreaking. She was the first female CEO of a Fortune 100 company, Hewlett-Packard, back in the day, and she was the original SuperShe of tech CEOs!