Chewing the Channel - Women in Channel Takeover - In conversation with Stacey Clarke

Stacey Clarke, Customer Care & Operations Director at Clear Business, joins Teigan for a special live episode of Chewing the Channel takeover, recorded at our recent Women in Channel event.

From accidentally finding her way into the industry to becoming a senior leader, Stacey reflects on the people, mentors and moments that have shaped her career. She shares the importance of seeking out opportunities rather than waiting for them, building a strong support network, and investing in your own development.

Stacey also reflects on navigating personal challenges alongside her career and shares why supportive workplaces, can make all the difference. Together, they explore how the industry has evolved, the role leaders play in driving inclusion, and why meaningful change comes from many small actions over time.

It's an honest and inspiring conversation about resilience, self-belief, sponsorship and the power of lifting others as you climb. Enjoy listening

Website: www.elevate.uk/wholesale

LinkedIn: Will Goodall

LinkedIn: Teigan Kemp

Phone: 0330 058 9530

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

I don't know if any of you um have watched the two-in-in-channel podcast at my legend of a boss Will Goodwise. But we started doing kind of a women in channel, two-in-the-channel takeover, and we thought it'd be a really nice addition to kind of do a live one today. So I've got the wonderful Stacy Clark with me.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Did you want to introduce yourself? Hello, delighted um to be invited here today. Um, my name is Stacey Clark, and I'm the director of care and operations over at Clear Business.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, so I thought a good place to start. Um, and it's really interesting. I think we have conversations when you're networking and things um around how everyone just kind of falls into this industry. I mean, did anyone dream that they were gonna be in tele telecoms? I mean, come on. Um, so I thought it'd be a really interesting place to start, is kind of maybe career aspirations you had growing up, but also kind of maybe how you fell into the industry would be great.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah, sure. Well, it wasn't by choice. Um, and actually, some of the roles that I've done have had a huge amount of travel, but it wasn't because of that that I came into uh the telecoms industry. I was working in a leisure centre in Sheffield, um, hence maybe the Yorkshire Twang, although being in Manchester for the last four years, I'm told back at home I sound more Mancunian now than Sheffield, but anyway. Um I was approached to join an organisation called Telewest many, many years ago to join a contact centre, and the rest is history. I spent 15 years with TeleWest, who then became NTL, TeleWest, who then became Virgin Media Business. Um, really privileged to have been surrounded by some brilliant people, some of those some fantastic female colleagues who sponsored my career during that time. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

And did you have any kind of career aspirations when you were growing up, when you were studying? Was there anything that you kind of wanted to do?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Um I would say that my mum was really quite inspirational. Um, my mum is um, well, I've got an older sister, younger brother, and when my mum was in her mid-30s, she went back to night school. I don't even know if that's a thing anymore. Um, and she did a computer course that was called Computers for the Terrified. And then she went on to university to um do Unix, and I was like, what is this thing that my mum is doing after being a full-time mum? So I was curious about a different world that was out there, and I would say that inspired me once I had joined, maybe not when I was younger, but once I'd then entered into the telecoms industry, I was like, Oh, this is kind of what my mum did. Maybe I'm capable of doing something, and I enjoyed the environment, I enjoyed the people that I worked with, and I thought I can make something of this. This isn't just something that pays my bills, this is something that I can actually make something of.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Amazing. And talk me through your journey. So you got that role at TeleUS, it'd be really interesting to hear your journey from kind of that role to where you are now, if that's the case.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah, sure. Um, so I worked in a call centre for small to medium businesses calling in, and I was on the phones and I saw some brilliant team managers around me, and I thought I'm not sure if I can do it, but I want to do it. And I asked for some kind of sponsorship, and within two years I got my first team manager role, and I was so proud of myself. Um and I worked interestingly at the time for a female leader, and that's quite inspirational in itself. Generally, in service, you do see more women versus men, certainly in my lived experience, but I thought I I think I could do that. Worked really hard, definitely advocate personal development plans, even just asking. Sometimes you don't need uh to get given something you can seek it. So I would ask to join sessions that ordinarily I wouldn't be invited to just to see what happens, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Um I think exposure like that is kind of invaluable, and I would say, like, from my experience, I've been really lucky to kind of work in to kind of growing altnets, and I've been really lucky to also be surrounded by you know really inspirational women and be able to kind of use them as a bit of a tool to you know shadow them. So I know my my previous one of my previous contacts and my previous boss, I shadowed her for a day, and it's just absolutely invaluable, you know, getting able to spend a day with someone like doing stuff that you've never even seen before. Yes. Um so yeah, no, I relate to that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

And often we wait for the opportunity to become available. Definitely, yeah. I do think that there are ways that you can seek and experience without the opportunity being there. And for me, that's something that I just found some courage to do to ask, could I join that team meeting that I haven't been invited to? Could I shadow you for a day? Could I be considered for the next comment that comes up? No one's ever really ready for the next role, but there are so many opportunities that if you ask, people will open doors for quite willingly, and that I was quite fortunate to experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah. There's the saying if you don't ask, you don't get. I mean, I get like that all the time. Um, so mentoring then, sponsors, is there anyone throughout your career that you would think, you know, you you know, people that stick out that you think, wow, I wouldn't be here without them today, kind of.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Yeah, for sure. And interestingly, I've chosen some mentors for very different reasons. Yeah. Um, by nature, I would say I'm quite reflective and quite quiet, Crystal, who I work with, will probably say that I'm definitely more thoughtful and considered. I'm not generally the first to speak, but there was somebody during my time at Virgin who was always the first to speak, and actually didn't really give too much consideration to how what they said impacted others, and I just thought if I could take a little bit of that, maybe I would be a more rounded person. So I asked this person to be my mentor. Were they more senior than you? They were, yeah. Um, and he worked in quite a senior sales role. Now I wasn't aspiring to be him, but I definitely wanted a little bit of some of the sharp edge that he had, and that for me, I believe, helped when the opportunity um did come, um, and I was successful in moving into my next career, helped me have some of the confidence that maybe I was lacking at the time, just to not be afraid to speak up and believe in your own conviction.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, I think that ties in as well a bit to kind of imposter syndrome, and you know, I I guess that's kind of why we're all here today. There's a lot of events um we get, you know, we get comments from guys all the time, you know. If if if guys had a men in channel event, you know, what would the reaction be? Um my my take on that is that we're not saying that there's not a place for those kind of events, but I think it's really important that women feel heard, feel seen, and there's like this kind of community where you walk into a room and you feel you can just talk to everyone in that room, and you know, probably a lot of people here today maybe didn't even know there was this many women in the channel, you know. There's um so yeah, I think I think that is like such a such a such a big thing. Um so you run a team now in your current role at Clear Business. Um has there been kind of challenges and obstacles around kind of managing, I guess, women but also men? Um I'd be interested to kind of hear more about that and maybe kind of any challenges, obstacles, or advice you can offer for those kind of scenarios?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah, so I mentioned earlier, generally, um certainly in my experience, service in in the many years that I've been in the industry has been heavily with women in leadership roles. Um, for me, I value balance. Uh, I've always had more women in my team than men. I'm delighted that today I've got a really beautiful balance of both men and women, and I think that helps bring a different dynamic to the team. Certainly, there are different things that we need to support women with, and I know we'll come on to it shortly, but you know, within Clear Business we try to celebrate women in business and we hold an event every single year, but it's not just about a wholly focusing on that, it's about bringing some of our male colleagues along with us so that we've got some support from them, and that's really important. And I think the dynamic of a team is important to be balanced. Uh maybe if I go back many years, I experience maybe more cliakiness and some unhelpful camaraderie if it was just women, and that's where I think there is definitely an opportunity, depending on maybe which sector or service department you're in. Um, it really does help if you've got a really nice mix of both.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, it's an interesting one that. Um so when I first my first role I was at Telesales, no experience in telecoms at all. Um, and there was um a girl that um I started working alongside, and she for whatever reason just didn't didn't didn't like me or felt you know threatened by me and then kind of started ignoring me. And I think it's really interesting because you know we're like in this room here, like with all these, you know, wonderful women, and we all want to sort of um encourage each other and and you know support each other. So it's interesting to hear that I think there are times when almost the industry pushes you to feel threatened and almost like you're competing with one another, which isn't really the the right thing for either party.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yes, and from my experience, because there was limited women in leadership roles, it was almost like there wasn't enough seats. So if somebody was competing, and I use the words because I I saw that's how it was received at the time, you would rather shoot somebody down if they were a woman versus maybe a guy. Yeah, that's my experience, um, and that has something that has been something that I have seen change but does still exist today because there aren't enough of all of us in the room who feel confident enough at times to speak out.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, yeah, no, it's an interesting one. Um, so I think we've we've kind of talked a little bit around this, but um what's been your biggest challenge as a woman in the industry so far today? Has there been anything that's panistered out up until now?

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Yes, um, so happy to share. When I was in my uh mid-30s, I was struggling to conceive, um, went through several rounds of IVF, um, experienced baby loss, which is just awful for anybody. Um, and I just didn't know how to navigate through that in the work environment. I was so passionate about my career, and I felt that if I spoke about that, something would be taken away from me. But by hiding it, I was also navigating through the mental load of that, you know, everything that happens to your body.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Um, if anyone has been unfortunate to have to go through IVF, it's incredibly uh straining on you mentally and um on your body. And I didn't maybe have the best support network around me at that time, and I was worried that opportunities would be taken away from me when I can now sit here and look back on that time and think actually, when somebody goes on maternity leave, what an amazing opportunity it is for someone else to step in to a role, whether that's as a comment or something else. Uh but at that time I find I found that incredibly difficult to navigate through.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

And is there anything that you thank you for sharing? Is there anything that you think organisations can do or could have done in that situation to support you more?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yes, and certainly of the organisations that I worked within, that support was there.

unknown 13:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

I just didn't know about it, and it was the fact that I chose not to speak about it. Not only is it a very private thing, but when I did choose to speak about it with the person that I was working for at the time, they were actually incredibly supportive. So my advice to anybody is don't don't suffer alone and speak about these things because you will be surprised how many people that maybe you've never even spoken to could be great support, great counsel for you during that time.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, I think sometimes as women we kind of have this, I don't know, you just want to appear tough all the time, maybe don't want to be show your vulnerable side. But I think it's it's touching to hear that, and obviously it's it's good advice, I guess, for anyone that's in kind of a similar situation or you know, difficult situations that hopefully you know organisations do have that kind of support um in face. Um so yeah, thank you for sharing. I know it's not um an easy thing to talk about. Would you say there's been a massive change between the industry kind of um now from when you first joined? Is it anything that kind of sticks out?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yes, definitely more sponsorship of women and an understanding that in my experience women are carrying a very different mental load and the support and recognition for that. At Clear Business, I have for the last two years sponsored Women in Business event, which is celebrated across the globe. This year's theme was give to gain, and we really focused on how we can support each other, which is why I love events like this. They are so precious, and I really hope to what Selena said at the beginning of the day, we use this opportunity to make new connections. This is a broader support network, so there's more of this, there's more organisations talking about this, which is a starting point. We have introduced over the last 12 months a menopause policy, didn't exist before, and that was through the movement of people talking about it. Um, we have also spoken about endometriosis, which impacts a huge amount of us in our everyday life just by talking about things. I don't think there's a big thing that's changed. I think there's been many small changes that have led to a big difference over time.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

It's kind of like gradual changes over time, and suddenly it's almost becoming the norm, which is it's great to see. Um I think I've been lucky to kind of walk into an industry that's probably already on its way when I joined. So it's interesting to hear kind of what the industry was like when you when you first joined. I know when we spoke you said you were in quite a was it a quite cutthroat kind of weird. Do you want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yeah. Um I mean, I'm going back 20 years, um, very different environment, um, very male-dominated from a leadership perspective. Maybe there were certain environments that none of us would maybe be part of today, uh, but that was the norm, and that's why surrounding yourself by really great, strong, um, or not even strong, that's the wrong word, but just like-minded people that share the same values of you can actually be such um a support network in the times where you might be in an organization that maybe isn't doing some of the things that we take for granted, but should have always been there in as we stand today.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. So, what what made that role so um what was difficult about that role? Kind of why would that not exist today? Was it just kind of the men in leadership? Was it the way things operated?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah, a lack of understanding um to maybe some of the if you are predominantly surrounded, um, and you are depend it depends where you are in your career. For me, I was quite new to an industry as well as new to some leadership roles. I didn't know everything, you know, making you feel a little bit silly if you didn't know what certain things meant rather than fostering um and encouraging learning. For me, you can show up and not know anything, but if you've got all the right behaviours, I think there's something to be said for that. Whereas my experience was quite the opposite. I'm always kind of scared to ask a question if you didn't know something. Yes, yeah. I mean in the teleco industry it's full of nuance and acronyms, right? Um and if you didn't know it, you would feel silly, you were made to feel silly if you asked a question. And I'm uh Crystal will probably say that at times I'm probably annoying because I ask lots of questions, I've got an innate curiosity, but that was not valued around that table, which at the same time was mostly full of quite senior middle-aged guys.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

And how did you and how did you, you know, being early on in your career and maybe not knowing the best way to navigate that, how did you navigate that? Was there anything that you maybe did that you'd recommend or something that you might have done differently?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

So there was one colleague at work who I had formed a trusted relationship with, and that can help, but sometimes you don't want to speak to people at work, and that that is our reality because either you might not want to share a certain vulnerability, or sometimes people might break a trust. So my network at home and my friendship group at home was really that soundboard for me, and so I think again we'll all be surprised if you actually speak to family and friends about things that you might be nervous about, things that we often question ourselves about, even if they don't understand the context of the role that you're doing or where you work, they know you and they know that you are turning up. And like I the way that I've dealt with some of that is to remind myself that I never show up every day to do a bad job. I turn up every day to do a good job, and I might be surrounded by people who might not support me with that, and in the times where I feel insecure, I might go and talk to a friend and just say, I feel really crap about this. And they might remind you of things that aren't relevant to your workplace but just remind you of why you are a brilliant human being. Um, so that would be my advice to people if you can't always form those trusted relationships at work, don't forget your family and your friends because actually they're a great network for you in your professional life as well as your home life.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, I think quite a lot of these um the podcast we've done that's kind of been quite a common theme. Um I know Natalie from RPS, she kind of said that she was she's been really lucky to have you know her husband and Niz Reen from 0.5, but you know, her husband as well being there, just kind of rocks and allowing them, I guess, to um have the careers that they have. Um and I think yeah, having that support network at home is incredibly important, yeah, especially you know, through kind of if you want to have children and you know, all the struggles that women have to go through. Yeah, um that's interesting. Um so if there was one thing um within the industry that you could kind of snap your fingers and change tomorrow that would um support women more, or um maybe even have these kind of events, is there anything that you would do that kind of sticks out to you that you think would be a good thing to kind of change? I don't know if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah, celebration of International Women's Day. I don't see that being done as much as I think it should be. And that's not just for all of us in the room, it's to try and galvanize some male allies along the way. It was really interesting. Interesting on the very first session that we did at Clear Business, no guys signed up for it at all. There was it was purely a load of women in the room, and some of the feedback afterwards was that our male colleagues didn't think they were invited, they were invited, and on the second session they came along and they learned so much. And most of the people in the room had a sister, a daughter, or obviously their own mom, and it just helps educate, inform, share stories, and I think that's why today's event is so important to keep communities like this going, it becomes a village of of support. So I would like the industry to do more of this stuff, uh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

And whose I guess whose responsibility is that? Is that is that all of us here today? Is that women in senior positions? Is that men in senior positions? You know, who whose responsibility do you believe that that kind of is?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Everybody's in there. Everybody's, which is why the connections that we make today and the stories that we tell and go back and the impact that an event like today will have should be shared. I do think that senior leaders have a responsibility. I've been fortunate enough to work for an amazing uh boss over the last four years who really champions that. Um appreciate everybody might not be in that position, but you create the space and you make that idea. If you are facing some of that friction, take that step forward. I'm sure that there are enough uh maybe employee kind of groups that you could bring an idea to, so I think it's everybody's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

I mean this event just literally stemmed from me moaning to Will, you know, Will, saying there's too many golf and rugby days, you know. Yes, exactly. You know, a bit more inclusive, and then he was like, Oh, why don't you have an all women's day? I was like, What?

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, and here we are, second year running. And that's funny because this week the CEO had an event that he needed somebody to join him on, and it was a golfing event, and that that limits your audience. Not that there aren't female golfers in here, and my partner wishes I was, but I'm not, so yes, I'm I'm with you wholeheartedly on that.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Okay, so we're actually we're approaching nearly the end, um, but it's been such a pleasure talking to you. Have you had a career highlight standout of your journey so far?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

With with a real like proud sentiment, I've had several. That's not me boasting, but it's been because of the teams that I've had the privilege of working with. And this year my team and I won some awards in Scotland. Um, at the heart of that, it's about celebrating their hard work. Um, so for me, it's about my team, and when they win, uh I win. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

So there hasn't been like a standout highlight moment, or it's is that a hard question?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

It's just been lots of kind of lots of little things. Um I mean to be where I am today, if somebody would have asked me 20 years ago, would I be doing the role that I'm doing, I would have said no, because I'm I'm not capable of that. And I am, yeah. Um but it's taken a journey of uh self um self-belief and investment, but also creating a great network of people around me. Most of them, by the way, have been women, which I've been really fortunate to work with.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

I think one of the most common themes of these um chats I've had with kind of female leaders has been kind of anything that feels slightly out of your comfort zone is usually a good thing. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yes, yes, and there's some people in the room that might be familiar with this, but every year when I went uh when I worked at Virgin, we used to do a huge annual conference, and I was asked to stand, and it was almost like a track in Birmingham. I think it was inside the NEC or something, thousands of people to speak at that event, and I've never been so terrified. Um, but I did it. So that is maybe a standout moment in my career that I never thought I would be able to do that uh and hold an audience, and I did. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Um, this is a bit of a surprise question. But Kingdom, this wasn't the most because I've asked it in all my other podcasts, so if you made it to the end, you'll know what it is. Do you have a party trick?

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Oh my gosh. Well, I used to sing for the Sheffield Choirs. Oh no, mine's really innocent and probably quite boring, but I used to sing for the Sheffield choirs. Um, so I travelled across um the UK and Europe singing, but my angelic voice has since disappeared. But I do love a good karaoke.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Oh amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining. It's been an absolute pleasure, and I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you.