Victoria Rennoldson is a Communication Coach & Cross-Cultural Trainer. She provides coaching to global leaders to elevate & amplify their communication. She also trains cross-cultural teams in cultural intelligence.
She is a CEO & Founder, Keynote speaker, Podcast host, and a Certified Cultural Intelligence Coach.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
I was born in and now live with my family in London, one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, with over 300 languages spoken.
Communication and culture were always my path. Studying languages took me to different parts of the UK to experience the diverse cultures of our country, and to living, studying and working in Russia and Germany. I very much enjoyed working in diverse global teams in my career in marketing, and regularly communicated with or travelled to Germany, France, Italy, the US and Greece, where I experienced many of the communication and cultural challenges my clients experience today.
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business /initiative? What motivated you within to say YES, go for it!”
In my previous career working in international teams in large, global corporates, I saw talented professionals who couldn’t contribute their full valuable expertise to the team and the business, because they didn’t always feel able to speak up and share their voice. The result was that they didn’t fully shine, they became less visible than their colleagues, and the team didn’t get the benefit of their knowledge and skills.In my view, this communication and cultural gap is a huge waste of talent and valuable ideas for your business. This is why I am passionate about achieving an equal share of voice for everybody in multicultural and multilingual teams. My business was born.
Every day I feel grateful to work as a culture and communication coach with clients from many different cultures, which I find enriching and a great learning experience, and we have worked with people from over 40 countries.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
My mission is to help ambitious global leaders and teams to achieve their performance and career dreams with my culture and communication coaching and training programmes.
I want global professionals to feel able to share their voice and expertise spontaneously, speak up authentically with their full personality, and develop their cultural intelligence for improved ways of working.This means expanding confidence and visibility, building connections and developing relationships with global teams and increasing impact and influence.
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women leadership today?
Women everywhere experience self-doubt, lack of confidence and imposter syndrome at times. This can happen to all women, no matter how confident they appear, and no matter how successful, senior or experienced they are.
Confidence is a journey, not a switch that turns on and stays on permanently. That means you will have great days and days where you’re not fully able to shine, and this is OK. It’s natural to feel fear and you will succeed if you step forward despite the fear. It starts with 1 step, which then leads to another, and another, until you realise how far you’ve come when you look back. So start with the first step and get going on your leadership journey.
What’s the most important thing you have learned in your personal life and professional journey? What is your personal motto in life?
Speak up and show up boldly despite the fear. This is the only way to gain your share of voice.
I didn’t always feel bold. I didn’t feel it at the start of my career. I did everything I could back then to avoid standing up, being in the spotlight and presenting. And my perfectionist streak meant that I would keep tweaking to get things ‘right’. But now it is different. I challenge myself to show up boldly to share my ideas, vision and insights to help more people globally.
That has led me to create my podcast with over 70 episodes, share over 150 videos, and launch new programmes and training.
Do I always feel bold 100% of the time? Of course not, this is a constant journey of recommitment.
You can only be seen and heard, if you step up and start speaking. This is better than waiting to be perfect.
With your grit and determination, you are making a considerable impact, breaking through, and serving as role models for many budding entrepreneurs. What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
I know you may not always feel bold when you doubt yourself in your communication abilities, hold yourself back from sharing your thoughts, and don’t feel fully seen.
And so remind yourself why you’re good at what you do. Look at every piece of feedback ever received and positive comments and look at these every day.
Understand where you add value and how you are unique. You can only do things in your special way. Celebrate that.
Believe in what you have to offer the world.
