Hannah Sutcliffe is the co-founder and COO of MOONHUB. In a non-work capacity, she is creative and loves to paint, journal, go for walks along the canal, and do home workouts. She speaks three languages, and loves learning about new cultures whilst traveling.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before the venture/ corporate journey?
Before MOONHUB, I worked as the UK & European Sales Manager for a design company traveling around Europe, and hosting meetings in multiple languages; I then went on to gain experience in marketing for a chain of nurseries and furthering my skills by completing a HR Management Diploma.
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!”
Two of our other founders, Dami and Vinh, both worked for a retail company and had the realization that training was ineffective, and was purely done for compliance reasons. In addition to this, e-learning/classroom based training has low knowledge retention rates, and we wanted to bring an immersive technology such as VR to the training world.
Tell us something about your initiative or current role. What is it about, and what impact are you trying to make?
I am currently our COO, meaning I oversee our overall operations (internally and externally), in addition to looking after our HR, recruitment, and working closely with our CEO to help drive business decisions. My goal is to have a smooth-running organization.
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
Myself, Dami, and Vinh are all listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 as of 2022; this is an incredible achievement for us, as it really shows us that the company we’re building is having a real impact on other organizations, and people.
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?
I would love to see more female entrepreneurs taking the plunge to start their own business, or joining forces to create an inspiring founding team as we have done at MOONHUB. Having diversity in C-Suite is so incredibly important to inspire change, and to become role models to the younger generation. The majority of entrepreneurs in the world are male, but we’re beginning to see change; Be a part of that change, and believe you can do it.
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’s leadership today?
Women are breaking boundaries. Traditionally, women stayed at home, they became mothers, they supported the family in a non-financial way. This is changing, and we are witnessing more and more women in positions of leadership. It’s incredible to see, and a lot of these women probably don’t believe the gravity of how important this is to inspire future generations. For those women who want to have children, they’re proving they can do both; For those women who don’t want to have children, they’re proving you don’t have to. Diversity is important in the workplace, and even more-so in leadership.
What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
Believe in yourself. Fight the imposter syndrome; Look at what you have achieved already, and strive to achieve more. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, you have the right to choose your pathway
