Women in Tech: Maria Raga; Mother, Depop CEO, and budding pianist

Becoming the CEO at Depop. It’s a bigger challenge compared to anything I have done before. I’m proud of the journey I’ve been on and excited to be able to continue to learn from leading Depop.

I think about this subject often. It’s important to create awareness and encourage more girls to pursue careers in tech. I can say from experience that it’s always better to have a more diverse point of view. Innovation, change and profit are more than ever being linked with diversity, and it’s a powerful tool everyone should be making use of.

It took a bit of time to open-up and feel at ease with my new role, and if everyone around me would have been male it would have been even harder. Having more diversity always helps. It can be intimidating to be the only woman in the room. When you see that everyone around you is not like you – you don’t feel as comfortable.

Even though there has been a lot of progress on this, it’s harder to be a woman than it is to be a man in the workplace. If you are a mother it’s not easy, and you have to make tough choices if you have a family. Having more support when you have kids will empower more woman to thrive at work.

I have a combination of personal and professional mentors. Someone who really changed the way I see things is my life coach. In the past, I always thought that high-performing CEOs were the ones who work from 8 am to 10 pm and are constantly online, but he made me see that that’s not healthy. It gets to a point where you will not only burn out but also stop enjoying what you do and make irrational decisions in the process. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s important to stop, search for space to decompress and start over in order to regain focus. Quiet moments and meditation are activities I’ve integrated into my life to make sure that this space is created.

There is a basic survey we’ve put in place here at Depop to understand what our employees feel the biggest problems are. This allows us to review what is and is not and create actionable steps towards improving. You need to really listen if you want to promote positive change. We also try to create activities that connect our employees, allowing people from different areas of the business to buddy-up and exchange ideas. It’s all very organic.

As Depop grows, we continue to implement tools that better connect us. We currently have 120 people on the team spread across offices in London, New York, LA and Milan. To keep a sense of community and closeness present in our day-to-day, we’ve implemented open spaces, social areas within the offices, Zoom (which is a very good conference system) and made sure members of the team travel to other offices frequently.

There’s a big difference between diversity inside and outside of the tech world. We still struggle to get female applicants, especially back-end developers. Hopefully, we will show the younger generations how cool it actually is to work in our industry, particularly being a developer. Changing stereotypes and promoting these roles as being something both men and women can do equally is imperative.

In the tech space, if we want to attract more women, we need to change the language used in job descriptions. Buzzwords traditionally employed by the industry may discourage some women, who will see them as a sign of a male-oriented work environment. Ensuring the language we use is gender-neutral is an important first-step.

Holidays! I like to get a massage occasionally but taking a proper holiday, at the very least two weeks, does it for me. I go away once in summer and once in winter – spending time with my family, enjoying different activities, reading…etc.

Relax, it is all going to be ok. Looking back, I’m sure that I was told that, but I didn’t really absorb the idea until I was much older, and it’s still so hard to live by. The biggest change in me came when I became a mother. It helped me put things into perspective.

Also, one cannot learn without making mistakes along the way, so it’s important to embrace failure as part of the process. Everyone has ups and downs. You just need to know how to manage your stress levels and keep motivated in the process.

I’ve just started learning how to play the piano. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and it forces you to have laser-focus and stop thinking about anything else. There’s no work, no kids – just you and the piano. It’s really absorbing.