Gedminte Mikulenaite
Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic and Policy Advisor
University of Greenwich
How does it feel to be a woman in leadership here in Greenwich?
Ever since joining this wonderfully diverse organisation, I’ve been immensely grateful to be able to work with so many amazing women leading in different parts of the University and the Students’ Union. I’ve had the chance to learn about how a university functions and get stuck into a variety of different projects.
When I faced challenges or setbacks, there were always colleagues who were there listening, sharing advice, and helping me to continue to learn, grow and get through tough times.
Tell us about your career journey, and how you ended up at Greenwich.
Since the start of my career, I have been incredibly lucky to have been supported and mentored by many wonderful people who I came across along my career journey. Starting from my very first office job at the University of Essex, with a supportive, inclusive and friendly team around me. Gradually working my way up, whilst learning lots of skills and gaining new knowledge, to be able to move to a wonderful job in policy at Universities UK. This was a truly pivotal experience to me, as I was exposed to so many intelligent individuals across the whole of the Higher Education sector. Those new opportunities, experiences, and colleagues gave me the opportunities to learn and offered me the guidance I needed to land a job at the University of Greenwich.
What tips would you give to the women at Greenwich today? Any top tips to empower women in the University of Greenwich community?
My top tips to the women of Greenwich are:
1. Be confident. Recognise the value that you bring today and what you will be able to bring in the future. If you don’t feel quite confident yet, work on building that self-confidence. Take the time to recognise and appreciate your achievements. It may not always feel like it, but you are probably doing great!
2. Ask for help and learn as much as possible from others. There will always be something more that you can learn, so ask to go on that training course, attend that conference, or for that someone to be your mentor. You will find you have lots of supporters and champions.
3. Be a role model. Recognise your own unique experiences, perspectives, and skills and use those to inspire other women to do more and to be better.