Dolby Laboratories describe themselves as the rain on the roof in a movie. If Dolby is the rain on the roof, Perveen Akhtar makes sure it keeps raining. Perveen Akhtar leads as the Senior PR Manager Europe at Dolby Laboratories. Perveen is an award winning and a strong creative thinker, who is a senior International Marketing, Brand and PR professional in the consumer technology sector. She develops strategies that lead to exceptional PR coverage and positioning on thought leadership. With a career spanning over 20 years, she has adapted well to international environments, having executed highly creative communications campaigns, with vast expertise in PR & Marketing. In an exclusive Q&A with Asian Voice, she talks about her journey as a woman in PR & Marketing in the field of technology.
What are the challenges of being a woman in a powerful position like yours for a globally reputed company?
I don’t really think being a woman brings any additional challenges to my role. I’ve never felt that my gender was ever part of the equation in terms of my ability to do my job at any point in my career. I’m sure having more than 20 years under my belt as a communications professional probably helps in terms of having a level of confidence in my skills and abilities which allow me to do my current role effectively.
It is often seen that women hold strategic positions in the PR industry. Is there a science behind it?
Oh I don’t know if there’s a particular science but certainly some basic skills really help such as an obvious one of being a good communicator along with strategic thinking, creativity and also I think having that deeper understanding of all elements of a situation, which is an inherently female trait, helps. Being able to appreciate different viewpoints and understanding the audiences that you are trying to communicate with makes for strong leadership. I guess it’s also a numbers game. If you are in a predominantly female industry it is more likely that more than average females will hold strategic positions.
What do you bring to the table in terms of Marketing and PR, that may be your male counterparts would do differently?
As I mentioned before it’s that quality of having a more holistic view of a situation that makes women do things differently. You can’t say that all women haven’t got egos but less of them have, so I think more women are wanting to achieve in their jobs but for the good of the client as well as themselves. It means they possibly listen more and don’t simply want to push their own ideas forward.
As a woman, how do you juggle with work and personal life in such a competitive environment, especially in a pandemic?
I think that juggling personal and work life is a challenge for many and particularly at the moment with so many women and men trying to balance their work lives and responsibilities as parents with home schooling and caring for children or other loved ones.
I don’t have children so that’s not something that I’ve had to contend with but I think the past year has been challenging for everyone in different ways. I think people have become much more attuned to the pressures that colleagues are under as they try to juggle work and personal lives. Just simple things like not scheduling calls towards the end of the work day when those with children need to focus on preparing dinner and having family time, I think is an example of an increased level of empathy and understanding that I’ve seen.
I’m also lucky that I work for a company that is really supportive of its employees and right from the get-go senior management and HR made it clear that family comes first and that if we needed flexibility then we can have it. I feel so fortunate to be working for a company that has such strong values and is genuinely supportive and I think in turn that then instils loyalty from employees.
What is the future of women in this field?
I’d say that I’ve been very fortunate that I have had a wonderfully rich and rewarding career in PR, working for some of the best companies and with some of the best people. For any woman wanting to pursue a career in PR, I’d say go for it.
I know with the backdrop of the pandemic there’s a lot of uncertainty in the industry, but I’ve seen that there are still a lot of roles coming up and some companies have some great graduate trainee programmes, particularly on the agency side.
Based on my own experience I would definitely recommend if possible, to try and start with an agency role. That’s what I did and I learned all of the key PR skills as well as time management and multitasking as I was working across a number of different accounts at the same time, it was a baptism of fire! I moved my way up the ranks and when I’d got to a senior director position, I made the move in-house. I was ready then and confident I knew what I was doing as in-house. You can be a team of one in the company with your support being provided by an agency. This is a much more difficult place to be when you are just starting out as no matter how much you study PR you are not taught how to deal with the multifaceted demands of the job.
I also think for women who traditionally have the challenge of having to juggle parenting with work, the past year during the pandemic and the shift to homeworking is going to mean that there is more flexibility which can only be a good thing. I hope this will see more women having long and successful careers in the industry.
