Next Generation Women's Collective member Joelle reflects on motivation, inspiration, and learning resilience

Next Generation Women's Collective member Joelle Barthel is Head of Brand at Flo, one of the largest female health & well-being apps, with 160M downloads and users from around the world. Together with the Flo team, her aim is to deliver change by educating more women about their health - going beyond periods. Take a look at our conversation below where we discuss what motivation Joelle, what inspires her, and how she learned resilience.

Hi Joelle, thanks for taking the time to do this. Here's the first question: What woman has been your greatest inspiration and why?

There is an endless amount of women that are such an inspiration, which makes it very difficult to choose ONE. For a while I've really admired Bozoma Saint John because I work in marketing. She is bold, keeps things real and is a very strong and though woman - simply badass.

And what is the best piece of advice you have received?

Until the lion(ness) learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.

Is there a mistake you are glad you have made - what was it and what did you learn from it?

I've made a lot of mistakes in the past and I realised that failing is really important to help you learn, and even more important to build resilience. Resilience is not something you can get from a textbook or a senior can teach you, but it is something that many careers require. So ideally make mistakes, make them fast, but don't do them twice.

What motivates you when times are tough?

I work in a very purpose led industry, which gives me all the motivation I need when times get though. I enjoy educating myself around female health and passing on this education to millions of others around the world.

As a founding member of the Women’s Collective what are your hopes for the next generation of women?

I love the Women's Collective initiative and I hope that over the next generations the network will multiply across Ovarian Cancer Action.

Find out more about the other members of our Next Generation Women's Collective here.