A Moment with Juliet Schuler: “Take Charge of Your Own Career”
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are honored to spotlight our own extraordinary female leader, Juliet Schuler, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Juliet leads the company’s DEI strategy and has been a longtime champion for empowering women at Zeta. With more than 20 years of marketing experience, she’s worked in New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, and London (where she’s currently based), inspiring many along the way. Here, Juliet discusses the lessons she learned during her career, challenges she overcame, and advice she’d give to someone starting their career.
Q: Aside from being an exceptional leader, you are a beloved mentor and a role model to many here at Zeta. Tell us about a woman who played a critical role in your career/life.
Juliet: The key woman in my life who has been my rock and complete role model is my Aunt Doreen (AKA Aunt “Door”). She is the most independent, thoughtful, and authentic person I know. She started working in the family business at 16, and having lost her parents young, was running the business by 20. She taught me three core lessons:
Q: What were some challenges you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?
Juliet: There have been many, but I’ll highlight two:
Q: In your words, why is it so important for women to support other women?
Juliet: I’m a big believer in learning from others, varying perspectives, and living new experiences to broaden your view on life. I also believe that’s it’s hugely important to be able to relate to others who share your experiences. I have seen too often women competing with one another in an unhealthy way, which is counter-productive to our progress. We must empower one another, support one another, learn from one another, and celebrate our differences as well as similarities.
Q: What’s the greatest piece of advice you’d give to someone starting their career?
Juliet: Continue learning new things at every stage of your career — believe in yourself, go get and ask for what you want, find mentors, gain clarity on how you’re being measured, and work very, very hard.
Q: Aside from being an exceptional leader, you are a beloved mentor and a role model to many here at Zeta. Tell us about a woman who played a critical role in your career/life.
Juliet: The key woman in my life who has been my rock and complete role model is my Aunt Doreen (AKA Aunt “Door”). She is the most independent, thoughtful, and authentic person I know. She started working in the family business at 16, and having lost her parents young, was running the business by 20. She taught me three core lessons:
- Independence is essential. Take ownership of your life and what you want to accomplish. Confidence and resilience will be your friends.
- Anything is possible. If you work hard, continue to learn things, and when you put your mind to something, you can achieve anything.
- Be a good person. Build relationships with authentic intent, support others, and be honest. Get to know people for who they are and learn from their varying life experiences.
Q: What were some challenges you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?
Juliet: There have been many, but I’ll highlight two:
- Starting my career in a sector with few woman leaders. I spent many years in advertising before moving into tech, where women are also historically underrepresented in leadership. Lack of female leaders within the company wasn’t something I was going to be able to change at that stage of my career. I therefore leaned on the women mentors in my personal life, such as my stepmother who was a senior leader in another industry, who helped me tremendously with her real-life experiences. I was also fortunate to have male leaders as champions in my company who guided me along the way, as well as connected me with other female influencers across the organization. The question I asked each leader was how they define success for the business and how my role could contribute to that success.
- Working and living in different cultures. Living abroad is one of the best decisions of my life, and it came with several big lessons. I moved from New York to Paris when I was still growing my career, which meant working in an entirely different work culture and style, in a language that I didn’t speak, and in a country where I didn’t have any friends. That was probably the time when the three lessons above came in handy the most. I also spent a lot of time listening, observing, and asking questions to be able to adapt to how the culture worked, as well as to apply my own style in a way that would be effective within that environment. I then focused on what I could impact most, and what I would need to adapt to achieve success. Another crucial component was investing in relationships to build trust as well as finding allies.
Q: In your words, why is it so important for women to support other women?
Juliet: I’m a big believer in learning from others, varying perspectives, and living new experiences to broaden your view on life. I also believe that’s it’s hugely important to be able to relate to others who share your experiences. I have seen too often women competing with one another in an unhealthy way, which is counter-productive to our progress. We must empower one another, support one another, learn from one another, and celebrate our differences as well as similarities.
Q: What’s the greatest piece of advice you’d give to someone starting their career?
Juliet: Continue learning new things at every stage of your career — believe in yourself, go get and ask for what you want, find mentors, gain clarity on how you’re being measured, and work very, very hard.
