September 14, 2021 • 23 mins
Today’s episode features a very special guest, Emma Higgins, co-host of the Black Heels and Tractor Wheels podcast!
Emma is a Senior Dairy Analyst at Rabobank and has held a range of roles in corporate and agribusiness. She is also a mum to two beautiful children and lives in sunny Nelson with her husband Jimmy.
Emma is not only on the RWNZ board but is also a third-generation Rural Women NZ member. Today we talk about motherhood, champions, and juggling it all.
If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to visit our Instagram, Facebook, and website, or even become a member!
www.ruralwomennz.nz
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Black Cales and Tractor Wheel's podcast, where
we are sharing stories from a range of women from
around New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
For nearly a century, Rural Women New Zealand has been
dedicated to strengthening and supporting women and children to become
empowered members of their communities.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We hope that by hearing these stories from inspiring women
all around the country, you'll feel inspired yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're your hosts, Emma Higgins and Claire Williamson, and we'd
love for you to join and subscribe to our podcast
so you don't miss our rural stories. Today I'm speaking
to Emma Higgins, one of my fellow board members here
at Rural Woman New Zealand. She is a senior dairy
Analyst at Rabobank and has had a range of roles
in corporate and agribusiness throughout her career. She's a mum
(00:50):
to two beautiful children and lives in Sonny Nelson with
her husband Jimmy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
She's also a third.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Generation Rural Woman New Zealand member, and today we talk
about motherhood, champion and juggling it all in today's world.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Thank you for joining me, and you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Matt, You're welcome. It's nice to be doing this. You
and I. Normally we're both on the same side of
the interview table, so this is a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It is a little bit different. It's a little bit different,
so let's crack into it. So one of the things
that we love hearing a lot about is stories from
growing up in the rural sector and the rural communities
and how they kind of shape you into the person
you are today. So can you tell us a little
bit about your childhood and your experiences growing up?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah? Sure, So I grew up with two brothers, so
I'm in the middle. I've got an older brother and
a younger brother and my parents, and we grew up
on a farm just outside of Nelson. My parents are
still there today, and we've actually boomeranged back and forth
to the farm just recently, which is really nice because
now I've got two kiddies, it's nice that they know
(01:54):
where I grew up. So, yeah, we grew up just
helping out on the farm. And I'm sure that you know,
anyone with a farming background or a farming childhood would
appreciate that. I think growing up on a farm and
gender is a really strong work ethic, and that's what
I remember a lot about. So a lot of my
(02:14):
earliest memories were working in the woolshed, for example, helping
Dad with stock work. The best one, I think was
probably the little money spinner that I had going on
with sheep manure. So I used to collect bags of
sheep manure from underneath the woolshed and I used to
sell that to family friends who had generally been browbeaten
into buying it, and it actually save me quite well.
(02:38):
I managed to go to a school trap to Japan
through the money that I earned with that. But one
particular time, I remember, I had a big order that
rolled through and I didn't quite have the inventory on hand,
so I had to go and collect manure that particular day.
Poor planning on my behalf, and I hadn't quite yet
worked out, you know, time management. I was probably about
(02:59):
a them and I hadn't check with Dad what his
plans were, and he happened to have a mob of
sheep in the wall sheet at the time, and I
just had to go and collect this these bags of
sheep manual. There was no other way, and so I
just had to put on a rain jacket and crawl
under get them, neure and hope for the best. And
(03:20):
you know, I think that kind of that whole life style.
I think just you know, it really instilled that hard
work ethic and you just got to do what you
gotta do to get the job done, to get in there.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
And also in terms of being your first foray into
customer service as well, you know, like the customers right,
and they needed the manual exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, they get what they get and they get what
they want, and yeah, that was that was the way
I had to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
In terms of.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Like moving from being the eleven year old entrepreneur into
being Emma Higgins the Rabu Bank senior analyst.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Can you tell us a little bit about.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
And fill in the gaps between those two spaces.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I guess you could say, clear it's a bit of
a long and twisted journey because I actually never wanted
to have anything to do with agriculture, like working in it.
It takes a really special person to certainly work on
the farm at least, and I never wanted to do that,
and so I thought that I would go to university
and do law instead. So I went down to Canterbury
(04:25):
studied law down there, had a great time. But in
my third year, I went to a careers evening and
that was kind of where my path twisted a little bit.
So there was a woman who was on one of
the one of the stands for one of the businesses,
and I happened to know her sister really well, so
we were just I went over and started talking to
(04:47):
her and just had a few yarns, as you do,
and then towards the end she was like, oh, you
should applay for this role and I was like, okay,
what is it. She was like, oh, it's fairly tax
consultant and I was like, h I don't do numbers
and she was like, oh, no, there's not really many
numbers involved, which is a lie. But anyway, I was
(05:07):
like okay. So I submitted my CV and long story short,
ended up getting an internship which led to a full
time gig once I finished, which is a really amazing,
awesome start to my career. You know, the soft skills
training that you get and a huge corporate like that
is second to none, so kind of set me out
(05:28):
for the position that I'm in now. And and how
I made that leap from you know, living the amazing
corporate life in Wellington to where I am now was
that I really decided that I wanted to change and
that actually I did want to re engage with the
agricultural community and work in an industry that actually helped farmers.
(05:50):
And so yeah, I applied for all these banking rules.
I got given some great advice from a guy who
had recently joined our organization, and his said, why don't
you give banking a crack? So I went for it
and I got declined every single time, and it was
a great learning experience, you know, going through the interview stages,
(06:14):
you know, getting your CEV ready, doing that over and
over again, I think really builds a resilienceself. You learn
a lot of things along the way. But finally I
interviewed for a position at Rabobank and it was slightly
different to what I'm in now, and the hiring manager
was amazing and he said, look, I don't think you're
right for this particular role, but you've got some amazing
(06:37):
skills and talents and I think you'd be, you know,
a great fit for organization. Have you considered the research
side of things. So yeah, he introduced me to effectively
the role that I'm in now it's slightly different, but
I was very fortunate in that regard that he thought
of me and thought of, you know, the additional things
that I could bring to it. Long story short, moved
(06:58):
to christ Church, found a husband, and had kids. We're
back to Nelson here. I am.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
One thing I'm really interested in, because it's something that
a lot of us is women, and especially as young
driven women in organizations face is can you tell me
about a time and perhaps what you've just described as
a really good example of that, but in a little
bit more detail would be amazing in this and kind
(07:24):
of finding those champions in organizations who can really help
shape the pathway that you take into more senior roles,
into leadership positions, and into really pushing your career forward.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Finding champions is huge and I wouldn't be where I
am today without the support of a number of champions.
And the interesting thing I think is that majority of
them have been men. So I've had some mates. Don't
get me wrong, I've had some amazing female champions as well,
but I've had a lot of male champions, and I
think that's a really important point to remember, given that
(07:59):
you know the stats don't really lie that there are
a lot of men in more of those leadership positions,
certainly depending on what industry you're in, but in the
primary industry industry space, as while it does tend to
be male orientated, the ability to find those champions is
a tricky one, and I don't have any real hard
(08:19):
advice for how that might work. I think it's definitely
dependent on your personality and you know your own circumstances.
But what I would say is that I think it's
really important to invest in networking. I think this is
something that men do really, really well. The ability for
them to just pick up the phone and shoot the
breeze is incredible, And I do think that women women
(08:45):
tend to have a lot on their plates. If I'm
just thinking about me myself, I'm thinking about some of
my peers and people that I've observed in the workplace
across my years of working in various organizations, I've observed
that women tend to have a bit of a to do,
and we need to get these jobs done because we've
got a lot of things happening. We just need to
get it sorted. Whereas, again I'm just generalizing here, but
(09:09):
I do think that men are very good at just
connecting with other guys and creating their networks, which helps
to build some of those pathways in terms of climbing
up that ladder for their career. So there's one thing
I'm trying to focus on. It's probably that is remembering
that actually networking is working, it is going to help
me advance my career, and actually sometimes I need to
(09:31):
prioritize that and amongst everything else that's going.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
On that those are awesome thoughts.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I totally agree with you on the networking thing, and
I think as well, it's on top of it, it's
creating those relationships by which we can actually have someone
understand the authentic version of ourselves and why we might
be a.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Good fit for an opportunity in their mind.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Absolutely, and I think it's even more important today in
the environment that we're in to really put ourselves out
there and trying to who actually make those genuine connections
because you know, a lot of people are doing this
zoom situation or you know, whatever it is online and
it's harder again, I think, to create those perhaps for
(10:12):
some people to create those authentic connections. So that's one
thing I'm quite mindful of and the other thing is
just around. I guess the challenges of some of the
networking aspects when you are a working mum as well,
because a lot of the networking also happens, and the
connections and the genuine, authentic relationships that you can build
(10:36):
with people, sometimes that can happen outside of work. So
whether it's you know, going for that five o'clock beer,
whether it's staying after the conference and catching up with people.
And again, I think that's another avenue that I'm trying
to be mindful about where I've got those competing interests
of I've got to get home, I've got to leave now,
(10:57):
I've got to beat the traffic and pick up the
kids from daycare. Or I've got to go home and
see my kids. They haven't seen them for a couple
of days. You know. I've been at this conference for
two days now. You know, maybe it's taken me a
day to get there, so I need to go and
see my family. So it's about all those competing interests
and Dan, I don't have any wise words for how
you juggle it all, but I am trying to be
(11:17):
more mindful that actually, sometimes you've got to do the
mahi outside of the normal work hours or in ways
that I perhaps haven't considered important before.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Absolutely, let's take a little bit of a slight tune
and start talking a little bit about how you got
involved with Rural Women New Zealand. We're both now involved
on the board, which is amazing for us supposed to
have not only the opportunity ourselves, but to be able
to really add value to the organization.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So what can he to do to Rural Women New.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Zealand And what do you say is your contribution and
where we can go in future.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, so I'm lucky in the regard that I'm third
generation Rural Woman member. So my earliest memories of my
nana being involved and I must have been eight or nine,
and I remember her, you know, rushing out the daughter
to join the meetings and for her it was really
around the social connection side of things in the community service.
So that was my first real understanding of Rural Women.
(12:19):
And then fast forward to you know, a couple of
years a number of years later, and my mum got involved,
so she was really interested in the leadership aspect. There
was a program at that point in time which Rural
Woman ran and it was about getting members of Rural
Women up to Wellington, up to national office and giving
(12:39):
them the experience of how the organization operates at that
national level in terms of contributing to policy, select committees
and interviews with the ministers and things. And it was
at that point in time that I realized, actually, Rural
Woman not only does amazing things with the grondirits level,
(13:00):
but also you know, it has the air of government effectively.
And as part of that, my mum went onto the board.
I'm somewhere in between. I wanted and want to make
a difference to the community still and get back into that.
You know, I've had a lot going on over the
past few years, you know, establishing my career and having babies,
(13:21):
but now I want to start giving back to the community.
But I also want to have that nationwide view as
well and help, I guess, steer the organization and take
it to a new level fully respecting that. You know,
clear you and I we stand on the shoulders of
giants and there's been some amazing work that the organization
has done. So I think that's what I'm excited about.
(13:42):
That second part of your question, where are we? You know,
what do I hope to contribute and where are we
going with this? I'm really excited to, you know, develop
some new initiatives for and help with that essentially look
to really grow our membership base, to capture that next
generation of real woman and built on that legacy. You know,
it's almost one hundred years old now, so let's see
(14:03):
if we can push it further.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Incredible and I think just that real feeling that we
have so many wonderful rural stories to tell. Even in
this day and age, rural life is completely different to
how it was fifteen years ago and most certainly different
to how it was one hundred years ago. What are
some of the things that really excite you about living
(14:27):
rurally and being involved in a rural community, because it's
it's kind of a different experience for everyone, and it's
also a different experience depending on what time of life,
your family situation, and your career.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So I'm interested in where that fits in for you
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I think what I'm enjoying about rural life, and
so you know, I guess to give full completeness, So
I've moved up from christ Church. I was based there
for the last sort of six or seven years. I've
now moved back to Nelson, really enjoying being in a
smaller community and as I said, my parents around on
the farm. So I guess at the first level, really
nice having the connection to the farm for my kids
(15:03):
and hopefully engendering some of those characteristics that we talked
about earlier on Around, you know, resilience and work ethic
and other amazing attributes that living or having a connection
to the farm can bring. But also I'm loving connecting
with women in this role, whether it is within Nelson
or whether it's at a more national level. I'm loving
(15:26):
finding these amazing gems of stories and characters and women
who have done amazing things. And you know, this is
why you and I have started this podcast. You know,
it's to bring light to some of those amazing, incredible
women out there who are doing some awesome things. And
the more I'm around woman, the more I appreciate them
(15:47):
as well. And that the other thing is that in
my day to day role at Raubberbank, I engage a
lot with men. It just is the way it is,
you know, and it's part of the industry that I'm in,
and I'm really enjoying this more feminine aspect to my
life now, So I'm excited about what I can learn
from the ladies.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Basically, the stories we hear over a meal or over
a cup of tea in the office leadership gatherings, it's.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Just they're really incredible and some of them.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I've really been quite blown away by some of the
some of the things we've been able to hear.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
So bringing life to those stories is super exciting. I
think there are.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Not only successes in life, and we have so many
times where we face challenges and we face some really
tough things.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
What do you think that.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
You would stand out as one of the toughest moments
that you've had, and how did you get through that?
What were the tools, what were the experiences that helped
you kind of feel that you could move through and
move to the next stage.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, so toughest experience has to be coming back from
eternityly variety of reasons, so you don't know what you
don't know, and particularly you know before baby comes along,
you've got no idea what life's going to be like afterwards,
and I don't think anyone does. And when I came
back from maternity leave, I found it incredibly difficult. I
(17:15):
came back at a time where there was a lot
of things happening in my job, just because there are
a lot of things happening in the dairy space at
that point in time, and I didn't give myself enough
time to get my feet under the table. I think
I had to really hit the ground running. And at
that point in time, my son didn't sleep very well,
so he was up four hours every single night, like
(17:40):
I'm talking two hours, which you know, when you spread
it over a couple of years, it actually takes its
toll mentally on you as well as physically, you know,
Like I think the lowest point for me probably was
I remember I had a presentation early in the morning,
and for various reasons, I ended up only you know,
(18:02):
doing the final touches to that quite late at night,
and my husband was also away as well, and so
I shut my computer down for the night, and then
Freddy woke up and he was up four hours, and
I was just so anxious and strung out that I
hadn't got any sleep and that I was tired, and
then I, you know, like mentally just drained that I
(18:23):
don't think I ended up getting to bed until like
four thirty or getting to sleep, and I had to be,
you know, up at six thirty and presenting it at
nine kind of thing, and that was a real It
was a low point but also a high point in
the sense that I got through it, and I had
some amazing feedback from that presentation as well, and I
kind of thought to myself, well, I know what I
can do now on virtually nothing, and I know I'm
(18:45):
capable of doing this all, you know, this whole motherhood
working experience, and I know I can do it. So yeah,
So I guess for me, that's kind of my measuring
stick whenever I come up against adversity, I know that
I'm capable of doing amazing things on not a lot. Yeah,
(19:06):
it's my low point but also my high point.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
And it's also about kind of creating a positive out
of a negative in a way as well on reflection,
being able to say, yeah, I smash that, I'm awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yay go me.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I don't know if i'd say that so much, but I.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Obviously you you do juggle a lot of things in
your life, but I would say that very much. There
are people who look up to you, who feel inspired
by you. I know, I certainly do. What is it
for you that that makes success? Like, what does a
successful Emma Higgins who is just utterly stoked about the
(19:47):
way that she's living her life and the different things
that she's able to do. What does that successful person
look like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Oh? That is a big one. Yeah, I'm feeling the
pressure to really continue performing as well, knowing that, Yeah,
I have that impact on people. No, I just now.
Success I think is a moving target, and I think
it encompasses a number of aspects of me in my life.
(20:16):
And there's obviously success in their professional sense, but success
in the personal sense I think as well is pretty
important and it's what I'm trying to focus on at
the moment. The career can come and go, but success
personally for me looks like having happy, healthy kids and
(20:36):
raising genuinely good people to contribute to society. And a
little story about that is like a couple of days ago,
I saw Freddy So my son, Freddy history and a half,
and something happened with another kid to his little sister,
my youngest Georgie. She's one, and he got really protective
over her and got really upsets that she was hurt.
(21:00):
And I was like, yes, that's great. I'm engendering this
empathetic nature and my son, and you know he is
hopefully if we continue on this path, he's going to
be kind and curing and like a really good human.
So I was really stoked about that. But I think
the other thing for me around successes is having and
(21:21):
maintaining strong friendships. This is something that I'm working on
because I have spent so long focusing on my career
and my you know, meet my husband as I see it,
and developing our relationship, getting married and then having kids,
he hasn't been a lot of time for friends left over.
So that's what I'm trying to do now is just
(21:43):
really be mindful of that and try and keep those
connections going and giving back more and that since because
I know that I've been taking from them, if that
makes sense.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
That is such a lovely description of success as well,
because there are many people who love it, but it
is because it's a really authentic way of describing what
it looks like for you. And that's why we ask
these questions because it's such an awesome way to look
at all these different perspectives. So thank you for that
(22:13):
and thank you for your honesty and thank you for
your time, Emma, Like it's always a pleasure to speak
with you. It's always a pleasure to hear about what
you're up to and to hear ups and downs and
where your life has gone over the last thirty.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Two Yes, yes, well done.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I really appreciate you sitting down with me and having
away chat.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
So thank you, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Oh, thank you, Thanks the opportunity. It's nice to talk
about I guess it's nice to talk about other aspects
and in particular, like we've said, just shining a light
on the work that rural women do is just such
a huge part of this. So I am. I'm just
so stoked that you know we're we're doing this together.
And yeah, I can't wait to really bring out the
(22:58):
awesome stories of the ladies New.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Zealand Rural Women New Zealand is a community of like
minded women who are doing amazing things in their respective
regions and communities.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
This podcast celebrates the achievements, successes and stories of our
rural women, which are also the foundations for our organization's
rich history.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We want you to be part of our future story,
so please join us by clicking on the link in
the show notes, and we look forward to welcoming you
into the Fold.
Welcome to the Black Cales and Tractor Wheel's podcast, where
we are sharing stories from a range of women from
around New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
For nearly a century, Rural Women New Zealand has been
dedicated to strengthening and supporting women and children to become
empowered members of their communities.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We hope that by hearing these stories from inspiring women
all around the country, you'll feel inspired yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We're your hosts, Emma Higgins and Claire Williamson, and we'd
love for you to join and subscribe to our podcast
so you don't miss our rural stories. Today I'm speaking
to Emma Higgins, one of my fellow board members here
at Rural Woman New Zealand. She is a senior dairy
Analyst at Rabobank and has had a range of roles
in corporate and agribusiness throughout her career. She's a mum
(00:50):
to two beautiful children and lives in Sonny Nelson with
her husband Jimmy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
She's also a third.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Generation Rural Woman New Zealand member, and today we talk
about motherhood, champion and juggling it all in today's world.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Thank you for joining me, and you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Matt, You're welcome. It's nice to be doing this. You
and I. Normally we're both on the same side of
the interview table, so this is a little bit different.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It is a little bit different. It's a little bit different,
so let's crack into it. So one of the things
that we love hearing a lot about is stories from
growing up in the rural sector and the rural communities
and how they kind of shape you into the person
you are today. So can you tell us a little
bit about your childhood and your experiences growing up?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah? Sure, So I grew up with two brothers, so
I'm in the middle. I've got an older brother and
a younger brother and my parents, and we grew up
on a farm just outside of Nelson. My parents are
still there today, and we've actually boomeranged back and forth
to the farm just recently, which is really nice because
now I've got two kiddies, it's nice that they know
(01:54):
where I grew up. So, yeah, we grew up just
helping out on the farm. And I'm sure that you know,
anyone with a farming background or a farming childhood would
appreciate that. I think growing up on a farm and
gender is a really strong work ethic, and that's what
I remember a lot about. So a lot of my
(02:14):
earliest memories were working in the woolshed, for example, helping
Dad with stock work. The best one, I think was
probably the little money spinner that I had going on
with sheep manure. So I used to collect bags of
sheep manure from underneath the woolshed and I used to
sell that to family friends who had generally been browbeaten
into buying it, and it actually save me quite well.
(02:38):
I managed to go to a school trap to Japan
through the money that I earned with that. But one
particular time, I remember, I had a big order that
rolled through and I didn't quite have the inventory on hand,
so I had to go and collect manure that particular day.
Poor planning on my behalf, and I hadn't quite yet
worked out, you know, time management. I was probably about
(02:59):
a them and I hadn't check with Dad what his
plans were, and he happened to have a mob of
sheep in the wall sheet at the time, and I
just had to go and collect this these bags of
sheep manual. There was no other way, and so I
just had to put on a rain jacket and crawl
under get them, neure and hope for the best. And
(03:20):
you know, I think that kind of that whole life style.
I think just you know, it really instilled that hard
work ethic and you just got to do what you
gotta do to get the job done, to get in there.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
And also in terms of being your first foray into
customer service as well, you know, like the customers right,
and they needed the manual exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, they get what they get and they get what
they want, and yeah, that was that was the way
I had to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
In terms of.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Like moving from being the eleven year old entrepreneur into
being Emma Higgins the Rabu Bank senior analyst.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Can you tell us a little bit about.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
And fill in the gaps between those two spaces.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I guess you could say, clear it's a bit of
a long and twisted journey because I actually never wanted
to have anything to do with agriculture, like working in it.
It takes a really special person to certainly work on
the farm at least, and I never wanted to do that,
and so I thought that I would go to university
and do law instead. So I went down to Canterbury
(04:25):
studied law down there, had a great time. But in
my third year, I went to a careers evening and
that was kind of where my path twisted a little bit.
So there was a woman who was on one of
the one of the stands for one of the businesses,
and I happened to know her sister really well, so
we were just I went over and started talking to
(04:47):
her and just had a few yarns, as you do,
and then towards the end she was like, oh, you
should applay for this role and I was like, okay,
what is it. She was like, oh, it's fairly tax
consultant and I was like, h I don't do numbers
and she was like, oh, no, there's not really many
numbers involved, which is a lie. But anyway, I was
(05:07):
like okay. So I submitted my CV and long story short,
ended up getting an internship which led to a full
time gig once I finished, which is a really amazing,
awesome start to my career. You know, the soft skills
training that you get and a huge corporate like that
is second to none, so kind of set me out
(05:28):
for the position that I'm in now. And and how
I made that leap from you know, living the amazing
corporate life in Wellington to where I am now was
that I really decided that I wanted to change and
that actually I did want to re engage with the
agricultural community and work in an industry that actually helped farmers.
(05:50):
And so yeah, I applied for all these banking rules.
I got given some great advice from a guy who
had recently joined our organization, and his said, why don't
you give banking a crack? So I went for it
and I got declined every single time, and it was
a great learning experience, you know, going through the interview stages,
(06:14):
you know, getting your CEV ready, doing that over and
over again, I think really builds a resilienceself. You learn
a lot of things along the way. But finally I
interviewed for a position at Rabobank and it was slightly
different to what I'm in now, and the hiring manager
was amazing and he said, look, I don't think you're
right for this particular role, but you've got some amazing
(06:37):
skills and talents and I think you'd be, you know,
a great fit for organization. Have you considered the research
side of things. So yeah, he introduced me to effectively
the role that I'm in now it's slightly different, but
I was very fortunate in that regard that he thought
of me and thought of, you know, the additional things
that I could bring to it. Long story short, moved
(06:58):
to christ Church, found a husband, and had kids. We're
back to Nelson here. I am.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
One thing I'm really interested in, because it's something that
a lot of us is women, and especially as young
driven women in organizations face is can you tell me
about a time and perhaps what you've just described as
a really good example of that, but in a little
bit more detail would be amazing in this and kind
(07:24):
of finding those champions in organizations who can really help
shape the pathway that you take into more senior roles,
into leadership positions, and into really pushing your career forward.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Finding champions is huge and I wouldn't be where I
am today without the support of a number of champions.
And the interesting thing I think is that majority of
them have been men. So I've had some mates. Don't
get me wrong, I've had some amazing female champions as well,
but I've had a lot of male champions, and I
think that's a really important point to remember, given that
(07:59):
you know the stats don't really lie that there are
a lot of men in more of those leadership positions,
certainly depending on what industry you're in, but in the
primary industry industry space, as while it does tend to
be male orientated, the ability to find those champions is
a tricky one, and I don't have any real hard
(08:19):
advice for how that might work. I think it's definitely
dependent on your personality and you know your own circumstances.
But what I would say is that I think it's
really important to invest in networking. I think this is
something that men do really, really well. The ability for
them to just pick up the phone and shoot the
breeze is incredible, And I do think that women women
(08:45):
tend to have a lot on their plates. If I'm
just thinking about me myself, I'm thinking about some of
my peers and people that I've observed in the workplace
across my years of working in various organizations, I've observed
that women tend to have a bit of a to do,
and we need to get these jobs done because we've
got a lot of things happening. We just need to
get it sorted. Whereas, again I'm just generalizing here, but
(09:09):
I do think that men are very good at just
connecting with other guys and creating their networks, which helps
to build some of those pathways in terms of climbing
up that ladder for their career. So there's one thing
I'm trying to focus on. It's probably that is remembering
that actually networking is working, it is going to help
me advance my career, and actually sometimes I need to
(09:31):
prioritize that and amongst everything else that's going.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
On that those are awesome thoughts.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I totally agree with you on the networking thing, and
I think as well, it's on top of it, it's
creating those relationships by which we can actually have someone
understand the authentic version of ourselves and why we might
be a.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Good fit for an opportunity in their mind.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Absolutely, and I think it's even more important today in
the environment that we're in to really put ourselves out
there and trying to who actually make those genuine connections
because you know, a lot of people are doing this
zoom situation or you know, whatever it is online and
it's harder again, I think, to create those perhaps for
(10:12):
some people to create those authentic connections. So that's one
thing I'm quite mindful of and the other thing is
just around. I guess the challenges of some of the
networking aspects when you are a working mum as well,
because a lot of the networking also happens, and the
connections and the genuine, authentic relationships that you can build
(10:36):
with people, sometimes that can happen outside of work. So
whether it's you know, going for that five o'clock beer,
whether it's staying after the conference and catching up with people.
And again, I think that's another avenue that I'm trying
to be mindful about where I've got those competing interests
of I've got to get home, I've got to leave now,
(10:57):
I've got to beat the traffic and pick up the
kids from daycare. Or I've got to go home and
see my kids. They haven't seen them for a couple
of days. You know. I've been at this conference for
two days now. You know, maybe it's taken me a
day to get there, so I need to go and
see my family. So it's about all those competing interests
and Dan, I don't have any wise words for how
you juggle it all, but I am trying to be
(11:17):
more mindful that actually, sometimes you've got to do the
mahi outside of the normal work hours or in ways
that I perhaps haven't considered important before.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Absolutely, let's take a little bit of a slight tune
and start talking a little bit about how you got
involved with Rural Women New Zealand. We're both now involved
on the board, which is amazing for us supposed to
have not only the opportunity ourselves, but to be able
to really add value to the organization.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So what can he to do to Rural Women New.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Zealand And what do you say is your contribution and
where we can go in future.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, so I'm lucky in the regard that I'm third
generation Rural Woman member. So my earliest memories of my
nana being involved and I must have been eight or nine,
and I remember her, you know, rushing out the daughter
to join the meetings and for her it was really
around the social connection side of things in the community service.
So that was my first real understanding of Rural Women.
(12:19):
And then fast forward to you know, a couple of
years a number of years later, and my mum got involved,
so she was really interested in the leadership aspect. There
was a program at that point in time which Rural
Woman ran and it was about getting members of Rural
Women up to Wellington, up to national office and giving
(12:39):
them the experience of how the organization operates at that
national level in terms of contributing to policy, select committees
and interviews with the ministers and things. And it was
at that point in time that I realized, actually, Rural
Woman not only does amazing things with the grondirits level,
(13:00):
but also you know, it has the air of government effectively.
And as part of that, my mum went onto the board.
I'm somewhere in between. I wanted and want to make
a difference to the community still and get back into that.
You know, I've had a lot going on over the
past few years, you know, establishing my career and having babies,
(13:21):
but now I want to start giving back to the community.
But I also want to have that nationwide view as
well and help, I guess, steer the organization and take
it to a new level fully respecting that. You know,
clear you and I we stand on the shoulders of
giants and there's been some amazing work that the organization
has done. So I think that's what I'm excited about.
(13:42):
That second part of your question, where are we? You know,
what do I hope to contribute and where are we
going with this? I'm really excited to, you know, develop
some new initiatives for and help with that essentially look
to really grow our membership base, to capture that next
generation of real woman and built on that legacy. You know,
it's almost one hundred years old now, so let's see
(14:03):
if we can push it further.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Incredible and I think just that real feeling that we
have so many wonderful rural stories to tell. Even in
this day and age, rural life is completely different to
how it was fifteen years ago and most certainly different
to how it was one hundred years ago. What are
some of the things that really excite you about living
(14:27):
rurally and being involved in a rural community, because it's
it's kind of a different experience for everyone, and it's
also a different experience depending on what time of life,
your family situation, and your career.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So I'm interested in where that fits in for you
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I think what I'm enjoying about rural life, and
so you know, I guess to give full completeness, So
I've moved up from christ Church. I was based there
for the last sort of six or seven years. I've
now moved back to Nelson, really enjoying being in a
smaller community and as I said, my parents around on
the farm. So I guess at the first level, really
nice having the connection to the farm for my kids
(15:03):
and hopefully engendering some of those characteristics that we talked
about earlier on Around, you know, resilience and work ethic
and other amazing attributes that living or having a connection
to the farm can bring. But also I'm loving connecting
with women in this role, whether it is within Nelson
or whether it's at a more national level. I'm loving
(15:26):
finding these amazing gems of stories and characters and women
who have done amazing things. And you know, this is
why you and I have started this podcast. You know,
it's to bring light to some of those amazing, incredible
women out there who are doing some awesome things. And
the more I'm around woman, the more I appreciate them
(15:47):
as well. And that the other thing is that in
my day to day role at Raubberbank, I engage a
lot with men. It just is the way it is,
you know, and it's part of the industry that I'm in,
and I'm really enjoying this more feminine aspect to my
life now, So I'm excited about what I can learn
from the ladies.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Basically, the stories we hear over a meal or over
a cup of tea in the office leadership gatherings, it's.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Just they're really incredible and some of them.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I've really been quite blown away by some of the
some of the things we've been able to hear.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
So bringing life to those stories is super exciting. I
think there are.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Not only successes in life, and we have so many
times where we face challenges and we face some really
tough things.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
What do you think that.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
You would stand out as one of the toughest moments
that you've had, and how did you get through that?
What were the tools, what were the experiences that helped
you kind of feel that you could move through and
move to the next stage.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, so toughest experience has to be coming back from
eternityly variety of reasons, so you don't know what you
don't know, and particularly you know before baby comes along,
you've got no idea what life's going to be like afterwards,
and I don't think anyone does. And when I came
back from maternity leave, I found it incredibly difficult. I
(17:15):
came back at a time where there was a lot
of things happening in my job, just because there are
a lot of things happening in the dairy space at
that point in time, and I didn't give myself enough
time to get my feet under the table. I think
I had to really hit the ground running. And at
that point in time, my son didn't sleep very well,
so he was up four hours every single night, like
(17:40):
I'm talking two hours, which you know, when you spread
it over a couple of years, it actually takes its
toll mentally on you as well as physically, you know,
Like I think the lowest point for me probably was
I remember I had a presentation early in the morning,
and for various reasons, I ended up only you know,
(18:02):
doing the final touches to that quite late at night,
and my husband was also away as well, and so
I shut my computer down for the night, and then
Freddy woke up and he was up four hours, and
I was just so anxious and strung out that I
hadn't got any sleep and that I was tired, and
then I, you know, like mentally just drained that I
(18:23):
don't think I ended up getting to bed until like
four thirty or getting to sleep, and I had to be,
you know, up at six thirty and presenting it at
nine kind of thing, and that was a real It
was a low point but also a high point in
the sense that I got through it, and I had
some amazing feedback from that presentation as well, and I
kind of thought to myself, well, I know what I
can do now on virtually nothing, and I know I'm
(18:45):
capable of doing this all, you know, this whole motherhood
working experience, and I know I can do it. So yeah,
So I guess for me, that's kind of my measuring
stick whenever I come up against adversity, I know that
I'm capable of doing amazing things on not a lot. Yeah,
(19:06):
it's my low point but also my high point.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
And it's also about kind of creating a positive out
of a negative in a way as well on reflection,
being able to say, yeah, I smash that, I'm awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yay go me.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
I don't know if i'd say that so much, but I.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Obviously you you do juggle a lot of things in
your life, but I would say that very much. There
are people who look up to you, who feel inspired
by you. I know, I certainly do. What is it
for you that that makes success? Like, what does a
successful Emma Higgins who is just utterly stoked about the
(19:47):
way that she's living her life and the different things
that she's able to do. What does that successful person
look like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Oh? That is a big one. Yeah, I'm feeling the
pressure to really continue performing as well, knowing that, Yeah,
I have that impact on people. No, I just now.
Success I think is a moving target, and I think
it encompasses a number of aspects of me in my life.
(20:16):
And there's obviously success in their professional sense, but success
in the personal sense I think as well is pretty
important and it's what I'm trying to focus on at
the moment. The career can come and go, but success
personally for me looks like having happy, healthy kids and
(20:36):
raising genuinely good people to contribute to society. And a
little story about that is like a couple of days ago,
I saw Freddy So my son, Freddy history and a half,
and something happened with another kid to his little sister,
my youngest Georgie. She's one, and he got really protective
over her and got really upsets that she was hurt.
(21:00):
And I was like, yes, that's great. I'm engendering this
empathetic nature and my son, and you know he is
hopefully if we continue on this path, he's going to
be kind and curing and like a really good human.
So I was really stoked about that. But I think
the other thing for me around successes is having and
(21:21):
maintaining strong friendships. This is something that I'm working on
because I have spent so long focusing on my career
and my you know, meet my husband as I see it,
and developing our relationship, getting married and then having kids,
he hasn't been a lot of time for friends left over.
So that's what I'm trying to do now is just
(21:43):
really be mindful of that and try and keep those
connections going and giving back more and that since because
I know that I've been taking from them, if that
makes sense.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
That is such a lovely description of success as well,
because there are many people who love it, but it
is because it's a really authentic way of describing what
it looks like for you. And that's why we ask
these questions because it's such an awesome way to look
at all these different perspectives. So thank you for that
(22:13):
and thank you for your honesty and thank you for
your time, Emma, Like it's always a pleasure to speak
with you. It's always a pleasure to hear about what
you're up to and to hear ups and downs and
where your life has gone over the last thirty.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Two Yes, yes, well done.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I really appreciate you sitting down with me and having
away chat.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
So thank you, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Oh, thank you, Thanks the opportunity. It's nice to talk
about I guess it's nice to talk about other aspects
and in particular, like we've said, just shining a light
on the work that rural women do is just such
a huge part of this. So I am. I'm just
so stoked that you know we're we're doing this together.
And yeah, I can't wait to really bring out the
(22:58):
awesome stories of the ladies New.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Zealand Rural Women New Zealand is a community of like
minded women who are doing amazing things in their respective
regions and communities.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
This podcast celebrates the achievements, successes and stories of our
rural women, which are also the foundations for our organization's
rich history.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We want you to be part of our future story,
so please join us by clicking on the link in
the show notes, and we look forward to welcoming you
into the Fold.
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