"Take risks, and dare to fail"

The official theme for this years International Women's Day 2021 is #Choose to Challenge, recognizing the need to call out gender bias and inequality. Sandy challenges by encouraging other female colleagues to believe in their value and unleash their potential.

Samaporn (Sandy) Jarukumjorn is head of Siemens Healthineers Customer Services in Thailand. Her mission is to make medical systems available for customers 24/7.

With more than 15 years of work experience in the engineering field and the customer service industry, Sandy has often worked in multicultural teams across different countries. What helps her is embracing her skill-set and leveraging her individual strengths to connect people and give them a sense of purpose and direction.

When she looks back, she knows that getting out of her comfort zone helped her become confident and stand up for herself. She made a bold decision as a young woman: “I grew up with typical stereotypes, for example, only men can become engineers and women should be nurses”, Sandy remembers. She felt that this was mainly due to a general perception that engineering was more suited for males – and she was fortunate enough to have been exposed to other mindsets and knew the world provided more options. She decided to study engineering and subsequently expanded her skills and competencies, for example, by educating herself in programming. In her professional life, Sandy volunteered whenever there was a new project or initiative and has always looked for new opportunities.

Today she uses her personal experiences to encourage other female colleagues to believe in their value and unleash their potential. She offers an important piece of advice: “Leave your comfort zone. Try out new things. Take risks and dare to fail. But also believe in yourself and your unique value.”