Women’s Equality Day: Pam’s story

By Pamela Beard, SVP Technology & Project Management

​In the lead up to Women’s Equality Day in the US on the 26th of August, #TeamGuidant’s Pamela Beard shares her experience on what it's like as a working woman and advice for young women starting out in their career.

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I joined Guidant around 11 years ago.
I started out as the Director of Support Services for Guidant Global, responsible for overseeing our vendor management system technology implementations and reporting team.

It was an exciting time to join as we were rapidly growing our business. One of the very first things I focused on after joining was improving the quality of our program launches. From there, Guidant continued to provide me with opportunities to explore different ideas and ways of working.

Currently, I manage our Technology, Data & Automation teams spread across different geographies.
I truly enjoy doing what I do every day – whether that’s figuring out ways to help others automate the more manual parts of their jobs, coming up with new and better ways to implement technology for our clients or using our wealth of data to provide insights for our wider network.

I’ve never once felt like my options were limited because I was a woman.
Never was my personal life made to feel like a hindrance to work.

When I first started out in my career, I had my son much sooner than planned. At the time, flexible working wasn’t something people did, but I had a manager who went out of her way to make it happen for me.

I remember being very grateful that someone made it possible for me to continue working while being a mom. I’ve never forgotten it and have carried that through the rest of my career, always reminding colleagues that life happens. I ensure I am supportive of whatever form that may be, whether it’s childcare, an illness or injury, or caring for elderly parents.

After all, we are people first and foremost.

My favourite thing at Guidant is…
The people! Throughout the last 11 years, I have had the honor of working with people who teach me something new every day and who make me laugh while doing it. It’s a rare day finishing work where I can’t remember laughing even once. Hard work is made so much easier when you have colleagues who make the day enjoyable.

To all young women just beginning their career…
Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and suggest new ideas. It’s natural that some might not be so great, but others will be better than great.

And finally, don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault. Of course, apologize for the mistakes that you will inevitably make, however, don’t apologize if you haven’t done anything wrong.

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We’re proud to support our working women both in and out of work. Be part of the team and join #TeamGuidant today >