Stibo Systems honors Women in Master Data Management and the great work by many in the industry to achieve gender balance and equity. This blog series brings you several interviews with some of the remarkable women in our industry. We hope the stories of these women will inspire you to chase your passion for master data and its related fields.
Evelyn Van Roey is an MDM Consultant for YellowGround, an MDM/PIM consultancy company based in Hasselt, Belgium. Evelyn has a master’s degree in Literature and Linguistics and in Computational Psycholinguistics as well as a Teacher’s degree.
Why did you pick a career in master data?
I used to work at University of Antwerp and because of my specialization in computational Psycholinguistics, focusing on data analysis and natural language programming, I naturally worked a lot with IT.
Data analysis was the key subject of my master thesis and that’s where I really discovered my interest. When I saw that YellowGround was searching for a master data management consultant I decided that this would be a great opportunity.
What do you see as the biggest barriers for more women in the master data field?
In the past there were some big barriers for women in a technology company. However, I think that most of these have diminished as more and more women are thinking about their career.
The main barrier is that you need to be confident enough to discuss data quality matters truthfully with CEOs and CIOs. This is however not something that frightens women only, but some men as well. When discussing these matters, people tend to get a little frustrated. I then always remind myself that they do not have a problem with me personally, they are just really facing their struggles.
What advice would you give to a woman considering a career in master data?
Be confident and trust your knowledge. You need to advise companies that are facing difficult struggles and they are looking to you to solve their issues. It is important that you are able to tell them what the best solution for their company is.
Furthermore, always broaden your horizon, never stop learning. Applications are developing new features and companies use different strategies, and you need to know as much about both as possible.
Does your organization work to promote gender equality? If so, how?
The fact is that there are still few women working in tech, because the environment is considered very masculine, but based on my experience that conception is wrong. Women are just as welcome here as men. In fact, the amount of female and male employees at YellowGround is somewhat even, because the focus of our recruitment policy is on what you can do and not your gender.
I appreciate the fact that emancipation is really understood at YellowGround and Cronos in general. Men and women are treated exactly the same and no gender is valued higher than the other.
Share a fun fact about yourself
One of the things I really like to do in my spare time is playing strategic board games with my friends. I especially enjoy thinking about my friends’ next moves during the game and how I can adjust my strategy to theirs.
I am also very keen on sports, mainly tennis. I play weekly when I can find time as well as train youngsters. As a trainer, one of my key activities is to guide the youngsters through their tennis career.
