b'EMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, VETERINARY WOMAN CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGEACHIEVE & LEAD TOGETHERAlina ZheleznyakovaHEAD OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS AT NATIONWIDE LABORATORIESAlina Zheleznykova is Head of Marketing and Communications at NationWide Laboratories. Her passion is to turn marketing into a tool to help the veterinary professions move forward by bringing confidence to the women in her team, motivating them to achieve their dreams, and inspiring women in the wider veterinary professions. We were eager to discover more about how Alina is championing change:Please summarise how you are working towards changeto achieve the correct diagnosis quickly and then get back in the veterinary professions and why do you feel this to their families and passions like charity work, education or is important? sustainability initiatives. They have never thought that they are The veterinary industry is dynamic and full of talentedworth writing about. professionals, who do their very best every single day simplyGiving them a platform to talk about themselves and helping because they care - but it can feel too much at times. Wordsthem realise that their stories inspire other women not only of kindness and encouragement as well as looking at positiveboosted their confidence and motivation, but also opened up S U M M A R Y role models can support mental health and help to create aother avenues where they could unleash their potential. For collaborative culture that fosters productivity and personalexample, we now have regular sustainability action groupsI have a university degree with honoursgrowth.where team members can do a beach clean or litter picking in linguistics and internationalAs the Head of Marketing and Communications I generatewhich makes them feel good.Our team includes experts with communications and nearly two decades of experience in business-to-businessopportunities for my team members to tell their storiesworldwide reputations, so I make sure that they can share their marketing. After graduating, I worked inand raise awareness of the impact laboratory scientists,knowledge with the veterinary community through articles, education teaching English as a Foreignpathologists, technicians, customer service managers andCPD webinars, podcasts, and face to face learning sessions. Language, which I loved. However, Iother support roles have on the veterinary industry. It isI am also able to give opportunities to younger team members was keen on broadening my horizons,important not only to provide appropriate representation forto take part in company communications and write scientific so I took a position as an interpreter/ all the jobs that make up veterinary landscape, but also topieces for our LinkedIn newsletter, which helps them take translator, which evolved into a role of apromote diversity and educate young people interested in thetheir first steps in writing and gives them recognition as brand marketing manager in the internationalveterinary career path about different opportunities within the printing sector.profession and the importance of believing in themselves andambassadors. following their dreams.During the Covid-19 pandemic, I started a weekly internal One of the projects I have commissioned with the help of thenewsletter which is still ongoing and is the place for shout-Veterinary Woman, is a series of interviews with NationWideouts and kind messages. I think that working towards building Laboratories female team members talking about theira feeling of belonging to the same team for vets, nurses, work, their views and their interests. It was not easy tolaboratory scientists and pathologistsis an important persuade them to take part, because most of my team arestep towards a more integrated veterinary community and incredibly humble. They just go about their day helping vetsalso towards reducing discrimination and inequality in the profession.18www.veterinarywoman.co.uk'