Irena: Hi, Caitlin. Thank you for very much for joining us today.
Caitlin: Thank you for having me.
Irena: No problem. I guess let's get started by asking
you to tell us about yourself and how you got where you are now.
Caitlin: So, my name's Caitlin MacGregor. I'm the CEO and co-Founder of Plum.
I studied international development when I went to university so nothing to do with entrepreneurship,
nothing to do with what I'm doing today, and I had the opportunity that in my very first job out of
university I had somebody that saw potential in me. They gave me the opportunity to build
a business from scratch with no glass ceiling. I was just kind of thrown into the fire, and through
building a successful social enterprise from the ground up I kind of looked back and went,
"Wow. I'm an entrepreneur and the thing that I do really well is build something from nothing."
Irena: Have you had any women in your life who
have supported you along the way and helped you in obtaining these goals?
Caitlin: Absolutely. I think that in the investment community there's people that
were angel investors, that really believed in us early on, as well as our lead investor is a woman,
our board member is a woman so there's been definitely people that have bet on Plum by putting
their money behind us, but also by putting their mentorship and connecting us to their network,
I think has been really critical. But I also think my biggest role model is my mom. She really showed
me what it is to believe in yourself, invest in yourself. She was somebody that took her career
to running her own business as a physiotherapist. She ended up later in life kind of going out there
and becoming her own boss and really showing of what that new model, I think of leadership,
looks like. I got to see that firsthand through her. I really believe that my desire to change
the world and make it better is a reflection of kind of her as a physiotherapist, helping people
be better. It's many elements of that I saw as an example and incorporate in my daily life.
Irena: How do you support the young women professionals in your network?
Caitlin: I think that one of the best ways that I've been able to support women
in my own organization is by leading from a different leadership playbook. One that
starts with leading from a place of love and care, from really creating a supportive
environment. I want people to bring their whole selves to work. I want them to thrive at work.
I get to utilize my own tool to do that but I also really want to support people in the thing that
gives them that sense of self-worth and give them an opportunity to bring that to work, utilize it,
support them on areas that are draining and also create room for work to be compliment their lives
and to be something. I want people who get up every day and love the work that they do
and create that supportive environment for that to happen. I love what I do every single
day and I want the people that work at Plum move, they'll move into different companies
throughout their career, but I want them to be able to look back and say, "Plum was one of the
best places that I ever worked.", and that's aspirational. I'm still growing as a leader,
we're still growing as an organization. We always have resource constraint requirements as well,
but ideally we are working on growing and learning and getting better at achieving that, and I think
it's by using a more modern leadership playbook and also being human. I have two kids. I have
all these other things in my life, and being transparent and bringing those to work and also
showing that vulnerability, the things that make me really good as a mother and a friend and as
a daughter and a wife, those things about caring and taking care of people and being caring about
other people being successful, those show up in the type of leader that I am as well.
Irena: I know I've already asked you what advice you would give to young women,
what advice would you give to your younger self? Is it different at all?
Caitlin: I think some of the things that I have learned along the way is that when it comes to
building a business, or trying to change the world, there's no such thing as an overnight
success. It takes time. This is a marathon. It's not a sprint. Especially when you're trying to
disrupt something and truly make it better, it's hard, and hard things are hard. If they were easy
everybody would be doing them. So I think that it's really about choosing something that is
worth all that effort. Choosing something that is worth defying the odds and just going for it,
because it you're successful and able to truly impact people's lives, then it's worth it.