date 7 June 2022 update Upd: 15 March 2024 reading time 12 min views 456 views

According to the media, women’s representation and influence within the iGaming sphere grow yearly. Still, the problems of bias, diversity, equality, and inclusion remain hot. Bucking the trend of male domination, EvenBet Gaming shows up as the company to reach a balanced ranking, with a leading position ratio of 46% to 54% female to male. Though EvenBet represents only a petite share of the overall iGaming businesses, the industry strives for equal women representation.

Employees in EvenBet inclusive workplace feel confident and at ease sharing their distinctive ideas because they are genuinely appreciated. We’ve spoken to 6 outstanding EvenBet Gaming women in leading positions for whom the company made a good fit. 

Bio: Daria, Head of HR. Has worked at Evenbet Gaming since 2018 with 10+ years of experience in the field. Super strength: to hire the most relevant people for the company, сreate a managed and conscious corporate culture and inspire and energise people. Known in the company as HR-fire. Harry Potter fan, karaoke singer.

What makes a company a good fit?

It’s a quite complex question for several reasons. The first one touches upon the aspect connected with the employer. In other words, the company has its own key values, development strategy and vision of the future in general. The second reason is linked to the employee. As in the case of the company, every employee has their individual worldview, as well as unique interests, goals, and dreams that may not coincide with the vision of the company. The key questions to consider are the following: are there universal values that would be essential for the wide range of specialists? What things make employees go to work with pleasure? Let’s figure them all out.

According to the latest studies, the most important things that make a job worthwhile are opportunities for advancement, social activities, support for parents, and mentorship. Besides, we don’t forget about basic factors, i.e. flexible work hours and salary satisfaction due to the fact that they can maintain the high performance of your team. Furthermore, some specialists mentioned the following values: the ability to telecommute, the people you work with, equal opportunities for women and men, support for diversity, and women in leadership. No doubt, if the company adheres to the above values, employees will enjoy every moment of their work!

What steps do you take to eliminate bias from your hiring process?

It’s well–known that biases are all around us. Psychologists say that we perceive our world through the prism of our own stereotypes, unconscious beliefs, and irrational attitudes. So, the main question is how to avoid these traps of thinking?

As far as I’m concerned, I try to assess candidates based only on objective criteria, such as their actual skills, abilities, and values, which are connected with the fundamental principles of the company. In order to evaluate candidates in an impartial manner, I use structured interviews to make sure each of them is asked the same questions. 

Furthermore, to eliminate bias from my hiring process I try to use as many recruiting sources as possible. In other words, when I do a web search, I make sure that I check both foreign and local networks. When I communicate with a candidate, I never focus on their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and political views. To sum up, all this helps me to prevent bias in my hiring process.

Bio: Ekaterina, Head of PR and Events, has worked for EvenBet Gaming since 2014 and has grown from social media content creation to public brand image management. Superpowers: knows everything about iGaming media and events, assigns the most comprehensive tasks, speaks four languages.

Why is being a mentor so important to you?

I have always felt the need to share my knowledge and experience instead of keeping unique expertise just for myself. I believe that the more competent specialists are around me, the stronger the team we form together. Not to mention the benefits of sharing and delegating my own responsibilities since their load is increasing together with the growth of the EvenBet business.

How do you deal with stress as a female manager?

For my position, stress is often caused by multitasking: you have to simultaneously keep under control multiple events, public relations activities in three continents, communication, and content, the amount of which has tripled in the last two years for EvenBet Gaming. The only secret I have is obligatorily prioritising, focusing on the strategic company goals and the quality of work. Otherwise, you always risk getting lost in deadlines and urgent issues of low importance.

Bio: Antonina, Head of Product, has worked at EvenBet since 2010. Started in a position as a QA specialist, and later worked with customers as a Project Manager. Now manages EvenBet product. Skilled in how to communicate with customers to figure out their needs and to bring these issues to the team to find the best solutions for customers. Enjoys snowboarding and detective stories.

What energises you in the course of your career?

It energises me greatly when I manage to find out the individual strengths of each team member, and find tasks where everyone could show themselves at the maximum. What electrifies me is seeing how talents are becoming visible.

What are your secrets to keeping a work-life balance?

My secret is not unique. Whenever I feel the urge to completely unplug from work tasks for a while, I have me time: to devote time to hobbies, and sports, spend time with my family, or just do nothing. For me, all these things are very important for energy regeneration. Beyond that, this time allows me to develop myself as a versatile person, which in turn helps my work tasks.

Bio: Ekaterina, Head of Customer Success Department, has worked for EvenBet Gaming since 2009. Has an e-marketing and sales background that helped her better understand customers’ business needs in the position of Project Manager. Now running a big team of customer support and account specialists. Degree in Philology and Pedagogy. Engaged in needlework, experienced gardener.

As a leader, how do you build confidence?

I continue learning new things on a regular basis from my everyday life, my job, and the people who are around me. I also keep on learning when I coordinate with other people – my team, customers, and my son. When a person says aloud or writes about what they already know, this helps to systemise the knowledge and reach a better understanding.

A good skill is to understand that you cannot control everything, no matter how hard you try things might fail for a hundred reasons that are out of your control. You just need to accept this challenge and become more experienced. So, confidence for me is not about total control over things, but the power to overcome possible difficulties and gain experience. 

What does equality mean to you? 

When I started working in the company that had only 8 women on the staff, this was not because the company discriminated against them. The company was at the early stage of development and the main part of the team was the developers. At that time, not many women selected such a major. 

Now the company has gone a long way and the team has increased greatly. Women can have any position in our company – developer, analyst, product or project manager, QA engineer, marketing and sales, HR – all including the leading roles. The company gives equal opportunities to everyone. I am happy to be part of such a team that encourages all people to evolve and improve their skills. 

Bio: Elena, Head of Accounting. Started as an Accounting Manager in 2010, going from junior employee to Head of Department. Considers the keys to a successful career are to keep educating, network with more experienced specialists, have an open mind, and regularly improve skills. Likes snowboarding, racing, and making handmade jewellery.

How will you develop an encouraging work environment conducive to women?

Maturing a conducive work environment for women includes recognising masterful women and giving them a foundation leading to women’s empowerment, therefore minimising the gender divide. Also, a positive, inspiring and conscious environment for the team is vital. Such an environment allows you to develop professionally, create, achieve career success and realise your own ambitions.

Besides, it’s pivotal for a modern woman to have a healthy work-life balance. Having children means being flexible and organised. A flexible or hybrid work schedule helps greatly. 

How would you describe your role within the company? 

I’m the company’s chief financial cog. My function is the most efficient distribution of financial flows, I coordinate the work of junior specialists to facilitate their success and performance, monitor financial transactions and their accounting for further management analysis to maintain the financial stability of the enterprise. Despite the presence of a large number of figures and great responsibility, I find my work to be also creative and interesting.

Bio: Julia, Head of Demand Generation, has worked at EvenBet since 2020, builds account-based marketing in the company, and is involved in product marketing. For many years worked in a US B2C company developing personal finances software. Great at presenting the product in its best version, has excellent communication and analytical skills, and is good at writing. Has three kids, and writes poetry and prose.

What’s the best advice you have ever received?

I was lucky enough to meet a highly professional executive at the beginning of my career. Having a successful business, he found enough time to travel around the world. To illustrate his passion – he’d flown 2 million miles with his air company to the moment we met. In my mind, I called him a world citizen because of his incredible values and beliefs. He taught me about trust, Trust in the broader sense. Trust to my heart, trust to the Universe, trust to the essence of life. I couldn’t completely understand what he meant at that time, but I seemed to have figured that out as years passed by.

Whenever I met a hindrance in my way, making me stop, causing fear or self-doubt, I halted the flow of the negative thoughts and tried to settle deep in my heart to feel Trust. It wasn’t only about the work tasks I had difficulties with. It was about every part of my life. And it always helped, no matter how hard and desperate the situation was. So, the best advice I had ever received was: “Learn to trust your own heart and the Universe that has lots of love for every human being.”

Which woman has inspired you the most and why?

I won’t give you any famous names. In my case, it was my distant relative who I happened to live with for a few months. It was many years ago. She was a Chief Marketing Officer in a large hospital, had three kids, and was pregnant with a fourth one. Their family lived in a big house that required lots of care. I was stunned at how a 38-year-old woman managed to organise her hectic day. She had a perfect balance between her career and family life. It was the first time I saw in practice how a woman could combine these two spheres without the necessity to choose between them.

What inspired me most was the woman’s sparkling eyes, eagerness to do things, and ability to distinguish the key points in her everyday life. She let go of minor things and didn’t allow herself to spend time in useless worries. Like a skilful builder, she was shaping her life meticulously with every step she made.

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    Victoria Sopko

    Article by Victoria

    Victoria Sopko

    Head of PR at EvenBet Gaming