This IWD’22, Samsung Employees From Around the World Share Their Hopes for a More Sustainable Tomorrow – Samsung Global Newsroom

March 8 marks International Women’s Day (IWD), a day designated by the United Nations to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of women across all facets of society, from culture to politics to business. The #BreakTheBias theme for this year’s IWD is a reminder of the need to work towards a better future without discrimination and stereotyping.

In order to highlight this important day in the global calendar, Samsung Newsroom sat down with three female employees to hear their experiences of fighting the bias, achieving their career goals and helping others to do the same.

Vice president of Mobile eXperience Business (MX), Samsung Electronics. Jaeyeon Jung leads the SmartThings team and works tirelessly to provide the best experience for SmartThings users all over the globe. He also helps junior colleagues to grow.

“It’s a sad fact that the ratio of male colleagues to female colleagues decreases as more responsibility is given,” Jung stated. Jung said, “But, just like my bosses assessed me without prejudice, and encouraged me take on new challenges,” Jung added.

Sumedha Bakhshi is the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), Lead at Samsung SWA and chairperson of SIEL-S D&I Council. She believes each individual has unique talents, passions and beliefs. Bakhshi, who has faced stereotypes regarding the female role in her country’s domestic society throughout her career, was able to overcome them and continue to advance her career.

“When I tried to apply for Quality Leader in one of my past roles, there was a lot of resistance because it appeared that women weren’t good at numbers and analytics. This prejudice was overcome by passion, effort and my own capabilities, which resulted in me scoring higher than other candidates, landing the job. It’s great to work with a group that appreciates your individual strengths at Samsung. In all my projects, I had the support and guidance of the leadership. My recent promotion was possible only because my abilities were evaluated by the company. Everyone should be given a fair opportunity without discrimination or prejudice.”

Svetlana Chervonnykh manages Soft Skill Development for Samsung partners at Samsung MENA CS, and is steadfast in the belief that an accomplished woman is a happier and a stronger woman. Not only does Chervonnykh have ambitions for her current role in changing people’s perceptions of services, she also dreams of opening a healing retreat for women in order to nurture their inner and outer health.

“I believe that women have secret superpowers thanks to their natural femininity and softness, something that is actually incredibly useful in work environments,” said Chervonnykh. My immediate boss, a female Samsung MENA CS leader, is my only example. Among those I work with, regardless of gender, I find everyone very cooperative in fostering a comfortable environment in which to work.”

Breaking the Bias by Fostering Support for All

By fostering a culture that embraces all kinds of diverse talents, Samsung supports all of its members to feel a sense of belonging and to realize their potential based on equal opportunity. Samsung organizes many events every year to celebrate this global community of inclusion, respect and diversity.

As a celebration of this year’s IWD, Samsung has organized a global campaign amongst its employees to submit photos of them making the IWD’22 official pose — using the arms to form the letter ‘X’ — in order to bring together Samsung employees from all over the world virtually through a collage of solidarity. The company also prepared an IWD video in which female employees of Samsung go about their daily lives, sharing their support for IWD.

In commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, Samsung has launched a campaign to highlight the importance of creating a fair world without prejudices, big or small, in every person’s position.

Furthermore, on March 8, the company is hosting regional lunch webinars beginning with Korea and continuing on in a relay format in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America, with staggered starting times to align with the different time zones. The webinars will be held on March 728 and feature expert speakers who share their knowledge and interact with employees about the subject of fighting prejudice.

A Better World, Without Prejudice

As well as organizing these special events to commemorate IWD, Samsung continues to work year-round to end discrimination in the workplace and foster an environment where all people can thrive regardless of such factors as their gender.

“We will continue to push Samsung to help our female employees find roles that are right for them and to assist with their career goals,” stated Jong-Hee Han (Vice Chairman, CEO, Samsung Electronics’ DX Division). We will provide more support to our female future leaders by offering a variety of mentoring and networking opportunities .

Kyehyun Kyung was also the CEO and President for Samsung Electronics’ DS Division. He shared a message of support to employees. We want to make sure that every employee feels connected and can reach their potential. This is why we embrace diversity and inclusion .