How four women at Uber #ChoosetoChallenge

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated each year on March 8. We are proud to continue Uber’s tradition of joining millions of people around the world in recognizing the achievements and contributions of women, both past and present. This year’s IWD theme is #ChoosetoChallenge, a call to create a more inclusive world by challenging gender bias and inequality and celebrating the accomplishments of women around the world. To commemorate IWD 2021, we invited members of our Women at Uber ERG and their allies to tell us their personal story and how they will #ChoosetoChallenge.

Jodie Auster
Sr Director, GM | Australia

“I have been lucky to work at places over the past decade that support every part of who I am: a woman, a parent, and a member of the LGBT community. Being able to be the same person at and outside of work reduces the mental load of trying to hide things that are important to me. I try to know my team as whole people beyond their work, and have empathy for their diverse personal situations. That’s been especially hard to do well during COVID restrictions. This year, I choose to challenge downplaying personal challenges. Here’s to bringing your whole self to work, and to speaking up when life outside of work feels hard!”

Anabelle Rodriguez  
COE Program Manager | Costa Rica

“Throughout my entire life, as a bilingual Latina deaf woman, I have constantly challenged myself in being the best person I can be, not letting my disability define or limit me in reaching my goals and allowing myself to have tremendous growth and learning experiences. The backing from family, friends, classmates, colleagues has been vital during my lifelong growth and development that has shaped me into who and where I am today. Being at Uber, and with the support of my incredible LatAm CommOps teams, I feel empowered to be my best version and have a positive impact in the company every day. I have been able to overcome challenges, such as being an entire year WFH with constant video calls as I rely on lipreading, and thrive within the company. I #ChooseToChallenge to not let a disability define or limit anyone and champion for more PwDs at Uber, driving inclusivity and equal opportunities.”

Oby Chiedu
Senior Tax Analyst | Netherlands 

“I am the quintessential Nigerian. When asked to describe myself, I frequently respond with a question: Do you know about astrological signs? For those who answer in the affirmative, I tell them that I am a Scorpio.

Hence, it is only fitting to describe this experience from the lens of a Scorpio. Recently, Kenya, an African country within my purview surprisingly proposed a unilateral Digital Service Tax. Scorpios love challenging situations, hence, I was not deterred by the sudden announcement, and immediately put together a plan, the execution of which was no easy feat and spanned over 2 years – we even made the BNA.

This feat was made possible by the support of the excellent ladies whom I work with daily. It is for this reason that this year I #ChooseToChallenge all the ladies on the Tax Team to continually champion gender equality.”

Bassant Hadary
Learning & Development Manager | United States 

“I am from Egypt, and it all started in 2019 when I made the decision to move to a new role in US&C. The moment I got my visa, I knew that I was pregnant. Even though I missed my family’s support, I was lucky to work with a lovely team who supported me in every way, and lucky to spend quality time with my baby during maternity leave. It was when I came back to work that I saw my first challenge: my team had to go into a reorg, and I now had a different set of responsibilities and no one to take care of the baby while I was at work. Two weeks later, COVID hit. Who said a new challenge? Yes! 

As if that wasn’t enough, I decided to enroll in a master’s degree. Too much to handle? Yes! Now I found myself a people manager, a program manager, a mom, a wife, and a student. I was about to give up but here I am now. I ended 4 classes out of 10 with A+. I succeeded in supporting my team and the business. And on top of this, enjoying the time with my baby seeing her growing in front of my eyes. It was never easy but that is why always and this year I’ll continue to #ChooseToChallenge myself to be my best version and keep challenging gender bias by proving that working moms can be successful.”