Women We Go To: Meet Jacky!

Women We Go To: Meet Jacky!

The many female faces behind Go-To are goddam great at what they do, keeping the peach cogs turning across formulations, finance, marketing, customer service, so YOU can have happy, healthy skin. So! It’s high time you got a chance to properly meet a few…

When she’s not revisiting the monthly snack budget because we’ve requested more Caramellos, Jacky is Go-To’s Head of Finance who also identifies as a very orderly Libran (crunching numbers, tidying spreadsheets, it was literally written in the stars). 

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your future self? 

Well it's probably the same advice to my past self too. Don’t sweat the small stuff and remember to take pleasure in the present moment.  

How does it make you feel working for/with a predominantly female company like Go-To?

In my career, this is the second female founded company that I have worked for and I am always in awe of the origins of a female-led business. It's a great sense of pride to know that we are employing incredibly intelligent women (and men!), developing products which are going to be utilised on a daily basis, and also allocating time to helping support several women-led initiatives in the community.

What’s one moment in life, or work, where you felt proud of yourself? 

Looking back, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I took the leap into the unknown and moved halfway around the world in my early 20s, and then proceeded to make a life for myself there. It was a much harder decision to move home over a decade later! 

London was where I landed my first commercial finance role, funnily enough, for a skincare company (before moving on to other international retail businesses). During my time I was lucky enough to do a lot of travel as well, working with, and meeting colleagues all throughout Europe, Asia and the US.

There’s nothing worse than hitting the Go-To lolly jar at 3pm to find there’s only musk sticks left. Can you talk us through another life event that required a bit of gusto to get through?

Oh gosh - the hard hitting questions, this is tougher than finding only musk sticks at 3pm. 

Instead of answering this question directly, I might talk instead about some of the welcome changes I’ve seen in finance throughout my career so far.  

The amount of women I now see in senior finance positions compared to when I began my career is immense. When I first started carrying around the calculator and falling in love with excel there was close to a 1 in 8 ratio between women and men (well, at least where I worked) and most of the senior positions were filled by men. Over my last few roles (especially in Australia) I have had the opportunity to work for several incredibly driven and intelligent female CFOs and CEOs, and women have made up at least 50% of the executive management teams. 

I feel very fortunate to have been a part of workplaces that make room for different experiences, views, and voices at the decision table. In fact, some of my biggest supporters, especially at times when the dreaded imposter syndrome is lurking around, have been male managers! I know that isn’t always the case for every woman in finance (especially mothers returning to the workplace, at least that was the case in the beginning of my career), and experiencing any discrimination (direct or indirect) would definitely require a bit of gusto I’m sure, to have to stand up, talk up, or walk away.   

Given that you work at Go-To, you should know all the unwritten beauty rules (and follow them too!). But tell us, are you hiding behind any skincare sins?

Eeek - I have to admit my skincare sins?! Probably the fact that I touch my face too much during the day… or that when I get busy, my routine literally reverts to using just Properly Clean, Nifty Fifty and then out the door!