On Air: Podcast by Femme Palette Femme Palette

Listen to the recording of our panel discussion event on neurodiversity with MK Kirigin, Héloïse Thon, Ashley Sigmon!



Neurodiversity has recently been increasingly recognised as one of the pillars of corporate DEI efforts. In particular, neurodiversity in the workplace examines whether an organisation supports neurodiverse candidates and workers, trains non-neurodiverse managers to support all their staff, and works toward creating a culture of neuroinclusivity.

This panel will cover why neurodiversity is important in the workplace, exchange best practices for supporting neurodiversity at work, and discuss concrete steps to cultivate neuroinclusivity in the workplace.

We will hear from Héloïse Thon (Neurodivergent Coach), Ashley Sigmon (Sr. Career Specialist at CareerFoundry), and MK Kirigin (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Expert).



About the speakers

Ashley is a Senior Career Services Support Advisor for CareerFoundry, helping to support a team of over 100 freelance coaches to provide top-quality career guidance to students and alumni. Originally from the US, she left a role as a career coach for people with disabilities to move to Berlin with her husband in 2019. All too familiar with the challenges that neurodivergent people face at work, Ashley is excited by any opportunity to foster dialogue and inclusivity, especially in management and HR contexts.



As a Neurodivergent Coach & Consultant, Héloïse is passionate about helping individuals and organisations embrace neurodiversity and create a more inclusive and innovative world. After eight years working in Human Resources in corporate settings, Héloïse has started her own coaching & consulting practice to help neurodivergent individuals thrive. She is herself neurodivergent and understands firsthand the challenges of having a uniquely wired mind. Héloïse aims to support individuals navigating neurodiversity, increase awareness, and create safe spaces to empower neurodivergent people to be themselves.



A proud Latina from Bolivia who grew up in 5 countries, MK is a global Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion expert who has been dedicated to creating safe and supportive spaces in schools and workplaces for over 8 years. MK aims to bring intersectionality to all DEI conversations. She has worked closely with neurodivergent students and colleagues, initiating affinity groups, leadership trainings, and ongoing dialogue on the topic. As someone who has experience with ADHD, she is passionate about creating workplaces where all individuals can thrive and contribute their unique skill sets by having access to the support and accommodations they need.



About Femme Palette 🎨

Femme Palette is a global mentoring platform helping (not only) women grow in their careers. Currently, 1,000+ global mentors are working with Femme Palette and helping 1,000+ mentees grow in their careers. Femme Palette’s mission is to help develop talents and give everyone the practical skills they need to thrive in their roles. They organize events, conferences and create educational resources for the community. Join our global community here.



DEI Palette Club 💬

Femme Palette launched the DEI Palette Club to bring together experts and enthusiasts in the DEI field. Are you a DEI specialist or want to be an inclusive leader? Everyone is welcome to join our global DEI community to discuss DEI topics, meet like-minded people and learn from each other to make your workplace an inclusive space.

👉 Join the DEI Palette Club 👈

What does parental leave look like in different countries? What is the optimal model and what can companies do to make it easier for parents to return to their jobs? In this episode, we sat down with experienced leaders Renata Mrazova and Evgeniy Akulich to hear their views on this heavily debated topic, including the ultimate question: do you have to choose between career or children, or is it possible to have it all?

About the speakers:

Renata Mrazova

Renata is an experienced business leader whose professional experience spans decades. After graduating from University of Economics, Prague in 1995, she began her professional career in the finance division of Swedish pharmaceutical firm Astra (now AstraZeneca), later becoming Finance Director and coordinating a merger with the British firm Zeneca.

Since then, she has served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Direct Insurance, CFO at ING Group, devoted time to her family business - the largest company in the fabrics industry in Czech and Slovak markets (retail, wholesale and e-commerce) - and also worked as an external consultant on several projects for the banking and insurance sectors.

In 2019, she moved back to the Czech Republic with her family after four years spent in the Netherlands serving as Global Head of HR of NN Group in The Hague, where she was responsible for strategic HR in 18 markets. On returning to her home country, she joined Home Credit International, a.s. (part of PPF Group), a global leader in consumer finance, as Group Chief People Officer. She is a proud mother of 2 daughters, Anna (18) and Eliska (14), and is married.

Evgeniy Akulich

Evgeniy is an experienced professional and leader in strategy management consulting and people development.

He started his career in HR in 2005, shifting to strategy management consulting in 2009. Evgeniy spent 11 years with BCG in Russia and Switzerland, having completed above 60 projects in 25+ markets, focusing on Consumer goods, banking, telecoms and public sector/social impact. It was a very exciting but very demanding time – a lot of travel (up to 130 flights / year), long hours, unpredictable schedules.

Evgeniy took a parental leave just before pandemic, quit BCG in the middle of the 1st lock down, then worked as independent consultant and executive coach for 9 months and got back to strategy consulting as a partner at EY-Parthenon in Switzerland.

Evgeniy will share his experience of taking a parental leave after his son was born, going through pandemic, quitting his job, looking for other options that are better compatible with children and family, how he got back to consulting and how he manages his work and family time.



Insights from the speakers:


when it comes to your parental leave, do not think in any pattern, everyone is different, so you will in the end have to find your own solution
if the speakers should just say just one ideal length of a parental leave for them, it would be 1 year - it is not too long so that it would harm your career, it is not too short so that your kid can already be without you for a longer period, plus some time off might do you good if you already worked for a couple years
when combining work and family, don’t forget about yourself
everyone is equally capable of taking care of and raising a child
the second parent is not ‘helping’ the other ‘take care’ of their child, it’s their child as well
important thing is also financial planning for the parental leave

What is hybrid leadership? How is it applied in a regular workday? And how can leaders deal with challenges that the future of work holds? In this episode, we sat down with Violeta Luca from Microsoft and Ravi Ram from edtech company Springboard. Tune in to hear perspectives on hybrid work from a corporate giant and a Silicon Valley startup!

About the speakers:

Violeta Luca

Violeta is leading Microsoft Czech Republic and Slovakia since January 1st, 2021. Before that, she has served as the General Manager in Microsoft Romania for the past two years. As a leader, she has an extensive track record in enabling double digit business growth, transforming business models, driving regional expansion and new market opportunities, and building strategic partnerships to enhance customer experience. She was included among TOP 100 CEOs and Forbes Top 50 most powerful businesswomen in Romania and received recognition for Business Development, Innovative Business Model, Best Digital transformation project, and Best Corporate Responsibility Campaign. Under her leadership was Microsoft Romania named #1 employer and she is a Board member of the Digital Transformation Committee under the National Digitization Authority.

“I strongly believe that technologies are more than ever the solution to support our resilience and that a healthy and sustainable culture built around a shared purpose has transformative power. Whether we speak about education, healthcare, or economy at large, having a more resilient society will enable a faster recovery and more sustainable development in the future”, said Violeta. "Slovakia ranks among the strongest countries in Europe when it comes to technology talent and their drive to realize the digitization potential. So, it is a fantastic opportunity to continue to build the digital future for thriving organizations, entrepreneurs, and society at scale.“

Prior to joining Microsoft, Violeta held several leadership roles in general management, sales and marketing in leading companies such as Metro C&C, Dante international, Flanco Retail, Whirlpool Romania or AIG. She graduated from the Academy of Economic Studies.

Ravi Ram

Ravi is Senior Director of Sales at Springboard, an education technology company based in San Francisco. He joined Springboard in 2018, and has also served as Head of Business Operations. Before that, Ravi was a management consultant with McKinsey from 2014-2016 and a Fellow with the McKinsey Global Institute from 2016-2018. He also serves as a leadership and executive coach, and facilitates learning programs with Educe Partners. Ravi graduated with degrees in molecular biology and mathematics from the University of Arizona, and has also been a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. He has lived, studied, and worked in Brazil, Peru, Singapore, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, India, and Kenya. He's a major proponent of the inner sciences of meditation and yoga, and their connection to human consciousness and well-being: Ravi has done a set of meditation practices for 90 minutes every day since July 2016.

Insights from our speakers:


73% of workers want the flexible work to continue beyond the pandemic (based on Microsoft research)
46% of people think of changing their career - help people understand ‘why’ they are working, not only when and how
hybrid work paradox - craving for human connection while keeping the benefits of flexibility of remote work
think of shared service and shared experience as it is something that brings people together
try things - see what works, what doesn’t and move on

What assumptions do you think are made when it comes to culture, nationality or ethnicity? What can people and companies stop or start doing to help everyone feel included in the workplace? We invited Tereza De Bardi and Alexis Jenkins to get a European as well as an American opinion on this!

About the speakers:

Tereza De Bardi

Tereza is by profession a Director at Deloitte Czech Republic focused on transformations in Finance and Business Services, and co-founded the D&I Shapers, a platform which brings together organizations across Czech market to move the D&I to the next level. Her life is a diversity story itself, spending more than half of her childhood abroad in Bangladesh and Egypt, working for and with multiple international businesses both as employee or as advisor, being a woman in Consulting (still a male dominated business) and finally marrying a "foreigner", all these provide her with a precious observation field for cultural biases topic.

Alexis Jenkins

Alexis is the Founder of ANJ Consultancy a DEI firm that helps build inclusive and anti-racist workplaces and the Head of People & Culture at Dame Products. By implementing storytelling, data, and analyzing a company’s needs, she is able to use her professional and personal experience to build standards and policies for companies who are truly ready to begin the work. Alexis believes that leaving any facet of yourself at the door is a thing of the past, especially when the door is in your home. Alexis resides outside of New York City with her husband and two year old son.



Some insights from the speakers:


We need diversity at all levels in companies
Everyone is responsible for making a change in their surroundings
Become an accomplice to marginalized groups
One downside of the D&I efforts can be ‘tokenization’
Language was the biggest barrier for D&I work at Deloitte Czech Republic
Have regional and even local strategy for implementing D&I - no one-size-fits all approach from the HQ

What are the biases towards LGBT+ people and how do we reinforce them? How can companies prevent unfairness in the workplace and we all can do to help everyone feel safe? We invited Lucie Bajgart and Matej Ftacnik to discuss this and more!

About the guests:

Lucie Bajgart

Lucie is a freelance designer working with international clients from her studio in Prague. Her clients include companies such as fintech giant Klarna, Czech startups Productboard and Snuggs and San Francisco based Empower. Her focus is branding and product design. Lucie identifies as a gay queer woman with her/she pronouns.

Matej Ftacnik

Matej is a co-founder of Vacuumlabs, where he now works as CEO. In 2019, Matej was named EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in Slovakia. In the past, he significantly contributed to the creation of the Slovak startup scene and now, in addition to Vacuumlabs, he is also involved in other innovative projects such as Daylight, the first digital banking platform for the LGBT+ community in the USA or the first FintechHub in Slovakia.

Insights from the speakers:


Don’t assume other person’s sexual orientation
Don’t make jokes that put other people down
Keep an open mind, listen to people and respect who they are and what they say
Think about the power of your words and swap some that no longer serve
Don’t let offensive slurs or comments slide around you
Feel free to ask people 1:1 how they wish to be addressed
Don’t beat yourself up for past mistakes
Companies can sign the Diversity Charter to show they are serious about safe environment for everyone
Companies should revisit their benefit packages (e.g. marriage bonuses)

How do you practice leading with empathy? How do you develop such a skill? How to be empathetic yet assertive? We discussed this and more with Azeneth Ferrero Russell and Michal Ptacek!

About the guests:

Azeneth Ferrero Russell is the Global Business Evolution Director at CEMEX, a global building materials company, and the Country Manager of Neoris, a Digital Accelerator and partner of some of the biggest companies in the world providing Tech Consulting services in every continent.

With more than 20 years of experience in leading board-level transformation initiatives, she provides leadership to digital transformation programs designed to enhance customers’ experience.

As the head of NEORIS Prague, she supported AGILE teams composed of members of more than 30 nationalities who were responsible for the development and delivery of CEMEX Go, instrumental to the overall digital transformation journey of CEMEX, and an example of diversity and new ways of working.

Azeneth has lived as a permanent resident in 5 countries (Mexico, US, UK, Switzerland and Czech Republic) and has conducted digital programs in many others.

Michal Ptacek is the Founder and CEO of CzechCrunch and has been an IT guy since he was a kid. As he says, it all started when his uncle gave him a Commodore 64 computer and Michal instantly fell in love with it, especially with programming in BASIC :) Few years later Michal started to develop websites and then got into game development, and made his first adventure game.

In 2014 Michal founded CzechCrunch and currently leads a team of 18 people, who are trying to disrupt the Czech media ecosystem. Besides that Michal also runs a side project - Officelovin.com - focused on showcasing the world’s best office design and still does some programming out of pure passion for creativity.

Tips on enhancing empathy:


Read Radical Candor
Get a mentor
Travel the world
Bonus tip from FP - Meditate