Member Spotlight: Meg Coates

“Pride is education and awareness. Pride is being brave enough to let the world see you for who you really are. Pride is unconditional love, for yourself and for others.”

Celebrating Pride – this month and every month – amplifying the voices of our LGBTQ+ members and championing diversity, equity and inclusion in all that we do, we spoke to Meg Coates, Community Experience Manager at Women in CX, about her personal and professional journey so far, how she made her way into the world of community and Customer Experience, learning and thriving within a workspace that is genuinely inclusive – allowing her to show up each day as her authentic self – and her drive to create similar opportunities for growth and career advancement for other young women.

Tell us a bit about you and what you do.

I am the Community Experience Manager for Women in CX and am mostly responsible for WiCX Member Support, community content curation and organising events (that’s the simple version!)

I always try to approach my role as ‘how do I provide members with the best community experience and support possible, so that they love our community and keep coming back for more.’

Women in CX in short, is a community business whose mission is to build the world’s greatest most diverse network of women who support one another on the path to Customer Experience mastery.

And if you had told me at the beginning of last year that this is the work that I’d be doing, I would have had no idea what most of those words even meant…

How did you get where you are today?

I began my journey in CX and community after a completely impulsive decision to apply for an internship at a startup through the University of Chester equal opportunities internship scheme, in the middle of the second UK lockdown.

Previously, I’d only ever worked part-time jobs in hospitality to fit around my studies. I’d also done some work experience and volunteering in schools and sports coaching. However, though I was good at it, I quickly realised it was not something that I could see myself doing long-term – it was not challenging enough for me.

This led me to look for work experience placements in digital marketing and social media management. I wanted to further explore the possible application of my creative and written word skills. But, after a few months of working as a Social Media Manager Intern for Women in CX, coupled with a lot of reading and research, I quickly fell in love with the idea of community businesses and the world of customer experience and after recognising my own potential, put myself forward for a promotion, to be the first official Community Manager for Women in CX.

Since then, my role has only grown, and I've learned along the way that I'm far more capable than I ever thought. I'm now slowly learning how to line manage a team so that I can hopefully give more young women the chance to grow in a role as I did.

Tell us about a moment that shaped you into the woman you are today.

This was probably the hardest question for me to try to answer. I just can't pick a single moment. And this is partly because I'm 23 – I’m still growing.

In the wise words of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “I'm not done baking. I'm not finished becoming whoever the hell it is I'm gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day, I turn around and realise I'm ready. I'm cookies.”

Though I don't know if we ever really become cookies. Right now, I'm definitely still dough, and if I had to choose what kind of dough, I'd definitely have rainbow sprinkles.

What makes a woman courageous, collaborative, inclusive and authentic?

I think for me, it's our soft skills like empathy and the ability to be vulnerable and open. It takes courage to let yourself be vulnerable which in turn unlocks your authenticity.

To be a great collaborator that is inclusive, you need to have empathy to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes and ask yourself what they might be experiencing.

Often, we’re taught that these skills are not valued within society when actually, they’re some of the most powerful – especially when working within a community or in Customer Experience.

What does Pride mean to you?

Pride means many things to me... But I think we always need to remember where Pride came from.

Pride was first and foremost a protest, marking the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, where police raided the Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, NYC, which sparked an uprising that led to a legal system challenge and the start of the Gay Rights movement. It serves as a visceral reminder that LGBTQ+ people exist in a world that doesn’t always want them to.

Is Pride a celebration? Yes, in the UK. But in many countries, it's still a protest. Still today, there are 71 countries where being gay is illegal. Even in countries such as the UK and America, LGBTQ+ people’s rights are in contention. But, just like the commercialisation of Valentine’s Day and Christmas, this annual event seems to have forgotten its roots, with many companies more focused on the marketing opportunity than the actual meaning of Pride.

Pride is education and awareness. Pride is being brave enough to let the world see you for who you really are. Pride is unconditional love, for yourself and for others.

And finally, What is your experience feeling welcome and included in WiCX?

WiCX is the first workspace that I’ve felt fully myself since day one, when I walked through the metaphorical doors to our online office.

I've always been a bit of an outsider, mostly because I was a young, queer girl growing up in predominantly cis-heterosexual spaces. I couldn't relate to a lot of my friends when they were googly-eyed over boys – I used to reuse my mum's crushes just to not feel left out of conversations.

I remember going through the interview process with WiCX and wondering who I was going to be and how much of my authentic self I’d be able to show. I'd done lots of research into the company beforehand (as all good interviewees should!) and had seen plenty of talk of inclusion, I just didn't realise how much those words were truly lived until I had my interview with Clare.

I don't quite know what inspired me to do so, but I ended up just openly coming out as we were talking about what feminism means, and I was upfront about my views on the intersections between feminism and LGBTQ+. It was right then and there that I felt a sigh of relief. Finally, a space where I was understood, and not sexualised or eye-rolled for voicing my opinions.

Working for a start-up is not easy. I could have walked away and sought out another job, one with more job security and a less-demanding workload, but, truly, there’s nothing more that I could ask for than the freedom and acceptance to be entirely myself within a job that I love, and with so many people – a whole community in fact, that I care about.

Thank you, Meg, for so courageously sharing your story with our readers. 💛

With inclusivity amongst our four core values here at Women in CX, we will continue to lean in, listen and learn from the lived experiences of our members, using our platform to champion diversity, equity and inclusion, to afford equal opportunities for all and to amplify the voices of Women in CX across the globe.

To take part in discussions on topics such as this, expand your own professional network and join other remarkable women on the path to CX mastery, sign up to the waitlist now and become a member of the Women in CX community.

At our table, there’s room for everyone.