Natalie Shardan, Managing Partner, Serviceplan Middle EastAt 42, I can say I’ve earned my seat at the table. I’ve led, built, fought for my voice and, more importantly, used it. But I also know that I grew up in a boys’ club. Not always by intent, but by default.
The advertising world I stepped into, like many others, was built on male norms. You learned to adapt. To speak up just enough. To walk the tightrope between confidence and “likeability.” And even when you make it, you carry the unspoken code of that club inside you.
That’s the part I’m unlearning.
Because what I’ve started to notice and admire deeply is the younger generation of women around me. Women in their twenties and early thirties who didn’t grow up with the same internalised limitations. They don’t see equality as a favour, or empowerment as something to be grateful for. They see it as a given. As it always should’ve been.
There’s a grace to that mindset. It’s not loud, not always labelled feminist but it’s quietly powerful. As Simone de Beauvoir once said, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” And this generation is becoming women in a world where they don’t have to un-become themselves first.
I used to think mentorship was always about guiding those younger than you. Lately, I’ve found it works the other way too. I’ve learned from the way they draw boundaries without guilt, ask for more without apology, and expect fairness without flattery.
This isn’t a complaint about the past. It’s an acknowledgment of how far we’ve come and how much further we can go when we stop carrying what no longer serves us.
Because power isn’t just about the seat it’s about unlearning who you were told to be when you first walked into the room.
By Natalie Shardan, Managing Director, Serviceplan Middle East
