- Aurore Mayer
Welcome to our new show À Part Égales, the one-on-one network show of the La Poste group. Today, we have a special show with an extraordinary guest, Maya Rogers, who has given us the honour to come for this special show in the context of the partnership signed between the La Poste group and Tetris. I'm very happy and honoured to welcome Maya Rogers for this special edition. Thank you so much, Maya.
- Maya Rogers
Thank you so much. Merci.
- Aurore Mayer
Maya, you are CEO and President of Tetris, company and co-founder of Blue Startups. Yes. Why did you decide to join the family business, Maya?
- Maya Rogers
I always saw my parents, they were entrepreneurs. My father moved to Japan after he chased my mother to Japan and decided to create the first role-playing video game. I think for me, seeing my parents You know, they struggled many years. As a child, I didn't know how much they struggled, but always seeing they were so dedicated to growing and sustaining their business definitely had a big impact. The turning point for me was when my father had a heart attack at 52 years old and he almost died. And it was a wake-up call that if I wanted to learn from how he ran and how he worked, that now was the time. So about 15, 16 years ago, I moved back to Hawaii where my family lives and joined the company.
- Aurore Mayer
What challenge have you faced as a woman in the tech industry? And how did you manage to find your place and your voice as a woman leader?
- Maya Rogers
I became CEO about 13 years ago, so I was quite young and always having to almost prove myself. And so I think women struggle with that always. But always what I learned from that was that always like go within and follow your intuition because you know who you are. And so you don't really have to prove to other people. If you can be true to yourself, you don't have to prove to them, you know, that you're capable. I know there's a statistic that most women, when they come to a job, they're overly qualified. They're overly prepared. And men, they come to the job and they're not qualified, maybe. but they know how to get the job because maybe they have the confidence. So imagine if women had the confidence and they're already qualified or overly qualified, women should be getting all those jobs. So I think that is a struggle for women in general, is that we fight so much to try to prove to the world that we are worth it. But we should know we are worth it because we already know that. You know it. We know it. I know it. But so many women, I think, just in society in general, tells you that we're not good enough, but we're more than enough. So I think that is the number one thing is try to connect to who you are, because that is number one.
- Aurore Mayer
How have things changed for women in business since the beginning of your career, in your opinion?
- Maya Rogers
It definitely has changed, I think, as I have become who I am today. I see all the women who paved the way before us. So even now as a mother, I have small children, I realized I get to be with my kids because the world today accepts that. I think also COVID and the pandemic really forced us to change. And today, video conferencing is normal. My first daughter was born during the pandemic. And then just around before she turned one, the world shut down. So now I got to be home with see my child. My second child, I got to be home for a year. And when I had my son during COVID, I got to be there and a year went by and that wasn't enough. It means we need to be with our children, you know? Yes, of course. We live in this broken society now because it used to take a village to raise children and now we're living in cities. And we're doing that with just a father and a mother, and there's nobody else to help. And so I think still it's a struggle, but COVID and the pandemic really helped force the world to allow people to work from home, to telecommute, to do meetings without having to be there in person. So I think that was the best thing that happened for my, you know, becoming a mother while I was running a company. Yes.
- Aurore Mayer
Yeah. Do you have a role model or someone who inspired you starting out in a business, for example, or other thing?
- Maya Rogers
I think I always speak about my parents because they started from nothing, and they created a business in Japan. And my father was kind of this crazy entrepreneur that started a company. in a foreign country and created this game called the Black Onyx. Nobody knew about role-playing games and he created a new genre. So I think number one, my parents were a big influence on my, you know, growing up. But also my grandmother, she also passed away when she was very young, but she was an advocate for, she was a strong woman that had nine children and adopted more children. And, you know, she helped out with... non-profits and other children in the world and wherever she lived she was like a beacon of how female empowerment could help other people what could be your message to empower women at La Post and other women like your grandmother so I heard that La Post is you're very equally in the pay and how you how you treat the gender you know two genders so that to me already is like you're You're at the right company, you know. I got to meet so many amazing women. And what women bring to the table that is special is we bring that community, we bring that connection, we bring that intuition. So I would say lean into that, you know. Don't let the men tell you how to act or how to be because they should accept us for who we are. We accept them for who we are. And if we can do that, we can even be more powerful. If you can tune into your motherly instinct or female instinct, then you're unstoppable. Just like how you would be protecting a child. If you can be that way without that, but, you know, that is you connecting to yourself, then nothing will get in the way.
- Aurore Mayer
All is possible. All is possible,
- Maya Rogers
right? And maybe men can be that way all the time. Because for men, it's showing that you're powerful. And for women... we are powerful but we don't have to show because it's internal it's true right if somebody was going to hurt your child or if your child was about to get hit by a car you would do nothing will get in the way of you and the danger right and so you have to connect to that power yeah yeah we have the confidence yes it's in there you just have to let it shine
- Aurore Mayer
Thank you very much Maya for taking the time to come with us and to speak with us today. Thank you very much for sharing your insights in women, in business, and really you are very inspiring. Thank you very much Maya.
- Maya Rogers
Thank you.
- Aurore Mayer
And I give you a meeting next month for a new episode of A part égales. Thank you Maya. Thank you. Thank you.
