December 18, 2018
The Healthcare Business Women’s Association (HBA) is a non-profit created in 1977 by 5 women in the United States who recognised a need for women in healthcare to come together to exchange industry and career information and resources. Today, HBA is represented by more than 45 chapters (affiliates) in the US and Europe and have nearly 9,000 members. One of these members includes STRAMMER’s Consultant Full Talent Solution® – Lilit Grigoryan 
. We spoke to her about her involvement at HBA and how it has impacted STRAMMER and the Life Science Industry.
What does the Healthcare Business Women’s Association (HBA) do?
HBA believes that securing gender parity will create a vibrant growing Healthcare industry in Europe. In order to support this mission, HBA supports Healthcare companies in realising the full potential of their talents by building up a network across industries in the USA and Europe. Members benefit from the HBA network, different types of events (educational and networking), career and self-development programmes such as Mentoring, Ambassador programmes and Volunteering opportunities.
In addition to that, HBA organises different kinds of educational events. HBA Frankfurt, for instance, offers events on the topic of developing entrepreneurial thinking, curiosity, pathways to gender parity in organisations, making a bigger impact and raising confidence. The idea behind these events is to help the members of HBA develop themselves, and their skills to meet people from different areas and ultimately boost their career.
HBA also offers mentoring which helps you throughout the year to work on a concrete goal. Even helping to change the direction in your career if you want to move on to a different role. This mentoring is not only about career building but about any professional evolution such as negotiating a higher salary. HBA also provides volunteering opportunities to its members and non-members where you can attempt a different roles.
Talk about the work you do at HBA?
I started as a volunteer for HBA in 2016. I helped organise the European leadership summit in UK. After that I was able to network and get to know some people. They then offered me the opportunity to become the Marketing & Communication Lead of HBA Frankfurt which, represents a new professional challenge for me. I decided to take on this position. In my day-today job, I am a Consultant in Talent Acquisition & Talent Management, but I never had any experience in marketing. This was a good opportunity to practice some skills like: how to think creatively, communicate in a marketing language, influence. I was able to professionally grow into a new field of expertise and think outside of the box.
In addition to that, I have the chance to enhance my leadership skills by leading a small team of volunteers. Moreover, being in a very motivated and inspiring team, I managed not only to make professional connections but also some friends.
Overall, HBA offers me a great opportunity to expand my professional network where you meet inspiring leaders (not only women but men from different backgrounds and companies), a platform where we can exchange on different industry topics and where we can learn from each other.
Why is it important to have this kind of initiative in the healthcare Industry?
Many studies show the benefits of diverse teams, such as improving financial performance, increasing the innovation and group performance etc. We help focus on diversity because it is now a current topic for all companies especially in the healthcare industry and more so at the top management levels. There are also teams that are female dominated so we try to make a difference in diversity in general.
How do you incorporate your work at HBA into STRAMMER?
Being in HBA, I get to see different perspectives from exploring new areas in the healthcare industry. For me it is like unconsciously training myself so that I can bring “new” skills to STRAMMER. I also think it is good to co-operate with these kinds of associations as it can provide us with insight on how we can achieve diversity within our own company.
Thanks to HBA’s network we have the chance to meet clients and potential clients. For instance, we recently held an event which was attended by our CEO, Stefano Di Lullo . It was a great opportunity for STRAMMER to be visible in the industry and develop partnerships with the companies present at these events.
In addition to this, it is great for the recruitment process. I have met many men and women who are open to change. And this is really helpful for us when we have positions to fill because now, we have direct access to these networks.