Bumble APAC Director Talks Leadership For Female Managers

Bumble’s APAC Associate Marketing Director Michelle Battersby has participated in an interview with Women’s Health magazine, talking about how the app is moving forward and the story of her own career progression.

Having previously acted as the Country Lead for Australia, she now oversees a five-person team in Sydney. At the start of the year Bumble welcomed its two-millionth Australian user.

Battersby was asked what guidance she would give to women who were stepping into management positions. Her main pieces of advice were to lead by example, treat everybody equally and listen to ideas from everybody on the team.

She also discussed the importance of networking, despite admitting that the idea of attending networking events used to make her feel sick. Bumble Bizz was launched in Australia just over a year ago.

Millennials often receive criticism for not having a high work ethic. Battersby defended them, but also explained that young people need to be prepared to put in a lot of effort when they are in full-time employment.

She told Women’s Health: “It’s challenging when you work in an environment like mine. We get to attend amazing events and quite high profile things, and I feel with Instagram and things like that it can often look very glamorous a lot of the time, but the reality is that’s a small part of the job.

“[In the interview process] I try to find people who have got experience working in PR or events because they’re usually quite aware of the fact that a lot of work goes on in the background to get to that point.”

In November, Bumble sponsored a race and hosted a marquee at the Melbourne Cup Carnival, Australia’s most well-known horse racing event.

Read the full interview here.