How I Got Here: Joanna Gilfoy, business director at Vodafone

What was your first job?

My first job came about over an argument with my Mum about school shoes when I was 13 years old. I didn’t want the boring shoes, my mum’s reply was, “When you earn your own money you can buy your own shoes” – so I got a job waitressing in a hotel and I bought my shoes! My view of, “If you want something you need to work for it” started then and has kept me motivated all my career.

When did you begin your career?

My career started on a call centre for a Building Society and as tele-banking (as it was called then) took off I moved through multiple roles into Product Management. I then made a big change (the first of many in my career) & started my international career with Nokia as a European marketing manager owning events, channel distribution and external press relationships. I’ve always been curious to know how all of a company works and the best way to understand it is to do as many roles as possible – I have a mantra that I wouldn’t ask my team to do something I wouldn’t do, so gaining wide knowledge helps me support them well.

I then moved to Virgin Management as part of the launch team for the start-up Virgin Mobile which was the world’s first Mobile Virtual Network Operator – this was a really new and  exciting time as we launched a mobile company without actually owning a network in three months! Our focus was on the customer experience – this has stayed with me throughout my career, put the customer and your colleagues first and you are onto a winning philosophy. That experience taught me the power of agility and customer-first thinking – principles that continue to shape how we approach innovation at Vodafone today, especially in areas like AI and digital transformation.

I then moved to Vodafone in 2007 where I have remained since, except for an 18-month stint to set another world’s first, EE the world’s first 4G brand – but my heart was with Vodafone and I’ve worked my way round customer engineering, sales, technical pre-sales, operations commercial, product for both business and consumer.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m an early morning person so I get up at 5:30am and go to the gym or if the weather is good I’ll get out for a walk before I go into the office. Vodafone is great for hybrid working but my preference is being with my team, customers or partners face to face.

There isn’t a typical day but there is a flow to my week – the beginning of the week is all about working closely with the teams on trading, performance, forecasting & planning to ensure we are on track with customer deliveries and solving any issues. I have a goal to speak to four or five customers and partners very week so I remain close to feedback about what we are doing well and where we can continuously improve, and then there are the large innovation projects we are working on globally to keep bringing innovation such as AI to our customers.

What parts of your role do you find most fulfilling?

Working with people to help them develop and I love solving problems – I run a complex business and we provide multiple solutions to help our customers grow their businesses so there is always something which needs solving. Getting great minds together across local and global Vodafone teams, brainstorming possible solutions and seeing people’s creativity really flow is very rewarding.

It’s especially rewarding when we see our work directly impact customers – whether it’s helping a small business scale or enabling public sector organisations to deliver better services.

What are the most challenging parts?

Not getting to do everything I really want to do – I have a lot of ideas (ask my team, they hear a lot of them in slightly random ways!) and I’d like to implement more of them but sometimes time and resources don’t allow for everything to come to life.

What are some memorable career highlights?

There really have been so many from sky diving, working with anti-poaching charities using our IOT technology, I’ve even been an Olympic torch bearer for the 2012 Olympics in the UK through work! But by far and away was the chance to lead a project with Vodafone Foundation where we designed a smart technology which protected women and children from domestic violence, we worked with police forces to roll it out and after six months the police force told us the technology had saved 15 women’s lives.

Another recent proud moment at Vodafone Ireland was leading a major IT transformation that simplified customer operations and brought intuitive digital tools to thousands of businesses. It’s a great example of how we’re helping SMEs embrace technology that was once out of reach. Knowing we truly deliver life changing solutions makes me proud every day.

What are some of the most important things you’ve learned throughout your career?

Worries in your head are never as bad in real life as what you think – especially at 4am. Take a breath, respond rather than have a reaction and always hold firm to your personal values. And always make time for a laugh with your colleagues.

What do you do to relax after a busy day?

I like to hike – in August I climbed Mount Fuji with my friends which was a fantastic trip. I also love to potter in my garden with my dog and family – we had a small farm for five years where we bred animals, grew our own vegetables and I love to cook. I have a three-year-old grandson who, whilst isn’t exactly relaxing, is a wonderful way to wind down and enjoy life.