After 17 years traversing the corporate ladder in male-dominated New York marketing firms, Natalie Viglione endured chauvinism akin to the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Jordan Belfort and Mad Men‘s Don Draper.
She reveals the truth behind the toxic work environments she experienced, and how she left to start her own business providing life and business guidance after feeling like her soul was leaving her body.
According to a study conducted by EMR Recruitment, despite the marketing industry being female-dominated, women tend to make up the majority of junior roles, whilst the overwhelming majority of top positions, such as CMOs and Directors, are male. This marketing gender divide was something Natalie experienced first-hand as one of the only female executives in her company.
“As a woman, high level male execs will always make you feel like you have to be ‘one of the guys’ to succeed. If you’ve seen ‘Mad Men’ or ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ it’s real, and it’s alive to this day. Any after work meeting would inevitably end up in a strip club. One time I was looking for the restroom and accidentally walked into a closed off room and caught one of the male execs ‘in the act’ with a stripper. I honestly think it will be etched into my brain for the rest of my life”.
Natalie explains that the toxicity she experienced often came from some of the highest-ranking men in the company.
“One of the top execs was a narcissistic disaster and he was drunk all the time. No woman would have gotten away with behaving that way. After a while you start to realise that toxicity breeds toxicity. He ended up annoying the wrong employee who hacked into our system and started mass emailing abusive messages to people – the FBI had to investigate. I got up to the level of vice president but there was this moment in time where it felt like either I split and do what’s right or my soul would leave my body. The corporate world doesn’t care about you at all, it only cares if you’re making your company money. It was honestly such a toxic and crazy environment to be stuck in”.
Natalie found inspiration in the most unlikely of places when the idea for what to do with her life came to her in a dream.
“I’ve always had vivid dreams that end up playing out in real life. Before I got married at 23 I had a very detailed dream about getting divorced, lived that exact timeline and was separated by 25. When I had a dream about starting Disrupt Now I even saw the logo. I knew not to ignore it this time”.
After her dream, Natalie left her high-salaried position and now runs Team Gu and Disrupt Now Program, helping others “tap into their magic” and fulfil their purpose.
“We’re a women-owned organisation and we want to help people from all over the world. If everyone felt as if they were finally carrying out their purpose the entire world would change for the better”.
www.NATALIEVIGLIONE.com
