Annahita Esmailzadeh | marc-cain.com/en

BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

Annahita Esmailzadeh achieved a lot at a young age – and continues to work hard to this day. She never takes her success for granted.

BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

Annahita Esmailzadeh achieved a lot at a young age – and continues to work hard to this day. She never takes her success for granted.

There is one particular moment that Annahita Esmailzadeh remembers to this day. She was about ten years old when she and her mother went to buy a dress for a wedding that the family had been invited to. Her mother tried on a floor-length, dark blue velvet gown that wasn’t too expensive. But tears welled up in her eyes when she looked at herself in the mirror and knew that she could not afford the dress. “My mother’s expression seared itself into my memory, and even back then I thought: one day, I want to be able to buy you everything you want,” explains Annahita Esmailzadeh. And she will – now as a tech executive, bestselling author and business influencer with a huge following.

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After taking her school-leaving exams, Esmailzadeh googled: “Which university course should I choose to earn the most money?” Business informatics was one of the options. “When I was a child, I wanted to be a journalist or work in the social sector,” says the 31-year-old. But when she researched the earning potential, she decided to take a different route. However, programming was completely alien to her. Esmailzadeh understood barely anything in the first few lectures. Undeterred, she studied hard, completed internships alongside her studies and took jobs as a working student and waitress.

“There is no elevator to success.”

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After gaining her master’s degree, she became an IT advisor at SAP. In her late 20s, she was responsible for the innovation department at SAP Labs in Munich as Head of Innovation. Annahita Esmailzadeh is now an executive at Microsoft. On her way up, she was repeatedly pigeonholed according to all the usual stereotypes: young, pretty, determined, intelligent – many people struggled to grasp that one person could be all of these things. So she wrote a book about prejudices in the world of work and how to overcome them. In “Of Quota Women and Old White Men”, Esmailzadeh recounts her own experiences and also draws attention to structural problems through studies and scientific explanations. She dismantles every stereotype, and wants people to recognise how much manpower is wasted due to rifts and divisions. She regularly explains her theories and insights as a keynote speaker at various events. Does it sometimes bother her to be seen as a poster girl for dreams of advancement? “No, it doesn’t bother me at all. I wish I’d had someone like that to look up to when I was younger,” says Annahita Esmailzadeh.

Esmailzadeh grew up in Munich; her parents came from Iran in the 1980s. Her father was a taxi driver and her mother worked in a shop. Nothing will come of nothing, they taught their daughter. Esmailzadeh also learnt early on that her opinion counted. She recalls her parents saying: “We may be your parents, but if you can convince us rationally that we’re wrong about things, then we’ll give way to you.” Her mother was often summoned to the school because Annahita had once again been questioning things.

HARD WORKER

Unlike many people of her age, Annahita Esmailzadeh has little need for more free time. Her parents instilled this work ethic in her.

HARD WORKER

Unlike many people of her age, Annahita Esmailzadeh has little need for more free time. Her parents instilled this work ethic in her.

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And she still enjoys doing it 20 years later. Her posts on the business platform LinkedIn are read, discussed, shared and liked by around 200,000 people. For a long time, Esmailzadeh herself just read posts; but then, in anger, she wrote about a colleague who always interrupted her and monopolised discussions for hours. The post went viral. Since then, she has been one of the best-known business influencers, writing articles on difficult topics like glass ceilings, diversity and equality. She stands by her life motto of “nothing will come of nothing”, but shows empathy for other points of view as well. She gives presentations on intersectionality, i.e. the interaction between different repressive mechanisms, and cites studies to support her statements. If you ask Annahita how she manages to do all this, she says pragmatically: “I do my full-time job as normal, and then I do my part-time job in the evening, at the weekend and when I’m on holiday.” Also, she adds, she is very resilient and rarely gets stressed.

Statements like that could come across as off-putting from anybody else and be met with an irritated eye roll. But if anyone can put work and performance in a positive light, it’s Annahita Esmailzadeh. And she says of herself, not entirely without irony: “I probably have more of a boomer work ethic.” She then starts talking about individual performance, and about working at a level that can be maintained for decades. She is angry about the treatment of people doing care work. With so much wisdom and clarity of vision, she does sound like someone older than her years. There is no bitterness about the obstacles she herself has had to overcome.

FIRST-CLASS

Her empathetic view is one thing she has in common with Michelle Obama; her bestseller sticker is another. Her book “Of Quota Women and Old White Men: Ending Prejudice in the Workplace” really struck a chord.

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Does she really never wish for a three-day weekend? For some relaxing blank space in her diary? “I rarely feel the need for more free time,” says Annahita Esmailzadeh. If she enjoys something, she can work for 12 hours on it without feeling tired, she says. She likes to spend quality time with her friends – they might drive to the mountains or visit a restaurant. Esmailzadeh goes to yoga and books massages when she wants to recharge her batteries – but equally, she’ll write a LinkedIn post, prepare a presentation or think about new topics. “What I really don’t like is dead time,” she says. Like watching television series one after the other, for example. For her, free time also means being able to stand on stage or being invited onto a breakfast show. Free time to use the privileges she has worked for: to reach a huge number of people. For Annahita Esmailzadeh, that is something that cannot be taken for granted. Because it wasn’t too long ago that she was staring helplessly at all the different knives and forks in front of her at a business lunch. “And for a long time, I didn’t know what a golf handicap was,” she says, laughing. But it doesn’t really bother her. Instead, she continues to work to ensure that there are more people like her who are shaking up old thought patterns and stereotypes.

“What I really don’t like is dead time.”

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CREDITS
Photography: Sima Dehgani, Production: Vanessa Zeeh, Styling: Diana Dean, Hair & Make-up: Liset Garza/NinaKlein Artist Management, Photo assistance: Aristidis Schnelzer

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BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

“There is no elevator to success.”

“There is no elevator to success.”

HARD WORKER

HARD WORKER

FIRST-CLASS

FIRST-CLASS

“What I really don’t like is dead time.”

“What I really don’t like is dead time.”

Fast delivery

Free return

Flexible payment

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BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

BOTH FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

“There is no elevator to success.”

“There is no elevator to success.”

HARD WORKER

HARD WORKER

FIRST-CLASS

FIRST-CLASS

“What I really don’t like is dead time.”

“What I really don’t like is dead time.”

Fast delivery

Free return

Flexible payment

Stores near you