What is your role at Next and what do you love about it?

I'm Latifah and I am a recruiter for Next Online. I love meeting all of the new faces and those candidates that are successful with us, it's so rewarding to develop and flourish into their roles.

Why do you think it is important to celebrate International Women’s Day?

It's important to celebrate this day as it's about gender equality. In order to achieve this, we need to have conversations about the inequalities we face. We need to elevate women and talk about our achievements.

Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? How did you overcome them?

The main barrier I have faced being a woman is not being heard, especially being dual-heritage too. But I am quite lucky that my predecessors paved the way - they faced the heavy obstacles and broke them down, they've mentored me and coached me on how to communicate and hold my own in a male-dominated environment. I was taught to stand my ground and now it just comes naturally.

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

The best way to predict your future is to create it.

What is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Believe in yourself. People will doubt you but that's ok, just never doubt yourself. You're in control of the moves that you make. You have to be your own hype-woman, and when you, do the right people will gravitate towards you and you'll soon find yourself  surrounded by likeminded people who will believe in you too.