IR professionals can boost their career by developing their own ‘signature’ approach to investor relations, according to Julia Stötzel, one of the rising star nominees at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2022.
Stötzel, who today runs a consultancy offering advice to start-ups, was nominated at the awards for her work with Hamburg-based fashion retailer ABOUT YOU. She spent just over a year at the company, latterly as head of IR and communications.
The rising star award is presented to an IRO who has worked for less than 10 years in the profession and who has brought fresh thinking or a unique approach. ABOUT YOU was also nominated for best IR website.
‘It’s important to learn from the people around you, people who [have spent] quite some time in the industry,’ said Stötzel, who worked in investment banking before moving to the corporate world and IR. ‘I learned a great deal from my past managers and mentors. It’s really [important] to get the fundamentals of investor relations right – there are a lot of things to figure out.
‘Along the way, however, once you have established yourself as your own IR professional, I think it’s important to develop your own signature. I’ve been trying to do that by developing [a] more modern, innovative signature… for example, by specifically addressing the younger generation of investors, who want to have a bit more video or audio content.’
Another crucial element to career progress is building and maintaining your network of contacts, said Stötzel: ‘It’s very important to take care of your network – it will [take] you a long way.’
To find out more about the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2022, please click here.
