International Women's Day 2024

We are delighted to be celebrating International Women's Day 2025 by recognizing one of our leading women at BioPhorum , Ciera Clayton , Global Change Facilitator.

Where did it all start? / Pursuing your passion

I am naturally a very creative person, surprising to most my background is actually in fine art and not engineering or IT. When I came out of university I started to work for my fathers company because I could see that they needed support. I just wanted to fix the problems, understand the challenges and put solutions in place to help it grow. Through the work I did in that company I realised that I was more capable than I imagined and I soon moved into the Pharmaceutical realm because I had this irrational confidence that I could do the role despite not having a life sciences degree. I convinced the Head of Production that I was the right person for the job and I ended up creating my own role there and thrived in the challenges set before me.  I was given the opportunity to "think outside the box" and take on new challenges that the company had not ventured into yet. Those roles really highlighted to me that I enjoyed the challenge of understanding the needs of the business and creating innovative ways to fulfil them.

The path to BioPhorum

When I first heard about Biophorum and the role of a facilitator it seemed to have all the attributes that I enjoyed doing in my current place of work, that were not really part of my current role anymore. I had moved away from being in a technical role into a project management role and it just didn’t fulfil me the same way, ironically I actually liked it more when the projects deviated from the plan because that is when I got to fix it and was most energised from supporting people. From talking to the BioPhorum team,  I really liked the idea of bringing people together to talk about new ways of working and supporting them through continuous improvement. So after 8 years in a CMO I made the leap into BioPhorum.

Your current role/success within BioPhorum

I work in both the BioPhorum IT Digital and Data and the BioPhorum Supply Resilience Phorums as a Global Change Facilitator. I am one of few people in the world than can say "I love my job" and really mean it. I didn’t realise that I would have the opportunity to be so creative in my role here. I always thought creativity was painting or drawing, now I see that I can be creative by spending time considering agenda, activities and face to face events to energize my teams to share, learn from, and challenge each other's thinking. I find the discussions really engaging and it is interesting to hear all the different perspectives throughout the industry. I have learnt a lot from just facilitating these conversations, more than I ever would have in my siloed role within the CMO. From helping these teams develop white papers, to building webinars and animations, I really get to use the full breadth of my creative skills without having to be the person with all the technical knowledge! Saying that, I really enjoy sharing my own knowledge internally about facilitation and how we can also continue to evolve and grow as facilitators as well. So I get to have the best of both worlds.

Making a difference in society / Championing change

As a facilitator I am able to create these amazing collaborative spaces where our members identify and contextualize the true challenges and needs of the industry. Here, I make the journey to change easier as I am able to build and be a support for all of the teams I facilitate and each of the individual representatives. I can catalyze innovation, create clarity and encourage commitment to aligned next steps that deliver transformational value. If I could make even one person's journey towards change easier as a result of my facilitation then I would be happy, but to see tens and hundreds of people benefiting from the work that my teams produce is a great feeling and reward. 

Advice for women in BioPharma

A friend of mine once said, "sometimes, the path less travelled is the one awaiting your innovation, and your leadership". I didn’t set out on this path, but I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what it is that truly matters to me, and defining what is the work I enjoy doing that doesn’t feel like work. I highly recommend spending some time thinking about your work, what tasks give you energy and what zaps it from you - when are you in your "flow state". Once you know what that is, be-line for it. Make the leap and give it everything you have and you will find what you didn’t even know you were looking for.