Influential Woman · Technology

Petra Keilova

Senior People Partner, IP Fabric

New York City, NY

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's Degree Degree Arkansas (on tennis scholarship) Degree Master's Degree Degree Arkansas Degree Professional Certificate in Human Resource Management Degree Cornell University Cert Professional Certificate in Human Resource Management Cert Cornell University

Her Story

About Petra

I've always had a sense of wanting to work closely with people and collaborate, while also being close enough to the business to make a real impact. That's what led me to people and HR roles, because I think the main reason for our role is to drive performance across the business. It's been the best of both worlds for me, combining the more empathetic side of wanting to help people and wanting them to have a great experience at work - I mean, that's where we spend most of our life - but also being part of a successful business and shaping the direction of the business. This has absolutely been the case with my recent role as a senior people partner. I work for a founder-led scale-up, and the founder is from Czech Republic, just like me, so it's been wonderful to actually work for a company that came out of my homeland and see it go from a company of a few people founded in Prague to now having 3 entities in UK, US, and Czech Republic, growing from a room of people to around 130 employees. I work remotely, which works well in many ways, and my typical day involves meetings with different stakeholders and working on projects that push the business forward based on priorities, whether it's defining values, creating a growth framework for the company, or handling the unexpected things that come up. There's the firefighting part and the strategic part, and when we're onboarding new employees, I'm part of that, making sure they have what they need in terms of knowledge sharing and enablement.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Petra

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Really be open to trying new things, and yes, as much as possible, and to really go into it knowing that you have agency over your career. Don't weigh too much on someone else. Like, of course, absolutely, we do need mentors, we need coaches, we need champions that are going to root for us, especially if we're not in the room. But at the same time, we are our best advocates, right? So really know that yes, I do have agency over my career, and I have the hunger and the grit to go for what I want. And don't think that there is only one path to things. There's always many ways to do different things, so don't get discouraged and don't give up if maybe one way doesn't work out, because it typically means that some other opportunity will open up as long as we're open to it and hungry enough for it to grab it.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think for all of us, AI has now been the big one that we're all thinking about. What is that going to mean? How is that going to change the way we work? That's definitely been one that's already very much on the table and very much for the future as we're going through this adoption phase, because it's no longer about will you use AI, it's more how and where it makes sense. Being in the tech industry, of course, we're very close to it, and also being on a people leader role, this is something that we're looking at internally as like, what's the best way to go about adoption and where it really makes sense for people, where it will really help and make a difference. With that comes the challenge of just having change as the new constant, where I think we have to really get used to that change is something that is just part of our life now, and it's not really gonna change, it's more on how we're gonna cope with that. So that's another challenge that I see more in my line of work.

Keep Exploring