How Kirstine Stewart rose from ‘girl Friday’ to VP of Twitter

SHE’S one of the world’s most powerful media executives, but Kirstine Stewart had no solid career prospects when she started out.

Kirstine Stewart is in Australia promoting her book Our Turn. Picture: Markian Lozowchuk

FETCHING coffee and answering phones was not the start to her career that Kirstine Stewart was expecting.

Armed with a literature degree with a minor in business, the ambitious young graduate had it all mapped out.

A summer internship at a publishing house left her certain that she’d found her career path, the ideal way to combine her passion for the arts with her business acumen.

Instead, the publishing industry in free fall, she ended up in the most junior position she could imagine: An office helper or ‘girl Friday’ at a small television distribution house.

“That wasn’t what I thought I would do when I graduated from university; if anything I could have taken the view that it was too small or too entry level a role to start off in,” she said in an interview with news.com.au.

“But it was the right thing, because I learned so much in an industry that was moving so quickly.”

Stewart, who is in Australia to promote her book Our Turn, went on to become one of the world’s most powerful media executives.

After several years in the top job at CBC Television — Canada’s version of the ABC — where she was in charge of 5000 employees, Stewart controversially quit to serve as the founding head of Twitter’s Canada office.

“That was supposed to be the biggest media job in Canada at the time,” Stewart said.

“No woman had ever done it before, nobody under 50 had ever done it before ... No one had ever voluntarily left it before. And I was leaving it for 140 characters and an app — and yet it was actually the right thing, because that’s where the future of media and consumer consumption of content and all that is happening.”

‘CONTROL YOUR NARRATIVE’

Having finished up after three years with Twitter in July, Stewart took the unusual approach of announcing her resignation in an article for Medium.com.

“Every few years I get a quiet little knock, knock, knock that reminds me to pick my head up from what I’m doing, and to look around,” she wrote in a bid to put the rumours to rest.

While she’d initially thought of her exit as a non event, Stewart explained, she was forced to set the record straight in response to media speculation.

“I thought ‘who really cares at this point?’ So many people had announced that they’re leaving Twitter, it was yet another executive on the list of people who left to go try other things ... But sure enough, I started to hear things about ‘maybe the company’s in more trouble than people thought it was’.”

The experience took Stewart back to a moment earlier in her career, when she’d climbed from girl Friday to become company president in just five years.

Still in her twenties, the trailblazing young leader left for her next challenge in a move that coincided with the birth of her first child.

“When I left, it was a couple of guys who ran the company and they were telling people that I’d quit because I wanted to spend more time with the baby,” she said.

“I had taken on this really fascinating broadcasting job, but they were telling clients and customers that I was stepping off the path because I’d had this baby. Meanwhile, I’d only taken six weeks maternity leave, come back and worked really hard.

“I learned at that moment that you have to control your narrative; If you don't speak up, other people speak for you.”

While she can’t yet reveal what her next challenge entails, Stewart confirms that she has signed contracts — but this didn’t happen until after she’d quit.

Leaving an established position without a new one to go to was a first, she said, but after being approached by “a few companies”, she decided that the fact she was entertaining such discussions was “a sign that it’s time for me to go”.

“That was a big step for me not to wait on something else and actually see how the world unfolded,” Stewart said.

It’s an approach to career planning that she advocates in her book, based on the ever-shifting nature of today’s jobs market.

“When my daughter asked what course she should at university, I said ‘honey, I don’t know what jobs are going to be here in four years time,” Stewart said.

‘SEIZE THE DAY’

But back to those early days as the office junior. How did Stewart climb her way to the top?

While being a girl Friday at a film distribution company wasn’t her first choice of career, she threw herself into the role and soon found herself picking up some valuable knowledge and skills.

“It was a small company but it was growing fast, and we had a tonne of work to do and not many people to do it,” she recalled.

“When I was answering phones and filing faxes and typing telexes, I got to see a lot of the business. And when I picked up the phone and I couldn’t pass it to someone because they were too busy to take the call, I would help. And so the boss heard me do that and said ‘you know what, you’re now a sales executive’.”

The promotion came six months in, and was followed by a call back from the publishing firm she’d originally hoped to work for.

“They said ‘an entry level proof reader job is open if you want it’. I thought ‘you know what, I’ve already had my first promotion and I’ve learned so much here. I didn’t even know the industry existed and I really, really like it’.”

Stewart ended up sticking around for seven years — the longest she’s stayed with any company, and long enough to work her way up to top dog.

“We were selling television shows around the world and I got to learn so much just from stepping into that job and quickly advancing in it, because it was such a fast paced, moving industry,” she said.

“I learned a lot about media content, borders, how people like to consume content.”

The moral of the story? Stay flexible when it comes to career planning, and seize every opportunity that comes your way.

“I could have gone back to the publishing opportunity, ’cause that was my plan, but I didn’t and I’m really happy with the way things have turned out.”

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Originally published as How Kirstine Stewart rose from ‘girl Friday’ to VP of Twitter