Njusja de Gier is Senior Vice President Marketing at the Kvadrat Group and part of Senior Management.

"At Kvadrat, Diversity & Inclusion means we embrace diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It is a strong personal driver for me. Being a part of the Senior Management team enables me to make a difference and to drive the agenda."

Q: What made you want to work at Kvadrat?

My journey at Kvadrat began in 2008, when I met our CEO, Anders Byriel. He is a very inspiring person and I really felt I could make a difference and help shape and build the company. Kvadrat was different from all the big corporations I worked for before. At Kvadrat, we have an open culture where you are heard. As we are always aiming to improve in every part of the business, everybody is invited to come with ideas.

Q: What defines Kvadrat as a workplace in your opinion?

For me, it's about the family feeling, passion and creative atmosphere. At Kvadrat, 'We' comes before 'I'. We have a high-performance culture, however, the atmosphere is like that of a big family where we care for each other and have a lot of fun together, while creating the most amazing products and projects. This is not only internally but this feeling is also shared by our external collaborators. Kvadrat people are extremely passionate about everything we do, and creativity is one of our driving forces.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing while working at Kvadrat?

That is a difficult question, given that my team and I have had the opportunity to accomplish many amazing things during my time here. My top highlights would include our art and design projects, our publications, our online magazine Interwoven, and our collaboration with Raf Simons just to mention a few.

However, I think I am most proud of the journey we have been on since I joined Kvadrat. We have developed from a nice company that makes great textiles to a thought leading design brand that architects, designers, artists and cool brands want to be associated with.

Q: As part of Kvadrat's Senior Management team, how would you define Kvadrat's approach to Diversity and Inclusion?

At Kvadrat, Diversity & Inclusion means we embrace diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We respect individual uniqueness and cultivate a culture of belonging and perform at our best when everybody feels included and heard. Therefore, we are committed to create an inclusive culture where all our employees have equal opportunities to pursue their goals and dreams and feel safe to be themselves.

Q: How diverse is the current workforce and Kvadrat and what is the growth goal for this in your area?

On a group level, our focus has been to increase female leadership in every business area. At this point 45,8% of our managers globally are female. In our subsidiaries, we actively engage with our local communities to attract and grow local talent. Almost 65% of our employees are non-Danes. Our new additional focus is to be more inclusive towards minority groups in our hiring and retention. In the global marketing department, 70% of the managers are female and we have a very diverse and international team including several people with a mixed-race minority background like myself. It is a strong personal driver for me. Being a part of the Senior Management team enables me to make a difference and to drive the D&I agenda.

Q: What training/development opportunities are available to Kvadrat employees and managers to foster inclusivity?

In all our training and development programs, we will use transparent and objective criteria to identify opportunities for career development and give equal opportunity for all our employees to develop and reach their full potential. As part of our ongoing commitment to create an even more inclusive culture and help all our leaders receive training to recognize and avoid bias, so they can coach and develop their teams.