Twenty-five years ago, Dame Theresa Gattung became the first female chief executive of a top New Zealand company.
"I wasn't really aware about how much of a big deal it would be," she said.
"I knew it would be significant, but business news never made the lead story on TV."
Gattung's appointment as CEO of Telecom at 37 was huge news in 1999, but she said its significance was not immediately apparent.
"When I walked along Lambton Quay, and I saw the Dominion heading a picture of me and the headline 'million dollar woman', it sunk in that this is a really big deal as an inspirational thing for women and girls."
Dame Theresa Gattung became the first female chief executive of a major New Zealand company when she was appointed CEO of Telecom in 1999. (Source: 1News)
Gattung recalled going to a press conference where the attending journalists were all male.
"First of all, they were agog, their mouths were like it was agog."
She said she was asked by a journalist if she intended to have children.
"Of course, Jacinda [Ardern] was also asked that more than two decades later."
The question surprised her, but she was not offended, she said.
"That probably stood out as the most inappropriate, but I didn't really think about that until later."
Her corporate climb coincided with other high-achieving women in the country, with Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Leader of the Opposition Helen Clark, Governor-General Sylvia Cartwright and Chief Justice Sian Ellis all being women in positions of power.
"We had political leaders at the time who were women, so it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise that a woman could run a large company," she said.
"It felt like a deep surprise."
Gattung said seeing women in these positions was "really significant" to inspire women and girls.
"There are more of those these days, and it is important for girls to go 'I could do that' because you can't be what you can't see."
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