Roksana Kasprzyk
Roksana Kasprzyk is a Co-Founder and PR Director of SafeQueen, a one-of-a-kind safety rating platform for venues.
Think TripAdvisor, but instead of rating food and music, you rate how safe you felt. She is a self-proclaimed badass on a mission to enjoy every part of building this new company.
- Tell us a little bit about your business… / or the organisation you work for.
SafeQueen provides the missing piece of the nighttime industry – a trusted, anonymous reporting system, so customers and venues can return accountability to the vibrant hospitality culture. Research shows that 2 in 5 women are more likely to report if it would prevent the incident from happening again. It is calculated that only 1 in 10 sexual harassment and assault cases is reported. SafeQueen is a platform that will capture the other 9 cases. A finalist for the Innovation Awards, SafeQueen is built to be a simply retrofitted solution to the venue’s management workflow.
2. How did you get into the industry?
We all fell into it by accident. I met Stef and Ines when we were studying for our Master’s at Aston University and all of us wanted to start something, we were all hungry for knowledge and passionate about doing something revolutionary. The idea for SafeQueen came about when we competed in a Cisco Hackathon with the theme of using technology to improve women’s safety. We didn’t think much of it, and we sure as hell never thought of actually building it. What made us keep at it, was the fact that everyone responded so well to it, people wanted more and Aston Enterprise approached us to compete in their pitching competition and we were awarded a Santander Bursary. The universe was pushing us towards sucking it up, and just building the thing.
3. What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
The night-time industry lacks a reporting solution, a way to understand the casuality and prevalence of sexual harassment and assault. The industry desperately needs data, so we can start healing. SafeQueen positions herself nicely in that opportunity, but it is simultaneously the biggest challenge. The industry can be quite traditional at times, and we are the new kids on the block. The last thing we want is for venues to fear us. This may seem like a hard challenge but it is also the fun part for me, through networking and the personal close relationships we have, we managed to build a fun and user-centric platform.
4. How would you describe your leadership style? (if not in a leadership role talk about your working style)
Listen more than talk. Do everything you can to make the work of your team as easy and painless as possible. Don’t take advice from everyone. Trust yourself and your gut. Speak up for your company and your team. Never let anyone mock you. Never fear conflict, use your team to hold you accountable, it is how we grow and develop healthy business ethics. Laughter is not bad, so make your team laugh at moments of hardship.
5. How do you get the most out of the people who work for you? (or work with you)
We have recently onboarded a new member, a badass full-stack developer. The fun thing is, she is older than every Co-Founder and way more experienced. We hired her because she is brilliant, from the first meeting we knew she was the one who would take the company exactly where it needed to be. She isn’t afraid of questioning us, she isn’t afraid of thinking long-term or suggesting new routes. She is protective of SafeQueen’s values. We never needed to get more out of her, we never needed to motivate her, the reason is she loves the company and she loves the founders, her passion fits in here and she can tell we trust her and will do anything to support her. We see her as an active and respected participant, we let her speak uninterrupted. That goes for all the founders, we are honest when we are burnt out, when we are feeling low, when we need help, when we don’t understand. That is why we are so agile and have done so much as such a small team.
6. What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
The team. Period.
7. How has the past 12 months been for you?
Beautifully busy, filled with amazing events, amazing people and amazing outfits. It was a year of self-reflection, for myself and SafeQueen, I want to keep growing and become the woman I envision myself to be for SafeQueen. Just like my co-founders, we all reflect on our mistakes and our decisions, it is why we have grown so fast because we learn fast.
8. What will the next 12 months look like for you or your business?
I can feel in my bones that 2024 is going to rock. We are in full go-mode for active and agile development of SafeQueen’s new features, we are actively speaking to our users and venues for testing and continuously improving her so I cannot wait to see the platform at the end of this year! The team is killing it!
9. What are the highlights of your career so far?
The highlight was the sold-out SafeQueenLaunch Party at Artum in Hockley Social Club. The energy, the curious minds, the music and the art, ah I would love to relive it.
10. What’s the biggest professional / business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
Trying to be like others and comparing ourselves to other start-ups. I think it is a natural process for new founders, we act like what we think people want to see. We grew so much in the past 6 months because we refused to listen to all the voices that told us how to act and how to build. We started to trust our guts, our ideas and ourselves – that is what started SafeQueen and we had to get back to that for her to grow to a global scale.
11. What’s the best piece of professional / business advice you’ve been given or would like to give?
Never wait till you know everything to you start something – learn as you go and the beauty will come!
