She is poised to take over the reins at the company within the next two to three years together with her husband Dieter Sanders, as her father and current CEO Dirk Vandepitte will be stepping back after nearly 37 years of seafood history.
IntraFish: How did you begin working in the seafood industry?
Yoke Vandepitte: I’m the second generation, as my dad started up the business -- I was born in it. Although I had the absolute free choice to choose if I would start at Pittman or not, I decided to join Pittman after having gained some experience elsewhere. I always have been fascinated about the business – mainly because it’s so international. You meet different people from different culture. And however big the world is, the fish business is 'small' and most people stay in this business. Once in fish, always in fish.
IF: What attracted you about the seafood industry?
YV: I like to trade and deal with real products, especially fish as it's a delicate product to buy. You need to have the right sources, partners, knowledge, and it’s all about trust. We also see this with our customers. They need to buy a lot of items (other than fish) but fish is sometimes scaring them as it’s expensive to buy (vs vegetables for example) and a lot of things can happen such as late catch, quality variations. But most of the times we still speak about fish. If I look to meat business it’s sometimes more about technology, techniques and additives used rather than about the actual product.
IF: What obstacles have you faced in your career a man might not have encountered?
YV: Well, maybe because I’m from the 1980s I see less obstacles because my ‘generation’ is already more used to equal rights between men and women. We're only 35 people in our business, and a lot of them are women.
It’s also not in my personality to let people walk over me. I don’t pay attention to those things and rather focus on what I want to achieve. The biggest challenge what I see in my company and I’m sure in others too is to find a harmony between generations. Soon four generations will work in the same company and for me it’s a challenge to have teams working with a freshly graduate junior together with an experienced 50+. They both have different values. It’s not about who’s right or wrong, it's about finding a way to combine them.
IF: Would you encourage other women to seek a career in this industry? Why?
YV: Yes, off course and why not. The good thing is there are less women than men in this industry, which means they will remember you more easily. The moment they know you they know the business (but I think this is for every junior, male or female), and if you know what you're talking about they take you seriously.
Off course you need to have a passion for fish and the industry, like to go to factories, travel the world to see where things are produced.
In some cultures women have it more difficult to be ‘accepted’ but because of the international atmosphere of this business I have no issues. But you you need to respect other cultures, and adapt to their rules when you visit them. During my last trip to China I met some female plant managers – doing a great job – running a huge factory. And I bet you – everybody was listening to them.
IF: What advice would you give aspiring female seafood executives?
YV: Be authentic.
IF: How can the industry recruit more women into the sector?
YV: As I said, a big part will be solved over time as you see more and more women graduating from university. Automatically, more women will join this sector. I’m pretty sure that my five-year old daughter will notice this even less.
IF: If there were one thing you could change about the industry to make it a better place for women workers, what would it be?
YV: It's important to make sure that workers -- not only women -- have good good rights, benefits and are respected for the job they do. When we audit a factory this is one of the items we pay attention too – that the people are being treated with respect
What was the dumbest advice a man in the seafood industry has ever given you?
YV: There is no real example of bad advice. But I now write my name with a Y, even though my real name is Joke (Flemish), which doesn't always work that well in English and sometimes I end up in spam folders. Sometimes people also think that I'm a man, which results in some funny reactions when they 'discover' that I'm not.
