Anastasia Lemberg-Lvova of De Structura On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
Trust women with money. More men have run companies into the ground than women. If anything, women tend to be more prudent with finances.
Despite strides towards equality, women remain underrepresented in leadership and management roles across various sectors. In this series, we would like to discuss the barriers to female advancement in these areas and explore actionable strategies for change. We are talking with accomplished women leaders, executives, and pioneers who have navigated these challenges successfully, to hear their experiences, tactics, and advice to inspire and guide the next generation of women toward achieving their full potential in leadership and management roles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Anastasia Lemberg-Lvova.
Anastasia serves as the founder and executive director of De Structura. She champions the interests of creatives and cultural professionals, is a member of the Executive Committee for the Reset! network, and is part of the Fellows Community at the Lucerne Dialogue. Additionally, she participates in the Global Cultural Relations Programme. As an artist passionate about transforming contemporary art, Anastasia holds a BA in Fine Arts and has undergone training in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Estonia, where she currently resides.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I always felt most engaged when combining very different activities in my daily work. I remember simultaneously working on an exhibition — painting for a minimum of eight hours a day — and remotely organising a European Youth Parliament event in a different country. That combination of drastically different types of work kept me interested and motivated to perform my best at both. Over time, it became clear that this ability, interacting with diverse people and disciplines while making well-reasoned decisions with limited information and resources, is quite practical in leadership and management.
I was active in the European Youth Parliament for ten years, taking on different roles ranging from presiding over academic content to designing and producing ten-day events for over 100 young people from all over the European continent. At the same time, I attended all forms of art schools from the age of six, eventually culminating in a BA in Fine Arts. In hindsight, it looks probable that I would eventually end up on a path exploring art-based cross-innovation and the merits of art thinking when applied to other sectors.
The specific story of founding De Structura comes from my own path as a young artist in Europe. It quickly became apparent that building a financially sustainable career was nigh impossible — in Europe and especially in Estonia — though I am aware that this is a real possibility in other metropolitan locations. From discussing the status quo with friends from other countries who were in the same boat as me, it also became clear that we were facing identical issues around the continent. So, we gathered a team of 15 motivated emerging art professionals, organised an advocacy and art production forum in Estonia in 2022, and De Structura got its kickstart.
Since then, we have decided to focus on supporting emerging art professionals in ways available to us and building a stronger foundation for cross-innovation involving the arts.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
If I had to choose one story to share, it would be the quite unexpected experience of ending up on the same stage as five Governors of European Central Banks, asking them questions about inflation — all while coming from the art sector, and not exactly top authority on the topic.
In 2022, I was a scholarship holder at the European Forum Alpbach and participated in a financial literacy seminar, staying true to my cross-innovation interests in other sectors. The professors leading the seminar invited three of us to liven up the often sleep-inducing discussion on inflation for the audience. That experience led to many other interesting stories, a lasting friendship, and a few lessons about inflation from top-level professionals.
There have been countless interesting stories, and that’s what motivates me to keep going every day. For me, the path to success has always been paved with adventure. Seeing what me and the team can achieve next and where our unorthodox ideas might lead is highly exhilarating.
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that significantly influenced your path to leadership?
The idea for something like the De Structura forum had been playing in my mind for years. Initially, my ambition was to approach a large institution and bring the idea to fruition under their guidance. After three years of unsuccessful attempts, in 2022, I decided to found my own organisation and carry out something no one else believed in. I think sheer restlessness and a “I believe in this even if you don’t, and I will prove it works” sentiment set me on the path I am currently pursuing.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I would say it’s not a person but an organisation — the European Youth Parliament. It’s a youth-run nonprofit that does wonders for empowerment. Unfortunately, our education systems are quite inadequate at helping learners believe they can achieve very ambitious things. With the support of the people around me during my ten years in the European Youth Parliament, I acquired the experience of taking on and succeeding at increasingly challenging tasks…That organisation threw me into deep waters and trusted me to succeed. Once I saw that I could do it, I started believing in myself.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I first read it when I was 15. It’s full of metaphors that helped me make sense of many puzzling phenomena I was encountering at the time, and Oscar Wilde’s writing style is incredibly seductive. I’ve reread it since, and each time, it has revealed itself in a different light.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
Strike while the iron is hot. I’ve had numerous occasions in my life that affirm just how true this idiom is. I’ve missed some opportunities because I didn’t act quickly enough, but I’ve also had many successes by seizing what was coming my way without hesitation.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
The origin of De Structura lies in my ambition to make the art world better for emerging artists from diverse backgrounds. To this day, I remain committed to advocating for improved working conditions in the cultural sector, including through my role as a member of the executive committee of the Reset! network — a European network for independent culture and media organisations.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this report, only about 31.7% of top executive positions across industries are held by women. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from leadership and management?
Structural sexism plays a noticeable role. One anecdote, though not related to a professional environment, yet very telling, happened during a holiday in Southern Europe. A male friend was visiting me at my apartment complex, and we ended up spending time by the pool at the same time as a father and his son. That man spent five minutes quizzing my friend about his work, expertise, and life in general. Despite my friend’s efforts to introduce me as the host and someone worth meeting, given that we lived in the same place, the man didn’t look at me once. Even when my friend bluntly pointed to me and introduced us, he reluctantly shook my hand without making eye contact. I was a woman — and therefore, to him, uninteresting and not worth his time. This is not an isolated incident.
I have been part of numerous conversations where I voiced an idea, for it to be entirely overlooked in the moment — only to be picked up two minutes later by a man and met with applause and praise. Funnily enough, it’s often women who are applauding. This points to a deeper societal issue, and I’ve noticed myself exhibiting the same kind of behavior — doubting that women have something noteworthy to contribute to soi-disant serious topics. I believe we need to recognise this tendency in ourselves and relearn to see women as talented and equally capable.
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become leaders and managers?
It’s about equal opportunity rather than forcing any gender into positions they’re not interested in holding but might feel pressured to pursue because of societal definitions of success. Becoming a manager is a choice, and one needs to feel a genuine ambition to take on that role. A good balance of genders in leadership positions is the way forward, but for that, we need to normalise free choice and address the issue of structural sexism I mentioned earlier. Women should be managers as much as men should, and gender shouldn’t even be a factor — competence, capability, and motivation should.
Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share “5 Things We Need To Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management?” If you can, please share an example or story for each.
1 . Women need to stop bringing other women down. In the culture sector, as I know it, which is largely dominated by women, there’s often a sense of “every woman for herself,” accompanied by a troubling eagerness to undermine one another. This needs to change.
2 . Women need to be shown early on that this is an option for them. Being thrown into the deep end as a teenager during my extracurriculars and being entrusted with significant responsibility taught me that I could succeed. It also taught me to hold on to those moments of accomplishing seemingly out-of-reach things, even when people I encountered later were telling me otherwise.
3 . Women and men need to have a healthy relationship. From pornography to fairy tales, the trend of men dominating women persists in Western archetypes. This dynamic of domination needs to evolve into one of partnership within our collective psyche.
4 . Childcare needs to be a collaborative effort of both parents by default. Managing a team while caring for a newborn is challenging, and this responsibility needs to become a shared undertaking.
5 . Trust women with money. More men have run companies into the ground than women. If anything, women tend to be more prudent with finances.
In your opinion, what systemic changes are needed to facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles?
Point three from the previous question represents a fundamental shift that must happen before we can achieve meaningful systemic change. The dynamic of domination must transform into one of partnership within our collective mindset.
What strategies have you found most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions?
Trusting newcomers in my organisation with tasks they are enthusiastic and ambitious about. When our most recent female team member joined, I asked her about the projects she was interested in managing and assured her that I’d support her by helping with fundraising and providing the organisational framework to make her desired project a reality. She was visibly overjoyed and admitted she was surprised, as other teams had never offered such an opportunity.
How would you advise a woman leader about how to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role within a male-dominated industry?
Know what you want and don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t have anything valuable to contribute. Feedback is crucial, and growth comes from implementing constructive input, but it’s equally important to filter out unhelpful comments that could slow you down or hinder your ambition
How do you balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behavior in professional settings?
Instinct and experience. Sometimes, you need to be firm and take on unpleasant tasks that don’t align with your natural tendencies. You learn to navigate these situations by staying true to your beliefs while also knowing when to protect yourself and temporarily adapt to a different approach.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I believe our systems should primarily be led by specialists — scientists, engineers, artists — rather than managers by trade. The story of Boeing, where compromised engineering decisions were made in pursuit of cost savings without adequately assessing the associated risks, serves as a stark example of the consequences when this balance is reversed.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
Anastasia Lemberg-Lvova of De Structura On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.