Claire of Coupang’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) team launched the women’s support group CREW with her colleague Avril, starting from the simple idea of building a network for women. While EHS had traditionally been a male-dominated field, the number of women in Coupang’s EHS team had doubled in less than a year from Q3 2020, convincing Claire to take action and foster a supportive atmosphere among the EHS women.
“During an interview with female employees on diversity, I was given the suggestion that we have a regular meeting of women in EHS,” said Claire. “The group started with Avril and me, but more members joined through different channels.” While CREW initially launched to support women in EHS, the group has now expanded company-wide, promoting diversity and inclusiveness throughout Coupang.
CREW, which stands for Coupang Rocket Engagement for Women, focuses on increasing female leadership, strengthening the networking between female employees, and increasing communication through collaboration. The support group has invited lecturers to speak on their experiences, such as writer Eun-joo Lee and Coupang’s own Vice President of Retail Helen Yoon. Helen joined Coupang in the early days of Rocket Delivery and was responsible for launching Coupang’s pet category, which has since become the largest pet-related shopping channel both online and offline. In her lecture, Helen shared her experience building up her career as a working mom, including the challenges she faced and the advice she wanted to pass on to Coupang’s future female leaders.
Last March, in celebration of International Women’s Day, CREW also hosted the event #BREAKTHEBIAS to bring speakers such as Lee Seul Yena, the EBS producer who created Korea’s beloved animated penguin Pengsoo, James Lee, Coupang’s VP of Consumer Electronics & Media, and Rachel Joo, Coupang’s Deputy General Counsel of eCommerce Legal. These speakers discussed their past experiences in overcoming biases, and how a supportive workplace can help everyone thrive.
#BREAKTHEBIAS event poster
In addition to lectures, CREW has a newsletter to share the latest trends regarding women at Coupang. This includes the “Female Coupang Friend Care Center,” which EHS has been running since last year, to provide support and consultations for Coupang’s female delivery drivers.
Claire hopes that as CREW becomes more active, other female employees will be inspired to follow their lead, not just in Coupang, but in other companies. “We want to have active networking not only inside Coupang, but with women groups in other companies,” said Claire.
