I knew I was starting from the bottom but I didn’t care, I thought “go for it!”

Penny Penati - Chief of Staff at LAKA

When I was younger, I wanted to be…

Originally I really wanted to be a maths teacher, and then in year 7 I wanted to be a comedian! Which is hilarious because I’m definitely not that funny. (laughs)

When I was 18…

Babysitting? It was cash in hand, I don’t think it’s that illegal hopefully (laughs). When I was around fifteen or sixteen years old, I spent my summers in Italy working in a little pastry and coffee shop, that’s a very integral part of the Italian lifestyle. I was the dish washer at first and then I learnt how to actually work the coffee machine.

Whilst at university…

I studied Business Studies & Finance at Cass Business School in London. I originally really wanted to be a translator and work in Languages, but my parents persuaded me otherwise. I still learnt a lot in my degree though! I did my first year in London and then a second-year abroad in Italy. I studied at the best university in Italy in a city I knew really well. It was also one of the international university partners of Cass, so it made a lot of sense to study there. I’m happy I did that, it really solidified for me that London was the place for me - despite how lovely and familiar Italy was, I didn’t want to live in Italy. After that, I did my Masters in Supply Chain Trader Finance.

My breakthrough moment…

I was working at the Apple retail store when I was twenty, and I spent two years on the shop floor helping interesting customers and then two years at the back of house in the stock room. Nobody really knows this, but the stock room in these Apple stores are just state of the art – they are so well organised and efficient. Anyway, in 2014, I think it was around Christmas time, one of my colleagues asked me “Hey Penny, what did you achieve this year?” And I didn’t have a real answer. I hadn’t done anything of significance, I hadn’t even travelled. I realised that retail wasn’t for me, I couldn’t grow in that hierarchy and I couldn’t have another year of doing nothing. So in 2015, I started to research internships at different roles in start-up industries, which I didn’t really know anything about, but I was curious. I worked in an accelerator company as an unpaid events intern; I knew I was starting from the bottom but I didn’t care, I thought “go for it!” Over the three month period, I worked really hard five days a week as an intern whilst working weekends at Apple to supplement my income. Everyone thought it was insane to be working constantly. But, my bosses at the fintech (financial technology) company saw my work ethic, and six weeks in they started paying me which was amazing! I eventually got a permanent position as the Head of Events.

How did you enter your current sector?

Insurance has a bit of a poor reputation, but it’s still a relatively new sector. Everyone only thinks about big corporate businesses, but at the accelerator company, I was introduced to all of these really cool insurance start-ups. Insurtech really opened my eyes - these startups were really changing the game and I realised “insurance can be cool!” Not every company were trying to trick their consumers or confuse them with loopholes and jargon; they wanted to change the public perception of insurance.

Then, in the second year of the Startupbootcamp accelerator in 2018, someone came to me for the role as Chief of Staff at LAKA which I immediately said yes to, and the company has been growing ever since.

My typical daily responsibilities include…

As Chief of Staff at LAKA, I work with the founders and CEO on a wide range of projects. It’s still a small company, so I’m a bit of a gap filler and dive in to solve problems if they pop up. You need a bird’s eye view perspective for this role; I often need to zoom in on areas that need additional support and work on various side projects too. I’m also the interim Head of People until we find the right person for the job, so I am always setting up projects and roles in advance whilst checking if we are achieving company objectives.

The best part of my job…

No two days are the same, it’s the best. LAKA challenges the whole traditional insurance model, which is why I love the company! Traditionally, every month a client would pay out a certain premium in case they end up filing an insurance claim. So essentially, you are paying for a promise, right? You only see what you pay for when you do ending making a claim. Insurance companies typically make more money with the fewer claims they pay out, because they get interested in the premiums they hold etc. etc. This is where LAKA turns that business model on its head; with us, a client will pay nothing up front, they just pay their share of the monthly claim on a pro-rata basis if they end up filing a claim. It’s exciting to be a part of that!

The hardest part of my job…

I’m the go-to person for everything, so I always have to do everything!

Advice I’d give to someone wanting to get into my career sector…

You should talk to everyone and listen to their stories. Try to find someone to look up to in your organisation too! When I was an intern, I wanted to be like our company’s COO; I saw her conduct everyone in the organisation and everything was running so smoothly, so I was just thought, “wow, she’s incredible!” She would lend me half an hour of her time once a week, and having that chat with someone you look up to was amazing for me. You should always ask founders why they started their business, because everyone has a specific reason. Also, insurance covers a lot of things, so be open to all platforms and don’t only focus on traditional insurances for cars – footballers even insure their legs, so there are endless options.

What skill do you exercise everyday?

I question everything, I’m constantly asking “why?” I love uncomfortable situations, I’m not afraid to speak up. I was like that even as an intern.

A quality I value in a colleague…

I appreciate people who help out and get stuck in, they don’t think themselves too senior to help out on team tasks. That extra pair of hands always makes a difference.

My go-to resource for news…

Product Hunt – they constantly show and review newly developed products on their platform, and you can do a deep dive into the history of these brands. It’s interesting to see the previous versions of a tool versus where they are now.

My favourite social media platform…

LinkedIn.

If I wasn’t in the insurance sector, I’d be in…

Languages; being a translator in films would be cool! I love languages, I speak Italian, English, Spanish and a little bit of French.