Olha Yatsyna, CMO at VeliTech, shares her experience as a female leader in iGaming and why she believes women don’t need special treatment, just the opportunity to prove what they can already do.
As a female leader in the iGaming industry, it’s important for me to share my experience in order to inspire others to consider pursuing a career in the sector.
This is because the industry is still considered to be male-dominated, even though that’s not totally the case and certainly at organisations like Veli Group and the VeliTech division where I work.
The best way to prove that is by talking through my journey at Veli Group, which started on a very human note – when I got the call to offer me the position of CMO at VeliTech, I was expecting a baby.
So I found myself in a situation where I wanted to accept the offer, but knew that immediately after, I had to tell the CEO I was pregnant – something I thought would result in the offer being withdrawn.
Most businesses don’t want to onboard someone who will soon step away as this can have a negative impact on operations and incur significant added cost.
But that’s not what happened. The CEO simply smiled, congratulated me, and said the offer absolutely stood. He even told me to take all that time I needed.
That moment defined the culture at Veli Group, a company that sees people, not just positions.
Since then, I have worked in an environment where you can grow, challenge ideas and still have a life outside your job, without feeling guilty about it.
This culture of trust and ownership has allowed me to build my career on my terms, and it has allowed me to reach my full potential.
Of course, it’s not been without its challenges along the way – certain parts of the industry are still male-dominated, despite the progress that’s being made by pioneering organisations such as Veli Group.
For example, in leadership meetings or at expos, you often find you’re one of very few women in the room. Personally, I haven’t faced any unpleasant situations, but I’ve witnessed moments that remind me how far we still have to go.
Once, during a meeting with a potential client, one of my female colleagues – an experienced professional with a tech degree – was told something along the lines of “okay girl, now let the big tech boys talk”.
That’s a good reality check that this is still an industry learning to fully accept strong female professionals as equals.
At Veli Group, the dynamic is different. The organisation genuinely gives space to competence rather than gender. We have female CEOs, product heads and leads across multiple divisions. And no one makes a big deal out of it, which is precisely the point.
Gender doesn’t define you, your contribution does.
But why is it so important for organisations, and the wider industry, to embrace diversity?
For me, it’s because sameness breeds stagnation. And in this industry, stagnation means you end up very far behind, very quickly.
If you surround yourself with people who look, think and act the same, you’ll keep producing the same results. Diversity (gender or otherwise) introduces friction, new lenses and leads to different decisions.
Equality isn’t charity; it’s strategy. The iGaming industry especially needs more diverse voices, because we’re building products for audiences that aren’t uniform. When leadership reflects that reality, creativity and decision-making become sharper and more refined.
This is something that Veli Group has really benefited from.
Having women in senior positions has brought a different tone to leadership – more empathy but without losing clarity.
For instance, several of our product and operations teams led by women are known internally for exceptionally high team cohesion and an unrivalled pace of innovation.
It’s not about “soft skills” – it’s about balanced leadership. When you have diversity at the top, you make better, more sustainable decisions because you view problems through more than one lens.
As a female leader in the iGaming industry, I take my responsibility to inspire others very seriously and work hard to support others. I believe the best way of doing this is to lead by example.
I often hear from my team members and peers that seeing me balance being a mum of two, travelling the world, doing sports, baking cookies for my kids and still holding a C-level role makes it feel real for them – that it’s not some abstract “work-life balance” concept, but something achievable when the company culture truly supports it.
For me, it’s about showing that you don’t have to choose between being ambitious and being human. You can build and lead efficient teams, have a career that challenges you, and still keep the rest of your life intact – so long as the company culture and working environment allows it.
Beyond that, I try to open doors for other women: recommending them for opportunities, inviting them to panels or simply reminding them that they don’t need permission to be visible.
Sometimes, the most powerful support is normalising success that looks different from the traditional male blueprint.
I don’t think women need “special treatment” in iGaming – we just need the same conditions to prove what we already can do. And Veli Group is an example of how that looks in practice.
Ultimately, the more companies that move from slogans to substance, the faster we’ll stop talking about “female leaders” and just talk about leaders.
