ELEVATE: Henny Zijlstra on Gut Feeling, Guilt, and Getting to the Top

In the latest episode of Elevate: Women Leading the Way in Pharma Outsourcing, Henny Zijlstra, Chief Commercial Officer at Ardena, talks candidly about career opportunism, commercial credibility without a science degree, and why women need to stop apologising for their ambition.

Henny Zijlstra doesn't fit the mould of the carefully planned executive career. She didn't map out a path to the C-suite. What she did do was keep saying yes, to roles that stretched her, to opportunities that scared her, and to companies that gave her room to build. After more than 15 years spanning Hetero Drugs, DSM Sinochem, LONZA and Adragos Pharma, she's now stepping into the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Ardena, a pharma development organisation operating across Europe.

Her conversation with Elevate host Marianne Gissane covers a lot of ground, and very little of it is comfortable or conventional.

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On building a career without a scientific background

One of the more striking threads in the episode is Henny's relationship with science, or rather, her lack of one. With a background in international business and marketing, she's spent her entire career in an industry built on technical expertise she doesn't have. Her response to that gap is characteristically direct.

"Scientists see problems. I only see solutions."

Rather than trying to compete on ground she can't win, she competes on speed, relationships and sheer commercial rigour. She's the first to follow up after a meeting. She knows contracts, batch sizes and slot availability inside out. And when the science goes over her head, she says so, asking colleagues to explain it to her as though she's three years old, not five.

It's an approach that disarms rather than diminishes. And it's one that carries a broader lesson for anyone who's felt like an outsider in a technical industry: you don't have to know everything. You have to know your thing really well, and be honest about the rest.

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On the questions men never get asked

When Henny returned from maternity leave with her second child, the questions started immediately. How are the kids? Who's looking after them? Meanwhile, her then-husband had been back at work, and travelling, within days of the birth. Nobody asked him anything.

Her initial response was to lean into the absurdity of it, joking that her daughter would be crying for 48 hours while she was away and would stop the moment she got home. But the frustration behind that deflection is real, and she names it clearly.

"Don't give that to a mom. It's already so hard for us to let them go. Do you think we don't think about our kids every single day?"

What she finds harder than the bias itself is when it comes from other women. Men, she points out, don't question each other's choices. They don't comment on each other's appearance, second-guess each other's decisions or remind each other of what they might be missing at home. Women deserve the same.

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On resilience, routines and putting yourself first

Henny is deliberate about her mornings. No social media. Gratitude journaling. A walk with the dogs. Meditation. It sounds simple, but she's clear about why it matters: if the system around you collapses, you collapse too. Taking care of yourself first isn't selfish. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

That same clarity applies to how she thinks about decision-making at a senior level. The bigger the role, the more she involves the people around her, her partner, her kids, her close circle. A career move at this level isn't a solo decision. It affects everyone, and the right support system is what makes it possible.

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On trusting your gut and taking the opportunity

Henny's move to Ardena came through her network, from a conversation she initially wasn't particularly interested in having. What changed her mind was gut feeling, the sense that here was another opportunity to build something, to shape a commercial team from the ground up and create the kind of culture she finds most energising. That instinct, she argues, is worth listening to.

"When your body tells you not to do something, it's usually right. And when it tells you to go for it, don't wait."

She's also clear that opportunities don't always come around twice. Passing one up because the timing isn't perfect or because it feels risky is often the greater mistake.

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Three things she'd tell her younger self

The episode closes with advice that's practical, personal, and worth writing down.

Negotiate your salary from the start. Never accept the first offer, even if it feels awkward, even if you're not sure you should. If you don't establish that expectation early, it gets harder every time.

Let go of the guilt. Missing the school bus wave-off, travelling for work, choosing a full-time career over part-time hours: none of it makes you a bad mother or a lesser professional. The guilt is real, but it costs more than it's worth.

Find your believers. The people who lift you up, who are proud of you, who don't need you to dim yourself to feel comfortable. Build your life and your career around them.

"Find your believers, the people who lift you up, and you'll be able to excel at anything you pursue."

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You can listen to the full conversation with Henny Zijlstra on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. To speak to our team about building commercial leadership in pharma services, get in touch.