Dr. Danyelle Ireland

Associate Director, UMBC Center for Women in Technology; Research Assistant Professor, UMBC Engineering and Computing Education Program

What challenges have you faced as a woman in technology and how were you able to overcome them?

I’m a social scientist and educational researcher who supports students through UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). My students sometimes doubt their skills and potential due to notions about who can succeed in computing and engineering. I study ways to empower them and help them learn to navigate interpersonal and structural challenges that often come with being underrepresented in technology.

What can technology companies do to empower their women employees?

It’s imperative that tech companies empower employees and look critically at programming, policies, and professional development, to make sure all stakeholder voices are included. Also, don’t underestimate the power of nurturing relationships at the professional level. Cultivating space for regular and authentic dialogue can help companies recognize and address gaps.

Can you speak to the importance of gender diversity in technology roles?

Certain tech roles have greater gender diversity than others, but many challenges in the field could be mitigated by including a wider range of voices at the design table. Companies have encountered problems of bias, accessibility, and safety with new products that they could have spotted and addressed much earlier by having a more diverse team from the start.

Is there someone you look up to within the technology field?

Our students look up to UMBC’s female faculty, as well as supportive male faculty, in engineering and computing, who give them opportunities to do research, present at conferences, and serve as peer leaders. Also, I teach a course where students examine the contributions of historical and contemporary women in tech, which helps them become more aware of the strong legacy of women in these fields.

How do you measure success in your current role as a female leader?

To see students develop over time is tremendously exciting, as they begin taking on leadership roles and advocating for themselves and others. It gives me confidence that CWIT is closer to achieving our vision: Students are prepared and empowered to be change agents in creating technology workplaces that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

Marie desJardins, Ph.D.

Dean of the College of Organizational, Computational, and Information Sciences, Simmons University

What challenges have you faced as a woman in technology and how were you able to overcome them?

It gets exhausting to always be in the minority, so connecting with the other women in the field has been really important to me. Also, many attributes that are seen as positives in male leaders, such as assertiveness, confidence, or decisiveness, are often seen as negatives in female leaders. My mindset has always been that if I am doing what I love to do with compassion and commitment, then I belong where I am and will be successful.

What can technology companies do to empower their women employees?

Men who want to be effective, active allies for women in tech need to recognize situations where the existing culture is not inclusive or diverse, and take steps to change things – not just waiting for the few women to change them. Proactively suggest women for advanced technical training, leadership opportunities, and visible positions in your organization.

Can you speak to the importance of gender diversity in technology roles?

Diversity of all types is the key to success for any organization – not just gender diversity, but full inclusion of people of different races, ethnicities, and nationalities; from different geographic areas; with degrees from different institutions; with different work and non-work interests. Research has shown that more diverse teams work better together, produce more robust engineering solutions, and lead to more sustainable organizations. And equity is a moral imperative.

Is there someone you look up to within the technology field?

Three women come to mind: Diane Greene, founding CEO of VMware and former CEO of Google Cloud, was a classmate of mine at UC Berkeley and is one of the most talented, visionary, and down-to-earth leaders I know. Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, is a terrific role model as a leader in higher education, and has also significantly increased the number of women majoring in computer science at HMC during her time there. And Jan Cuny, former program manager for NSF’s Broadening Participation in Computing, has quietly and confidently done more to change the landscape of K-12 computer science education than anybody thought was possible 10 years ago.

How do you measure success in your current role as a female leader?

Being a university dean means having many tasks to juggle and many hard decisions to make. It’s impossible to please everybody, so I just try to keep my personal values and the institution’s values at the core of my decisions and interactions. And if I don’t quite meet that goal, then I get up the next day and try again. I have a mantra I sometimes repeat to myself: “Be calm. Choose joy. Show gratitude. Seek empathy. Love thyself.” Those words have helped me to stay centered and grounded through some very tumultuous times.

Dr. Dafeng Yao

Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. ’56 Faculty Fellow and CACI Faculty Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech

What challenges have you faced as a woman in technology and how were you able to overcome them?

Last Saturday, a remote family friend told me that he was surprised by my achievements, because women “usually suck at technological fields.” This type of stereotypical and impostor syndrome-inducing microaggressions routinely happens to women in technology. They drag women down, making their work less and less enjoyable. It is like running in mud. Overcoming these challenges requires the society to improve, which unfortunately happens very slowly. The current system is not perfect. All women in technology need to read about impostor syndrome. Do not let gender-related issues negatively impact your self-esteem.

What can technology companies do to empower their women employees?

Technology companies need to put women in powerful decision-making positions. Give the benefit of the doubt to women. Women might not always look like or talk like the executives, board members, or presidents in stereotype-perpetuating Hollywood movies. That does not mean women cannot do the work. I have seen so many truly brilliant, devoted, and decisive ladies in the technology profession. Give women the opportunities to shine. Have faith in women.

Can you speak to the importance of gender diversity in technology roles?

Great minds don’t think alike. We need both men and women to contribute their ideas freely. Oftentimes, I was the only woman in the discussion and I had different opinions and ideas from others – good ones. Men and women have very different life experiences and perspectives, which may lead to different and equally valuable creative processes.      

Is there someone you look up to within the technology field?

I look up to many gentle giants, women and men in academia who work so hard on advancing women in computing. Barbara Ryder, my former boss at Virginia Tech, hired me twice and solved my two-body problem: long-distance relationship of a dual-career couple. Elisa Bertino at Purdue University put me in leadership positions that opened up many opportunities for me. Bhavani Thuraisingham at UT Dallas showed me that it is absolutely fine for a professional woman to talk about her family and life. I also have numerous male mentors who recognize my technical abilities. Having the support of those men as allies is extremely important. Interacting with these pioneers also allows me to see diverse yet equally effective leadership styles.  

How do you measure success in your current role as a female leader?

To me, success means more females are given the opportunities and resources to fulfill their career pursuits and are able to contribute to this field in a significant and meaningful capacity. The tech talent pipeline is very leaky, losing women all the time, especially mid-career females. I am the founder of a number of diversity events for female and underrepresented cybersecurity researchers, including the Women in Cybersecurity Research Workshop (CyberW) and the Individualized Mentor (iMentor) Workshop. Our field needs to be aware of the problem, acknowledge the problem, understand possible causes, and – most importantly – improve.    

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Loren Jarrett

General Manager of Developer Tools Business

How would you advise a woman interested in a career in STEM?

Take risks and try new things until you find what you love. From there, believe in yourself and believe that your abilities, your intelligence, and your skills will get you where you need to go. Don’t worry if you don’t fit the mold of what other people look like or how they act. Your difference is what makes you unique, and that approach is what’s going to make you successful. If you’re not sure if you can do something, there’s nothing better than trying it. And it’s OK to fail. A successful career is not about not failing. It’s about learning from each and every situation so that you get better and better with time.

What do you wish you knew 20 years ago?

Those moments when you’re lucky enough to have a big career opportunity can be super scary because a lot of people, and women in particular, tend to look at those opportunities and say, “You know, I’m not qualified yet. I don’t meet 100 percent of the criteria for the job. So I probably shouldn’t try it at this point.” Whereas men who are only partially qualified would more likely look at that and say, “I know I haven’t done everything in the job description, but I’ll be great. I’m going to go after it.” The reality is that no one is 100 percent qualified. There are a lot of partially qualified people out there and one of them is going to get the opportunity, so it might as well be you.

Who is a woman you admire?

Honestly, the women who have inspired me the most have been the women in my family. My mother was an entrepreneur; she started a successful technical recruiting business as a single mother. My older sister has had a long career as a senior-level software engineer and is one of far too few women in her position. In another generation, my great-grandmother came to the United States from Ukraine on her own in her twenties with nothing and started a series of businesses that became successful. These stories of strength and limitless possibility inspire me.

How has Progress empowered female employees?

As leaders, we need to pave the way for women in the future and create an environment at Progress that supports inclusion and diversity at all levels of our organization. This is something very close to my heart and something we take very seriously here. Progress has a long history of inclusion and diversity. Our first engineer, Mary Székely – employee No. 1, one of the founders of Progress – was a software engineer. She wrote our flagship product that still powers thousands and thousands of organizations around the globe today. Progress actively pursues best practices for inclusion and diversity (I&D) in our business, and we work within our local tech communities to further I&D in our industry.

Why is diversity in leadership important?

There have been many studies done to date, by McKinsey and others, that have shown that a diversity of perspective in leadership leads to better decisions and better business performance overall. So, there’s a dollars-and-cents reason for every company to invest in this, but it’s a lot more than that. Diverse teams make us all better at what we do – they create an environment in which everyone can bring their best to the table. When we see different perspectives and different approaches, that enables each of us to grow, and that makes all of us better leaders and better team members. 

How do you hope to shape the future of Progress?

At Progress, we want to lead the way in I&D. We want to have an inclusive and diverse environment internally where everyone feels empowered to bring their best every day. We also aim to become an example for other businesses to follow. We want to make a contribution, not just to our company, but to our industry overall. We’re living in a very dynamic time with a lot of evolution in our industry and ongoing changes in our country as a whole. We have the opportunity right now to truly make a difference for future generations of employees both at Progress and in the broader industry.

Lilia Messechkova

Senior Director of Software Engineering

How would you advise a woman interested in a career in STEM?

Regardless of your gender, if you are interested in a career in STEM, I’d recommend that you ask yourself a few questions first. Are you passionate about solving problems and logical thinking? Do you have natural curiosity driving you to discover how things work? Are you excited to constantly learn new things and discover new ways of doing them? Do you keep yourself open-minded for what’s possible? If the answer to all those questions is “yes,” then STEM is the right path for you.

What do you wish you knew 20 years ago?

Looking back, I wish I’d been more focused on self-improvement rather than on being perfect in every aspect. Perfectionism leads to stagnation, limits creative thinking, and begets tension. It’s one of the most common reasons students give up on their dreams before even having made the first step. Striving for excellence and self-improvement, on the other hand, leads to internal satisfaction and empowers you to be brave to try, fail, rise up, and move on. Success is a journey, not a destination.

How has Progress empowered female employees?

One of the areas where female employees struggle most is work-life balance. To help all employees manage their personal and professional lives without sacrificing one at the expense of the other, Progress offers flexible working hours, work from home allowance, and even our own kids center in one of our locations. With all this, we all feel we can be our best selves both at work and at home. 

Why is diversity in leadership important?

Diversity in leadership means having more skills and perspectives to leverage when solving problems and having to come up with solutions. Leaders in diverse groups have access to more opportunities to explore and more challenges to prepare for that otherwise might not have been brought to the table at all.

How do you hope to shape the future of Progress?

Today, technology makes everything easier – from providing faster access to commodities and services, to transforming underdeveloped regions, to giving real-time access to information at critical moments to all citizens across the globe. I believe that Progress will make people’s lives better through the technology we create.

Joan Groleau

Senior Director of Global Partner Program

How would you advise a woman interested in a career in STEM?

For me, I didn’t go into technology as my first step. I was massively interested in marketing and I chose an organization where I could focus on marketing a solution that made the customer’s life better. That’s the passion within technology for me.

What do you wish you knew 20 years ago?

What I really wish I had 20 years ago is more confidence in myself. At this stage of my career, I find myself looking back at that woman I was 20 years ago and saying, “How do I bring her back a little bit more into my day?” So bringing that wonder, bringing that kind of sense of fascination with everything. I wish I could have given her some of the confidence I have today.

Who is a woman you admire?

I’m a huge fan of Eleanor Roosevelt. You talk about a woman who overcame things. For example, she was not a good public speaker, but she put herself out there because she had to, to support her husband and to support her causes. She was shy and reticent and then went from being really ridiculed over her looks – she had to really deal with a lot of unwarranted criticism – to overcoming it and becoming an inspiration to so many people. And that’s just really something that I think we should all do.

Why is diversity in leadership important?

When you have a team of people with unique backgrounds, the whole group benefits from the collective energy and new ideas. So when you have a group of people with different approaches to life, different experiences, different backgrounds, I think you create amazing things.

How do you hope to shape the future or Progress?

We just launched The Progress Accelerate Partner Program in January 2020. I’m very excited about my charter to build upon this launch over the next few years for growth across all of Progress and our partners.

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Rhoads took that passion and turned it into a career. She’s now the president of global business services at Raytheon, a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government, and cybersecurity solutions.

But Rhoads faced challenges during her 42-year career, including often being the only woman in the room.

She realized early on that she would have to work harder than her male peers. During a college engineering class, one of her professors had trouble solving a math problem. Rhoads jumped up, grabbed the chalk and fixed the problem. The professor wasn’t embarrassed and went on to mentor her, including helping Rhoads get her first engineering job.

One of the big lessons he taught her was to know her worth. She was eager to get an engineering job, even if it didn’t pay. But he told her, “’Never say that. Your pay is the currency that the company uses when they communicate your value.’”

Right then, she became an equal pay advocate for herself and others.

Persistence and resiliency

Rhoads, who has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic University, as well as a master’s degree in executive management from UCLA, started her career as an electrical engineer. Over the years she’s worked at General Dynamics, Hughes, and Raytheon.

However, when Rhoads started out in the aerospace defense industry, every woman in the office was a secretary, except her.

It was a boys’ club atmosphere, where many men hung up Playboy pinups in the lunchroom. 

“I found that you just have to have persistence, humor, and resiliency,” she says, explaining initially, male colleagues didn’t welcome the idea of working with women.

Over time, they got used to Rhoads, trusted her, and knew she’d deliver her projects on-time and on budget.

“Maybe it was a little easier for the next female project manager coming in behind me,” she says. “But my guess is that over time, they’ve all had to build those relationships, build the rapport, and build their professional brand, kind of one project at a time, one person at a time.” 

Rhoads often moved laterally during her career, which was difficult at the time. But she realized she needed sponsors to help her have access to different opportunities.

She won over male colleagues by taking on challenging projects and earning the reputation as a turnaround leader.

“My career was paved with running toward the fire or toward the problem and challenge,” she says. “I found that when I ran toward really messy situations, people weren’t trying to elbow me or sideline me, because most people were running the other way.”

Diversity and mentorship

Rhoads says there’s more work to be done to close the industry’s STEM diversity gap. That includes helping kids harness their STEM skills and envision and work toward careers in math and science.

Next, she says companies need to have a diverse slate of candidates in the pipeline, which means preparing diverse employees with different tasks throughout their career so that they’ll be ready to take on new roles when the opportunity arises.

She also encourages companies to hire employees via blind selection. That means they don’t look at the candidate’s sex, race, or names. Merit is the qualifier.

A mentor for up-and-coming engineers, Rhoads has always been an advocate for young women in engineering. Throughout her career, she’s championed diversity and inclusion, including helping establish Raytheon’s Women Network, the company’s first employee resource group.

She’s also a mentor to many men and women — including her children, 36-year-old Dustin and 33-year-old Julianne, who’s also an engineer. 

“It’s very rewarding,” she says. “You give people tools and confidence and then watch them take off.”

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The annual event happening March 9-12 in Austin, Texas, features workshops, an expo, networking, mentorship opportunities, film screenings and more.

In the past decade, SXSW EDU®, a component of the South by Southwest® family of conferences and festivals, went from 800 registrants to 8000.

“When you go to SXSW EDU®, you are always going to walk away, meeting new people that you never would have met before, and learning things and hearing from people that you had no idea existed,” says Margaret Roth, director of operations at Squadra Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund.

Empowering women

The annual four-day event is focused on education, both teaching and learning. The programming breakdown is 65 percent K-12 and 35 percent higher education. Attendees represent many different fields including education, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. Some conference attendees come back year after year.

Many of the offerings are targeted to women. One session looks at improving girls’ financial literacy in high school – women are disproportionately affected by the U. S. debt crisis – and teaching them about investing and pursuing careers in finance; another is about reshaping how to achieve diversity in the tech industry, including helping women of color in tech careers.

Plus, one session discusses how women in developing countries, such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, are using tech in remote learning environments when traditional education isn’t safe or easy. The goal is to show attendees how to create content and curriculum to appeal to a remote audience.

High energy networking

While running her own data analytics company, Roth co-founded EdTechWomxn in 2013. The women’s leadership development organization, which has chapters across the country, is focused on the growth and recognition of women in technology. 

Every year EdTechWomxn holds a meet up style facilitated networking session at SXSW EDU®. During the professional development event, 120 attendees discuss developing women’s leadership with inclusivity, visibility and impact. 

The high energy networking “allows people to quickly get real and connect on a deeper level with each other,” says Roth, who’s also been a speaker at previous SXSW EDU® events.

Trends

A big hot topic at the conference continues to be finding mentors. Roth says while finding a mentor is great for a woman’s career, it’s smart to take it a step further by becoming a mentor.

“Are you someone’s next step?” she asks. “Are you the push they need? Are you the next step that helps them get them to where they need to go? Where they want to go?”

Additionally, attendees are interested in learning how to personalize products and experiences. They’re also looking to see how artificial intelligence is being implemented and what’s next when it comes to maximizing engagement in learning.

Well curated

The event is organized by thematic tracks, such as art, policy and civic engagement, adult learning, social emotional learning and more.

Roth, who calls SXSW EDU® “well curated,” encourages attendees to get out their comfort zones to meet new people.  She advises planning your schedule too. For example, choose three sessions you’re interested in attending per time or day because they fill up quickly.

After the conference, use the tools you’ve learned and work the connections you’ve made.

“Harness that energy, take the action, do the risky thing and be all in for your own next step and for those around you,” says Roth.

Check out the full lineup of SXSW EDU® sessions and workshops here: https://schedule.sxswedu.com/

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I took my first computer science course when I was 16. I can remember sitting in the back row of a dingy classroom filled with about 20 students as my professor explained to us that in order for us to start computer science, we just had to accept a couple of abstractions. We dove into a world of objects and methods and logic, and I was fascinated.

I did not understand the entire world I was working with, but I picked up the concepts I needed to one at a time. I’m grateful that my professor set a precedent that you do not need to understand it all to start.

Solving problems

I find solving problems to be extremely fulfilling. I also love to build things. As I pursued my passion for problem-solving through set theory, calculus, and algorithms in my studies of computer science later in life, I discovered my second-favorite part of computer science: I could make products that solved problems I cared about.

Through programming, I could take an idea, such as an app that tracks your water consumption, and turn it into a product people can touch, interact with, and be impacted by. The journey from idea to product is a wonderful one. Getting to refresh a web page after you apply style changes and seeing your ideas painted out before you, or watching your algorithm predict the right search results for you, is incredibly fulfilling and fun.

A passion for computer science

And those are two of those reasons I fell in love with computer science. I feel challenged and stimulated by the problems I get to solve. And I feel empowered to change things in the world today through my ability to build technological solutions.

Also, building is a lot of fun! As a woman in tech, I wish someone had shared with me what a wonderful world this is when I was a young girl. I ended up reentering computer science late in the game because I was not exposed to the industry or the wonderful jobs and opportunities out there that allow me to build and solve important problems. As a result, I spent a lot of time catching up.

I wish I started studying computer science earlier. I also hope that young girls are introduced to the industry in the same way I was: with the expectation that they won’t know it all when they start. Technology a big industry, and it can be overwhelming to think about all that you do not know. But it is OK to not know it all to start, to have questions, and to make mistakes as you go. In fact, it is expected.

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There have been a lot of studies confirming that diversity of thought is a major factor in a company’s success. Tech companies have recognized the need for more women in the industry and are striving to equalize the ratio of male to female employees, but is that enough?

2-D diversity

While it’s encouraging to see more demand for women in this stereotypically male industry, we need to take a step further and try to look at diversity among women who enter the tech industry.

Diversity of thought comes in many shapes and forms, from our inherent qualities to acquired ones. Harvard Business Review calls that 2-D diversity, and, according to its research, companies that pay attention to are 45 percent likelier to increase their market share and 70 percent likelier to expand to new markets.

New approaches

Lumping all women into one category may have worked at the beginning, but now that there is progress being made, we should use a different approach to aim for diversity in our teams. Attracting truly diverse female talent is the best way to solve problems and come up with creative and inclusive solutions.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Hiring practices should never be skewed in order to favor certain candidates over others; they should be in place to identify the strongest candidate for the position.

The solution comes from increasing the diversity within the pool of candidates. How can we do that? Through representation.

Representation matters

Representation is incredibly powerful. We relate to people who look like us, and when we see them in a certain field or career, it reassures us that we can get there too. While running my blog, I’ve been fortunate to learn the stories of so many incredible women from all sorts of backgrounds. Diversity already exists – what we need to do is to highlight it and celebrate it to reach more women.

Companies should focus on highlighting the diverse talent they have and how their team members’ skill sets complement each other. Event organizers should proactively have more women from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences as speakers. Media should place a special focus on increasing representation of women in technology, telling stories of women from all over the world.

If you are a woman in tech, make your voice and story heard to inspire someone who looks like you or who has had experiences similar to yours. Let’s all contribute to the diversity of women in tech.

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Benefits of mentorship

With a mentor, you have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of others, learn from their experiences, and gain their wisdom. Mentors also provide accountability to your career goals and aspirations, and give you a chance to be heard.

A good mentor first and foremost listens. Having the opportunity to vocalize your issues and aspirations and ask for feedback provides clarity and accountability to the vision you have set for yourself. After listening, a mentor can share their perspectives and wisdom to provide guidance. By having regular check-ins set up with your mentor, you can receive the guidance and accountability you need to get out of those career ruts and elevate your game.

Networking

In addition, having a mentor helps expand your network. By building a relationship with your mentor, you are connected to another node in a network. It is often said that we are only six degrees of separation from every person in the world, so by connecting to another person of influence, it creates a great opportunity to meet your next client, job opportunity, or even mentor. 

Having a mentor can benefit your career, but being a mentor can add additional benefits. By teaching, we learn. You may not know how much you know or don’t know until you mentor. If every woman in tech mentored another woman, the impact would be exponential, and it would only be a matter of time before the struggle of getting women into tech is diminished. 

Getting started

So where do you find a mentor? Start with your own network or company. For the mentorship to really work, it’s important to have a relationship or connection with the person you are requesting to be your mentor. If you are struggling to find someone in your network, then it may be time to expand your network. Women in Data has a network of over 7,000 individuals and hosts quarterly events across the United States and internationally. Take action today and change the state of women in tech by finding your next mentor and becoming a mentor today. Your career will thank you later.

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Ten years ago, I wasn’t in a good place. If you met me, you wouldn’t have known: you would have seen a director of a unicorn startup, a positive advocate for women, and a public speaker.  On the outside, I looked happy. On the inside, I felt like an impostor — and ashamed for feeling that way.

A life-changing question

At one of the first conferences I ever spoke at, I met Joanna Wiebe, a successful entrepreneur and keynote speaker of the event. I wanted to be like her with every fiber of my being, and when she joined me at the table I was sitting at, I was terrified. She introduced herself and after some small talk, I worked up the nerve to ask her a question that would change my life immeasurably.

“Do you ever feel like a fraud?” I asked, voice shaking.

“Yes,” she admitted. “All the time.”

I was stunned. The woman I aspired to be felt the same way I did, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel so alone. At the conference, Joanna and I, along with other women, shared our experiences and our belief in the “shine theory,” a term coined by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow that describes their commitment to collaboration over competition. Simply put, the shine theory states, “If you don’t shine, I don’t shine.”

Time to shine

When the conference ended, the conversation didn’t stop. It changed us. We continued that conversation by creating an online chat group called the Shine Crew. We helped guide each other through interviews, pricing negotiations, and major life decisions. For the last seven years, the women in the Shine Crew have helped me leave my full-time job and eventually even build my own e-commerce company.

“When you meet a woman who is intimidatingly witty, stylish, beautiful, and professionally accomplished, befriend her,” wrote Friedman. “Surrounding yourself with the best people doesn’t make you look worse by comparison. It makes you better.”

Find your crew

So, ladies, here is my call to action to you: find the women you want to emulate, the ones who scare you, the ones who make you feel like a superstar just by knowing them. Take a deep breath, be brave, and ask them to join your Shine Crew. Help each other grow. Keep each other in check. Celebrate your wins. Life is made better when you know you have your crew by your side.

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“It’s interesting that you say you work in tech, since you’re a marketer.”

As a woman working in tech that doesn’t come from a STEM background or work as a software engineer, I always ran up against a stigma. After all, I wasn’t the one building the technology. 

Tech-adjacent roles

I started out in tech at an e-commerce company where five of the 30 people I worked with were women. Since we all held roles in admin, talent, customer success, and customer support, we didn’t garner the same respect as our male counterparts in engineering and product.

But tech isn’t created in a vacuum. We need female voices in tech-adjacent roles.

A marketer, for example, may not build a product or design a service – but we’re responsible for selling it to customers and ensuring retention. And to strategize and execute on those things, a good marketer will have a good understanding of the tech. That’s a crucial role. All of these roles are important – administrative, sales, customer support, customer success, people ops, and others.

Diversity matters

Things have changed a great deal in the last decade, but there’s something to be said for the women in tech-adjacent roles. Building teams with gender diversity in adjacent roles helps to build a community of support for women at the table. Years ago, when I got involved in organizations like Tech Ladies and She+ Geeks Out in an effort to advocate for inclusivity in the workplace, I was unprepared for the type of camaraderie between other professional women.

I’ve met many brilliant female founders and executives, not all technical, leading a disruption in their respective spaces. But I’ve also met many women like myself, equally as intelligent, who are just as happy to be part of the larger machine as our engineering and product-focused counterparts. We’re all moving in the same direction.

I’m not sure if I still believe in a glass ceiling. These days, it feels more like a bubble. And to create good tech, it helps to have diversity driving the community that builds it, holistically. Together, we can pop it.

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When I was 21, a male colleague who put in less than half the hours I did was making twice the salary “because he negotiated better” (his words). As I began to seek out female role models and mentors, I saw the lack of women in positions I wanted to hold and the lack of women in STEM careers.

Progress

Thankfully, we are now in our third wave of feminism. Wall Street placed a Fearless Girl statue, ready to take on the world, in the center of a space known for its toxic masculinity. We have all-female hackathons such as AthenaHacks (USC) and ByteHacks (Spotify), which serve to provide safe and inclusive spaces for women to learn STEM.

But for the number of women entering STEM to actually trend upwards in a meaningful way, we need to shift the narratives and perceptions that permeate our culture around what it means to be a woman in STEM.

The old adage reads, “if you can see it, you can believe it.” But today, only 7 percent of women study STEM, only 1 percent of technology CEOs are women, and only one woman was included on Forbes’ 2019 list of 100 innovative leaders.

Role models

I remember telling fellow female founder Shivani Soraya, “I don’t think I can do it. I don’t see anybody else who looks like me.”

“Look at me – I did it,” Shivani replied. That moment marked an early point in my journey of starting a company. I had someone I could point to and say, “if she can do it, I can too.”

The #LightASpark campaign empowers young girls to consider a career in STEM by introducing them to less conventional STEM careers. Trust me, there are a lot you were never introduced to in school. I’m part of Light a Spark because I want to be the role model, mentor, and coach that I needed as a young woman. I want to show young women that stereotypes are limiting belief systems and falsified illusions. You can be whoever you are and look however you want and still do whatever it is you set out to do.

When we start to shift perceptions around what it means to be a woman in STEM, then a day will come where “the future is female” comes to fruition.

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