Why Women Are Crucial in Design and Tech

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Women-working-on-a-computerGuest contributed by Sara Wachter-Boettcher

I was chatting with a woman at a tech conference a while back about sexism in the industry. She rolled her eyes: “Oh, have I got a story for you.” A couple years ago, she was working at a large company’s Silicon Valley innovation center. She was excited. Her company was partnering with a fashion brand to produce a new “fashion-forward” women’s smartwatch, and she would be leading the design research. But when she walked into the kickoff meeting, her stomach sank: she was the only woman at the table.

While the men droned on about their wives, using them as proxies for the “female market,” she hatched a research plan to find out what women actually wanted from a smartwatch. More than a thousand respondents later, she brought her results back to the group. The top insight: women really wanted their smartwatch to help them discreetly keep an eye on things during meetings. But the men wouldn’t listen: women want apps for shopping, not work.

“I felt like I was in an episode of Mad Men,” she told me.

Eventually, the project stalled, and the brand brought in a celebrity to design the smartwatch. It flopped. “It wasn’t based on needs; it was based on stereotypes,” she said.

Her story is over the top, but it’s not rare. While writing my new book,Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech, I saw plenty of products that left women out (like Apple’s Heath app, which didn’t bother to include a period tracker for a full year after it launched). The companies behind those products? Mostly male.

Meanwhile, I also found loads of research confirming what I’d long felt: that diverse teams perform better because they spur new thinking rather than encourage people to rely on the same stale perspectives. As a result, they’re more likely to develop innovative product ideas, and less likely to rally around incorrect assumptions.

That’s why we need more women—and people of color, and LGTBQ people, and people with different abilities, and so much more—working on design and tech at every step of the process, from deciding what to make in the first place to testing products before they go to market.

But as the smartwatch researcher found out, it’s not easy being a woman in tech: we’re routinely passed over for funding, pushed out by harassment, and even subjected to demoralizing pseudoscience claiming we’re just not as good as men.

So how do you create a thriving career, do your part to change the system, and avoid burning out in the process? Here’s what I’ve learned during my career, and in my research talking with dozens of women across the industry.

Make “microchanges” that matter

Diógenes Brito didn’t mean for it to be a big deal when he used a brown hand for a new graphic at Slack, the group-chat platform. But it was—because people of color so rarely see their skin tones reflected in the world (just think about all the so-called “flesh-colored” Band-Aids on the market). “It may seem like a small thing,” tweeted Kaya Thomas, a college student studying computer science. “But when you see graphics over and over excluding your skin color, it matters.”

Seemingly minute design or tech choices—like including women in photos depicting technical teams or removing unnecessary binary gender questions from forms—can make a big difference to users, and can even make a company’s culture more aware and inclusive over time. And since they’re small—as small as depicting a brown hand in an illustration—they’re the kind of thing you can often slip in without getting pushback.

Oh, and Kaya Thomas? She graduated in May. Now she’s an engineer at—you guessed it—Slack, where I’m sure she’ll shake things up even further.

See what others have missed

You know how dating apps used to be cesspools of unsolicited porn? Yeah, okay, so that’s still largely true. But now there are tons of women-run apps offering an alternative. There’s Bumble, of course, founded by ex-Tinder exec Whitney Wolfe. Disillusioned by harassment (including from one of her fellow Tinder founders), Wolfe set out to solve some of heterosexual online dating’s endemic flaws by doing something no one had thought of before: only allowing women to make the first move.

Or, there’s Coffee Meets Bagel, designed as an alternative to “swiping your life away.” Frustrated by the constant ghosting of other apps, the founders—sisters Arum, Dawoon, and Soo Kang—designed their product to give users fewer, better matches each day, and to discourage flakiness by only showing women a short list of men who’d already liked them.

While none of the new women-run dating apps is perfect (for example, many still don’t serve the LGBTQ community very well), they’re all exploring new ground—ground traditional male-run apps never would have considered.

Serve the underserved

Tech has also enabled a bevvy of new fashion startups, and some of the most exciting examples are in a space that used to be a dead zone: plus sizes. Today, loads of women are helming companies that—finally—are focused on combining on-trend and luxury pieces with more inclusive sizing options.

One particularly innovative option? Universal Standard’s “Universal Fit Liberty” policy where customers can exchange a product within a year if their size goes up or down.

While getting funding for a fledgling business still isn’t easy, the world is starting to wake up to the fact that designing for women isn’t a niche case. It’s an underserved audience­­­—one that controls most of the purchasing decisions in the United States, and that’s increasingly fickle about where it spends its money. The more we push for inclusion—and stand up to all the sexists, bad bosses, and other toxic influences out there—the more opportunities we’ll have to make sure that the tech products of the future serve all of us.

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Voice of Experience: Sheridan Ash, Technology and Investments Director, PwC UK; Women in Technology Leader for PwC UK

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By Cathie Ericson

It can be intimidating to be faced with a male-dominated culture, notes PwC’s Sheridan Ash. While she has learned to be resilient, she stresses she didn’t always feel that way, struggling with worry that was disproportionate. While she has since become proactive about managing her career, she believes she could have reached her potential sooner if she’d done that earlier. “I help myself by helping others,” she says, adding that her drive comes from helping other people avoid some of the road blocks she encountered.

From Model to Tech Leader

Ash is proud of the winding road her career has taken, from school dropout to a catwalk model to her current post as technology and investments director.

Schoolwork was a challenge, as she suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia, so she left at age 15 and launched a modeling career in London, with a specialty of catwalk modeling that allowed her to travel from Milan to Paris. After having a son at a young age, she realised she needed a more stable career path and went back to school while her son was a baby to earn her degree, landing a position in the pharmaceutical business.

Although she knew she wanted to pursue additional studying, she approached it with trepidation, since schoolwork wasn’t easy given her dyslexia: Nevertheless Ash found a way to compensate and overcame the challenge to earn her MBA at Imperial College. That’s where she began looking at technology from a health perspective, working with the National Health Service and private health care providers. Winning an award for having the best dissertation gave her an excellent boost of confidence, further augmented by her work as a research assistant for some professors writing a book on technology and innovation.

“I was hooked,” she says, joining consulting firm Accenture in the health tech team and then moving to PwC first with the health team, but then ascending as she saw an opportunity to grow the business, ultimately working for the head of technology and investments across the entire firm.

Nurturing the Next Generation

Ash is particularly proud of the Women in Tech group she helped launch when she realized there was clearly a diversity issue in the technology team. Celebrating its fourth anniversary in November, it has been successful in attracting and retaining women as they address what she calls a societal problem with not enough young women choosing to pursue tech careers.

Her work with the group has also raised her own profile within the firm, in part leading to her current role where she is helping implement what she calls “massive change” within PwC. “We want to be the leading tech-enabled professional services firm, and while we already do a lot of great work in technology, I am proud to be leading the strategy work on developing our capabilities in technology innovation and how emerging technologies are converging to create new businesses utilising such advances as blockchain and drones.”

She sees the two goals intersecting, as they develop new businesses and ways of working while at the same time focusing on how to attract women into those types of jobs. One opportunity she sees is in demonstrating to women how tech has a positive impact on the world. “Women need to feel that what they do has a large impact,” she notes.

While there is considerable bias given the primarily male-dominated workplace, she says that 90 percent of the time it’s not intentional but inevitable that behaviors and cultures develop around specific types of people and what they like.

“Tackling that unconscious bias is one of the key challenges we need to overcome,” she says, and more role models is an important place to start.

On that note, she encourages women to be observant when they apply for a job about whether the company has a well-publicized and open program around diversity and gender. “Think about whether they put a female in front of you for an interview or had diversity represented at recruiting events,” she says, as that will tell you what their culture is truly like.

And women at her stage need to be actively involved in helping to develop the next generation, as more than mentors but as champions and proactive ambassadors for at least one person to help them develop and get promoted.

To that end, she has formed a group with some external partners and together they have developed a manifesto to work together as a group of companies to tackle the issue of women in technology.

Her passion for helping women has extended to small investments she has recently made to help women in developing countries become capable of running their own businesses, as part of a focus to help women in other countries become independent.

Even with her busy career and passion for supporting women, Ash takes time to travel. “Because I had my son young and didn’t get together with my partner until later in life, we have been making up for lost time over the past seven years,” she says.

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Perfection Might Be Our Biggest Enemy

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By Molly Connell

The call for a gender equal workplace is getting louder, but women are still significantly under-represented in certain fields. When it comes to STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Math), there is still a stereotype present that working within these fields is rather for men. As an example, currently, only 13% of practicing engineers are women in the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

It is clear, that this under-representation is not because women are less capable. Countless female engineers have achieved something admirable in the past and became role models. Business Insider published an article with the “26 most powerful female engineers in 2016” listing women who are powerful and brave, like Diane Greene who is leading a new team at Google that combines all of the company’s cloud businesses or Peggy Johnson, the Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft.

Bravery is a key component

“Perfection is the Enemy of Progress!” said Churchill, but the same concept has also been presented by Voltaire as well. The scientific explanation that supports this statement is called “nirvana fallacy” which is defined as “comparing a realistic solution with an idealized one, and dismissing or even discounting the realistic solution as a result of comparing to a “perfect world” or impossible standard.” (Logicallyfallacious.com)

Taking risks means having a chance to fail. But what is failure? Charly Haversat in her “Perfectionism holds us back. Here’s why” TED talk explains how perfectionism can blind us from seeing what we have accomplished. If we constantly compare our present situation to a perfect situation, dissatisfaction is bound to come. Should our children never participate in a soccer team if the chances of them becoming a professional football player is less than 1%? Can we not be proud of ourselves for being the 2nd best at something? While these questions are polarizing, perfectionists, when it comes to themselves, would answer “no!”, while this is a mistake can stand in the way of their happiness and also their success.

Girls are raised to be perfect

While the paradox caused by perfectionism can occur for anyone, in which while striving to do everything right and to be the best, one prevents itself from doing so at the same time, there is still a difference on what effects this phenomenon has on males and females.

A wave was created when Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls who Code introduced her theory in one of her speeches how girls in general are being raised in a way that is counteracting with the original intention: we forget to raise them to be brave.

A survey conducted by LinkedIn asked men and women about their childhood dream jobs and whether or not they are currently working in that position. It turns out that there is a clear split between men and women: men were far more likely to have of “one-in-a-million” type dream-jobs such as prime minister or astronaut than women. Ms. Saujani, as explained in her previously mentioned speech, thinks that women tend to choose careers they know they will be great in, because they are taught to avoid risk and failure, to be good in school and to be safe while boys are praised for their bravery.

This has an effect on us in many aspects: A Hewlett Packpard internal report that has been quoted in several articles such as in Harvard Business Review, Forbes and the Economist was shown that men apply for jobs when they meet only 60% of the requirements and women have to meet 100% to feel confident enough to apply. This results in missing out on countless opportunities only because the chance of rejection is higher.

Equality

The term “gender gap” can be interpreted in many ways. Probably the most common concepts are the wage gap and the ratio of women and men in certain jobs. It is argued that one way to resolve these issues is to help women to overcome the gender-confidence gap first. External support can help but it is advised that women should focus on eliminating their own self-consciousness to really be confident. The systemic issues in the gender gap of course are another topic and confidence is only one part of the bigger puzzle.

To illustrate the issue, here’s an infographic from TradeMachines summarizing the main reasons why the gender-gap in engineering is still present.

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Tech Sector’s Lack of Diversity is About More Than the Lack of Numbers

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Guest Contributed by Bill Proudman

It is no secret that the tech sector, for all its innovation and well-intentioned plans to work the problem, suffers from a serious diversity problem. One that will not be solved if they only focus on numbers –as in representation of marginalized groups.

The numbers only reflect underlying cultural problems within the tech sector. In hiring for example, an HR director or manager who only hires people who resemble the director or manager – looks, talks, acts, similar background, etc. – is missing the whole point of diversity. The situation is cultural, engrained, and usually unconscious. Systemic bias is prevalent in our society and its roots run deep into the corporate world. Only with our sleeves rolled up, working to change mindsets from CEO on down, do we begin to see a tangible cultural shift in the workplace.

So while the “numbers” are alarming, fixing the numbers alone is not enough. In their 2016 report, Diversity in High Tech, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency responsible for enforcing anti-discriminatory laws, concluded “Despite rapid transformation in the field, the overwhelming dominance of white men in the industries and occupations associated with technology has remained.”

The EEOC found that tech companies employed 7% African Americans vs. 14% for other industries, 8% vs. 13.9% for Hispanics, and 36% vs. 48% for women. The disparity was more pronounced for executive positions: 83% white, 2% African American, 3% Hispanic, 10.5% Asian American, and 20% occupied by women.

In Silicon Valley, the microcosm of the tech industry, within the top 75 tech firms, African Americans, Hispanics and women made up 3%, 6% and 30%, respectively. By contrast, it was 24%, 22% an 49% for non-tech firms in the same area.

If it were only a “pipeline problem,” one could concentrate on that and it’d be solved, but evidence points to something intrinsically awry within the sector. In one survey, 716 women who had resigned long-term positions in tech companies were asked what motivated them to make such a difficult decision. 192 women (27%) cited discrimination in the workplace related to an array of issues such as gender, age, race, sexual preference, an unsupportive environment, motherhood and childcare.

The ramifications of all this are felt not just morally, but in the company ledger. Replacing an employee costs $5,000 to $10,000, while for executives it’s $50,000 to $100,000. And that is all in addition to the devastating effects of lawsuits and damaged reputations.

White Men As Full Diversity Partners (WMFDP) was founded 20 years ago in order to confront and engage top level white male leadership across the spectrum of corporate America. Fortunately, most leaders are thrilled at the prospect of dismantling cultural bias. When we went to work for Dell, for example, we were met with a stellar level of cooperation.

As Chairman Michael Dell has stated, “A diversity of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences is the catalyst for innovation. That is how we deliver better results for our customers and our team members. For us, a diverse and inclusive culture is a competitive advantage.”

Marie Moynihan, Senior Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition, Dell EMC expanded further by saying, “I’m a very strong believer in the value of diversity. It forces a more challenging conversation and ultimately better decisions. I do think things are changing for the better for women in leadership. Companies are just paying a lot more attention to the evidence that’s out there now which says that a more diverse team can result in better return on equity.”

To address the obvious pipeline issue, one of the most ambitious projects I’ve encountered is called #YesWeCode. Founded by prominent activist Van Jones, #YesWeCode has the goal of teaching computer coding to 100,000 youth from inner cities and underrepresented minorities. Partnering with tech monoliths Google and Facebook, “Yes We Code aspires to become the United Negro College Fund equivalent for coding education,” Jones said. “Yes We Code exists to find and fund the next Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg in communities you would never expect to find them.”

By 2020, it is estimated that the tech industry will need another 1.4 million jobs filled, but only 400,000 US workers will be qualified to fill them. #YesWeCode and other forward-thinking organizations are taking advantage of this massive opportunity to diversify the tech industry, and in so doing create a paradigm shift in America.

Whether you intend to disrupt an industry, make a ton of money or save the planet, the disparity in high tech and other sectors serves as a lesson for the entrepreneur. I am confident that startups and companies that embrace diversity and inclusion, that challenge themselves and others, will emerge as the definitive leaders. That is because a diverse world calls for a diverse workforce of brilliant minds.

Recognizing our differences and similarities leads to new ways of breaking down problems, enlightening conversations and innovative solutions.

In an often turbulent world, that’s exactly what we need.

About Bill Proudman:

Bill Proudman is WMFDP co-founder and CEO. He pioneered white-men-only workshops in the ’90s after noticing white male leaders repeatedly disengaging from diversity efforts. Bill’s provocative work led to founding White Men As Full Diversity Partners. For over 35 years, he has served as a leadership development consultant, coach and facilitator to countless organizations on issues of team effectiveness, cultural competency, and diversity.

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Intrepid Woman: Nikki Barua, CEO, BeyondCurious

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Fear is imaginary, says entrepreneur Nikki Barua. “The more you focus on it, the more it grows, and the only way to overcome fear is to replace it with faith. I have always had faith in myself, my team and my purpose and that’s what fuels my confidence.”Nicki B

She finds that most people go through their lives worrying about losing love, money or job security. “That fear can keep you from taking risks. Imagine the life you could create if you weren’t gripped by fear. Imagine doing what you love and not worrying about how people view you or not being defined by other people’s expectations of you.”

A Career Built on Helping Companies Thrive in Disruption

Barua knows all too well the importance of moving past those fears. An immigrant from India, she came to America in 1997 for business school. After graduation, she built her career first in management consulting, and then in digital marketing, honing her skills as a digital innovator and a business leader in the corporate world.

As she helped global brands transform their business with digital solutions, she noticed that many clients struggled with the pace of change in technology, competition and customer expectations. Big brands needed to be more agile and adapt quickly to change and needed to think and act with the agility of a startup, she found. “They needed an entrepreneurial culture designed for change. That challenge fascinated me, and I was obsessed with a singular question, ‘How do you make elephants run?’”

That question led to her entrepreneurial journey: She left her corporate career and the prestige and security that accompanies that territory and started her business with no clients, no case studies and barely any capital.

“All I had was a clear purpose — to unlock the limitless potential of people and organizations. That clarity gave me the courage to take the steps forward despite my fears, learning to navigate through unknown territory,” she says.

Although she had managed P&Ls and led people, she nevertheless felt unprepared for the challenges of building a business from scratch. As she describes it, each day was filled with untold challenges and gut- wrenching setbacks, followed by big successes and unexpected victories. As she kept learning and adapting, BeyondCurious soon became a successful business, and Barua reveled in her successful transition from corporate leader to entrepreneur.

Along the way, she discovered an important truth that has been the foundation of her success: Whether you work in a big corporation or run your own business, the fundamentals are the same — delight your customer, inspire your team and keep innovating.

Bold Dreams Will Define Your Success

Barua remembers daydreaming about her future as a young girl in India, and how big the dreams seemed at the time. But eventually those dreams came true so she dreamed bigger and bigger. “The lesson I learned is that you only achieve what you dream of, so if your dreams aren’t big, your achievements won’t be either,” Barua notes. “When you dream big, your creativity is unleashed; your confidence grows; your potential is unlocked; and you break barriers of what you thought was possible for yourself and for the world.”

As her company has succeeded, she has found that her biggest challenge is growing herself along with the organization. She advises other entrepreneurs to stay hungry, keep learning and get comfortable being uncomfortable. “When you embrace the discomfort of not knowing, you are able to learn at an exponential rate,” she says.

Along with dreams comes action, and Barua believes firmly you have to stand for what you believe in. “Be authentic in your culture and leadership, and build a tribe of believers that have a shared sense of purpose and core values,” she says. “A movement is more powerful than any organization.”

Proving Herself as a Change Agent

Today’s world is experiencing disruption across the board — in society, government, technology and culture. “When the things we believed in and the rules we lived by no longer hold true, it presents an opportunity to create something better and more meaningful,” Barua says, adding that leaders have the privilege and the responsibility of shaping the world the way they wish it to be.

That’s why it’s so important not to just be business leaders or entrepreneurs, but to be inspiring role models and purpose-driven change agents.

She believes the ultimate purpose of leadership is to unlock the potential in others by giving people a platform to be their best and creating an environment where people thrive because they are constantly learning, growing and breaking barriers. She has found that when people are aligned around shared values and connections, they are more fulfilled.

She herself has a mission to unlock the potential of a billion people – talk about dreaming big!

“I believe we are all limitless, but we are held back when we lack the clarity, courage or conviction to go beyond our barriers,” she says.

“I am deeply passionate about being a catalyst that helps people unlock that limitless potential. It’s what I love to do above all else and what has fueled all my career success,” she says.

“As an entrepreneur, educator, public speaker, author and social activist, everything I do is aligned to that singular mission. Every day is about taking courageous action, learning, adapting and never giving up.”

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Women in Tech: Climbing the Ladder

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Woman-on-a-ladder-searchingGuest Contributed by Evan Fraser

Working in the tech industry can be incredibly exciting. It is a fast-paced industry with seemingly unlimited potential. Technology also has one of the smallest income gender gaps, high work schedule flexibility and generous pay in many positions. While that draws many women down this career path it is still a male dominated industry which makes climbing the corporate ladder a challenging task. These 6 tips will help you navigate your way to the top.

1. Be Assertive.

The best way to learn in the tech field is to jump in and build things. As a woman you will often have to fight for that right. Moving up the ranks will not come naturally, you need to be assertive and make your own place within the company. Being a dominant and assertive woman in technology can be a struggle as it is often interpreted as bossy or aggressive by male colleagues. Don’t let that deter you from taking the lead. Sheryl Sandberg has had incredible success in her life and has dealt with this issue throughout her career. She addressed this issue in a interview by saying “Every woman I know, particularly the senior ones, has been called too aggressive at work. We know in gender blind studies that men are more aggressive in their offices than women. We know that. Yet we’re busy telling all the women that they’re too aggressive. That’s the issue.”

2. Don’t be intimidated.

There will always be people that know more than you. This is a good thing as it will help you learn and grow. Don’t be intimidated by those with more experience or lots of technical know-how. It’s very easy to feel out of place in a boardroom, especially within a big technology company. Never be afraid to ask questions if you have problems understanding, you will not be the only one in the room.

3. Choose your employers well.

Lots of companies in Silicone Valley are progressive and forward thinking. Many aim to create environments that encourage creativity and efficiency but there are still major differences in how these companies are run. Be sure to do your research on the companies you apply to. Your environment will be a big factor to your personal success so look for progressive and diverse leadership teams with a product that you are passionate about. This will allow your career to flourish and grow.

4. Don’t create your own glass ceiling.

The term ‘glass ceiling’ is often used in regards to outside factors creating boundaries for women in business. This is a difficult issue women have had to deal with for generations. Therefore, it is important to avoid constructing any additional, self-restricting boundaries. Sometimes the boundaries we create for ourselves are easily overlooked and often more harmful than external factors. Believe in your talents and skills. Avoid creating your own boundaries by limited thinking and be sure to set smart goals. Do not consider yourself ineligible for any role within a company, think big and make your strengths work for you.

5. Learn to negotiate.

Negotiating is a part of business. Women and men in management positions expect it when dealing with employees, clients or partners. You need to go in ready to negotiate and prepared to articulate what you want. Avoiding a negotiation will leave you with less than you deserve. Be assertive, but also listen to understand. Being able to listen to the wants and ideas of the person you are negotiating with will make them more willing to meet your needs. Be concise and reasonable in your negotiation but do not be afraid to ask.

Also, keep in mind that negotiation is a skill that needs to be learned. It will help you in many aspects of your life so make the effort to learn about the subject as much as you can. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher is a great read on the skill of negotiating.

6. Find a mentor.

This piece of advice will apply to you whether you are 20 years old starting out your career or 55 and looking to retire. Mentorship is something anybody can benefit from. People that have gone down a path you wish to follow can give you valuable advice and help nudge you in the right direction when you reach a crossroads. Finding an experienced woman in technology would be ideal as they will be able to share tips on how to deal with the struggles women face in the industry. Once you have gained experience, help out younger women by sharing your knowledge. Being a mentor can teach you as much as having a mentor.

Find a mentor in your area.

women in tech infographic

Evan Fraser is a writer and advertising expert with over 10 years of experience in Marketing. He is passionate about tech and loves traveling the world to taste international foods. When he is not writing you can catch him playing sports or listening to some 50’s Blues.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions of Guest Contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer

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Op-Ed: What I’ve Learned as a Woman in Technology

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Women-on-computerBy Avis Yates Rivers

As a woman and leader in technology over the past 30+ years, I have seen a lot. I have witnessed and experienced the tremendous progress we have made. Yet we still have a long way to go to reach an equitable playing field in attracting and retaining more women in technology. Not to mention, leading!

It is undeniable that women leadership has had a successful impact in the world of business. Currently in the US there are just over 9.4 million women-owned businesses generating revenues of $1.5 trillion — up 79% in nearly a 20 year period. According to Dow Jones Venture Source, analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior positions as unsuccessful companies. Tech companies led by women delivered higher revenues using 30-50% less capital. They were also more likely to survive the transition from startup to established business.

Yet, the overall percentage of women in technology is woefully low. In 2015, women made up 25 percent of computing-related occupations. The retention rate is even more troubling. In the high tech industry, the quit rate is more than twice as high for women (56 percent) than it is for men.

The sad and hard truth is that Women in STEM also were more likely to leave in the first few years of their career than women in non-STEM professions.

I was fortunate that early in my career I got involved with technology. I worked for Exxon Corporation in NYC in various staff positions and then made the jump to sales — selling Exxon’s line of office technology on Wall Street. I immersed myself in the technology, early as it was, and found that I had a natural affinity to it.

More than any other role, Sales prepared me for 31 years as an entrepreneur in so many ways —-it taught me to be courageos and fierce every single day!

These qualities serve me well in my current role as the Chief Executive Officer of TCGi. It is my responsibility to craft the vision and strategy for the firm. I also am chiefly responsible for cultivating and managing excellent client and partner relationships.

Life as a CEO keeps me on the go 24/7, but it is the giving back that completes the circle. Sharing the experience of my journey, lessons learned, successes and failures with women who are entering the field will help them tremendously.

Being a successful woman leader in technology inspires me to want to see more women of color participate and succeed in this field as well. My work with NCWIT (National Center for Women & IT) supports this desire. I am an active Board Member as well as the National Spokesperson for the ‘Sit With Me’ Campaign.

Early education is key to attracting more girls, women and people of color to Tech. Another is mentorship and advocacy. Senior Leaders must actively advocate for and sponsor diverse candidates for leadership positions within corporations. With too few women in tech positions and tech leadership roles, it is impossible for girls and women to aspire to positions or cultures where they see no one who looks like her.

Women have made great strides in the workplace today, and we shouldn’t downplay this progress (0 CEOs of Fortune 500 in 1996 and 20 years later there are 21). But we need to accelerate progress—and I believe progress in increasing women in leadership goes hand-in-hand with increasing women in technology.

Conclusion

Technology is still a very male-dominated industry. What that means is the technology being invented by largely homogeneous groups (White and Asian males) isn’t as deep and rich as it could be. Once women and people from all cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds begin to fully participate in the invention of technology, we will solve societal problems in a mighty way and ultimately change the world!

Avis Yates Rivers is the President and CEO of Technology Concepts Group International, LLC, (TCGi), an asset, expense and procurement management firm. Ms. Yates Rivers has worked tirelessly to increase the development and utilization of minority and women-owned businesses in both the public and private sectors. She has held leadership positions in various supplier diversity advocacy organizations. Ms. Yates Rivers is also a staunch advocate for increasing girls’ and women’s participation in Information Technology. She is on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Women and Information Technology and serves as the spokeswoman for the organization’s Sit With Me campaign.

You can learn more about the lack of women in technology and Avis Yates Rivers by purchasing her book ‘Necessary Inclusion: Embracing the Changing Faces of Technology’ which will be in bookstores and online in early December.

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Voice of Experience: Michele Trogni, Executive Vice President, Consolidated Markets and Solutions, IHS Markit

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michele-trogniBy Cathie Ericson

With a longstanding career working for and selling to financial institutions, Michele Trogni, Executive Vice President of Consolidated Markets and Solutions at IHS Markit, shares her best piece of advice – success isn’t achieved by one person alone. It’s all about everyone involved, whether it’s your team, your customers or your community.

In her current role, Trogni leads the delivery of data-driven solutions for customers in product design, technology, and managed services including digital, tax solutions, counterparty manager, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Third Party (KY3P).

She is responsible for helping customers achieve their business goals and competitive advantage through focused, scalable solutions which reduce cost of ownership, improve decision making, lower risk and engage end clients.

Banking and Tech Combine for Ideal Career

As the first in her family to attend university, Trogni has always been a trailblazer. Her career in banking was built during the 25 years she spent at UBS. She first started as a financial controller, often working on integrations and merger-related projects. It was a very acquisitive time, and she was often required to close transactions in a tight timeframe. “It was a perfect fit for me as a tech-savvy accountant with a rambunctious personality,” she says.

As she took on more and more projects, her career took her from the UK to Chicago. She became more involved with the technology function, which spurred her enthusiasm as she saw the potential of combining tech into future strategy.

After a brief stint in Chicago, Trogni upped roots again and headed to New York in 1997. “My CIO at UBS was impressed with the directing I’d done on a wide variety of merger projects, but he told me that if I want to be given the opportunity to do something big, I have to really know the ins and outs of how it all works.”

Trogni was advised to move into technology to be at the coalface running the IT function, and that’s exactly what she did. “Learning how to run the division was an important milestone that propelled my career. I couldn’t have accomplished what I have, if I had stayed on a superficial level,” she says.

She was asked to become group CIO in 2009, overseeing a $5 billion budget and more than 17,000 employees – an impressive achievement considering there were still so few women in tech. After five years she decided to retire from banking, but her best-laid plans for a year off were undone when she was offered the opportunity to move from building tech to selling it through Markit after just six months into her retirement.

It is a perfect fit: selling products she understands to customers like banks and hedge funds that she knows well. “They know I have sat in the buyer’s seat which is compelling to them,” she says.

Now Trogni is responsible for a much larger role within her firm. In July 2016, Markit merged with IHS to create IHS Markit, a global powerhouse and leader in critical information analytics and solutions that drive economies worldwide. She is excited to bridge two firms from both the cultural and operating perspective, creating a new vision for the combined firm.

Making Sense of Diversity

While Trogni has the intellectual skills to succeed, she also has a high “EQ,” an emotional quotient that has served her well and, she believes, enabled her to navigate successfully as a woman in a world that is heavily male dominated. “Some colleagues ended up obsessing about that, but I never did,” she says.

Prior to the financial crisis, firms were working hard to embrace diversity, but Trogni believes that their emphasis on diversity shifted to crisis management. “We’re gradually getting back to where we were,” she says, but notes that there is still a lot of unconscious bias in the workplace that the next generation will have to deal with – something she feels positive about given the fact that millennials are a less-judgmental generation. “I’m very optimistic that they are the perfect ones to address and overcome it,” she says.

It’s the Team That Leads to Success

Over the years, she has had many peer sponsors and managers, and she believes in paying it forward, focusing on ongoing coaching. “No one’s career can be just about them,” she says.

Trogni feels professionals get the best results when they have multiple sponsors, rather than relying 100% on one person to offer the next opportunity, which can lead to burn out. These various sponsors have modeled qualities she wants to emulate, and she also takes inspiration from West Coast entrepreneurs – people who “break the mold,” like Sheryl Sandberg and Elon Musk.

She also has seen the importance of surrounding yourself with a team that offers different specialties. “I don’t need all Type A people, or sales guys or marketing pros,” she says. “You need a combination of a wide variety of skill sets because you only win when you cover all your bases.”

Of course, a sense of humor, and ability to laugh at yourself never hurts, she adds.

A Robust Life outside Work

Community service has long been an important component of Trogni’s life. She has been active with the UBS-sponsored Bridge Academy, a half industry and half governmental-supported school focused on math and music in a low-income part of London. Through fundraising activities she helped spearhead, the school was able to raise £1.5 million, allowing it to expand to offer classrooms for Sixth Form, the equivalent of US 11th and 12th grades. She also worked with the school to create female empowerment groups that introduced girls to coding and tech.

In addition, she spent four years on the board of NPower, a tech charity that trains young, underprivileged adults in the skills they need to build websites and then matches them with clients.

Mom to four kids, ages 18, 15 and 13-year-old twins, Trogni stays busy with their sports and enjoying the “loud family fun” that kids bring – fitting in CrossFit workouts when she can. The family likes to travel and relishes time spent at their home in Nantucket.

Closing thoughts

When asked to point to career achievements that she is most proud of, Trogni turns to her role leading Investment Banking Operations at UBS during the financial crisis. It was a time of high emotions in the industry as well as tremendous risk, she recalls. “Turning to sponsors, mentors and my team helped to ease this burden and proved to be a time when my EQ really came to the fore. The last thing a leader wants is to get to the top of the hill with no one behind you.”

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Voice of Experience: Miruna Stratan, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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miruna-stratanBy Cathie Ericson

As a technologist, there is no better time to enter the financial services sector, asserts Miruna Stratan, Goldman Sachs Managing Director in the Technology Division. “Technology is no longer a cost center, but is at the core of digital transformations across the industry, providing the opportunity to impact and shape new business models.”

Driving Technology Advances Throughout Goldman Sachs

Miruna joined Goldman Sachs after studying communication and electronics engineering at Bucharest Politechnica University and earning her graduate degree in telecommunications from Stevens Institute of Technology. Building technical teams and developing new innovative infrastructures have been the hallmark of her career throughout her time at the firm.

During her 17-year tenure at the firm, she has held multiple roles. Early on in her career she built technology solutions for the banking business. Subsequently, Miruna took a series of technology infrastructure engineering roles, focusing on data center engineering products across the computer storage and networking space and working closely to drive the firm’s global data center architecture and strategy.

Over the years, she had the opportunity to work directly on building innovative technology stacks that transformed Goldman’s operational model and enabled the firm to be increasingly agile. Miruna was also part of the team that engineered the virtual desktop platform for the firm, and more recently she drove a security engineering project that enabled Goldman Sachs to extend its cloud platform securely to public cloud providers. Currently, she manages the external cloud access platform, cloud desktop and remote access function for Goldman Sachs engineering. She was named Managing Director in 2015.

Being named “Technology Fellow” in 2014 was a notable achievement for Miruna. The role of Technology Fellow is a distinction reserved for the best engineering and architectural talent at Goldman Sachs, a select group of engineers whose authoritative knowledge is demonstrated through strong technical leadership, innovation and problem-solving expertise.

“At Goldman we manage complex technology stacks and control frameworks; we think of ourselves as a technology firm building the platforms that allow our colleagues to transform our businesses into a data-driven model through applied technology,” Miruna says. “It is exhilarating to be at the forefront of emerging technologies in the infrastructure organization when the rate of technology change has been so tremendous.”

Lessons Learned – and Now Shared

Over the years, Miruna’s career has progressed in large part because of the opportunities she took to move laterally throughout the firm. “I had to prove myself each time in these new roles, on different types of technologies, but these opportunities were the most amazing learning experiences I had,” she notes. “I am quite proud of the engineering teams I have built over the years as well as seeing many of my mentees grow and develop.”

One important lesson she has learned is the significance of communicating your contributions to others. Early in her career, she focused on building her technical skills while avoiding the spotlight. She recommends that women develop their technical skills and establish themselves as an expert in a specific technology or platform early on, but once they get there continue to accept lateral opportunities and embrace the challenge to work on something completely different. Miruna also realized it’s essential to listen to feedback and be thoughtful about how to align others to your vision.

“You have to modulate your message to the audience and understand how to be practical when delivering a product,” she said. “Communicating your strategy effectively to stakeholders ensures buy-in for a new project or platform.”

Ensure Women Have a Seat at the Table

Initially, Miruna felt intimidated as the only woman in most situations, but over time, she found diverse role models within the firm and across the tech industry. Connecting with these individuals helped her realize that being different allows others to naturally notice your contributions more.

“It’s so important to have strong female and diverse role models in executive and senior technical roles,” Miruna says. “We have to carefully mentor the technical talent not only as they enter the firm, but throughout their career.”

Due to her own experience in the sector, Miruna is passionate about building a thriving female tech community and has participated in industry conferences such as the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, ABI.NY events and Lesbians Who Tech.

She also focuses on giving back to the Women in Technology organization and devotes significant time to recruiting and retention programs, partnering with external organizations such as Girls Who Code and the Anita Borg Institute. Additionally, she has been involved in the Geek Speak program, which provides individual coaching and feedback to help women improve their presentation skills when discussing technical topics.

Throughout her career, Miruna has been involved with Goldman Sachs’ affinity networks, serving as the Managing Director sponsor for the technical pillar of Women in Technology. She has also participated in the Disability Interest Forum and is an ally to the firm’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.

Supporting Children With Disabilities

Separately, she actively works at balancing her family and career while simultaneously addressing complex special needs situations. “I have learned how important it is to prioritize, delegate and recognize the activities that are the best use of my time,” she says.

Miruna is passionate about helping kids with disabilities by ensuring kids with dyslexia have access to specialized education accommodations and programs. As October 15 is both World Sight Day and World Dyslexia Day, in October she reflects on her future impact and contributions to this important issue and creates a specific action plan for the upcoming year.

“There is now so much technology available that can be leveraged to help kids with disabilities participate fully and successfully at their grade level in the learning process,” she says. “I regularly research innovation that creates accessible, technology-based solutions in the areas of communication and advocate for such solutions in the special needs community and within my school district.”

An avid reader of both science books and literature, Miruna enjoys traveling with her husband and their 12-year-old twins. Recent trips have included Spain and Romania, and this year they traveled to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and learned about the amazing geology of Yellowstone County.

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Voice of Experience: Marilyn McDonald; Director of Product Management Technical, Global Digital & Cloud Technology, Citi

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marilyn-mcdonald-featuredBy Cathie Ericson

“Do not wait to be asked to the table. If you have value to add, then invite yourself,” says Citi’s Marilyn McDonald, a motto she has followed throughout her career at numerous “tables.” Along the way, she has also lived the advice she now offers others: “Be authentic. You don’t need to be exactly like someone else, be they male or female, to succeed because the parts that make you authentic are the parts that will help you be successful.”

Building Her Career In Many Disparate Industries

“Non-traditional” is the word that McDonald uses to describe her career. She put herself through college while working full time – community college first and then Arizona State University. At 22 she drove to Northern California in order to learn to snowboard and work at a ski resort, spending the subsequent five years “following the snow” from California to Australia and New Zealand. Then she backpacked around Europe until she ran out of money. “These experiences really helped broaden my view of how culture and people influence behavior,” McDonald says.

As she contemplated career options, she took a correspondence course in computer programming until “I realized I was terrible at it because I couldn’t sit still long enough,” she laughs. Around that time she moved to New Zealand with her husband and young son, where she worked in enterprise software implementation, putting software into manufacturing businesses and writing reports for the business.

Soon after, she transitioned to working for an advertising agency which she says began her love affair with building great customer experiences. “I worked on some fabulous accounts and even made some pitches for big corporations. These experiences were some of my most foundational, especially the experience I gained building cross-media campaigns to reach consumers across more than one channel,” she says.

When McDonald returned to the U.S., she worked in marketing and advertising with what she calls “some of the best and brightest minds.” Around this stage she was offered a role at a very large online retailer as a product manager. “I believe marketing is about understanding your customers’ behaviors, and product development is about using that understanding to build the right products – so almost two sides of the same coin,” she notes, citing this as an extremely rewarding and challenging part of her career working with teams that launched a number of firsts for the company.

Subsequently, she gravitated to the financial services industry, where she met her first mentor. “He saw potential in me and gave me greater and greater levels of responsibility – running not just the marketing arm, but events, the web development team, PR and finally all of the customer experience touch points,” she says.

Next McDonald received an opportunity to help create a technology culture inside a bank, the biggest and most rewarding challenge of her career. “Citi has been around for over 200 years, and has focused on technology for many decades. Citi understands it must evolve in order to compete,” she says.

Since change needed to happen at many levels – people, technology and culture — it was exactly the type of monumental challenge that she loves, working with a team she admires.

“My proudest moments have always been around building healthy cultures where people can thrive and develop. I am happiest when someone is able to advance in their career due to an environment or an opportunity we created together,” she says.

Currently there are many trends that will change the face of the industry, particularly as fintech firms are starting to get their banking licenses, which is a big game changer for traditional banks. Now, she says, it is about providing the best possible experience for the customer, including a focus on safety and security, all of which will drive innovation in the financial services space.

Supporting Diversity Efforts

McDonald finds barriers for women in financial services to be similar to many other industries; however, she finds things are improving on a daily basis across the board. “It is heartening to see the increasing number of women in all levels, but particularly in more senior positions where they can be role models and provide opportunities for others,” she notes.

She is active in Citi Women, a corporate-wide diversity effort designed to unlock the combined potential of women and Citi by inspiring progress, leading change and driving success. The program aims to attract, develop, advance and retain female talent at all levels within the company.

In addition, for the first time, she and Citi colleagues attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing as an organization this year, and included a number of women from Citi’s technology groups to learn, network and share.

One of the founding members of a corporate women’s group, McDonald says she has been “lucky enough to be in some pretty brilliant circles.” She even helped found an Oval (Only Very Awesome Ladies) organization that is still in existence today in Seattle.

Interests as Varied as Her Career

McDonald loves to read, garden, bake and remodel houses. “My son is now 20 so he is taking less of my mental bandwidth these days, but instead, our lives now revolve around our enormous and very hairy dog and two cats.” New to the New Jersey area and just getting settled, she is looking forward to finding more ways to give back to my community.

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