Tag Archive for: Women in tech

Kelley Conway: Head of Corporate & Digital Strategy, Northern Trust

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Kelley Conway“Part of a leadership vision includes incorporating a learning curve in how you get there. None of us are always right and we’re all going to make mistakes as we go along,” says Kelley Conway. “But the objective is still the right objective. You’ve got to move and learn along the way how to best make it where you want to go.”

The Reward of Impact

With a love for science and math, Conway studied chemical engineering before opting against a PhD and career path that she feels wouldn’t have fit her. Animated by interaction, problem-solving and dynamic impact, she found herself drawn to consultancy in tech strategy. Picking up an MBA, she then moved into digital transformation in financial services.

After twenty years of consulting a wide variety of top-tier clients, Conway was ready to steward her strategic work through to impact, recruited to lead the charge on accelerating digital strategy at Northern Trust in Chicago in January 2021. She appreciated the ability to sit down with Chairman and CEO Michael O’Grady and co-create the vision for her role: “That’s how it ended up a as a corporate and digital strategy role. Because we saw that you can’t really separate those anymore.”

Conway considers the move her best career decision to date and a culmination of everything she’s done so far.

“Nobody can look at their life and say every single day they get up in the morning radiant, right? That’s just a lie,” she half-jokes. “But even if I’m in a funk, I feel better going to work. I can feel the excitement, movement and momentum in leading impact with the talent all around me.”

“Digital For a Purpose”

With her consulting background, Conway has put a framework around the amorphous concept of “digital” to create “digital for a purpose” and drive outcomes. She defines the five layers of digital as the user experience, insight & analytics, the data that serves as the linchpin to everything — the underlying platform including cloud, and the ways of working. The challenge is ensuring all these components work together to drive real outcomes.

Conway says that when Google Maps points out the “world’s biggest potato” when you’re on a road trip, that’s an outcome of AI insight built on massive data collection, making user specific connections to know you might want to see that potato. While we benefit from the end-user experience, most of us don’t understand all the invisible – and extensive – work that has created it.

She is specifically excited about leading the charge on a data modernization program that is “democratizing” data across Northern Trust. By applying a data mesh construct, she is helping make data accessible to end users where it can drive significant business outcomes. Now, more people are also thinking and talking the language of data in effective ways that will transform the business and help to partner with clients on the innovations that matter to them.

“One of the things I have learned during my career is that communicating progress to senior leadership is a key component of this journey, and candidly I’m still working on that,” says Conway. “You have to show people iterative outcomes so they know you’re building a vision that will take us to the future.”

Humility and Passion

Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, Conway’s parents were blue collar workers in the steel mill. She learned the value of hard work, being practical and moving with humility as you put energy behind your vision. One form of humility she learned was maximizing the resources at your disposal while you have them.

“Consider the macro-economic environment we’re living in right now – high inflation and recession. Resources are always limited or going up and down,” notes Conway. “So how can you be practical? How can you actually prioritize to get the most out of the resources?”

Another form of humility is staying surrounded by people that are more knowledgeable than you in their field of expertise.

“I want people around me who know more and can see different things. The amount that I know is a lot less than the amount that I don’t know,” says Conway. “That diversity of thought and knowledge gets us to better solutions.”

Conway is genuinely passionate about tech, and conveys a sincere belief in the power of technology to transform organizations.

“Sometimes leadership requires seeing a path, charting the path and having the confidence to take that path. Sure it might be risky but we’re convinced it will accelerate our progress,” says Conway. “As a leader, my job is to communicate that vision with enthusiasm and authenticity, supported by leadership and an amazing team.”

She’s a big fan of taking measured risks amidst uncertainty of outcome, because the alternative is not learning and not growing: “You may not know if this is going to work, but you can see it’s the best thing you can try. And if you don’t try, you don’t get anything,” notes Conway.

Leveraging Your Difference

When Conway made partner at the consulting firm years ago, a junior woman told her she was an inspiration, which both surprised and emboldened her.

“I’ve now taken that in two directions. One is I recognize the broader responsibility and think about how to help individuals succeed. And secondly, I take advantage of that uniqueness in the room, and that confidence is something that has come with experience and wisdom.”

Conway has three children, 17 and 15 year old sons and a 2 1/2 year old daughter. With a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, her oldest son is 4’6”. She’s always told him that he will not go unnoticed in the world, so he can futilely try to blend into the woodwork or he can leverage the opportunity of his uniqueness to move forward. Early on, she was also the woman in tech in the corner trying to blend in, when that was always impossible. Now, she’s embraced owning her difference to get her message across stronger.

On the note of leaning into your voice, Conway says her little girl has “a will on her like nobody’s business” which she takes pride in: “She’s impossible and stubborn and I refuse to squash that,” says Conway, “because I know exactly what she’s going to face in her life and I want that to be there.”

Her approach to working motherhood has evolved. When her sons were little, she put her career above everything and their dad was highly supportive. At that time, she believed she had to choose family or career. With her little daughter now, her approach has changed.

“I prioritize making time with her more, yet I still have the same passion for my career. I’m still making the change I want. I realized you can actually find balance,” says Conway, who comes into the office early and leaves early. “There are trade-offs, but it’s not that you can either have this or that. I have an incredibly supportive team and I’ve learned to take a much more balanced view of my life.”

Leadership that Inspires and Empowers

“I am very much a believer in leaders who empower their teams versus control their teams. I don’t appreciate command-and-control leaders. That stifles innovation and digital and everything I love,” says Conway. “I’ve had managers who are caring and give you all the room in the world and that helped me.”

Aspiring to lead that way, she also looks for the traits of humility and empowering others in the people she will work with. Conway recalls she had the opportunity to inspire and empower her team.

While there was hesitation around whether they had the talent in place as they set off into data modernization, she could see the potential in the talent already there. So she focused on bringing the team into the vision, animating them in learning and developing team passion around it. She saw her job as removing the roadblocks and then watching as her team moved faster than she had imagined. In general, Conway has many times heard from others that the problem is too complex, but she’s not one to “pack her bags and go home” just because things are difficult and it’s going to take innovative team approaches to navigate the terrain.

Climbing Higher

Conway underlines the importance of agency amidst requests for support: “I’m a big believer that you control your own destiny. People will support you, but you have to also take those opportunities and drive your career. You have an onus to take responsibility for your career as much as the onus on those around you to support you.”

Conway is an avid mountaineer, although she is pausing on that activity until her daughter is a bit older. She’s climbed Mont Blanc, Mount Ararat and Mount Kilimanjaro. She’s ice-climbed in Patagonia and broken 20,000 feet in Nepal, having gone to Everest base camp and Mount Mera. She is eyeing the challenge of Aconcagua in Argentina.

When climbing, she says, “everything shuts off. You’re working towards a goal. Sometimes it’s a slog, but you pick your head up and it’s this amazing spiritual sensation,” she muses. “That’s what rejuvenates me. A career can provide that same experience. Digital modernization can be a long, incremental process, so you have to stop sometimes and appreciate the amazing progress you’ve made.”

By Aimee Hansen

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Loretta Franks: VP, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Kellogg Company

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Loretta Franks“If you stay near the same dominion, you always have that depth, but if you move functions, you gain great leadership breadth. That comes with a lot of positives but it can leave a gap in a space you relied on,” says Loretta Franks to her broader, non-tech multidisciplinary background. “I love diving in and helping people, but now that has to happen in a different way. I must rely more on my leadership team and their depth of experience. That’s the shift I have taken from a leadership development perspective.”

Drawn Towards Change and Transformation

After traveling for a year after university, Franks joined Kellogg. Her trajectory to date is an exploration of interdisciplinary skills, each one often interweaving with and building upon the last. Beginning as a Financial Analyst, Franks has gone through 13 positions in her almost 16 years at Kellogg – from finance roles to project management roles, to change programs, to divestitures/acquisitions, to enterprise-wide transformation programs and now to data and analytics.

“I love the end-to-end view of business processes, which you get from large-scale projects and program transformation initiatives,” says Franks. “Finance was an amazing foundation for any role. I’m a big believer that understanding the fundamentals of a P&L is critical in whatever role you are in, but once I got a taste for large transformation roles and driving positive change, I got addicted!”

Her move from Regional European roles to Global roles in 2017 opened her network further and ultimately launched her into Global Business Services, then to lead the Next-Generation Analytics Global Program, then towards her current role.

“My friends would describe me as curious and a bit of a fidget! I have been fortunate to experience many functions and the learning opportunity is always much more important to me than the actual function itself that I report into. I like to blur the lines and work across the business. I enjoy variety; I don’t like the same day-to-day routine,” muses Franks. “I am energized most by strategy development, innovation and ideation, thinking of new ideas and solving problems. In any transformation-based initiative, you are trying to fundamentally change something for the better and add incremental value. That really motivates me.”

She’s felt at home in Kellogg culture which matches her own values as people-centered and solution-focused. “I take pleasure in building new relationships, mentoring and coaching people; whether it be through career matters, personal development challenges or new opportunities.”

The Power of Complementing Tech Expertise

Franks is often asked how she has got to her job without a background in tech.

“What we’ve collectively realized, as a team, is the power of diverse capabilities and experiences coming together is incredibly powerful. You need the technical discipline and expertise in the team, no doubt – the data scientists, the engineers – who have risen in this space,” she says. “But you also need people who can be great storytellers, who can help translate problems into business and technical requirements, who can lead large teams of diverse capabilities and cultures. You need to have customer centricity and think about the user experience as well as issues such as process, adoption, change management, talent development and engagement.” She believes the combination of multiple capabilities and experiences in Data & Analytics is the big unlock end-to-end.

She has also found that many of her tech talent often don’t want to be muddled in business analysis, prioritization debates, investment choices or decision-making, so allowing them to focus on what they really love to do, which is working with technology, data and being innovative is a huge engagement lever.

Franks would say her natural curiosity and her problem-solving mind, “irrelevant of the swim lane I am in,” has helped navigate between disciplines.

“I think people see me as authentic and well-intended,” reflects Franks. “We are a regionally driven company and so for me it’s all about how we best enable our regions and functions as one team. In the end it’s all about creating value for our shareholders and end consumers.”

Back in finance as a leader, Franks could roll up her sleeves and get into the details when it was required due to her experience and qualifications coming up through the lower levels. As she’s taken on senior leadership roles across new functions, she’s had to adjust and identify new ways of providing support and getting enough detail from her leadership team to make decisions.

Building Confidence and Showing Vulnerability

“I have become much more comfortable with showing vulnerability as a leader over the last 12-24 months,” says Franks. “And the more I do it, the more I realize the positive impact it has on my team and myself.”

In a recent in-person feedback team-development session, she repeatedly heard that the more vulnerability she shows, the more she builds trust with her leadership team.

“It made me reflect on the fact that I don’t have to be this unbreakable leader for the sake of my team. Talking about some of my insecurities, gaps in knowledge or concerns and asking for their support is a huge unlock for our team’s performance and overall connection,” says Franks. “Trying to be constantly brilliant for them can put an unintended pressure on them to also not show cracks. It was eye-opening to see that my positive intent was actually creating unintended negative impacts.”

Franks encourages women to focus on confidence-building and even at times being selfish.

“Confidence is so important, yet sometimes ‘confidence’ can be felt by women as a negative because we don’t want to come across arrogant or as a know-it-all. We need to take these words that have negative associations and switch them into positives,” says Franks. “There is also a huge amount of negative connotation around the phrase ‘being selfish.’ But it is so important that at times you put yourself first. Prioritize your own development, personal learning journey, self-care, and look to make choices that help you, not just other people all the time.”

She continues, “I think it’s breaking those associations in our head that suggest ‘If I’m confident…I’m perceived as arrogant’ or ‘If I’m selfish… I’m a mean person.’ It can feel very uncomfortable, but it is these simple things that can make a massive difference and it is not about changing your values, just your priorities.”

Women in STEM – A Leap Beyond Sight

As Franks has moved from gender-balanced Finance and GBS functions in Kellogg towards an IT leadership role working with many tech partners and vendors externally, she’s seen the difference in representation. She is an advocate for gender parity and passionate about getting more women into STEM and girls into STEM subjects, looking at gender equity talent pipelines and career development at Kellogg, and working with partners and vendors for their support as well across the industry.

“As a big global brand, we have the opportunity to choose who we work with, we can leverage that position to lead the conversation and drive positive change in the industry,” says Franks. “Our partners also have their own fantastic programs and priorities around gender equity and women in STEM initiatives so working together, we can really start to shift the dial.”

After taking the opportunity to speak about women in STEM and gender equity across Data & Analytics, amidst a large technology conference, she was inspired by the number of men who waited after to speak with her about inspiring their own daughters.

“I think it surprised them because I raised this topic as a bolt on to the main agenda. It was a proud moment to see this big queue to talk more about getting women into D&A and Technology,” says Franks. “I think the more that we can use platforms like that to talk about it, the better.”

Franks partners with different organizations to reach younger girls about opportunities available to them in STEM. Having role models is essential to inspire and motivate others, Franks emphasizes. “If you can see it, you can be it”.


“When I was in school, CDAOs did not exist as a career choice and there are many more roles that will exist in ten years’ time that do not exist today,” she iterates. “It is important that we change the narrative and mindset of following a linear pre-defined journey and instead give both girls and women the confidence to trust and keep moving within an area of their passion, without having to plan the future out in too much detail. The world is changing fast and knowing the opportunities are open to us all, irrelevant of gender, is what is important.”

Speaking of the next generation, Franks and her partner have two children, seven and five years old. As a family person and former Lacrosse player, she watches a lot of sports when she’s not launching into yet another unexplored territory.

By Aimee Hansen

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Women in Tech: Five Interventions to Develop and Keep Your Talent

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While attracting women (back) to tech has been an ongoing theme across the industry, promoting and retaining the valuable women that get through the door is also critical.

Here are five key interventions that leaders in tech and organizations can do to develop and hold onto valuable female talent.

1) Tap a Broader Talent Pool and Recruit Returners

On the hiring front, Deloitte recommends that companies extend to a broader talent pool with “work from anywhere” models as well as recruit from overlooked sub-segments such as women who are returning to work or transitioning from other industries and upskilling career-switchers and those with resume gaps. BCG also recommends that tech organizations carve various pathways to leadership such as returnships that gradually reintegrate returning women into the workplace, to leverage this experienced talent for mid-level and senior-level positions.

2) Link Tech Opportunities to Purpose and Influence

Research has shown that women stay around for enjoyable work that they can fit in with other areas of their lives and that gives them opportunities to make a difference. Tying tech roles more closely to the impact they make in our world will drive appeal and job satisfaction.

As tech trailblazer Joyce Shen recently told The Glass Hammer, women who may not think of tech as a career option or career twist might want to reconsider: “There tends to be two main paths in technology careers in conventional thinking. One path is a purely technical path, often as an individual contributor as well as a super-doer. But there is another path where people get into more of the operational and business side, around product management and distribution as well as considering emerging topics such as ethics, fairness, governance in technology and especially in AI and machine learning. There is also a lot of opportunity to get into highly critical technology areas such as cybersecurity. In my experience, a lot of the influence and ability to make changes come from working at the intersection of different disciplines and taking that experience to management and leadership.”

3) Address Early Promotions (first five years) in Tech

McKinsey argues that companies need to address equitable advancement in early promotions. Whereas generally, 86 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men promoted, in tech it plummets to 52 women promoted to manager for every 100 men. Women hold only 34% of entry-level engineering and product roles in tech (versus 48% generally) and just 26% of first-level manager positions in tech (versus 41% generally).

Early promotions are the most critical to future success. McKinsey found that companies which have a more systemic approach to promoting women in tech roles are creating more diverse, inclusive and better performing workplaces by:

  • Providing more equitable access to training, projects and resources to accelerate skill building for women in technical roles. This means more structured guidance on career development and a formalized professional-development process including mentorship and formal sponsorship, and more opportunities to build a broad range of skills and work on higher visibility projects.
  • Implementing a highly structured approach to early promotions. Per Ipsos research, only 1/3 of women in tech felt support was in place for promotion and only 1/5 felt processes for promotion were in place. A structured approach includes clear and transparent systems, well-defined criteria for each role and level, accountability and clear bars for when promotion should be anticipated. It also includes employee-manager check-ins as to whether the right access to projects and skills are being provided to advance, and senior leader check-ins when individuals aren’t advancing at expected timelines.
  • Connecting early-tenure women with competent managers, mentors, and sponsors. Connecting senior colleagues with hires early in their careers can help catalyze their development. It also means investing early in the training and development of tech junior managers since they are in the coaching seat for entry-level talent.
4)  Address and Mitigate Bias In All Aspects of Talent Development

Men in tech (67%) feel more comfortable than women (52%) to ask for a promotion – with 39% of women saying gender bias is the reason for not receiving one. Korn Ferry offers up that women don’t lack belief in their abilities but how they will fair in the assessment process. Removing unconscious bias at the level of hiring and throughout promotion processes, with clear and visible data to illustrate target areas and impact, is critical in tech.

One of the top three motivators for women in tech is development, but they report lacking the same opportunities as their male peers – and 2/3 don’t see a clear path forward in their company. In additional to clear and structured career paths, tech companies need formal mentorship and sponsorship programs to even the playing field so women can advance. According to Ipsos, 57% of UK tech women said mentorship and sponsorship would attract them to a company, but only one in five women felt they had access to sponsorship. Importantly, 55% of those who did felt it has greatly benefited their career.

BCG recommends, as the remote workplace has eased some of the obstacles to influence for midlevel women, tech firms could take heed and structure meetings to give all voices equal opportunity to contribute. Also making sure the frequency and value of manager-employee interactions are not being driven by affinity bias, and that mentorship and sponsorship are operational (and equitable) in the hybrid world.

5) Promote Well-Being Among Tech Women

A March 2022 study among IT professionals in 33 countries showed women (69%) were likelier to report feeling “run drown and drained of physical and emotional energy” than men (56%), and were more at high burnout risk (46% versus 38%).

Korn Ferry points out that burnout is driving the great resignation, especially for women. Tech companies need to be aware that hybrid working is part of both the problem and the solution. Promoting work-life separation and balance in tangible ways is important. Allowing for sabbaticals and extra paid leave can help returners to come back refreshed and more impactful. Embody a culture of inclusion for women.

Women who enter into tech roles of any kind have already crossed a hurdle by claiming their own belonging despite cultural messaging. Savvy organizations will make sure to reflect that belonging back to them in tangible and visible ways.

By Aimee Hansen

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Women Leaders in Tech: Insightful Tips Across Twelve Career Themes

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career tips from women in techWe’ve mined some key insights across twelve topics from inspiring senior women leaders in tech-related roles and companies that we have interviewed over the last five years.

On being broadly curious:

“Curiosity is a hallmark of who I am and has been a huge enabler to my success. I personally like to know enough about everything ‘to be dangerous’ and went out of my way to equip myself with that knowledge,” said Aine Leddy. “That curiosity has served me, particularly with my entreé into the tech COO world. I could show up at the table and enter right into a discussion about the business strategy and where technology fits in, and that was apparent to the people who have given me the opportunities.”

Words from: Aine Leddy: Information Technology Business Partner, AIG Investments

On recruiting for tech (and all) roles:

“As a product team leader, when recruiting, I seek out qualities like resourcefulness, creativity, and other traits that don’t necessarily jump off the page when reading a resume or browsing a LinkedIn profile,” said Loredana Crisan. “I’d encourage all product leaders to be more open-minded throughout the recruitment process. Just because a candidate’s background differs from the conventional, doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified.”

Words from: Loredana Crisan: VP, Messaging Experience — Messenger & Instagram (update: Crisan is now VP at Messenger)

On leveraging the advantage of your difference:

“My professor told me that when he goes into a classroom, he doesn’t know who the best students are. But when he sees a female student or person of color, they get his attention right away,” recalled Rose-Gaëlle Belinga from university. “That’s how my professor challenged me, not to look at being underrepresented as holding me back but as an advantage… Because I really have people’s attention, I make sure that my work speaks for itself, that people take me seriously.”

Words from: Rose-Gaëlle Belinga: Technology Associate, Morgan Stanley (update: Belinga is now a VP at Morgan Stanley)

On the freedom that comes with risk-taking:

“You can have loads of failure but if you have tenacity, the chances are you’re going to figure it out as you try and fail, as you go along,” said Niamh Bushnell. “There’s a lot of freedom when you’re comfortable with risk, and with freedom comes creativity. Don’t worry if every single step isn’t going to come out as you want it to. Often times you don’t even know what the ideal outcome is, until you start.”

Words from: Niamh Bushnell: Chief Communications Officer (CCO), Soapbox Labs (Update: Bushnell is now Chief Marketing Officer at Soapbox Labs)

On the self-validating reflection of mentors and sponsors:

“Sometimes you don’t even see your own potential,” said Sabina Munnelly. “But when someone makes it clear that they see something in you, their belief in you can help grow a belief in yourself that you might have not even had.”

Words from: Sabina Munnelly: Partner, Baringa

On inviting support and asking uncomfortable questions:

“Reaching out for help or advice does not subvert you from your task of getting to what you want to do, and it could have gotten me there faster. Be open to others’ opinions. Don’t be afraid to ask uncomfortable questions, but also be prepared for the tough answers,” said Trisha Sircar. “It’s really important to get different perspectives from different people, from different backgrounds and different facets of the profession.”

Words from: Trisha Sircar; Partner, Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity, Katten

On why different perspectives are essential:

“It’s essential to create the space for people to be heard, especially when some aren’t as comfortable voicing their opinions,” said Stephanie Schultz. “I don’t want to be in a meeting and have everybody agree with a particular direction or discussion. I want to hear the people who are dissenting, or might have a different perspective, because it’s a pressure test – it’s helping to make sure that we’re getting to the most thoughtful outcome.”

Words from: Stephanie Schultz: VP & Head of Partnerships, Amex Digital Labs

On listening deeper as a leader:

“In an emotionally charged situation, I will encourage the team to tease out the facts, take the personalities out of it and then listen for what is not being talked about,” said Danielle Arnone. “The leaders that I admire most have the ability to listen deeply and surface the question behind the question, without putting people on the defensive, and in a way that takes the conversation to the next stage.”

Words from: Danielle Arnone: Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Combe

On embracing failure as part of growth mindset:

“I want to see what happens, and if I am going to fail, I want to fail fast, learn from my mistakes and get up and run again,” said Anna Thomas. “Everyone is going to fail at some point. Everyone is going to have their bad projects. Try to just do it in small cycles, learn fast, and then apply your learning and keep moving.”

Words from: Anna Thomas: Vice President, Private Banking Technology at Brown Brothers Harriman (update: Thomas is now Director, Operations & Technology Transformation at Citi)

On getting real with yourself about work-life effectiveness:

“If one part of the pie gets more dominating than you want it to be, you have to consider how to make that part smaller so you can ‘right-size’ your family life or your spiritual life, for example. That has really helped me to compartmentalize what I’m doing and how it impacts the other parts of my life,” said Kate Kenner Archibald. “If your work is really impacting your home life, take that step back to figure out what and how you can fix it. Push for flexibility, which is becoming more common, or figure out what the issue is. But if you’re not satisfied with how much time you have with your family, you’re never going to be happy at work, no matter how much money you’re making.”

Words from: Kate Kenner Archibald: Chief Marketing Officer, Dash Hudson

On keeping knocking at the door, regardless:

“I think women do ourselves a disservice, because we take things personally and get annoyed with our manager if we don’t get the raise or promotion,” said Aine Leddy. “Whereas men seem to think, ‘If it doesn’t happen, I’ll get back in the ring and I’ll fight the good fight again next year.’ Ultimately, promotion is a numbers game. It can’t happen for everybody all of the time, so rather than take it so personally, elevate your case and prepare to ask again.”

Words from: Aine Leddy: Information Technology Business Partner, AIG Investments

On the potential to impact meaningful change in tech:

“Is your AI developed in a way that is equitable – that doesn’t have inherent gender bias or racial bias? If voice tech doesn’t recognize a kid’s dialect and gives them a lower score on a reading assessment because they don’t pronounce words in the way the AI has been built to understand them, they’re going to lose out at school,” said Niamh Bushnell. “The way technology is built these days hugely impacts people’s quality of life – including their physical and mental health – and it can impact them socioeconomically too. Equity is a big piece.”

Words from: Niamh Bushnell: Chief Communications Officer (CCO), Soapbox Labs (Update: Bushnell is now Chief Marketing Office at Soapbox Labs)

On defining your own career ladder:

“The entire career landscape is shifting and new opportunities are emerging rapidly. Developing a portfolio of skills you can apply in many ways, no matter what path you take, makes your career more dynamic and resilient,” said Joyce Shen. “Conventional wisdom would say the path you follow is a ladder and you progress according to that ladder, but in business and technology there isn’t a ladder that is given to you even though it can seem that way. You can create that ladder yourself, and it doesn’t really matter what shape it takes, as long as there is a strong purpose to the work and that you are enjoying the journey and making an impact. It doesn’t have to be the same ladder that everybody is climbing.”

Words from: Joyce Shen: AI investor, board director, author, and data science at UC Berkeley

Interviewed by Aimee Hansen

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Women in Tech: Why the “Big Quit” is a Big Deal

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women in techEvery year, tech becomes more in need of talent, especially underrepresented women. Over 3/4 of tech decision makers say they are facing critical skills gaps, a 145% increase since 2016. Over half say they have a position unfilled and 38% are struggling to find the right candidates for three+ job posts.

Women’s technical propensities are being undertapped and the belonging divide continues to inhibit participation at different hurdles. Far fewer women who majored in computer science (38%) are working in the field compared to men (53%). Women hold a low share of tech roles – 16% in engineering and 27% in computing. They hold 28% of leadership roles, per BCG, and in the biggest 1,000 tech companies, only 18% of CFOs or CIOs are women. Between 2019 to 2021, the number of U.S. tech managers increased by 9%, but the share of women went down by 2% points.

But on a global level, Deloitte estimates that the overall tech workforce has increased 6.9% from 2019 to 2022, while share of tech roles is up by 11.7%. They project a gain of nearly 20% for women in leadership, stating 1 in 4 leadership roles at global tech firms would be held by women in 2022, a 4% increase.

In no where more than tech right now is diversity needed to help debias the technologies that are ever more pervasive in our daily lives. Not only that, but women in tech matters to the bottom line relative to competitors. The most gender-diverse companies are 48% more likely to financially outperform the least gender diverse. Companies with good representation of women at the top earn up to 50% higher profits and share performance.

Job Satisfaction, Work-Life and Retention

According to Deloitte’s Women @ Work global survey, among women, satisfaction with work-life balance has dropped to 32% from 70% before the pandemic, and in every category – productivity, mental well-being – satisfaction has dropped by double digits. Half of women in tech drop out by mid-career and women comprise less than 1/4 of senior roles. Women leave their tech jobs at a rate 45% higher than men.

In line with the continued resignations, 57% of women in tech said they expect to leave their employer for a new role within 2 years—with work-life balance as the biggest reason and Deloitte says 22% are considering leaving the workforce altogether. In a BCG survey, 73% of digital workers said that they expected to leave their job in the next two to three years, and 40% were job-searching.

Retention is also an issue in the tech C-suite. While men across Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft average eight years in executive roles, women stay for only 6.4 years. And while White execs last eight years on average, that’s five for Asian leaders, six for Black leaders, and four for Hispanic leaders.

Different Experiences of Hybrid/Remote Workplace in Tech

According to BCG research, the impact of the pandemic had different impacts for different women in tech. Midlevel women particularly found that work-from-home arrangements made their managerial work easier – such as chairing meetings, influencing decisions and delegating work, and they were even promoted at rates above midlevel men. Midlevel men found those same tasks had become more difficult, suggesting that some of the gender bias is neutralized in the remote workplace.

Women of color (47%) were more likely to report that it was more difficult to connect with mentors and sponsors in the remote setting than white women (35%). Both men and women of color reported less frequent and valuable interactions than their white peers, and women of color (41%) were more likely to report a negative impact on work-life balance than white women (28%) – suspected in part to be impacted by caring for family members other than children.

Senior women (36%) were more likely than senior men to switch jobs (31%), but they were less likely to get a pay increase (39% versus 50%) after doing so. After the pandemic, having a good work-life balance jumped ahead of financial compensation as the top priority for senior women.

Reset Tech Culture Towards Inclusion

Tech firms are still judged as “bro cultures” by many women, and it’s been substantiated that a widespread cultural reset is what is needed to get women back into tech and feeling they fully belong, again. Ipsos research in the UK indicated that 58% of women said that visible role models are one of the things that attract them to organizations, but many noted the lack. 83% of tech women in the UK rate an inclusive manager and 76% rated an inclusive culture as important for joining a tech firm.

But a culture of inclusiveness is not created only by an atmosphere of belonging and being valued, if it doesn’t show up tangibly in action throughout the career journey. It as good as an organization’s ability to remove bias from access to development opportunities, promotions, pay and leadership so that women can participate and advance to their full potential. Next week, we will focus in more on actions that organizations can take.

By Aimee Hansen

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Joyce Shen: AI investor, board director, author, and data science at UC Berkeley

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“You can’t be too risk-averse in your own career journey. It takes risks to create a portfolio of valuable skills and find purpose. It takes risks when structural factors or personal reasons mean one path isn’t working and fulfilling, and it’s time to create another,” says tech trailblazer Joyce Shen. “Instill confidence, and say, ‘I can create my own path. Maybe I’m only at the first step of this path, but it’s a path that I want to pursue.’”

Shen talks about the value of contrarian moves, the often overlooked career paths in tech, how tech is changing the shape of career trajectories and why leaders need to hold both vision and empathy to drive innovation.

Growing at the Pace of Tech

Between accompanying her scientist father to the research lab on weekends as a young girl, being immersed in academia on her mother’s side and growing up in college towns, Shen has always been interested in science, technology and continuous learning. She dropped her pre-med surgeon trajectory when she discovered how economics, statistics and math can model what is happening in the world at The University of Chicago.

Shen then interviewed with a non-profit named Sponsors For Education Opportunity (SEO), an organization that helps to close the academic and career opportunity gap for college students from underserved communities, and was placed as an intern in her sophomore year at IBM in procurement finance. A year later upon graduating with two degrees in Statistics and Economics in three years, Shen joined IBM full time in Corporate Development focusing on mergers and acquisitions. She quickly immersed herself in high-stake projects. Shen was energized by the fast pace of innovations in the technology industry and began to evolve, rapidly.

By 25 years old, she was leading an international finance team of nine people, ranging from fresh college graduates to baby boomers. By 29 years old, she was the first (and youngest) global CFO leading and managing the IBM Cloud Platform, an internal start-up at the time. As a fast-rising star, she was recruited by Thomson Reuters, a global company in information services and technology, to build and lead the emerging tech practice, including establishing emerging technology strategy and launching the corporate venture fund and a blockchain program. Having achieved all milestones including investing in over 12 startups in machine learning, data, digital identity, and blockchain, she was recruited to join Tenfore Holdings, a private investment firm in New York.

Shen has also been lecturing at UC Berkeley and has previously lectured at Saïd Business School, and has published books on innovation and blockchain. For the last ten years, she is also actively involved as a career mentor for SEO.

The Value of Being a Contrarian

“My career has been non-traditional and multi-dimensional. I took risks that most people normally would not take, and each built on the other without me knowing at the time how each step will fit together – my decision was anchored by pursuing knowledge, innovation, making impact, and doing things that I think matter in the world I live in,” says Shen. “And because I took risk in my career, I built a reputation of being a multi-faceted leader, strategic thinker, a problem solver in any environment, and being able to work through tough assignments and execute end-to-end against entirely new visions.”

Shen has been driven by her interdisciplinary and multifunctional skills in the intersection of business, technology, and finance. Her last three positions have been particularly created for her with a blank slate: “Even more than taking a risk, I’ve often been the contrarian and not done what everybody else was doing,” says Shen. “I wanted to keep developing at a different growth vector and bring others along with me.”

Those contrarian choices include going into corporate development out of university instead of consulting or banking, going for her full-time MBA degree at The Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago after only two years as a young professional, returning to IBM after her MBA instead of a new firm, leaving Corporate Development in Armonk for the grittier challenge of leading a mature, less-glamorous business unit to gain management and restructuring experience, departing IBM after starting and growing the cloud computing platform startup to an billion dollar business as the global CFO to gain experience in making emerging technology innovation, procurement, and investing decisions in the CTO office at Thomson Reuters, and then leaving a highly coveted position working with innovative technology startups for an investment firm that had less than seven people and to focus 100% on technology investing and advising founders and management as a lead investor and board member.

Shen attributes her ability to adapt and figure things out in part to a childhood spent moving often as well as her own travels and exposure to different cultures and systems of thinking.

“The world is changing every day,” says Shen, “and the ability to immerse in your environment and have that sixth-sense ability to see opportunities and create value, regardless of the environment or infrastructure or market condition, is incredibly and increasingly valuable and highly demanded.”

The Overlooked Career Path in Technology

As technology has changed our lives and become pervasive in every way, Shen notes that much of technology (e.g., software, smart infrastructure, machine learning, artificial intelligence) runs horizontally through every single industry. She’d love to see more women get involved where so much future value creation is coming and consider the breadth of options to create their own purposeful path.

“There tends to be two main paths in technology careers in conventional thinking. One path is a purely technical path, often as an individual contributor as well as a super-doer. But there is another path where people get into more of the operational and business side, around product management and distribution as well as considering emerging topics such as ethics, fairness, governance in technology and especially in AI and machine learning. There is also a lot of opportunity to get into highly critical technology areas such as cybersecurity. In my experience, a lot of the influence and ability to make changes come from working at the intersection of different disciplines and taking that experience to management and leadership.”

Shen continues, “In technology or in any industry, being able to have that broader aperture allows someone to see more opportunities and navigate better decisions about where they want to go and how to do it to make a broader impact in an organization.”

Create Your Own Career Ladder

“The entire career landscape is shifting and new opportunities are emerging rapidly. Developing a portfolio of skills you can apply in many ways, no matter what path you take, makes your career more dynamic and resilient,” advises Shen.

While in some industries, career development still looks like a vertical ladder, technology disrupts that paradigm, and Shen feels watching her parents create their own ladder as immigrants gifted her the agility to do that.

“Conventional wisdom would say the path you follow is a ladder and you progress according to that ladder, but in business and technology there isn’t a ladder that is given to you even though it can seem that way,” says Shen. “You can create that ladder yourself, and it doesn’t really matter what shape it takes, as long as there is a strong purpose to the work and that you are enjoying the journey and making an impact. It doesn’t have to be the same ladder that everybody is climbing.”

Knock Until The Door Opens

Working at the intersection of technology and finance and business, Shen has become used to being the “only,” but she’s focused on leveraging her strategic thinking, expertise and her deep set of skills relevant in her fields. Her parents’ immigrant experience and her moving often as a child taught her to put herself out there and work hard to prove herself. She is energetic, outspoken, direct, and down-to-earth. Sitting down with seasoned executives was an intimidating experience early on when she embarked on her career, but not once she stopped making giants of them.

Shen encourages women to focus on making an impact. Before going into a meeting, she focuses on her own clarity of how she will show up and what she wants to learn and can contribute. She encourages her students to own their voice and show the value of their work. She also encourages women not to give up just because someone doesn’t take interest in your aspirations or you don’t get that assignment.

“What I learned is that everybody who has accomplished a great deal had a lot of help and support from other people. Giving and receiving opportunities are very important to women” Shen says. “So if you ask for an opportunity and you’re told no, and you’ve been doing an amazing job, find another person to ask. Sometimes, women take that ‘no’ very hard and in a personal way, but please don’t be discouraged. Keep knocking on doors until one opens, because you will find people who will see your potential. It is definitely hard but remember don’t get discouraged.”

Shen encourages women to hold the inner strength and confidence. If one day is really tough, another day is going to be better, and amidst the unique structural challenges for women, you have to leverage all the resources within and around to keep progressing on your career journey.

Leadership that Empowers and Includes

Her mother often called Shen a natural leader, and Shen agrees leadership is innate in her. The growth has been honing her leadership for others in different capacities as a corporate executive, investor, board director, and educator.

“I was exposed to the highest levels of leadership at IBM very early on, and I’m a keen observer of human behavior,” says Shen. “From start-ups to larger companies and across different functional areas, I still take the approach of observing and picking up what are the leadership skills that create incredible teams and organizations that have strong culture and purpose.”

What did not work for Shen was detailed and controlling micro-management that didn’t inspire innovation or empower people to leverage their own strengths to add value. From her first management experience, she realized the importance of recognizing and empowering individuals.

“I realized that I had the responsibility to make sure not only that we deliver great work as a team, but also that we take care of each other,” reflects Shen. “It’s not just having an open door policy. It’s having empathy and treating my employees as human beings who have different needs and aspirations. Listen to them and create an environment where they can thrive as individuals, so that as a collective we are more powerful team.”

Shen has seen the difference that makes, more starkly in start-ups: “I think the most incredible leaders are those who can create clear vision, mandate high expectations, but also at the same time, show empathy and flexibility to the team.”

Inspiring Others Behind Her

As a woman who breathes technology and business and finance during most of her waking hours, Shen loves keeping on top of technology innovations, emerging trends, and potential investments. She’s a part-time faculty lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Master of Information and Data Science where she teaches the Capstone course. Among other volunteering, through SEO, she mentors underserved college students in getting hired into technology and finance roles in Corporate America.

“My work gives me a lot of energy because I’m making a difference and helping others,” she reflects. “I get very energized working with portfolio companies and teams, and when I see former employees or my students grow in their careers and thrive.”

She also loves spending time with family and friends, many of whom have a strong overlap in personal and work values. She cycles, runs marathons, and cooks as a daily analog way to unwind.

By Aimee Hansen

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Sabina Munnelly: Partner, Baringa

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Sabina Munnelly“Sometimes you don’t even see your own potential,” says Sabina Munnelly. “But when someone makes it clear that they see something in you, their belief in you can help grow a belief in yourself that you might have not even had.”

Munnelly speaks to openness on your path, being a force of nature, surpassing the barriers and the value of mirrors that reflect and magnify your possibilities.

Embracing Opportunity and Switching It Up

Since the moment that computers were introduced in the ‘90s halfway through her education at Trinity College in Dublin, Munnelly began a career she would never have seen coming.

“Embrace what comes at you. You don’t have to control everything, and it doesn’t always have to fit in with what you originally thought,” says Munnelly. “I got a whole other opportunity because I opened my mind to the technology piece.”

After starting in banking as a technology tester, Munnelly worked for Compaq and Hewlett Packard, gaining vast experience with big players. Rather than transition to management, she joined Accenture so she could continue to keep her hands in project work. Across 16 years, she jumped between various tech and data related areas of expertise, becoming a Managing Director at Accenture Applied Intelligence, and moving to New York from Europe.

“I always like to pivot every three years or so, to keep myself up to date. I’m a bit of a magpie,” confesses Munnelly. “Anything that is white space. Give me a white board, and I’ll figure it out. I prefer that, so my journey has been a constant evolution.”

In 2021, she joined Baringa, a global management consultancy working across multiple sectors including energy, financial services, telecoms, media, consumer goods, retail and government. As a leading advisor on the energy transition globally, sustainability runs through much of the business’s work across sectors. In addition to enjoying the entrepreneurial spirit of building a fast-growing team in the U.S., Munnelly feels she’s come full circle to interests at her roots, having written her thesis on wind farming back in college.

“From a financial services perspective, there’s a lot of momentum behind the notion that if you can put the capital to make the most impact in the right place, then change happens where the money goes,” notes Munnelly. “If I can be involved in making change happen through climate activity and how investors deploy their capital to fund those changes, that really resonates with me.”

Equally, culture was a big factor in her move: “For me, you have to be able to get up in the morning and love what you do and love the people your work with. A people-focused business was really important to me.”

A Force of Nature

Describing herself as driven, Munnelly feels curiosity and a love of learning and problem solving motivate her. She enjoys start-to-finish involvement, and smiles saying she would be called “a force of nature” by her colleagues.

“It’s definitely an energy, but also a cohesion with the team.”

While she’ll come into a room with a strong point of view, she feels ‘nature’ implies a melding with the environment. She’s very much about being ‘in it together’ as a team and enjoying the adventure, and feels energized by working with others. These days, she would admit that her intuition and her attunement to reading the energy of a room have been important contributions to her success, as well as self-care.

Her sensitivity to her own and other’s energy has increasingly been a validated part of how she navigates her work-life: “I balance my energy. So I don’t think about the hours I work. I actually think about the energy I expend in a day.”

If You Can See It…

Growing up with three younger brothers, Munnelly was both accustomed to being in male-dominated spaces and being respected in them. So when she went into finance and tech, her context didn’t phase her.

“I enjoyed going into rooms and finding those moments where I’d pipe up with an interesting point of view or a question, and all of a sudden, people would shift around and look at me,” she says. “So I find it quite empowering. I’ve used the difference to my advantage.”

Only as she grew more senior did the gaps in representation of women become far more visible to her. And being one of the few in that space, she felt her role was to vocalize what she saw.

“It increased my use of my voice. It’s important that it doesn’t become a silent observation or be held in,” says Munnelly. “It’s important to make sure that things are noted and vocalized, and even with the reasons, considered.”

Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland who held term from 1990-1997, was a real inspiration in envisioning possibility. It made such a difference to teenage Munnelly that it stirs up emotion even today. Robinson allowed her to see not only what could be, but what was possible.

“I think all of these factors combined meant I didn’t buy into the barrier, and just ignored it, and still today it hasn’t stopped me, because I have a deeper belief that it can happen – at least in the spaces where I’m operating in.”

Coming to Baringa, she was met with a U.S. office that held a 50/50 gender representation at senior levels, and where every individual has an advisor. Having doubled down on its U.S. growth in the past 5 years, a DEI approach has infused the internal culture and focus for external impact from the outset.

Do What You Love, and Empower Others

Due to her extensive background in consulting and taking an advisory role, Munnelly has become adept at taking the listening seat to consider all voices when it comes to coming up with the best way forward, rather than just pushing her initial viewpoint. She’s learned to take her own ego out of the way.

As she thinks of the shift from ‘doing’ to ‘enabling’ as a leader, and the amount of letting go required, Munnelly is grateful for the people that saw her potential and trusted her. Having your ability reflected back to you matters, she feels, regardless of what level you’re at. She focuses on paying that back, in witnessing, encouraging, motivating and empowering her team through trust: “At the end of the day it’s belief and self-belief that matter.”

“Build your skills using the best of others that are ahead of you,” she suggests. She encourages women to pick up the best of what they observe in managers and leaders, integrate what inspires you and make it your own.

Do what you love is a practical direction she recently received from a leader that empowered her: “She didn’t say ‘meet these numbers’ or ‘I want you to do these things.’ She gave me the freedom of saying ‘just continue, but do what you love.’ She probably knew that if I heard that, then I would already motivate myself and do more than what others would ask from me,” reflects Munnelly. “If I’m in a positive frame of mind, loving what I’m doing, then I’ll be even more successful.”

She suggests to ask yourself if is it possible to tweak your work to get more enjoyment out of what you’re doing. Family, friends, a good chat and laughter are core to Munnelly. She enjoys spending time with her young daughter who keeps her more than busy and grounded. She also loves cycling, and while she’s always loved adventure and fast movement, in the past years she’s begun taking up more energy balancing activities like acupuncture and massage. She’s also a Reiki master.

By Aimee Hansen

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Op-ED: How to Navigate Your Career as a Working Mother in Technology

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Working Mother In TechnologyNavigating one’s career as a working mother in technology is akin to holding a porcupine, while jumping through a ring of fire, and trying to put mascara on at the same time. It can be uncomfortable, it can make you feel hot, and we try to look our best while doing it all. In fact, our survey of over 300 mothers worldwide, published in our book Pressing ON As A Tech Mom: How Tech Industry Mothers Set Goals, Define Boundaries And Raise the Bar for Success, revealed that 34 percent felt that working in such a hectic, high-speed environment was incredibly tough and sometimes downright impossible. Being a woman in tech is challenging, but being a mother makes it even more so challenging.


With just 27 percent of female representation in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industries, women are underrepresented. Mothers who remain in these fields are even fewer, with 43 percent of women leaving full-time STEM employment after their first child (PNAS). Since women in tech studies report that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 with a more gender-diverse workforce, where balanced contributions can lead to the creation of workplaces in which “employees feel safe to innovate, knowing that their unique experiences and contributions are valued” (JAB), there are compelling reasons for change.

As mothers in tech, what can we do to overcome the obstacles, and rise above to thrive in our careers, rather than only survive?

Here are three key steps to navigating motherhood and their STEM careers:
  • Squash Imposter Syndrome – When we believe that we are unworthy of the role that we are in or feel that we lack the skills to be successful, we often feel like imposters. According to Forbes, 75 percent of professional women report experiencing this unsavory feeling. When these thoughts and ideas enter our minds, we need to invoke a strategy to dismiss that negative feedback loop. Instead of telling yourself “I don’t know what I’m doing,” leverage positive self-talk and think about the skills that you are bringing to a role or situation. If you are a leader, be mindful about providing positive reinforcement for a job well done and enable an emotionally safe space where giving and receiving feedback is welcome.

 

  • Find A Mentor And A Sponsor – Mentorship and sponsorship are one of the most important ways to enable a woman to rise. Yet in our survey for our book, we found that just 41 percent of women ever had the benefit of these champion roles boosting their careers. Understanding the difference between the two is one place to start: A mentor is someone with whom you can brainstorm ideas based on shared values. A sponsor is someone who can influence decisions about your career and/or compensation. Note that your sponsor and mentor can be male or female so long as they are your true advocate, in tune with your accomplishments and career goals. A second step to take is to seek these crucial advocacy roles out by simply asking mentor and sponsor candidates. Most people are willing to help, which leads us to our third tip:

 

  • Lift Up Other Women – Live by the “golden rule” – treating other mothers in tech the way that you want to be treated. In past decades, women like my mom recount stories of women mistreating one another in favor of their own advancement (“To climb the corporate ladder, I needed to beat out the other women who were vying for the same limited roles.”).  While competition can be healthy, mindfully supporting one another is most important to nurture a balanced workplace where women can rise, and thrive, together. Lend a helping hand to a mother reintegrating into the workplace after parental leave. Invite another woman to join an important meeting as part of a career development initiative. Oblige when asked to serve as a sponsor and/or mentor for others.

By being confident, seeking out allyship, and practicing benevolence, mothers in technology have a greater chance of breaking down barriers and invoking change. With more mothers staying in technology, a more inclusive environment will emerge that sets the precedent for future generations. So, while the day-to-day routine of a working mom may feel like a circus act, continue to show up. Persist. Persevere. Your efforts are part of our movement to change the future for our daughters and their allies.

Other resources to nurture and inspire your journey that we often use include:
  • How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, Or Job. In their book, Marshall Goldsmith and Sally Helgesen identify twelve habits that women typically have that limit their ability to grow professionally and ways to change those behaviors.
  • The Adventures of Women in Technology: How We Got Here And Why We Stay, by Alana Karen. Alana is Senior Software Engineer at Google, where she’s worked for over a decade. She has seen it all and remains loyal to her craft. Learn how she does it, and more importantly, why she is still in tech.
  • Nevertheless, She Persisted: True Stories of Women Leaders in Tech. This book by Pratima Rao Gluckman recounts the stories of hundreds of women leaders who faced adversity and hardship in their tech careers, yet managed to find success.

About:
Sabina M. Pons is a management consultant whose focus is on driving revenue protection and growth for technology companies. In her 20+ year career, she has led global corporate teams, managed multi-million-dollar P&Ls, and built teams from the ground up. Now, she serves as the Managing Director of the emerging management consulting company, Growth Molecules.

With a master’s degree in Communication, Leadership & Organizational Behavior from Gonzaga University and a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Southern California, Sabina is passionate about igniting corporate transformational change. She also sits on several boards, participates in many mentorship programs, and recently obtained a First-Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo. Sabina resides in Orange County in Southern California with her husband, two young children, and Goldendoodle dog, Riley. Pressing ON as a Tech Mom: How Tech Industry Mothers Set Goals, Define Boundaries & Raise the Bar for Success is Sabina’s first book.

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Danielle Arnone: Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Combe

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Danielle Arnone“In times of uncertainty, the focus has shifted from seeking answers to raising questions and building relationships to lead through the unknown,” expresses Danielle Arnone. 

Arnone speaks to leading through disruption, the value of listening and encouragement and the importance of taking risks as the stakes rise.

Be Willing to Challenge, Even as Stakes Rise

“Each step along the way has offered me an opportunity to learn and develop my leadership style. From a career perspective, I continue to challenge myself to push ahead in order to grow,” says Arnone, about her twenty plus year of working in technology, digital and e-commerce across various industries – and most recently, in beauty, health and wellness.

With tech at the center of every business, her work is about leading enterprise change “from the inside out and the outside in.”

Early on in her career, she felt she brought a different perspective to problem solving and would regularly test the status quo. Often the only woman in the room, as she began to move up the ranks and the stakes rose, it began to feel riskier.

“It’s a double whammy. You’re challenging the status quo and you represent change in just who you are,” says Arnone. “I’ve had many moments where I had to remind myself – you’ve got to stick with it – because I believed in what I was fighting for.”

She continues: “I won’t say it’s not hard, because in my opinion, it’s unnecessarily hard for women in STEM and why we lose so many and particularly those with high potential. At a certain stage, I decided I didn’t want to be another of those women.”

Being in a male-dominated industry can amplify self-doubt, but being aware of that has often helped her to overcome it.

While many hurdles are systemic and the pace of change is very slow,” Arnone says, “I realized that I’m the only one that can get me unstuck and that is powerful.”

Navigating Uncertainty through Vision

Despite the challenges during these pandemic years, Arnone has focused on leading long term change. While the emphasis in tech has often been to develop the next innovation as quickly as possible, today she stops and asks at every critical decision point: “Where do we ultimately want to go? Not just in the next twelve months but what do we want to envision in five or ten years time? And are the things we’re focusing energy on now truly in service of that long-term goal?”

“The circumstances of the last two years have made me a different leader. I had to take a step back and ask: what did I do in this time? And take the necessary steps to hopefully be proud of the answer,” reflects Arnone.

If there’s one thing Arnone has confronted as she rose, it is getting comfortable with uncertainty. She’s found that by letting go of the notion that you need to have answers, you can come together with curiosity and openness as a team, and arrive at better results.

Speaking to vision and prioritization, she says, “You have to conserve energy to focus on what’s really important, knowing that can change in a moment’s notice.”

“I’ve had to get comfortable with ambiguity. We often don’t know the target or the rules of the game to hit the target,” says Arnone.

Listening and Fluidity in Thinking

“The leaders that I admire most have the ability to listen deeply and surface the question behind the question, without putting people on the defensive, and in a way that takes the conversation to the next stage,” says Arnone.

She feels that listening is key and that an analytical approach can be useful in managing conflict and problem solving. “In an emotionally charged situation, I will encourage the team to tease out the facts, take the personalities out of it and then listen for what is not being talked about.”

When it comes to what she brings to the table, Arnone is adept at absorbing new and broad ideas and loves encouraging the exchange of ideas around the table.

She also enjoys the invitation to step out of linear thought and indulge her penchant for abstract thinking, in which perceptions move and change shape, which is not unlike the leadership skill of having the flexibility to navigate uncertainty.

She will often step away from work to get in the zone so that she can reset and let ideas pour in. These days, she’s exploring artistic outlets. She also jokes that if you saw her many playlists, you wouldn’t even believe they belonged to same person.

Encouraging Others Towards Their Best

Arnone finds leaders who encourage others towards their personal best in service of a greater mission to be the most inspiring. She feels it is rare to encounter, but she has had the fortune to have supportive mentors along the way that have greatly impacted what she values most in her life and in her work.

“Encouragement can be an antidote to self-doubt and frustration. It’s as simple as saying, ‘I see you struggling – what’s going on and how can I help you’.”

She wants to be known for her work to develop people and is especially passionate about helping women succeed. She observes that women coming into the workforce today have a strong sense of what they expect from employers beyond a paycheck.

“I want to see this generation of women keep the momentum going. They are demanding more equity, more balanced and fulfilling lives and holding leaders accountable. To me, that is progress.”

By Aimee Hansen

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OP-Ed: From Gaming to Gowns: Bringing More Women to Artificial Intelligence

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women in artificial intelligence Bringing more women into artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just about gender equality. The science of AI offers the opportunity to make data more human, positively impacting nearly every aspect of our lives. Since artificial intelligence uses technology to mimic human decision-making, it is a field that requires a diversity in perspectives from the people who develop it, and yet the gender gap in AI companies limits the innovation and integrity of the products they create. If the data fed into AI algorithms contain bias, their outcomes will as well.

Research from Gartner predicts that in 2022, 85% of AI projects will deliver “erroneous outcomes owing to bias in data, algorithms or the teams responsible for managing them.” To prevent AI from furthering discrimination, we need to start by looking at the man – and the woman – in the mirror, and ensure that those creating and developing AI technology represent a spectrum of society at large.

Supporting Female Talent to Grow and Thrive

This doesn’t mean that creating a representative workplace is easy. Getting more women and diverse populations into STEM is a slow process, starting with primary education and eventually moving into universities and technical schools, encouraging and cultivating talent at every step in the process. Yet research shows that gender diversity can truly make a profound impact, even to a company’s bottom line. As the co-founder of a female-led AI company, we focus on what we can do as employers to embrace and develop female talent in the workplace. I recognize that this is only one piece of the puzzle, but through the inspiring stories I hear of female coders, engineers, and technologists, I am encouraged that even small steps can make a difference.

For those of us in the retail technology sector of AI, building a workplace in which female talent thrives is especially important, as our customers are primarily women. Yet my personal work history is rooted in a much more male-dominated side of the AI industry – gaming. I started my career at a gaming startup in San Francisco where I was the first female engineer. I noticed a palpable difference when other female engineers slowly joined the team. The team dynamic changed immensely, including the team communication and strength of interpersonal connections.

At Lily AI, our initial focus on fashion and apparel within the retail space naturally attracted women to the team more easily than gaming. As we grew the company and hired more people, it became evident that having personal experiences with online shopping – whether as a male or female – brought an additional depth of understanding to the product, and the challenges of search and personalization on e-commerce sites. Still, while our styling team is most predominantly made up of women, our engineering team has taken the most concerted effort to find a gender balance. We try to be intentional about creating diversity through hiring, through our workplace culture, and in mentoring female engineers – and are currently at over 52% women on our full-time staff, a rarity within Silicon Valley.

From our experience in growing Lily AI, we’ve found there are three main elements to focus on to help promote gender diversity:

Inspire women studying engineering


In order to have enough female talent to create gender diversity in engineering companies across the country, encouraging girls and women while they are still in school is key. Social influences still steer some girls out of STEM, and that cultural discouragement can be counteracted by showcasing female trailblazers, especially in fields like AI. We try to get out into the community, speaking to young girls and college students, offering internships and making ourselves visible as women in AI.

Encourage career growth through mentorship


Through both formal and informal mentorship programs, it is essential to be intentional about nurturing female engineers’ career paths. It is pivotal to not only hire women into AI teams, but to ensure they have the resources they need to reach leadership positions.

Create a culture that provides equal opportunities


In addition to paying women equal wages for equal work, prioritizing workplace benefits like flexible hours, remote work, and showcasing a track record of successful maternity leave is essential. My co-founder is currently on her own maternity leave, intentionally setting an example for the women and men at our company that this time away is not just offered, but encouraged, and that having a family does not stunt your career path at Lily.

There is still much work to be done in creating not only gender diversity in AI, but also a broader range of racial and social diversity within the tech industry at large. I am encouraged by progress we’ve made, such as currently having such brilliant women leaders on our board like ​​Maha Ibrahim, Vanessa Larco and Marigay McKee. These women in leadership are an inspiration to me, and will hopefully be beacons to other female talent across industries.

Sowmiya Narayanan is the co-founder and CTO of Lily AI. She previously worked in technology leadership and software engineering roles at Box, Pocket Gems, Yahoo! and Texas Instruments, and has a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin.

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