Women Who Change Tech

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Terri Avnaim, a Woman Who Leads Brave Conversations. Terri is the chief customer and marketing officer for Sauce Labs, and she loves creating marketing plans that are authentic to the brand and meaningful to the target audience. Most of all, she loves hiring and inspiring great marketing teams. Listen, as we discuss the new realities of the all-remote, all-virtual work world that we are all living in, and how you can find creative ways to lead teams and reach and engage with your customers in this new paradigm.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Jenna Charlton, a Woman Who is a Champion for Accessibility and Inclusion. Jenna has been a tester for nearly a decade and is currently a Consultant at Coveros where she helps people do their jobs better. She's a champion for accessibility and inclusion, helping make tech a place where anyone can succeed. Join us to learn more about Jenna's passion for testing and giving back to the community.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Davar Ardalan, a Woman Who Vows to Improve Cultural Intelligence. Davar is the Founder and Storyteller in Chief of IVOW, an early-stage startup specializing in AI-driven cultural content, aiming to make navigating the global marketplace easier via cultural analysis. She is also the former Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellowship Program in Washington D.C. Before this, she was a public broadcasting journalist for two decades at NPR News, where she designed stories anchored in multiculturalism and steeped in historical context.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Cindy Peterson, a Woman Who Transforms Organizations. Cindy is a Partner at Peerless Partners, and her passion is helping companies solve complex challenges at the confluence of operational effectiveness, change management, and organizational transformation.

Cindy talks about the Agile fish tank and how she uses Agile methodologies in her everyday life. She discusses how she uses an assessment called distinctive drives when coaching individuals. It's a tool used for teams to understand more about each other, so that they can work better together. Her past experiences have inspired her to create a Kick Ass Women (K.A.W.!) event as a way to give back to the community. The group aims to uplift, support, and encourage other women.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Stacy Kirk, a Woman Who is an Innovator. Stacy Kirk is a champion of quality and process innovation in software development. She is the founder and CEO of QualityWorks Consulting Group, an international quality-driven software consulting firm. QualityWorks has seen a 400% growth of clients, staff, and revenue since the expansion from Los Angeles to include an office and team in Jamacia. Stacy has become an internationally known speaker talking about "Bold and Fearless Leadership," "Continuous Integration of Quality and Innovation" "DevOps Cultural and Process Transformation," and "Full Stack Testing with Node.js." She’s also an ally and an advocate for Women Software Engineers, who believes that diversity is the key to creating great products.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Portia Tung, a Woman Who uses the Power of Play. Portia is an Executive and Personal Coach, Enterprise Agile Coach, and Play Researcher. Her research on play has led her to live a more playful life, so much so that she has managed to dream The School of Play into existence. The School of Play inspires and enables adults to make their dreams come true by nurturing their inner monkey and developing their play intelligence through play adventures. Portia talks about utilizing playful leadership and making it into a repeatable learning process. Join us to learn more about the importance of play in the workplace and in your personal lives.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Dorothy Graham, a woman who is an exceptional communicator. "Dot" Graham has been consulting, coaching, teaching, and writing about software testing for some 40 years. Dot has talked and written extensively about test automation and is a co-author of eight books on software testing and automation. She has also been a frequent speaker at Women Who Test on the topic of The Tester’s 3 C's: Criticism, Communication and Confidence. You'll hear Dot talk about her 40 years of experiences, how she became a confident tester, and the silver bullet myth in automation.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Melissa Benua, a Woman Who is a Problem Solver. Melissa is the Senior Engineering Manager at mParticle. Melissa has a B.S. in computer science and a masters in systems engineering, she has worked notable companies such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Playfab. Her work has spanned, at times simultaneously, every aspect of the software development lifecycle and her primary goal is to always be challenged and learn new skills to solve increasingly complex problems. You will hear about how Melissa has integrated motherhood into her life, works mostly with male-dominated teams, and about her creative problem solving to gain balance with both of these situations. You'll be inspired by the ways in which she supports other women to do the same.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Isabel Evans, a Woman Who is a Storyteller. Isabel has more than thirty years of experience in the IT industry, in quality management, and testing. More than that, Isabel brings real creativity and a spark to technical topics. She helps people learn how to effectively tell their story and positively influence their companies and products. As a speaker, she travels the world sharing her expertise. In 2017, she was given the Testing Excellence award, and she is the 2019 Program Chair for the EuroSTAR conference which will be held in Prague. Isabel talks frequently about how valuable failing and recovering can be for us because by staying in a comfort zone and repeating successes, we stagnate. Join us to be enthralled by Isabel's stories.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Marian Phelan, a Woman Who Builds Strong Teams. Marian is the CEO of Hashrocket, a software development company with offices in both Florida and Chicago. She is a big supporter of the tech community and has started several conferences including Ancient City Ruby and Bizconf. Join us to hear what it is like to be a Rocketeer and how Hashrocket builds strong teams. Learn how Marian makes it part of the company culture to reach out into the community with mentoring projects for veterans and women. All of these things are a reflection of the culture that helps to make Hashrocket an incredible place to work.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Ingrid Alongi, a Women Who Leads. Ingrid is the founder of Quick Left, a web engineering company, which was acquired by Cognizant in 2016. Ingrid is now the head of Mentor Network at Cognizant Accelerator in Boulder, Colorado. Her focus is on hiring for the team in North America as well as on people and culture. Ingrid is also an accomplished athlete, particularly in track cycling, where she holds a handful of national titles and was on the US Cycling team in the early 1990s. Here, you’ll hear some amazing insights about how Ingrid fine-tuned Cognizant's hiring practices to help get a more diverse group applying for roles, and how that helped her get the right people in place for a successful business.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Lia James, a woman who is a connector. Lia is the co-host of Human Inclusive, a podcast that champions diversity, and amplifies the voices and experiences of diverse communities. Lia has an innate desire to connect people, to help them tell their story, grow their businesses, and get the right people in the right positions for increased productivity. She also works one-on-one with people to assist them with their personal branding and career visibility. Lia works with companies on their training and curriculum development, leadership branding, operational organization, and diversity & inclusion advocacy. She likes to flip the way people build businesses upside down and get people to think differently about hiring and training.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Kristen Brillantes, a woman who is a go-getter who inspires other entrepreneurial women. You can find Kristen in front of the room facilitating workshops or behind the scenes coaching and collaborating with executives and teams to evolve the way they work. She understands the intersection of craft, productivity, and relationships and does whatever it takes to empower people to build resilient, high-functioning organizations. Kristen Brillantes is currently the Design Operations at Stripe and the Co-Founder & CEO of The Sarap Shop.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Jennifer Bonine, a Woman Who Embraces Change. Jennifer is VP, Global Delivery and Solutions at TapQA, and is a frequent and inspiring speaker at conferences. She has given talks including; Leading and Embracing Change, What’s Your Leadership IQ?, The Lost Art of Live Communication. At the Women Who Test days she talks about one of the most valuable skills to have in today's job market – Building Your Personal Brand.

In this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Denise Jacobs, a Woman Who is Evangelizing Creativity in the Technology community. Denise is a speaker, author and creativity evangelist who speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. She is the Founder and CEO of The Creative Dose, where she promotes techniques to unlock creativity while helping people become engaged contributors, synergistic collaborators, and authentic leaders. Denise is also the author of the inspiring book "Banish Your Inner Critic."

On this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Dawn Jardine. Dawn is a Test Manager at Caseware in Toronto, and along with being a quality assurance professional, she's an agile enthusiast, and is also a woman who is dedicated to helping break down barriers for other women in tech. Dawn incorporated what she learned as a woman in engineering and leveraged the experiences she gained while participating in a Women Who Test event and made some huge changes in her life and career. Dawn is now working in an environment that supports her passion and life goals. These experiences also inspired her to want the same for other women in tech; she is now leading a chapter of Women Who Test in Toronto.

On this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Angie Jones, a formidable automation engineer who is literally changing the face of technology. This year she recorded and commercial for John Frieda talking about changing the narrative about women of color in tech. Angie holds some 25 patented inventions and has carved a remarkable path for herself working at IBM, Lexis Nexis, Twitter and most recently as Senior Developer Advocate at Applitools. In this episode, you will hear about the decisions that Angie made that lead to her showing up in a way that is b.old and fearless for herself and for others. Listen in and find out what makes Angie Jones tick!

On this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Jaimee Newberry.  Jaimee Newberry is the co-founder and CEO of Picture This Clothing. Jaimee's started her career as a metal sculpture and then spent years working in technology helping companies design their products for customer engagement. Picture this clothing was mostly a side project but in August of 2016, it gained viral attention after a write-up in TechCrunch and amongst other things a tweet from Ashton Kutcher. The company passed $1 million by early 2018. Jaimee is a Woman who is continually redesigning her life, and in this episode, she shares some of her secrets to success with us.

On this episode, Alison Wade and Jessie Shternshus chat with Tania Katan. Tania has been successfully sneaking creativity into Fortune 500 companies, tech conferences, TED Talks, arts organizations, marketing conventions, and innovation summits to spark small to gigantic cultural revolutions. She created the internationally viral empowerment campaign #ItWasNeverADress for software company Axosoft. She teaches leaders creative principles, tools, and strategies for connecting brands to people, people to purpose, and purpose to action.

Women Who Change Tech is a podcast that gives you access to women who are contributing, inspiring, trailblazing, and disrupting the business of technology. We believe that when women inspire other women, amazing things happen. During this podcast, we will be having conversations with incredible women who are changing the face of technology. These women are software testers, software developers, design thinkers, agilists, creatives, coaches, and business owners.