females in tech

CEO and mother of two, Kellie shares what it means to show up as her best self and lead from a female POV while wearing many hats in Tech. This is an episode you will want to pull out a pen and paper because it's just that good! 

Get to Know Kellie
Kellie Clark is the CEO of Appthink, an idea accelerator and community of builders that helps new founders turn audacious ideas into audacious execution and determine if their ideas for a tech or tech-enabled venture are worth the pursuit. Aspiring founders learn how to build things quickly, and inexpensively, and how to turn a good idea into a great product.

Kellie most recently served as Director of Programs for Innovation Depot, an incubator and equity-based accelerator. During her tenure, she created and curated programming for early-stage founders, and supported pre-seed/seed investments in companies reshaping industries in the southeast.

She has previous experience leading program management, organizational change, and sustainable fund development. Her "wins" include everything from launching a pre-accelerator during her time with Innovation Depot to driving a 200% increase in recruitment and enrollment in her previous role with Innovate Birmingham's software development Bootcamp. In addition, Kellie served as the lead Project Manager for Birmingham's 2018 Innovation Week, a week-long celebration of events that showcased Birmingham's tech – ecosystem and engaged tech talent in the city.

Kellie is a two-time graduate of Auburn University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration, with a concentration in Economic Development. As an AmeriCorps alumna, she has an affinity for community service and currently gives her time and talent to various non-profit organizations in the southeast. 

Kellie spends her free time engaging in outdoor sports and serving as the Southeast Regional leader for Outdoor Afro, a national organization with the expressed mission to "celebrate and inspire African-American connections and leadership in nature." She serves as board chair for Urban Community Montessori, serves on the boards of Ruffner Mountain, Cahaba River Society, and as an advisory member for Birmingham Black Techies.

When she's not encouraging first-time founders to validate and build, you can find her leading kayak adventures on the Coosa River, being an audiophile at Seasick Records, or road-tripping with her husband, and their two small children.

 

Host
SK Vaughn

Resources
Book Referenced by Kellie:
The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance

Immigram CEO Anastasia Mirolyubova opens up for the first time about Slush’s controversial decision to award - then revoke - a €1m startup prize to her talent relocation company, following the outcry over Mirolyubova and her co-founder's Russian roots.   

Mirolyubova co-founded Immigram in 2020 to assist IT and tech professionals with relocation across the world. The company is headquartered in London, where Mirolyubova has lived since 2016. In November 2022, Immigram scooped the top prize at the Slush 100 Pitching Competition. However, Slush faced fierce backlash for awarding the prize to a company founded by two Russian passport holders amid the country’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Mirolyubova talks about the physical and emotional toll the situation had on her, which resulted in her receiving death threats, losing 7kg in weight, and avoiding social media. Away from Slush, Mirolyubova reveals which tech roles are in-demand, the staggering gender divide in visa applications, and Immigram’s plans for 2023. 

In this episode, I talk about the two types of networking - transactional and strategic.  I then offer you a 5 step approach to kickstart your strategic networking if you've been doing transactional networking up until now.  I also give you a framework for reaching out to your connections.

In this episode, I introduce you to the mechanism responsible for accomplishing goals, including career goals.  And I show you what so many psychologists, behavior change experts and best-selling authors agree is the KEY to not falling off the bandwagon but being successful in achieving your goals, even the most stretchy ones.   This podcast episode is accompanied by a guided visualization (the prior podcast track) that will support you in using this powerful change strategy.  

Books / Resources mentioned in the episode:
* The Alter Ego by Todd Herman
* Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
* Indistractable by Nir Eyal

I couldn't think of a more uplifting story and episode to share with you before this Thanksgiving Holiday (and at an economically challenging time for many when it's easy to feel down) than this conversation with Sabrina Ruelle.  

I met Sabrina on a LinkedIn text message thread where she struck me with her thoughtful, well-articulated and insightful answers to my simple question: "What is the biggest challenge facing you in your career now?".  She sounded way wiser than her years and I knew I wanted to talk to her.  

It turns out Sabrina's story is a unique one.  She was placed in foster care at 12 years old when her mom had to battle addiction and she spent the next few years defying the expectation that she would underperform in the system.  After high school, the only college that would accept her was a community college but she didn't let that deter her either. 

She ended up getting her master's degree at Boston University, and today, at 32 years old, is a Senior Director of Program Marketing and Management with a healthcare device startup.  She's one of the best storytellers I've met and shows you what's possible when you choose career paths that follow your passion - healthcare for Sabrina, because of her mom's struggles.  

Tune in to hear Sabrina's inspirational story and to see what's possible when you are determined to put down roots, bloom and count your blessings in any environment.  

Dalia Ramos Guerra is the Head of Build and Test for the BWT Alpine Formula 1 team, one of the most successful teams in Formula 1.  She's also one of only 11% of females in the space and one of even fewer women in a management position.  In her role, she is responsible for the last part of the process before the championship cars are delivered to the track every weekend race. 

Dalia radiates a high degree of professionalism, combined with a refreshing curiosity and seeming fearlessness. She thrives on solving thorny problems. That's her job and it takes nerves of steel to do that at the round-the-clock pace that the role demands.

In my conversation with Dalia, we explore:
1) The drive to mastery and the secret ingredients behind her success,
2) The importance of childhood conditioning,
3) How she cultivates a trait that is shared among all top CEOs (and how you can too),
4) How to not believe people who may doubt you,
5) Finding the right culture that will support you and why that matters,

and much more!

You can connect with Dalia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daliacarolinaramos/

Our CareerClimb community has had phenomenal success, as expressed in:

• 40%+ raises in compensation
• Accelerated promotions
• Senior roles negotiated
• VP roles landed
• Industry and Function switches,

and more.   How did these mid-career women in tech achieve all this in less than 18 months? I reveal the keys to their success in this episode.  A quick preview: It starts with the vision crafted during the Product VP Challenge.  The next Challenge is coming up in mid-May 2022 - register for free at www.productvpchallenge.com.

In this episode, I share with you my take-aways from spending a weekend with a small group of our clients in one of their beach homes.  Here's the twist - I didn't organize it, I was invited to come as a guest.  And when did, I was blessed to discover just how tight and close this group of women is and just how passionate they are about our community and about us growing this community more.

I share with you my impressions from this amazing weekend, so you too can unlock the power of community for your career and your life.  My hope is that whether you join our intimate and thriving community by joining our next Executive Accelerator cohort, or you find your community elsewhere, you will do something to connect with powerful and inspiring peers who can help you feel more confident and less alone.

Join me and the Head of GlobalRecruiting for HubSpot, Becky McCullough, to discuss how to build your career as an executive in tech while having a family and a full life. 

We discuss:

1. Breaking the myth that you can't have "it all" - a career as an executive and a family
2. What makes it possible to build your career in tech while having a family or other priorities
3. How to vet prospective employers for a supportive culture
4. The emergence of "returners" programs for people who have had a career break
5. The importance of sponsorship vs. mentorship, and how to find it,

and much more!

Resources mentioned in the episode:
Opportunities at Hubspot: www.hubspot.com/careers

Nir Eyal is the author of two bestselling books, “Hooked: How to build Habit-forming Products” and “Indistractable: How to Control Your attention and Choose your life”. Nir and I met in 2014 and I was a guest contributor to his blog www.nirandfar.com, writing about addictive online auctions: [Auction Addiction: This Online Industry’s Dirty Secrets](https://www.nirandfar.com/online-auctions/). 

In our conversation with Nir, we explore:

* Why humans did not evolve to be happy all the time
* What is more important than happiness in making your life productive and fulfilling, and how to cultivate that quality
* The dangers of “overtraining” when embarking on new goals and what to do instead to not fall off the bandwagon
* Why external motivators don’t work in sticking to your goals as well as evolving your identity and how to do that

Check out these resources mentioned by Nir:

“Indistractable” book: http://geni.us/Indistractable
“Indistractable” bonus content is here: http://nirandfar.com/indistractable
“Indistractable” summary article: https://www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/
Distraction guide here: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/
Habits vs routines article here: https://www.nirandfar.com/habits/
Why schedules are better than to-do lists: https://www.nirandfar.com/todo-vs-schedule-builder/
Time boxing article: https://www.nirandfar.com/timeboxing
Values article: https://www.nirandfar.com/common-values/
Habit tracker - https://www.nirandfar.com/habit-tracker/

Also, the schedule maker tool Nir mentioned is here: https://nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/

In this episode, I walk you through the importance of writing your own playbook, as a Product Manager and as a team leader, even if you're just starting out and think you don't have anything important to share.  One of the biggest mistakes professional women do in their careers is fail to write down and understand the mechanics behind the failures and successes, not only in the projects they drive personally, but in the companies and products around them.

I learned the critical importance of writing a playbook in my first product role at Zynga where we turned every experiment into a recipe that could be replicated predictably. The playbook you write and document as you're learning from your experiences will provide you with the tools that you need to demonstrate as you interview for your next position.  

Tune in to learn:
- How to use any work experience to write your playbook
- How to start writing your management playbook as a new manager
- How to use failures or even experiences you weren't responsible for directly in your playbook

In this episode, I address something I've observed recently in our CareerClimb community - women who haven't worked with a coach before are sometimes intimidated and at a loss of "how to use" their executive coach.   That's normal, we've all been there with our first coach.  It's like we're gingerly driving a powerful car but we're afraid to go out of the parking lot and drive it on the street. 

My very first executive coach is a coach on our platform today and I still joke with her that I put her on a pedestal and was very deferential to her when we first started working together.  

This podcast episode is an attempt to provide a "user manual" of sorts to your executive coach if you're so lucky to have one.  Learn:

1) How to uplevel yourself faster with the help of your elite coach
2) What to ask and what not to ask of your coach
3) What to prepare for your coaching session

So that by the end of the episode, you're empowered to pick up some speed in that Ferrari of yours!

Today I speak with Nalina Murthy, a technical Product Manager and a member of our CareerClimb Community, who has shown great resilience and perseverance in building her tech career in the US.  She has managed to gain over a decade of experience in retail, banking, data centers and social media platforms, despite facing immigration-related challenges, taking a break to have her child and experiencing a set of conscious and unconscious biases from her colleagues. 

Tune in to learn:

• How Nalina refused to cover up her 4 year gap on her resume.
• How her experience as a South Asian female in tech had additional layers of challenge when working with South Asian male colleagues and homogeneous teams.
• How Nalina refused to give up even after a drawn-out immigration process that took her out of work. 

Connect with Nalina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalina-murthy/

The market for talent is "hot" in tech.  Just how "hot"?  Tune into this week's episode to find out.

Andrew Abramson of Riviera Partners provides a timely update for anyone looking to land senior product roles in tech today (or just getting constantly stalked by recruiters) and answers your burning questions.

Find out:

• How hot is the market and what does it mean for you? 
• What can you ask for and what can you negotiate if you know how to play the game,
• How to be noticed and considered for senior roles today,
• The one hot emerging sector that is friendly for industry switchers right now and how to take advantage of that opportunity, 

and much more!

Interested in accelerating your career further?  Join us for the next free Product VP Challenge experience to jump-start your climb to VP (even if you're still just a Senior IC). Sign up at www.productvpchallenge.com

Riviera Partners is the premier recruiting firm for senior-level product and engineering roles in tech, having placed some of the top executives at companies like Airbnb, Grubhub and Uber.  Follow Riviera here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riviera-partners/

In the midst of the "great resignation" and with the New Year just around the corner, many of you may be wondering if you should leave your current job in tech.  

In this episode, I explore a question I get often from successful driven mid-career members of our community who’re feeling stuck and unappreciated at their tech work: “Should I stay or should I look for something else?”

I lay out a few key considerations for you, so you end up in a stronger position instead of shooting yourself in the foot, including:

• The reasons you may be feeling frustrated, 
• The three traps that women in tech fall into that cause them to want to leave, 
• How to avoid or extricate yourself from these pesky traps once you’re in them,
• When is the right time to leave,

and more!

Looking to get clarity and inspiration for your career? Consider joining our next free Product VP Challenge (New Year's Edition) at www.productvpchallenge.com.  For mid-career female professionals in product and related fields.

This is one of the most important interviews I've done.  It's a conversation with two brave individuals - Natalie Egan and Joseph Schneier - who talk openly and honestly about their experiences as male and female in tech and about their experiences after their transition to the opposite gender.  

It's a unique opportunity to put a lens to the effects of gender and gender identity on people's careers in technology, answering questions such as:

• What are the prevalent gender biases in tech and how to navigate them?
• Do women have to work harder at getting promoted or raising capital?
• How does biology influence our perception of power and decisions on who to promote / fund / listen to?
• Do women have to work harder and how to get ahead in an uneven playing field?
• How to create an inclusive environment that celebrates our uniqueness without triggering blame or fear?

Natalie Egan is an openly transgender, B2B software entrepreneur and a recognized thought leader living her life at the intersection of technology and Diversity & Inclusion.  Natalie has
over 20 years of experience driving digital change, developing high performing teams, building complex products, and selling enterprise solutions. 

Today, Natalie is the CEO & Founder of Translator, Inc., where she and her team are on a mission to scale empathy and equality through technology. Prior to founding Translator in 2016––and prior to her transition––she was CEO & Founder of PeopleLinx, a venture capital backed sales technology solution that was acquired in 2015. In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, Natalie has also worked in sales leadership positions at large public companies like LinkedIn, Autonomy, and Ecolab.

Joseph Schneier is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded and exited two companies in the educational technology space. Following that, Jo worked with behavioral research scientists productizing their research with technology-based solutions for patient behavioral change, focusing on HIV drug adherence, health literacy, and addiction. In 2013, he co-founded Cognotion — a company solving the talent shortage of healthcare workers. In 2020, with James Firman, the former CEO of the National Council on Aging, Jo founded Bellage, a company empowering older adults in healthy choices.

In 2018, Jo founded Trusty.care, an InsurTech company that modernizes and simplifies health and Medicare insurance sales and the business processes that surround it so that agents and insurance carriers can focus on what matters most: beneficiaries. It’s Jo’s mission to make sure no one goes through bankruptcy because of out-of-pocket healthcare costs.

Today I sit down with a true powerhouse - a woman whose drive, unapologetic courage, contagious smile and boundless generosity made her a rising star in our CareerClimb community early on in her Product Executive Accelerator cohort.  

Linda Lee started the year as a stuck and frustrated Senior Director at Walmart.com and is now head of her own startup - Wonderblocks.io, which she started in the third month of our program and which aims to transform the gaming and leisure industries through blockchain innovation.

You would never guess that as a child she was called the “dumb one” and that she felt she had to compete with her “perfect” brother.  When it came time to go to Cornell, her father was told that he was wasting his money sending a girl to an expensive school.  Her childhood was all about adapting to new environments - born in Taiwan, she was raised in Costa Rica before moving to the US and beginning her adventures in tech.

Linda and I talk about getting unstuck in your career, recognizing when you’re operating below your level (as Linda was when she joined our Product Executive Accelerator) and being able to imagine the future in order to take big leaps instead of small increments. 

Linda's success today is testament to grit, perseverance and courage.  Linda’s message to every single girl is “just go for it”, even if nobody else believes in you but you. 

In this episode, I talk with a powerful female executive, who is also a member of our CareerClimb Community - Deepa Chand.  

We talk about:

• The brutal culture of financial services,
• The dangers of isolating yourself as a female in hostile work environments,
• How to surround yourself with support structures,
• How to not only survive, but learn how to thrive and be a role model for compassionate leadership,
• Going for it and having kids while not putting the brakes on your career if you want to be a mom.

Deepa is a Product Lead for Enterprise Product Platforms at Capital One and a member of our CareerClimb community and our Executive Development Program. She is an accomplished product leader with over 20 years of experience in financial services, focused on innovation and disruptive technologies.  Her values are Family & Relationships, closely followed by Integrity and her passion is Compassionate Leadership - the idea that the best leaders act as coaches.

Join me and CareerClimb acting and improv  coach Michael Schreiber as I vent to him my frustration about so many talented mid-career women in our community being asked by their (usually male) bosses to develop "executive presence".  I get Michael's perspective as a man and as an acting coach trained to develop "stage presence" about:

* What exactly is Executive Presence and what to do when you're being asked to develop one by your boss.
* How to not get trapped in an outdated stereotype about what "Executive Presence" looks and sounds like (aka white guy in a suit with a North American or a Commonwealth accent).
* How can we start developing our own brand and flavor of Executive Presence that feels authentic and effective as women and minorities in tech.

As a tech culture and society, we need to start being able to imagine an executive looking not only like a white guy on Wall Street but also like a South Asian (or East Asian or Eastern European) woman in a flowing dress and with an accent. 

Michael Schreiber is a former actor, director and coach to actors and creatives and to our community of mid-career women in tech, working on developing voice, speaking skills and presence.

In this episode, I talk about a very useful distinction that Adam Grant makes in his book "Think Again" - that between personality conflict and task conflict at work.  If you're like most of our clients, you find it hard to say no and to engage in conflict at work, which holds your career back.  That's precisely the reason why the second key to the CareerClimb™ framework is "Lead, Don't Be Liked". 

Tune in to see what the difference is between these types of conflict, why it's critical that you understand it as a woman in tech, and how to use task conflict to finally get ahead without feeling bad.