The biggest hurdle I face as a woman in the technology space is…
Being one of a handful of women at a tech event, working on a project, or in an office. There are two things I do in this situation: show up and recommend others that can do the same.
Networking in the digital space is important because…
“It’s not what you know, but who you know.” It’s a quote everyone should be familiar with. My encounter with this quote went more like this:Â The first day I went to college, a senior student told me, “Your No. 1 goal during your tenure here is to network, network, network. Take names whether you think they can help you now or not.”
I learned the meaning of tenure that day, and I wrote her words in my diary. By the end of my tenure, I learned that networking will get you everywhere in life. It’s a shame that this isn’t taught in schools. Ninety-nine percent of the opportunities I’ve had since college came from networking outside of my existing circles.
None of my success would be possible if not for…
My mom. I may have the talent and skills, but she provided me with the resources and freedom (maybe too much freedom sometimes) to really find my passion as a kid. I didn’t think of things like that as a kid, but I’m blessed and extremely grateful now for the things she did for me.
I could not go a day without…
A laptop and smartphone. They’re not requirements, but they make people, places, and things easy and quick to find and/or access.
Anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps should…
Follow my footsteps by following your own. Find out what you want to do. Write down the necessary steps to do it. Then do it.
No one told me how to get to where I am, nor was it ever my “plan” to be here. I find it to be much more fun to simply see where the rabbit hole goes. No one has to tell you how to get to the next level. Just visualize it and put forth all the effort you can to create what you want.
It’s important for the next generation to be versed in STEM because…
Technology is going to intersect with every part of the next generation’s life and play a major, and currently unknown, role in their future. It’s absolutely imperative that the next generation be versed in STEM in order to survive and thrive in the world they were born into. Their future will be severely limited otherwise.
Next on the horizon for me is…
I’m currently working on placing youth innovators into spaces and opportunities they are normally excluded from; that can lead to success.
I measure success by…
How happy I am about what I’m doing, and how much I’m being challenged when doing it.
Be sure to check out the rest of the digital thought leaders as they’re revealed each day by logging on to BlackEnterprise.com/BlackBloggerMonth.