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Tealium recently hosted and sponsored a Girls in Tech speaker series event at our San Diego headquarters. Girls in Tech is an organization that focuses on building up women and fostering their interest and advancement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) focused careers, by offering programs in areas such as mentorship and coding boot camps. They also hold regular networking events as well as their annual Catalyst conference.
The Tealium-hosted event was quite a success with a turnout of over 60 women, and a handful of males, who came out to support. There were representatives from Girls in Tech, Latina Geeks, a diverse mix of individuals from the local community in the tech field, female engineers from Tealium and other professionals in the finance and marketing fields. Event attendees spent time mingling and enjoying local bites and delicious drinks prior to the event starting in Tealium’s open workspace that boasts beautiful canyon views.
“Having a company culture that is diverse in thought, perspective and background is really important for both our employees and overall business success. Tealium has worked hard to foster a culture that empowers and promotes women in technology so they can further their careers in a positive and meaningful way.” Sara Thomas, VP, Global Human Resources, Tealium
After spending some time networking and getting to know one another, everyone headed upstairs to kickoff the event.
The Girls in Tech event had two great speakers at the event, Janelle Lynnae, CEO and Founder of Next Level Confident, as well as our very own Alicia Cafarelli, Senior Director of Customer Success here at Tealium. The two savvy female leaders spoke on “Being a Woman in a Male Dominated Industry” and focused their presentations on their own personal stories and challenges sharing details of how they both got where they are today, with a main emphasis on what they’ve learned throughout each of their journeys about effectively communicating in their roles.
The presentation evolved into a conversation with the audience around the common and relatable challenges women face in a male dominated industry, hard lessons the two speakers have learned throughout their careers and tips and tricks attendees could put into play within their own career and roles after the event.
Attendees heard inspiring words of wisdom such as:
“Be true to yourself”
“Find your inner mantra and do whatever you need to that will have you believing in yourself. At the very least surround yourself with those who will build you up.”
Alicia’s Empowering Keys to Success
- Look for like minded people within your organization – this will allow you to feel comfortable sharing your thoughts and ideas freely. It’s step one to finding your voice!
- We thrive when we lift each other up. When we all support each other we have the ability to change the ratios. Look at congress and look at the women’s movement. It’s incredibly powerful when a group of women get together to support and lift each other up. If we keep that mentality anything is possible!
- Speak up when you find yourself being interrupted, lean in, and don’t be afraid to ask to be heard, and maybe even demand it
Find your personal mantra – sing it, and think it and scream it and celebrate it with yourself daily. Eat, sleep and breathe your mantra – let it roll over you in moments of fear and it will give you the courage to continue going forward. (Fun fact: Alicia’s mantra is “I’m a magical unicorn!”)
It's incredibly powerful when a group of women get together to support and lift each other up. If we keep that mentality anything is possible! Share on XWith so many challenges that women face today in the workplace and beyond (like lack of confidence, that voice in your head telling you that you’re not good enough, not being heard or even being interrupted regularly), it was refreshing to hear other attendees’ stories as there seemed to be an overall feeling of empowerment in the room when it came to learning about the ways these two speakers were able to overcome their challenges.
Some key takeaways that resonated with the audience were Alicia’s pointers on:
- Always trust your intuition
- Know who you are and deliver it at all times
- Look for like-minded people to surround yourself with and build you up
- Don’t be afraid to speak up
- We thrive when we lift each other up – women supporting women is powerful and can lead to change
You could tell the night had a profound impact on the attendees in the room and proof of this was when one attendee asked the two speakers their advice on keeping young women interested in tech. Alicia and Janelle’s advice was to use her own knowledge and be a mentor herself! You could just see this woman’s face light up when she realized she had the ability to make an impact herself.
Another powerful moment was when the audience was asked to name a huge goal they have. One woman had a goal to be a NASA engineer and a step in that direction was to start doing live coding on YouTube.
It’s not easy to say your goals out loud, but it’s an important first step.
You get in life what you have the courage to ask for - Oprah Winfrey Share on XInspiring Thoughts To Help You On Your Journey
- Efforts of change don’t have to necessarily be big – even baby steps can have massive impact
- Sometimes the best way to help yourself is by helping others – look inward to see if you’re up to the challenge of being a mentor or an agent of change within your team. And if you are – step up and speak out! You got this!
- Stop putting so much pressure on yourself to be the best – you are perfectly and uniquely you
- What’s your mantra? If you don’t have one get one, and recite it to yourself daily
- Be a cheerleader for other women on your team, in your organization and in your life
Some women expressed their experiences with being the only female at the table in a workplace setting, therefore being the only voice and how lonely that can be. They shared feelings of being overlooked, lesser than at times and that they felt the need to prove themselves more than their male counterparts. Some expressed their self doubt with having the ability to mentor others when the truth was they had a wealth of experience that it would be a shame to not share.
The empowering buzz of the event even continued on hours after the last speaker presentation as dozens of attendees lined up to talk one-on-one with Tealium speaker Alicia Cafarelli.
Overall the event turned out to be an inspirational and thought provoking night and the women walked away with a lot of great advice to reflect on with a renewed sense of confidence.
At the end of the day, no matter your gender identity and expression, race, sexual orientation, age, background or demographic – everyone can relate to these common workplace challenges on a daily basis. It’s important that people share their stories, and their struggles, and their solutions – so everyone around them can learn from them and walk away stronger, happier and ready to be a fierce force no matter their role, gender or the organization they’re working for.
The commonalities of life are what run through each and every one of us, the good and the bad, it’s the lifeblood that connects humans together. So share what you know, and what you’ve learned – you never know the struggle of the person next to you and how your words may inspire and help them more than you’ll ever know.
Tealium is excited to continuing to celebrating women in tech the way we did with the Girls in Tech event – stay tuned for updates from Tealium on sponsoring and hosting a Girls in Tech event in San Francisco, launching our mentorship program ‘Phenomenal Women’, hosting a women internship hack program this summer and more inspirational posts like this one to help you on your personal journey as a professional in the tech space.
“Tealium empowers our female leaders and employees by reminding them to trust in themselves, believe in their ideas, and remember that their voice matters. By fostering a culture that lifts them up, our savvy team of female tech professionals feels both supported and excited to have a voice in what the company is doing as a whole.” Sara Thomas, VP, Global Human Resources, Tealium
You can learn more about Tealium and Girls in Tech here.
