Tech in the Right Direction

How-to Realize Your Potential and Reach Your Career Goals

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This week's guest is Alaina Percival, the CEO and Board Member of Women Who Code - an international nonprofit focused on creating opportunities for women to excel in tech careers. Alaina sees the lack of women in tech as a global issue and is passionate about finding modern-day solutions to help solve it. She founded Women Who Code with these ideas in mind and has continued to grow the organization's reach by expanding into new communities every day.
In today's episode, we talk about Alaina's career journey and how she took a non-traditional path to tech. Alaina started coding and chose a path that helped her realize her potential and grow in the tech industry. Our discussion evolved into talking about her passion for increasing women's presence in tech and how this eventually led her to found Women Who Code. Listen to today's episode to learn more about Alaina and her incredible story.
You can learn more about Women Who Code here: https://www.womenwhocode.com/
We hope Alaina's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.
Career Update:
As a CEO, Board Member, and angel investor focused on advancing women’s careers, I am passionate about helping diverse professionals increase their wealth and influence across the globe. There is no bigger opportunity for professional women than in the technology space, where we are underrepresented at all levels. Recognizing this, I co-founded Women Who Code (WWCode), an international 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers in 2013. Since that time, the organization has orchestrated thousands of free events, attracted a quarter-million members, and expanded to 147 countries.Over the course of my career, I was a business leader for a variety of companies (e.g. Puma) – and with that, I have learned to value results over well-intentioned activity. Fortunately, WWCode has produced both measurable and anecdotal successes. A member in Mexico City, for example, increased her salary 200%, while another member from Toronto accelerated her technology career two levels within a year. There is also now evidence that being affiliated with WWCode advantages women seeking interviews, such as a member who was told by SpaceX that one of the reasons they wanted to speak with her was because of her relationship with WWCode.While the lack of women in technology is a top-of-mind discussion in the U.S., it is a global issue. As someone who has EU citizenship and worked/lived in over 80 countries, I have seen this first-hand. I am proud to say that WWCode has a global reach and is expanding every day to give diverse women the skills and community we need to grow our impact in tech.I am active on community boards and plan to add corporate board work to my portfolio.

How Women Can Find Success and Help One Another Build Their Futures

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This week's guest is Paula Tutman, a multi-Emmy-winning journalist, Novelist, Screenplay Writer, Communication Coach, and Inventor. Paula has spent over 30 years in broadcast journalism as a field reporter and is also the proud creator and inventor of Bra-Less Bra, the Instant Cleavage Sculpting Solution. Paula is a woman of the world who spent several of her younger years in Africa but now calls Detroit her adoptive home.
In today's episode, we talk about Paula's career journey and how she took advantage of the opportunity to become a reporter in broadcast journalism. We also talk about the struggles women face regarding beauty standards and how this inspired Paula to develop the Bra-Less Bra. We also discuss how women can work together to advance their careers and business endeavors.
You can learn more about Bra-Less Bra here: https://bralessbra.com/
We hope Paula's story helps inspire others to grow their career.

Right Words can Open Doors

Join the conversation as Jennifer Didier and Kristie Grinnell talk about how important the words are you use for yourself and in speaking to those around.  These words can open or close doors of opportunity.
Kristie Grinnell Bio:
Kristie was recently named a top CIO to watch in 2022 by WashingtonExec, is a member of the CIO Executive Council, and she serves as chair of the Capital CIO Advisory Board and is a member of STEMforHER Advisory Board. A strong supporter of academic STEM programs for young women, she is a recipient of the 2018 Women in Technology STEM Leadership award, Washington Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business Award, a 2020 Capital CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner and a 2021 National CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner.• Kristie earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MBA from Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Reach Kristie on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiegrinnell/

Technology Certifications can give you a hiring edge.

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Jennifer Didier speaks with Darshini Santhanam bout her road to success in the technology world. She shares extensively about the importance of certifications and how to know which are the best ones to move you to a better hiring position.
 
More about Darshini Santhanam:
A global leader with 17 years at Google and Microsoft, building and leading highly skilled international teams to solve skills gaps & knowledge barriers• Proven track record of turning complex problems into sustainable and measurable learning interventions ranging from impact at leading multinational corporations to the developer community at large, delivering award-winning work• Exceptionally-rated people manager with a mind for business; coach; sponsor of diversity initiatives; currently pursuing an Executive Masters in Change from INSEAD• An active member of women's organizations internally at work and in the industry, serving as a sponsor, mentor and coach• Passionate about lifelong learning, personal fitness, experiments in the kitchen and upcycling• Proud parent of two young children and two older dogs
 
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsanthanam/

Quality is Not Equity

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Listen to Jennifer Didier and Lorraine Hamilton discuss how all employees should not be treated the same.  It is not healthy for the employee or the Employer. This coaching dynamo has a great track record and wants to help you to succeed.
A little information about Lorraine Hamilton:
Lorraine Hamilton PCC is a former engineer, voracious tea drinker and wannabe race car driver. She is also the creator of the SWITCH Coaching System®️. The SWITCH system is a refreshing take on coaching from a transformational embodiment lens. Lorraine has been a Professional Coach since 2006 and has spent the past 17 years coaching ambitious high-achieving women, writing books and mentoring hundreds of other coaches to greater freedom and success. This led to her being hand-picked by the Emmy award winning media entrepreneur Natalie MacNeil to become Program Director at the cutting edge and global ICF accredited coach training provider Coaching Evolved.She believes that feminine leadership is what the world needs right now, and having previously led a team of engineers to creating an award-winning culture, she knows a thing or two about it."Before becoming an executive coach and trainer, I was a radio frequency engineer, first in Scotland where I was raised, and then in New Zealand where I’ve lived for over a decade now. At the peak of that engineering career I was leading my team so effectively that the whole office culture was modelled on us. "Lorraine's final word..."I love working with women in business and leadership, and of course, coaches. But it drives me crazy to see so many unscrupulous coaches taking advantage of a booming online industry. So I created my business to support them in finding trustworthy resources and training to further their career."
Find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainehamilton/

Investing In Yourself to Create Future Opportunity

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This week's guest is Jennifer O'Brien, the Founder of Accounting Business Solutions by JCS - a solution provider that focuses on the implementation, training, and technical assistance for accounting software.
Today we talk about Jennifer's career journey and how she dove headfirst into tech during the early part of her career journey. Jennifer's headfirst attitude developed because she knew she would see a return on the investment in herself. This investment in herself became a realization after Jennifer figured out that she could help small businesses with the accounting side of their organization, which led her to create Business Solutions by JCS.
Learn more about Accounting Business Solutions by JCS here: https://www.jcscomputer.com/
Thank you for listening; we hope Jennifer's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

Data Security is More Crucial NOW Than Ever Before

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Dan Draper is the CEO and Founder of CipherStash, a data storage platform for sensitive data. Their platform uses searchable encryption technology to protect against attacks that leak a snapshot of the entire running system, thereby enabling development teams to search data with high levels of protection without compromising on usability.
Connect with Dan:
Debugging Diversity
CipherStash
Twitter
Thank you for listening to Dan's expertise on Data Security and Cryptography.
We hope you enjoyed this replay.

MENtors that Make a Difference featuring Ryan Estes

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Our next guest on our MENtors that Make a Difference segment is the co-founder of Kitcaster, Ryan Estes. He has owned a media and marketing agency for the last 10 years. For eight of those years he hosted the founders podcast Talklaunch. Consistently ranked in the iTunes "Top 100" podcasts. He has recorded 300+ interviews with more than a quarter million downloads, and attributes $1M+ in revenue as a direct result from podcasts. He loves podcasting, believes the medium possesses a giant opportunity for entrepreneurs, and is more than happy to discuss your prospects!
Find out more about Ryan and Kitcaster at https://kitcaster.com/
Thank you for listening and we hope Ryan's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.