Tech in the Right Direction

Mentors Who Make a Difference: W/ Curtis Preston

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Listen as Jennifer Didier and W. Curtis Preston talk about the importance of backing up your technology. Mr. Preston is an advocate for women and he encourages women to join his team. 
W. Curtis Preston Bio:
W. Curtis Preston (AKA Mr. Backup) has specialized in designing data protection systems since 1993, and has designed such systems for some of the largest organizations in the world. His lively prose and wry, real-world approach has made him a popular author and speaker. He has written four O'Reilly books, the latest of which is Modern Data Protection, published in 2021. He is also the host of BackupCentral.com and its Restore it All podcast. He is now the Chief Technical Evangelist for Druva, the only at-scale SaaS provider of data protection.
Career Update: 
Backup & Cyber Recovery Expert
Self-employed 
May 2023 - Present · 3 yrs
Oceanside, California, United States · Remote
I have specialized in backup & DR for over 30 years, and now specialize in preparing companies to be able to successfully respond to cyber incidents like ransomware attacks. O'Reilly book author, host of The Backup Wrap-Up podcast, expert witness, and content creator for backup & cyber recovery companies.… more
Thinking about how I can help you keep your data safe :)
Disaster Recovery and Online Backup

Influencing Young Women

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Suruchi is the Founder & CEO of GIANT, a blockchain protocol that turns a phone number into a bank account and bandwidth into currency via; seamless and secure access to the internet globally; rewards on usage and yield on airtime balances. 
Suruchi has extensive telecom, consumer software and blockchain experience and serves as a speaker/panelist at industry events in the US and abroad. She advises and mentors blockchain start-ups at Founders Space (ranked #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes) as well as mentoring young girls to cultivate her passion for technology.
Suruchi Likes to identify herself as a passionate, result-oriented, and fun-loving individual. Has an unbeatable self-confidence, undying willingness, and unbreakable perseverance. Strongly believes in “Winners never quit & quitters never win” - Vince Lombardi. Feel free to reach out by adding a quick note about why you would like to connect.
Today we talk about Suruchi’s dream for technology and her passion for influencing young girls to start looking into technology, as early as 8 years old. 
Click HERE to learn more about Suruchi on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptasuruchi/
Thank you for listening to Suruchi’s story as she encourages young girls to get into tech. 

How-to Create a More Inclusive Organization and Foster Growth

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An update on Dr. Antoine. In March 2023 she joined the Capgemini team.  Her new role is EVP, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer in Europe.  Congratulations on being a rising star for Women In Technology everywhere. 
This week's guest is Dr. Cara Antoine, Managing Director Digital Transformation IG&H - a leading independent business consulting firm based in the Netherlands. IG&H is a market leader in complex end-to-end digital transformation and has focused its work across five industries: retail, healthcare, banking, insurance, and pensions.
In today's episode, we talk about Dr. Cara's journey from fixing radios as a young child to the head of IG&H's Digital Transformation team. We also discuss the difficulties women currently face in the technology industry and what we can all do to help grow their presence. Lastly, we discuss creating a more accessible business and how organizations can help create opportunities for anyone and everyone to gain access to products, services, and solutions.
You can learn more about IG&H here: https://www.igh.com/
We hope Dr. Cara's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.
Recognitions: Top 100 Global Tech Leader 2025 Global Women in Tech’s Global Excellence Award 2022 Computable's Top 100 Most Influential Women in Business & Digital Leader of the Year 2021 DeMarketing’s Top 100 Influencer in Media and Marketing 2020 Global Digital Women’s Global Digital Female Leader in Digital Transformation 2019
 

Jumping Back Into Technology after an Extended Break

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Jennifer interviews Sunnie Weber about her accomplishments professionally as well as family.
Sunnie Weber Bio:
Director of IoT Ecosystem Partner Strategy and Scale
Sunnie has been in the world of IoT for the last 8 + years now having worked in Sales and Partner Enablement, Sales Operations, and Channel Scale Design at Cisco and Intel before focusing on setting up partner programs for our edge partners, the OT SI. Just recently she moved into a broader role in IoT as the Ecosystem Partner Strategy Lead and is excited to be able to take everything she’s learned to help build a bridge across the ecosystem, helping our partners cross over from get to go to market with a goal of getting everyone faster time to market and more services opportunities. Connecting our ecosystems through solutions and solution selling is her greatest passion at Intel.
Career Update:
Global Director Technology Partner Programs
Elastic · Full-time
Aug 2024 - Present · 1 yr 8 mos
San Francisco Bay Area · Remote
Ecosystem partner strategist and program developer focused on building bridges and networks in new and undefined spaces. *Defined the strategy and launched the Elastic AI Ecosystem *Integrated sales enablement for our sellers & partners to maximize partner engagement and solution selling *Proposed new features and benefits to target both side of the build and channel partner ecosystem *Drove partner engagement in the GenAI space through targeted enablement and linked benefits *Hosted and moderated webinar: From Complexity to Clarity: How AI-Powered Search Transforms Enterprise Services with an average time attended of 96% webinar duration *Presented the value of the Elastic AI Ecosystem and Partners at the Sales Kick Off with more than 1000 attendees *Earned "Rising Star" Award for my innovative work and aligning a cross matrix of stakeholders

Is There Privacy in Advertising?

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This week on Tech in the Right Direction we follow Vanina Ivanova's journey in the Tech Industry and the extreme differences in digital marketing from when she first started her career to today. Vanina is currently the CMO at Adex Network, a blockchain powered system that is bringing full transparency to the digital marketing space through smart contract technology. She’s a cryptocurrency enthusiast herself, and is finding working for a blockchain company inspiring, empowering and overall – delightful. Join us as we dive into personal data, the lack of privacy in advertising, and what we can do to change this problem.
Learn more about Adex Network here: https://www.adex.network/
Thank you - we hope Vanina's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.
Career update:
Co-Founder of Sol Sisters.
Dec 2025 to Present · 4 mos
I co-founded a community for the Solana girlies by the Solana girlies. The community grew from 0 to 140+ in the first 2 months after launch, and already has a steady flow of value-add activities for the members.

How Changing Perspectives Can Lead to Success

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This week's guest is Tiffani Bova, a Global Growth Evangelist at Salesforce and the author of Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make Or Break Your Business, a Wallstreet Journal Bestseller. Tiffani was also named to Thinkers50 2019 Global Ranking of Management Thinkers and one of the "Most Powerful and Influential Women in California." These are just a few of the accolades Tiffani has acquired throughout her years in the tech industry.
 
Tiffani's current focus is on helping drive customer success within their vast customer ecosystem. She helps companies not only grow bigger but also better with new business strategies and technology. She credits working in sales to her unique perspective on the challenges facing companies and the solutions she creates to solve them. She works alongside sales and customer success teams worldwide to drive change and build them into successful
enterprises. She is sharing this experience in her podcast, "What's Next!" to give others a perspective on improving themselves and their business.
 
Thank you for listening; we hope Tiffani's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. If you would like to learn more about Tiffani and her accomplishments, visit her podcast site: https://www.tiffanibova.com/whats-next-podcast/
 
Learn more about her book here: https://www.amazon.com/Growth-IQ-Smarter-Choices-Business/dp/0525534407
 
Updated info:
"𝐁𝐨𝐯𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝." - San Francisco Examiner“[𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐢 𝐁𝐨𝐯𝐚] 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡.” – ForbesMost growth conversations start in the wrong place.They start with tactics — a new channel, a new product, a new pricing model. But the companies that sustain growth don’t choose tactics first. They choose sequence. They understand the market context they’re operating in, and they make decisions in the right order, at the right time. That’s Growth IQ.After nearly 30 years advising and leading some of the world’s most recognized technology companies — as a Research Fellow and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, as Growth and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, and now as Chief Strategy & Research Officer at The Futurum Group — that conviction hasn’t changed. But what I’ve learned since has.The missing variable in most growth models isn’t the customer. It’s the employee. My research (conducted with Forbes and Edelman) found that companies who invest equally in employee experience and customer experience grow faster, retain more, and build more durable businesses. That’s the Experience Mindset.Now, as AI reshapes every go-to-market motion, the same principle applies: technology amplifies the decisions you make — good and bad. Leaders who understand how to align people, process, and AI-driven intelligence will have an extraordinary advantage. Those who don’t will wonder where their growth went.What I do:• Keynote at conferences and corporate events for Fortune 500 and high-growth tech companies.• Advise executive teams on growth strategy, GTM transformation, and experience-led growth.• Lead research and strategy at The Futurum Group.• Host conversations with the world’s most interesting business minds on the What’s Next! Podcast.• Two Wall Street Journal bestsellers. Six years on the Thinkers50 Top 50. • Featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, MIT Sloan, and Bloomberg.

MENtors that Make a Difference Featuring Allen Middleton

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Our next guest on MENtors that Make a Difference is Allen Middleton, Partner Development Manager of North America for Amazon Web Services (AWS). Allen has spent over 20 years in the IT learning and development space, where he has a proven track record of creating positive organizational change. He is a driven leader focused on creating team success and the growth and advancement of his customers.
Today we discuss Allen's professional career and how his past 20 years in the learning development space have led him to Amazon Web Services (AWS). We also cover women's presence in tech and the challenges women face in today's IT landscape. Then, digging in further - we talk about how organizations can advocate for positive change for women to help overcome these modern-day challenges and how the data is trending in the right direction.
Thank you for listening; we hope Allen's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.
You can reach Allen Middleton at:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenrmiddleton/
Career Update:
Associate Director, Alliance Insights & Management Associate Director, Alliance Insights & Management
GTM Lead at Accenture LearnVantage, responsible for driving ecosystem-led go-to-market strategy and enabling revenue growth through OEM skilling and enablement programs. Empowers cloud and digital transformations, creating comprehensive 360° value for customers. Partners with OEM leadership and One Accenture stakeholders to align offerings to client demand, growth priorities, and commercial outcomes.Leads global, cross-functional teams to bring scalable, repeatable solutions to market, enabling sales teams with differentiated value propositions and GTM assets that accelerate pipeline, deal velocity, and client adoption. Focuses on cloud transformation skilling with an emphasis on GenAI enablement, workforce readiness, and measurable value realization at enterprise scale.
 

What Men Can Do to Make a Difference for Women in Tech

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This week's guest is Eva Helén, the CEO of EQ Inspiration, Board Director at Vasion, and the Author of Women in Tech - a Book for Guys. Eva is a seasoned business executive and an experienced board member. She has over 20 years of experience in high tech, international business, strategy, operations, and finance. In addition, she has refined her expertise in developing shareholder value in high-growth companies, advising on business development and human capital.
Today we talk about Eva's early years in Silicon Valley and how it led her to become a Co-Founder, CEO, Board Member, Speaker, and Author. We also discuss the significant role men can play in growing women's presence in the tech industry and the steps they can take to become more inclusive. This idea is at the center of Eva's book, Women in Tech - a Book for Guys. Listen to today's episode and learn more about Eva and her incredible story.
Learn more about EQ Inspiration and Women in Tech - a Book for Guys here: https://eqinspiration.com/product/women-in-tech-a-book-for-guys/
Learn more about Vasion here: https://www.vasion.com/
Thank you - we hope Eva's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.
Career Update:
BRAVE Industries is a developer, integrator, and operator of industrial size projects in the United States. We make fresh affordable produce available to more people by growing closer to consumers and by integrating industry and energy into our solutions. Our regenerative eco systems are the result of symbiotic relationships between heat generating industries, micro grids including renewable energy, and greenhouses. Addressing people's health and wellness, our climate, and the acute energy crisis drives our projects.