Diva Tech Talk Podcast

Diva Tech Talk interviewed trailblazer Jing Zhou, a poster child for entrepreneurship. Born in The People's Republic of China, Jing immigrated to the United States when she was in her early 20's and in 2013 started her current breakthrough company: elemoon (www.elemoon.com) which creates, produces, promotes and distributes "wearable tech powered by imagination."

Jing's early experiences, being introduced by her journalist father to prominent Chinese female leaders, inspired her and shaped her belief that she could be whatever she wanted to be. She was the first female Chinese student to graduate from Northwestern University's Graduate School of Journalism, and went on to cover startups and entrepreneurial ventures for Businessweek magazine.

Combining fine jewelry with wearable technology, Elemoon is an elegant bangle that allows a user to customize properties, sync with a smart phone, create a variety of led patterns, and change/modify its look and feel daily. Jing's process to get the elemoon bracelet manufactured was arduous, necessitating working with 17 disparate factories, as well as creating a unique design computer, and unique testing processes. But through perseverance long hours, hard work, and determination, Jing and the elemoon team overcame all the obstacles.

Jing is now catapulting elemoon, and its next generation of products, by working at the New York Fashion Tech Laboratory, a New York City-funded accelerator program, in Manhattan. "We are at the starting point of what we are trying to do to inspire women to change their view about technology, and especially empower young women with technology," Jing simply said.

Jing's advice for aspiring female tech leaders is:

• Don't assume you have to be an engineer.
• Solve problems.
• Tap your common sense and intuition.

Jing Zhou can be reached at [email protected].

Additionally, if you would like to access Jing Zhou's favorite book (DELIVERING HAPPINESS: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh) or any other free audio book from the over 180,000 titles and engage in a 30 day trial of Audible books, please go to www.audibletrial.com/dt2 to get the Diva Tech Talk trial.

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Diva Tech Talk chatted with Michelle Billingsley, Vice President and Chief Information Officer for nonprofit Blue Care Network. Michelle manages a team of 105 full-time IT professionals, supplemented by 150 consultants/contractors, and directs information technology operations and solution delivery to meet the dynamic business needs of Michigan's largest HMO, serving over 800,000 members.

Michelle fell in love with technology early in life. A high school science project in programming led her to "the love of solving problems and the love of programming. "While obtaining her undergraduate degree at Western Michigan University in computer science, with a minor in math and business, she worked in the computer lab and taught computer classes. Post-college, Michelle began her career at National Tech Team, a large IT supplier and training company, and then went to work in information tech at Wayne State University, while simultaneously getting her master's degree.

Michelle is excited about her career future in healthcare working with "disruptive" technologies. She mentioned the impact of wearable devices, BIG data, telemedicine, cognitive predictive analytics and pharmaceuticals on the business.

Michelle's advice for aspiring women technology leaders is:

• Make your communications "relatable."
• Be courageous, but recognize that part of courageousness is being vulnerable. Accept help.
• Have goals for yourself and for your family.
• Build a broad network of people inside and outside your organization.
• Get a mentor.
• Take risk with your career, it stretches you.

Michelle Billingsley can be reached on Twitter @mebillingsley.

Make sure to check us out online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Diva Tech chatted with Karla Thomas, DirectorIT, Global Cyber Security and Audit at Tower International. Tower is a Tier 1 leading global manufacturer of engineered automotive structural metal components and assemblies primarily serving original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"). On the information technology team at Tower for 12 years, Karla has worked all over the globe and as well as throughout the United States.

"All along, one of the things key to what I do is the ability to communicate with non-technical people, bridging that gap between IT and the business," Karla said. She described a number of situations where that ability has been key, and where she had had to overcome challenges because of it.

She recommended that professionals not "pigeonhole" themselves into "just understanding what you do. If you want to be successful, you have to have your ears open,understand and listen to what the business is doing not just what IT is doing." She also credits industry groups and conferences as ways to open up the mind.

Karla's advice foraspiringleaders is:

• Develop a strong, firm,consistent, authentic personality "that you aren't going to change."("As women, we are different in the way that we converse with people, inspire people, motivate people. Lead your way.")
• Be willing to do what you ask your people to do.
• Ensure that you thank and recognize people.
• Be a conscious role model.

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Diva Tech Talk recently interviewed Carey Pachla, President of Fast Switch, a rapidly growing information technology consulting company, with 750 staff members and 2015 sales of $80 million (a 30% annual growth rate) specializing in contract, contract-to-hire and executive search services.

Carey's journey in technology was an intentional one. Based on research and advice, she sought it out; and she could not be more fulfilled. "The main reason is that there are so many wonderful, smart individuals in this industry, and I learn every day."

Carey is also Vice President of The Michigan Council of Women in Technology, and its incoming 2017 President. She discusses that nonprofit, and some of its programs, on this podcast.

Carey has four key pieces of leadership wisdom for other women:

• Work hard; there is no substitute for hard work.
• Take the "long cut." There are no shortcuts. Learn your trade, dig in, and take the long road.
• Take a genuine interest in, and listen to your team.
• Lead by example.

In conclusion, Carey strongly advises other women: "Don't be afraid and learn."

Carey Pachla can be reached at [email protected].

Make sure to check us out on online at www.divatechtalk.com, on Twitter @divatechtalks, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/divatechalk.

Our latest Diva Tech Talk interview is with Valerie Rogers, MPH, Director of State Government Affairs for HIMSS, a global organization focused on better health through information technology. The granddaughter of a breakthrough woman leader, who owned her own successful business in the 1930’s, Valerie’s path was strongly influenced by two older female cousins (a toxicologist and a primary care practitioner) who she described as “smart, sassy women.”

The use of data in healthcare, for Valerie, is indicative of leaders “aspiring to something much greater than the technology and innovation, itself. It’s really to impact lives.” On this podcast she shared just one anecdote of a woman, living in an abusive situation, whose circumstances were positively improved by the fact that data was being collected and exchanged among the health systems treating her.

Valerie’s advice for other women leaders includes:

• Be true to yourself. Start early. Build on your strengths.
• Keep learning. Don’t ever stop. “You never know, down the road, how you might be able to leverage your knowledge to help someone,” she shared.
• Don’t be afraid to be a teacher, and build a cohort of women and girls.

Valerie Rogers can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @vnrogers74.

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Diva Tech Talk interviewed Nadine Heinen, Comcast Corporation’s Vice President of Field Operations for Indiana and Kentucky. In her current role, Nadine leads 650-700 technology employees. Her 30-plus year career has been a combination of strong “hands-on” experience, a propensity for constant learning, a tendency to gravitate toward innovation, and creative leadership of large projects/teams and organizations. Her key pieces of advice include:

• Know your capabilities and believe in yourself
• Work on your brand
• Step out of your comfort zone. You will expand your knowledge.

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The Diva Tech Talk team conducted this multi-faceted podcast session, in Michigan, at Cisco’s annual WOMEN OF IMPACT 2016 event, broadcast simultaneously on all continents, and complemented by regional sessions. Nine women interviewees from Cisco, Cisco partners and Cisco customers discussed what drives them, helps them achieve harmony in their lives, and makes them “UNSTOPPABLE” — echoing the conference’s theme.

Among other things, they shared:

• How they get, and stay inspired;
• How to make change, adapt to change, and help others adapt to change;
• The need and methods for achieving life balance;
• Tips on staying organized and focused;
• Their best advice to other women carving out careers in technology.

Cisco can be found at www.cisco.com. Social media tags for the CISCO 2016 WOMEN OF IMPACT event @Cisco_WOI; the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network is @CiscoEWN; and on Facebook you can find the Cisco Empowered Women’s Group at /CiscoEmpoweredWomen.

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In this episode, we spoke with two healthcare technology leaders: Mary Alice Annecharico, the Senior VP and CIO for Henry Ford Health Systems and Donna Roach, CIO of Via Christi Health Systems. Both women share how they were drawn into the world of healthcare, and their current challenges and experiences as CIO’s.

We learned:

• How Mary Alice entered into the world of technology, now managing over 600 people
• How to unite large teams to create systematic change with technology
• Why you need to be a lifelong learner
• Donna’s story choosing jobs that were challenging and fulfilling
• The importance of relationship-building, networking, and family support
• Advice on how to use your creative skills to pioneer new technologies and solutions

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In this Diva Tech Talk podcast, we interview Heidi Slade, Senior Analyst, Business & Design, and Professional Scrum Master at Tyler Technologies, a leading provider of end-to-end information management solutions and services for local governments. Heidi describes her journey from fine arts major to getting her degree in literature, to tech writer, to analyst/voice of the customer and “web app wizard.”

Her key pieces of advice include:

• Never let gender or lack of experience get in the way.
• Practice etiquette and good behavior to stand out, in the development world.
• Always pay attention to your audience.

Tyler Technologies can be reached at: http://www.tylertech.com

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Starting her career as a clinical nurse in the Pediatric ICU at Yale New Haven Health System, MPRO’S Vice President of Clinical Operations, Jacqueline Rosenblatt, emphasizes both her educational achievements (Masters and PhD) and her circuitous journey into information technology in this podcast. She discusses how challenges given to her by the CIO of a major health system spurred her subsequent lifelong love affair with health information technology and informatics.

Jacquie shares insight on:

• Her journey outside and inside the technology field
• Overcoming discriminatory preconceptions of stereotypical nurse roles
• The importance of being a lifelong learner and egalitarian leader
• How to be, and stay, positive as a leader

MPRO can be found at www.mpro.org and Jacqueline can be contacted at [email protected].

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