Humanizing Tech

Jesselle Hedman shares how her background in organizational communications theory helped her impact the workplace through an equity, inclusion, and diversity lens. From building out a diversity and inclusion program at Vacasa to recruiting for Thinkful, a forward thinking career accelerator program with an emphasis on student success.

She shares the pitfalls of focusing on diversity alone, conflating diversity and inclusion, and creating solutions without communicating with the communities these efforts are attempting to solve for. Jesselle shares concrete steps organizations can take to create an inclusive environment from flexible holidays to diverse candidate pools, hiring panels, and more.

We hope you are inspired to follow Jesselle's lead in starting conversations around equity, inclusion, and diversity, and then empowering those around you to continue them.

Sometimes a new year means a new beginning, and maybe some new travel plans too. On this episode of Breaking the Glass Ceiling, we meet with Megan Bigelow, mother, wife, Director of Customer Reliability Engineering and founder of PDXWIT. Listen in as Megan shares her plans for 2020, including a shift in one of her many major roles.

In a new series of Breaking the Glass Ceiling, hosts, Dawn Mott and Kimberly Embry, learn about and reflect on the inspiring women that have paved and continue to pave the way in mathematics, science, and technology. For the month of February, this episode of WIT(H) (or women in tech history) starts with Black History Month. Join us as we focus on the accomplishments and experiences of Annie J Easley, Latanya Sweeney, Dr. Gladys Mae West, and Lindsey Murphy.

Dana Lawson makes coding exciting and human interactions deep and authentic. From a modest beginning on the New Mexico - Texas border, Dana Lawson has achieved the prestigious title, VP of Engineering at GitHub. But she did not get to where she is now by simply chasing a title; she put in the work and continues to study and hone her craft.

Join us as we venture with Dana from studying Fine Arts in college, through her early years programming in the Army, to working with many startups, to where she is now. Dana gets personal with the podcast team, sharing experiences of discrimination and stories of growth and shedding ego in this technology-centric episode.

Ever the team player and coach, Marcus Carter joins us to talk about self-awareness and ultimately, self-acceptance. Marcus shares personal stories of realizations through conversations with his wife and moments of growth with his two daughters. He shares the steps he’s taken to get into tech throughout his career path and into his current role as a talent partner and community advocate.

There are lessons of acceptance of self and others. Marcus Carter’s inquisitive mind and non-judgemental nature enlivened our recording studio. His willingness to open up with us was inspiring. We hope this episode motivates you to bring your full, compassionate self to the office and uplift those around you where ever you go, as he did with us.

Like many of us, Gabrielle Blackwell longed to feel included in her one-time chosen home of Portland, Oregon. But something didn’t feel right. Although organizations like PDXWIT provide us with a safe space to be ourselves and many ways to get involved, Gabrielle felt something was missing, but could that something be found inside herself?

From her first commission-based sales job in tech to her current role as a sales manager, her story is one of both hope and hardship. Back in her native Chicago, Gabrielle joins us to share some lessons on how being vulnerable allowed her to take the first steps to feeling included in the world of tech.

Episode Guide:

• 0:00 - 20:00: Introduction to Gabrielle Blackwell
• 20:00 - 35:00: Discussion about inclusion
• 35:00 - 50:00: Discussion about vulnerability

Natalie Ruiz shares her story of authenticity rocketing into career growth. Once a used-car salesperson, Natalie entered AnswerConnect through a temporary agency in a sales position. Through her fearless honesty and proven track record of workplace wins Natalie has achieved something she never dreamed possible, she is now CEO.

We explore what happened when she opened up at work about changes in her personal life and the community that vulnerability can foster. A fabulous mom, an efficient “work from anywhere” CEO, Natalie Ruiz shares how she gets it all done.

We start our exploration into living the PDXWIT values with Max Western and Kilaa Slaughter-Scott. At PDXWIT we believe in nurturing our community through career growth and opportunities, mentorship, and skill-building events in a way that is authentic, clear, accessible and relatable. Kilaa and Max are both co-chairs of Cambia Employee Resource Groups.

Our guests share their experiences building community where none previously existed. Max Western shares their community efforts through their time spent at the kettlebell gym and work with Smyrc. Kilaa Slaughter-Scott volunteers within her community on the board of North by North East Community Health Center as well as being an involved and enthusiastic mother. Enjoy this community focused episodes as we bring awareness to initiatives we’d like to learn more about.

On the Season Two opener of Breaking the Glass Ceiling, new hosts Kimberly Embry and Dawn Mott interview Megan Bigelow. For those who don’t know, Megan is the founder and president of PDXWIT. In this episode, she shares the evolution of PDXWIT's values.

Megan goes deep into her journey with self-awareness and how she’s leveraged some uncomfortable realizations to create a more inclusive organization. Megan also gives some real life examples of how an individual's small scale efforts can make a big difference.