Retaining WIT

By Jossie Haines & Jordanna Kwok

Research shows that 56% of women leave the tech industry during the second decade of their careers. Join us as we share our stories, create an environment where women can be successful, and teach each... more

· Technology

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FAQs about Retaining WIT:

How many episodes does Retaining WIT have?

The podcast currently has 22 episodes available.

Retaining WIT episodes:

December 15, 2022 Episode 11: Leadership, Resilience & Self-Confidence with Monica Bajaj
In our last episode of the season, we speak with Monica Bajaj who tells of her experiences growing up in India, and of moving and working in the United States. It is a testimony of dealing with bias and overcoming doubts, weathering racism and immigrant status, and challenging culturally traditional roles. Join us as we discuss these topics and consider how we can impact the lives of others through leadership, resilience, and self-confidence.
Key Insights:
● “To be a champion, compete; to be a great champion, compete with the best; but to be the greatest champion, compete with yourself.”
● “Never give up and hold on to it like Mumbai train”
● Invest, reflect, define and build a brand in/for yourself.

We'll be back in early 2023! Happy Holidays!
Resources:
You can connect with Monica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mobajaj/and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbajaj9
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok

You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
This podcast comes to you in collaboration with the sheTO community (formerly Divhersity). Did you know that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women? sheTO is on a mission to change that. sheTO is a private network for women and non-binary engineering leaders with a goal of accelerating careers of our members and building their high powered network. Learn more at sheTO.org!
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23min
November 22, 2022 Episode 10: Kathryn Vandiver on Gender Bias and Segregation in Tech
Today on Retaining WIT we are thrilled to have Kathryn Vandiver, who is currently VP of Engineering at BlueOwl and has over three decades of technical experience in Silicon Valley, which included roles at VMWare, HP, and NetApp.
We discuss issues around how gender bias plays a part in filling roles within tech companies, what to watch for, and how to avoid being diverted or stuck in roles that pay less or are outside of desired positions and duties. It is important to fight for and to stay true to ourselves and our passions. We also share strategies that those in management positions can leverage to fight these biases. Join us in this amazing episode of Retaining Women in Tech!
Resources:
Gender Segregation in tech links:
● Hiring and Intra-occupational Gender Segregation in Software Engineering
● Google 'segregates' women into lower-paying jobs, stifling careers, lawsuit says
● The Tech Industry’s Gender-Discrimination Problem
● https://hbr.org/2022/09/3-workplace-biases-that-derail-mid-career-women
You can connect with Kathryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynvandiver/
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
This podcast comes to you in collaboration with the sheTO community (formerly Divhersity). Did you know that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women? sheTO is on a mission to change that. sheTO is a private network for women and non-binary engineering leaders with a goal of accelerating careers of our members and building their high powered network. Learn more at sheTO.org!
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22min
November 08, 2022 Episode 9: Sue Nallapeta: From Engineer to VPE
On today’s episode of the Retaining WIT podcast, we are joined by Sue Nallapeta, VP of Engineering at Apartment List. We are excited to chat with her about her journey from being an engineer to getting to an executive leadership role, the challenges of being a mom as an engineering leader, and finally dive into the topic that women are “downgraded” when being offered a role in tech. Sue, thank you for joining us today!
Key Insights:
Resilience is key to thriving and weathering adversity in hard-won goals. Focusing on individual tasks and having an inclusive home life helps with work success. Balance can be affected by unrealistic expectations and standards; prioritize and push where you can with respect to your current resources and status, while building a network that can support your successes in many different ways.

Curate successes by delivering value to your business; this can be done by providing solutions for motivation, diverse and inclusive team building, and managing in an innovative, relevant manner, despite whatever may come up. Use feedback, and maintain the psychological safety for a cycle of management to adapt responses to issues and develop solutions with empathetic collaboration.
Resources:
You can connect with Sue on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushmanallapeta/ and check out her company at https://www.apartmentlist.com/!
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
This podcast comes to you in collaboration with the sheTO community (formerly Divhersity). Did you know that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women? sheTO is on a mission to change that. sheTO is a private network for women and non-binary engineering leaders with a goal of accelerating careers of our members and building their high powered network. Learn more at sheTO.org!
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25min
October 25, 2022Episode 8: Ruthann Weeks on the Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Workplace
Jossie and Jordanna return to chat with Ruthann Weeks, founder of Harmony in the Workplace. Ruthann is a tireless forward-thinking crusader whose efforts have helped to bring the importance of an abuse-free work environment to the forefront of public awareness. Research shows 15-20% of the population is neurodiverse; we cover what neurodiversity is, how it has gained more visibility, and practices for including these individuals. Join us and listen to our discussions of interviewing and hiring, managing in both workplace and work-from-home situations, and the benefits of hiring neurodiverse employees!
WIT Tip of the week:
Ruthann provided some useful resources to share with all of us:
Universal Design Principals: A document about designing slideshows and team meetings with intention towards inclusion of neuro-diversity. Please reach out to [email protected] to request this document!

The Top Three Considerations to Create Effective Organizational Culture
https://harmonytraining.ac-page.com/organizational-culture
Resources:
You can connect with Ruthann via email: [email protected] and on
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthann-weeks-harmonyintheworkplace/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Harmony_HR.
Website: https://harmonyintheworkplace.com/
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
This podcast comes to you in collaboration with the sheTO community (formerly Divhersity). Did you know that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women? sheTO is on a mission to change that. sheTO is a private network for women and non-binary engineering leaders with a goal of accelerating careers of our members and building their high powered network. Learn more at sheTO.org!
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28min
October 14, 2022Episode 7: Are Women Compensated Fairly in Tech?
In this episode of the Retaining WIT podcast, Jossie and Jordanna dive into the inequities of compensation in tech. Men are often offered higher salaries or positions than women, however, this discrepancy can be fought with planning, data, and support:
Planning: Don’t take the first offer, instead focusing time and energy on creating leverage with counter offers and expressing confidence in the ability to provide value. This begins in the home; working out domestic equity first will help combat the social disadvantages women face with non-work obligations.

Data: Statistics give transparency to bias, and as a result, many companies are adopting pay transparency as a policy, with other services such as the Elpha database providing spaces for global contribution and the resulting accountability this brings to bear.

Support: Having support from leadership is immensely powerful with regard to pay equity and fighting workplace inequalities. Then, choosing/providing a place where inclusive benefits with medical and leave plans, curated compensation bands, and transparency are all deemed important, is crucial, especially due to the trouble with enforcing this via outside policies (some states are testing out required pay ranges for employers).
Resources:
Elpha salary database: https://elpha.com/salary-database
Pay gap ‘need to know’: https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/gender-pay-gap-in-tech/
Pay transparency considerations: https://hbr.org/2022/08/research-the-unintended-consequences-of-pay-transparency
Equal pay dates: https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/equal-pay-day-calendar/
Advancement bias: https://hbr.org/2018/06/research-women-ask-for-raises-as-often-as-men-but-are-less-likely-to-get-them
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok

You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high-performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
This podcast comes to you in collaboration with the sheTO community (formerly Divhersity). Did you know that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women? sheTO is on a mission to change that. sheTO is a private network for women and non-binary engineering leaders with the goal of accelerating the careers of our members and building their high-powered network. Learn more at sheTO.org!
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26min
September 27, 2022 Episode 6: Maria Kazandjieva on Being a Co-Founder in Tech
In this episode of the ‘Retaining WIT’ Podcast Jossie Haines and Jordanna Kwok chat with Maria Kazandijeva, co-Founder at Graft, a new company that strives to make AI more accessible for small companies without large teams. Maria shares her insights on becoming a co-founder and building a company from scratch, the differences between early startup life and corporate life, and building a culture and team that is inclusive from day one.
Key Insights:
Maria makes a refreshing point that in spite of degrees and titles she is another approachable human being figuring out what’s next. She’s always loved working with data and decided to go for it when a friend came to her about starting Graft. Being open to opportunities as they come by, is her actionable advice for proactive change. She shares that building a company from the ground up entails learning all of the invisible, non-glamorous jobs, and providing value, context, and appreciation to the team.
“Creating a culture of respect and collaboration is super important.” To create a diverse, and effective team, you have to work hard and smart, and invest in extra time and energy for networking and interviewing extra people. If you are a manager, you already know how to retain men, you can likewise support and retain women. People know how to retain others in tech… we just aren’t doing so with equal energy. Put the energy where it needs to be, and collaborate, network, and be resilient in tech together!
Resources:
You can connect with Maria Kazandjieva on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariakaz/ and visit her company site at https://graft.com/

You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
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38min
September 20, 2022Episode 5: Making Performance Reviews more Effective & Inclusive in Tech
Summary:
In this episode of the ‘Retaining WIT’ Podcast Jossie Haines and Jordanna Kwok deep-dive into performance reviews and how they aren’t always effective, especially for women and underrepresented minorities. Only “14% of employees say that performance reviews are encouraging them”, so it is important to discuss how performance reviews and 360 feedback can be leveraged to fight this statistic.
Key Insights:
Career ladders can allow for more directed growth-related feedback and more explicit conversation with direct reports on how they may grow their careers.

Leverage impact-based job descriptions where you create your clear 30, 60, and 90-day goals. In turn, you can leverage those same goals during onboarding when you hire new employees. In giving that feedback, you may slow down your thinking and tie it back to those goals in order to provide the same level of concrete technical feedback to both men and women.

Tips for women when receiving feedback:
Approach with curiosity

Ask questions to dig deeper and try to understand where the other person is coming from with their feedback

next steps depend a lot on how safe it is at your company to speak up, so start with curiosity and ask for clarification
Resources:
https://www.lever.co/blog/writing-effective-job-descriptions-impact-descriptions/
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
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16min
September 20, 2022 Episode 4: Interview w/ Nidhi Gupta – How Divhersity addresses that only 9% of CTOs are women
In today’s episode of the Retaining WIT podcast, hosts Jossie and Jordanna speak with Nidhi Gupta, CEO, and co-founder of Divhersity. Divhersity’s mission is to change the statistic that less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women and to finally close the class/gender gap in tech. Her mission is to accelerate Divhersity members’ careers and to create a network of support to inspire and elevate generations to come.
Key Points:
1. Fundamentally, all women and allies need to fight for rights at all levels: at home, work, and within the greater society. We can not be complacent.

2. “Build and lean on your community!”

3. There are people around you, who are willing to help you… don’t power through on your own – reach out!
Resources:
Nidhi Gupta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nidhihgupta/
Divhersity: http://divhersity.com
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
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23min
September 20, 2022 Episode 3: Welcome Back to the Retaining WIT Podcast!
In this episode of the ‘Retaining WIT’ podcast, hosts Jossie Haines and Jordanna Kwok catch up and share their stories of what has changed in their lives since their last podcast episode. Jossie moved into a new home, became the VP of Engineering at Tile, went through an acquisition, and has recently started her own company as an executive coach for engineering leaders. Jordanna has adopted a COVID puppy, was an active Clubhouse speaker and was promoted to Director of Engineering at Netflix.
You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok
You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines. Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high-performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!
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32min
August 15, 2019Episode 2: Darlene Rouleaux on Momming in Tech
Jossie and Jordanna speak with Darlene Rouleaux, UI/UX software engineer at Schneider Electric, as well as a mom of two young kids. Darlene shares the challenges of being a mom in tech, as well as her transition from individual contributor to manager and back.
Other topics include:
How different the real world is from college
Transitioning back from parental leave
Promoting diversity at work
Being brave
Check out the episode webpage for the full show transcript.
Here are some additional resources Darlene mentions in the episode:
https://twitter.com/mommingintech
https://mommingintech.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mommingintech
Special Guest: Darlene Rouleaux.
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19min

FAQs about Retaining WIT:

How many episodes does Retaining WIT have?

The podcast currently has 22 episodes available.