Today, Sherri Hammons is CTO of The Nature Conservancy, but as she admits, “I took the nontraditional path to CTO land.” This path included eight years as a professional singer before she went back to college and got a degree in software engineering—and went on to work for companies big and small, as well as being CTO for the state of Colorado. She’s done for-profit, non-profit, and government—and brought technology, strategy, and humane leadership to each role.

Sue Heilbronner, CEO of MergeLane, described Sherri as a “humble badass”—a phrase that host Brad Feld loves. Sherri credits her humbleness to her parents, who taught her to “always give and always be nice to everyone no matter what.” That’s right, Sherri learned to Give First from her family—and she has been guided by that advice throughout her career.

As for the “badass” part, she’s a successful woman CTO. Toughness and strength of character might as well be part of the job description. Sherri sees her upbringing as contributing to this element of her personality as well: “I grew up in Oklahoma, I grew up on a horse, on a farm. And so I know about getting bucked off a bronco and getting back up.”

Get more of Sherri’s insights

, plus a full list of companies, people, and resources mentioned in this conversation.

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