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Ally Watson is the Founder and CEO of Code Like a Girl, a social enterprise dedicated to providing girls with the tools, knowledge and support to enter and flourish in the world of coding.
A backend .NET developer by trade, Ally has always loved working in technology. Despite her love for the tech, she experienced isolation and barriers associated with being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
None more so than when she moved from Scotland to Australia in 2014, and struggled to meet like-minded women in tech. Ally decided to host her own event, specifically for women in tech, with the aim of forming strong connections and female friendships. She had no idea that one event would turn into many, and become the humble beginnings of Code Like A Girl.
After 2 years of running the events as a side hustle, Code Like a Girl became Ally's full-time job in July 2017 and has continued to go from strength to strength.
Today Code Like a Girl runs a series of tech-focused events, an internship program and coding camps around Australia; bringing together local talent and like-minded girls who are passionate about coding and technology to learn, connect and celebrate each other's achievements.
In the latest episode of The Females in Tech Show, I interview Ally Watson, and talk about her career journey from artist, to Founder and CEO of Code Like a Girl.
Ally also shares:
Episode Resources
[Full Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means we receive compensation, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through the link.]
Thank you for listening
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form at this link and suggest a podcast topic.
On Sunday 8th March 2020 we celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD). On this day we recognise the progress we have made towards gender equality, as well as being a call to action to accelerate full equality. I also take the opportunity to reflect on the women in leadership who have inspired me over the previous year.
IWD started in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay & voting rights. At that time there were only 8 countries in the world where women were allowed to vote. And equal pay was unheard of, assuming that women were allowed to work at all.
Since then we have come a long way. Today there are women running their own businesses, as well as CEOs of large corporations.
However according to a study by IBM, only 18% of senior leadership positions – including C-suite, vice president, director & senior manager positions are held by women.
In addition, in Australia the Chief Executive Women (CEW) ASX200 Senior Executive Census 2018 reported there are only:
So why are there so few women in leadership?
This is something I discussed with Kylie McLean in the latest episode of The Females in Tech Show. Kylie is the IBM Garage Lead, a division that works with customers to quickly create and scale new and innovative ideas. She is also the Executive Leader for Women at IBM in ANZ.
In this episode Kylie shares her insights on:
Episode Resources
Thank you for listening
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
How can we better serve you?
Ultimately the show is for you, the females in tech community, which begs the question… How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form to suggest a podcast topic.
Do you suffer from imposter syndrome? That negative self-talk saying things like “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not skinny enough”, “I will never meet the one”, “I will never get out of debt”?
Is it preventing you from levelling up at work? Or asking your manager for a salary increase, or promotion?
Or maybe it’s keeping you from pursuing your dream job, or changing careers? Perhaps you want to write a book, or start your own business?
Do any of those sound familiar?
That voice in your head saying those things is your Imposter Syndrome. Also referred to as your inner critic, ego, obnoxious roommate or mean girl. Regardless of what you call it, that voice is not you, it is your limiting beliefs keeping you stuck in fear-town.
The fact is, you’re not alone. Everyone has imposter syndrome, even some of the most successful people in the world, like Sheryl Sandberg, Arianna Huffington, David Bowie, Lady Gaga and Emma Watson.
The reality is that imposter syndrome can either serve you, or break you, it’s just a matter of how you manage it.
In this episode of The Females in Tech Show, Joel and I show you how to quieten that inner critic, and leveraging those limiting beliefs to accelerate your career and achieve your big bold goals.
Here’s an outline of what we cover:
Episode Resources
[Full Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means we receive compensation, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through the link.]
Thank you for listening
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
How can we better serve you?
Ultimately the show is for you, the females in tech community, which begs the question… How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form at this link and suggest a podcast topic.
I’ll be sure to give you a shout out in the podcast episode if your topic is chosen.
Diversity in the workplace is a hot topic at the moment, and something many organisations are putting greater focus on. Both locally within Australia, and globally.
While the benefits are obvious, there are some challenges with implementing diversity in the workplace. Updating and maintaining company and HR policies, and operating systems and procedures is today’s constantly evolving world make it difficult
Keeping up with diversity can be challenging.
Fortunately today’s guest on The Females in Tech Show is Rhonda Brighton-Hall, who is recognised as one of Australia’s foremost experts in human resources, specialising in leadership, diversity and the future of work.
In this episode Rhonda provides an overview of her career, and shares insights into how businesses can create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Here’s an outline of what we cover:
Episode Resources
Thank you for listening
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women (and men).
How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form at this link and suggest a podcast topic.
Having a great product or service in and of itself is not enough to succeed. The reality is you need to have both a great product, and also great marketing. Unfortunately many startup businesses focus solely on the product, and don’t think about marketing early enough. The fact is marketing for startups is critical to success.
Conversely, no amount of marketing can make up for a bad product or service. Although, when done correctly, you can leverage marketing for both customer acquisition, as well as improving your product-market fit.
More than 600,000 companies start in the US every year. However than three quarters of those fail because the founders don't know how to take those products to market.
In this episode of The Females in Tech Show I interview Jill Soley, who has spent the last 16 years launching and growing innovative cloud-based software products through effective marketing. Jill is currently the Chief Product Officer at Obo, an agile product management software that addresses the high failure rates of new products.
Jill is also the best selling author of Beyond Product, a book that helps entrepreneurs and enterprise executives avoid common pitfalls, and build their ideas into successful businesses.
The #1 reason startups fail is the inability to find and connect with a market. Beyond Product provides the missing link for entrepreneurs and startup founders to turn their ideas into successful businesses.
It’s based on Jill and co-author Todd Wilms own startup marketing experience as well as interviews with 50 successful entrepreneurs, startup investors, and business leaders from companies like Slack, Box, Linkedin, Hubspot, Zendesk, Marketo, and many others.
Bottom line, marketing for startups is essential to their success.
Here’s an outline of what we cover.
Episode Resources
Thank you for listening
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
In the latest episode of The Females in Tech Show I interview Richelle Nicols, the Founder & CEO of tech start-up, Nicco.
Like many women in tech, Richelle didn’t start there. She started her career as a lawyer, going from family law to consulting firm KPMG, and then Legal Counsel and Governance Executive for the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Richelle then moved to becoming Managing Director of two different tech start-ups, before starting her own.
Richelle now runs Nicco, a next-generation consumer engagement solution and App.
I first met Richelle at the 2019 IBM Cloud Innovation Exchange Conference in Sydney. Richelle was presenting, and shared her journey of founding her own tech start-up and partnering with IBM Garage, a division that works with customers to quickly create and scale new and innovative ideas.
Richelle’s energy and passion during her presentation was contagious, and I just knew I had to have her on the show!
There are so many golden nuggets in this episode. Here’s what we cover:
Episode Resources
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Thank you for listening:
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women (and men).
How can we better serve you?
Ultimately the show is for you, the females in tech community, which begs the question… How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form at this link and suggest a podcast topic.
Effective goal setting, as part of my annual and quarterly planning process has been the biggest contributor to my success over the last two years. It has resulted in me having significant growth and progress in all areas of life - my career, finances, family and social relationships, personal development and my life purpose.
If you want to live the life of your dreams, then you need to be intentional. Anyone who has achieved anything worthwhile in life has been focused on what they want, and actively worked to achieve it.
That starts with being clear on what success looks like. And that’s not just your career, or money. It should include personal, family and social relationships, how we grow mentally and spiritually, and our physical and mental wellbeing.
For the last two years I have spent New Years Day, and a few days following, doing annual planning and goal setting with my partner. The result is 8-10 goals for the next 12-36 months. We then choose 2-3 goals to focus on for the next 3 months, and this forms the basis of our weekly and daily goal setting. We then revisit our goals every 3 months, and reset for the following quarter.
Prior to that I’ve had some years with no goals at all, and finished the year feeling a little flat and unfulfilled. A year had passed, and I felt like I had not progressed.
Other years I set goals however they were skewed towards university, and ignored all the other areas of life. I achieved the university grades I wanted but my physical and mental health suffered, and wasted time in toxic relationships that did not serve me.
It’s easy to do. Life is busy, and we all get caught in the minutiae of day to day life, and we don’t take the time to consider what we want from life.
I’ve had many people ask me how I have achieved so much in the last few years, so I wanted to share what I’ve learned around effective goal setting in this episode of The Females in Tech Show.
What we cover:
Resources
Thank you
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask 3 things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women (and men).
Sometimes life throws you unexpected curveballs that knock you straight down. Challenges that completely turn your life upside down, and you feel completely out of control. This happened to Heather Opdam early in life, and has given her an interest in improving mental health.
Heather’s father took his life during her early childhood years, leaving a wife and three beautiful girls behind. There was a stigma about suicide in the 70’s, particularly with catholic families where it was considered a sin.
Living in a single parent household with two sisters came with its challenges. Society was based on the “traditional” roles of men and women in the household. For example, a man’s role included things like shovelling snow from the driveway in minus 50 degree temperatures during Winter, and mowing the lawn in Summer.
When Heather lost her father these perceived male roles were now the responsibility of her and her sisters. As significant as these challenges were, what blossomed in Heather was an inner strength and a can-do attitude that has contributed to her success today.
Heather has more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, in both Australia and New Zealand. She is a passionate and experienced Sales Manager with a deep understanding of the needs and drivers in the technology market.
Outside of her senior sales role at VMware, Heather invests her time and energy into volunteering and fundraising on key social issues. Particularly mental health awareness and workplace diversity, and recently led VMware’a Diversity and Inclusion team across ANZ.
Heather loves a challenge, whether that’s running a marathon, riding a mountain bike 650KM over 7 days, or exploring the outdoors. However, her greatest success and passion by far, is being a mother to two teenage boys.
There are so many golden nuggets in this episode. Here’s what we cover:
Episode Resources
Resources if you need help
Thank you for listening
Thank you for taking the time to listen to the Females in Tech Show.
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
Elaiza Benitez is a Senior Consultant at an IT consultancy firm where she specializes in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. In 2018 she was awarded Microsoft MVP in Business Applications, being one of 20 in Australia and New Zealand, and the only female in Australasia. She also won the Technical award at the ARN Women in ICT Awards 2018.
Elaiza is extremely active in supporting the Microsoft Community, and has her own YouTube channel sharing her knowledge on the Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform.
Elaiza understands the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, so when she isn’t evangelizing all things Microsoft, you will find her in the kitchen creating delicious meals, or exercising at the gym.
Here’s an outline of what we cover in this episode of The Females in Tech Show:
Episode Resources
Podcast Links:
Thank you for listening
I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the Females in Tech Show.
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
How can we better serve you?
Ultimately the show is for you, the females in tech community, which begs the question… How can we better serve you?
Tell us what topics you’d like to learn more about, or will help advance your career in technology. Complete the form at this link and suggest a podcast topic.
I’ll be sure to give you a shout out in the podcast episode if your topic is chosen.
For years I thought self care was selfish. I would literally cringe when I heard the mention of self care, and believed it was just an excuse for women to pamper themselves. Today I have experienced the benefits of self care first hand, and have seen how it has helped accelerate my career in tech.
Prior to that I was putting my body (and soul) under immense stress, which resulted in a plethora of physical symptoms such as shingles, glandular fever (twice), autoimmune disease and a face and chest full of sore pimples. I ignored the warning signs, and continued by working hard, and playing hard, preferring instead to “relax” by excessive drinking and partying. It wasn’t until my partner commented on the “sad girl” behind my Instagram photos that I realised I wasn’t being true to myself.
That led me to reading books on the importance of self-care. It didn’t take long for me to realise how wrong I was about it.
Self-care ensures you give the universe the best of you, not what’s left of you. If you keep running at full speed all the time, and don’t take time to refuel and give your body the rest and attention it needs, you end up being the cranky version of you. (Or worse, you make yourself ill, like I did). And no one likes that version.
Wondrous things have happened since introducing self-care into my daily routine. I’m a lot more productive at work, and I am a happier person to me around. I truly love my body (still working on this), and I don’t crave unhealthy food. I don’t conform to what society “expects” me to be. I’ve also found my true love, and feel truly abundant with my life.
If you’d like to hear more about my journey to self-care, and find out how you can introduce self-care into your daily routine, then don’t miss this episode of The Females in Tech Show.
Here’s an outline of what we cover in this episode:
Episode Resources
Thank you for listening
I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the Females in Tech Show.
My aim is to inspire and support you to reach your goals, and provide you with practical tips on how to be the best version of yourself.
If you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).
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