Thank you for your interest in being a participant in this article.  This is clearly a topic which has meaning to you. Please share a bit about your background with emphasis on how and why you became interested in a career in a STEM focused field. Also share some of the insight you have gained working in a STEM field as it related to underrepresented groups such as young women.

I fell into technology by accident! I needed a job while getting my MBA and saw a job posting for a sales intern at IBM. My dad was a salesman, and he inspired me!

I went through the IBM training program and lugged the latest IBM Selectric typewriters into corporate accounts, gave demos, and took orders. Surprisingly, I was the top seller among my peer interns! I knew I wasn’t highly technical, but I could learn enough to be dangerous while building relationships with customers. 

Insights: (1) Even though I was raised in the era where “girls are not good at STEM,” I signed up to try, and I studied my butt off to learn very detailed information. (2) Even though most of my peers and managers were white male, I didn’t see myself as an alien or at a disadvantage. It also didn’t occur to me that I had to show them what I can do. I felt like a peer and acted like one. 

“Go Science Girls” quotes the following statistics, “…in the United States, women make up only ¼ of the entire STEM workforce. Contrarily, women dominate men when it comes a STEM degree. Further statistics show that women constitute 15% of the engineering force and 25% of the computer and mathematical sciences. In Australia, women made up 27% of the STEM workforce in 2016. There are various reasons for such a meager constitution of women in STEM. The prime reason is the lack of practical experiences. Women have been quoted saying that they love STEM activities, but the lack of practical exercises discouraged them from building a career in the field.”

These are not new facts and figures but rather ones that have been heard time and again. What do you feel can be done to decrease the implication that women are not well suited to these careers while increasing the number of young women pursuing a career in these fields? (Editorial note – this is a very broad question. I encourage you to respond as your own experience & life choices/lessons dictates.)

I’m an optimist. Yes, the technology industry needs more women employed and rising in the ranks. However, the industry is not just defined by technical jobs such as developers, testers, and program managers. Women need to have confidence in their skills, passions, and strengths and pursue a career in the technology industry. 

An additional strategy is for young women to enter a tech company in one role, then explore others once employed. Technical positions will always be open!

This concern is valid and much bigger than gender misrepresentation. There are so many under-represented categories, including persons with disabilities, the veteran community, the black and brown community, etc. This conversation adds more support to the concept of empowering women to follow their passions. They can aspire to reach influential roles in marketing, product design, sales, customer support, and other non-technology roles. 

Many of us have worked for companies that require, value, and reward critical thinking, problem solving and collaborations. These skills, along with other skills, are key elements to all aspects of living and is especially required in areas such as technology, science, medicine to name a few areas. What are the positive ways to engage underrepresented groups in acquiring these skills?

This is a tough one. We need a decade to evaluate the inadequacies of our national education system. It is easy to say these skills should be taught at the high school level. And mastered with the bachelor’s degree level. However, the barriers are too many to list here: curriculum design, funding, lack of funding in unrepresented geographies, teacher re-skilling, etc. 

Additionally, all industries need these skills and so many more soft skills. Not just tech!  

What is the most positive experience/job you have personally had relating to your knowledge of or engagement with STEM field topics? How did you acquire the skills needed to arrive at a state of accomplishment?

My most positive experiences were facing a customer presentation or large event where I needed to get skilled in new technology. I enjoyed the process of asking the project manager to educate me. They send me articles, drew pictures, and proofed my PowerPoint and script. 

I knew my boundaries, knew what I didn’t know, and was fortunate to have technical support who had my back at the presentations. I built strong relationships internally as a result…a bonus!

Finding a good mentor in a career is one key element to success.  Each of you have been both mentee and mentor.  As a mentee what was the most valuable advice or experience you have had thus far in your career? How can underrepresented individuals become adept at seeking mentorship? As successful individuals, how can we ensure we look to be more inclusive in tossing out our ‘mentorship net’?

The mentor topic is one I get a little snarky about. Why? Because nobody is entitled to have a mentor. Mentorship cannot be placed on someone, and it’s not given to them as a gift. The mentee needs to want one. Then, they need to research the gazillion opportunities to secure one. Finally, the mentee needs to show up. They need to share their goals or challenges, ask questions, and drive the next step. 

Today, I’m signed up on mentor sites to help Veterans, Military Spouses, and job seekers of all types. Nothing has changed from decades ago. There is little demand, mentees don’t call the second meeting, and they don’t deliver on the commitments we agree on!  I have a black cloud, I know. I’m just sayin!

One of the most visible challenges women face today is patriarchy. As a general rule, the way women and men are taught to speak, and act is often very dissimilar. Men are taught to problem solve and speak with authority while women are taught to be demure and defer. This behavior is exhibited in the home, in school and extra-curricular activities as well as the workplace. How can we impact change to eliminate these stereotypical actions? What change do you believe it would have the most impact on ensuring young women step more fully into leadership roles?

Women feel the pressure (and are often coached) to “act like the guys.” However, we need to shift the conversation to encouraging women to learn success traits. Full stop. 

I recommend more women sign up for leadership training on executive presence. I learned from my friend and leadership coach, Teri Citterman, that the most critical skills hang under the concept of executive presence. They are:

  • Self-Awareness
  • Confidence
  • Assertiveness
  • Decisiveness
  • Managing through Ambiguity
  • Equal Footing

I’m thrilled that Teri is putting her wisdom into an online course that is launching shortly!

The number of women in CxO roles has grown but very slowly. There is a need to have more females at the table, making decisions and providing a much needed balance. If you had a magic wand and could make three changes to increase these roles, what would you change and why?

I don’t have any wisdom for this one. “It’s complicated.” It has been a challenge to get women to rise up the ladder for decades, steeped in gender biases, and discrimination. It will take decades to solve this one. 

Women need to find courage. Courage to learn new skills, try new things, take on big challenges, and ask for what they want. Share your goals, ambitions, and needs. Be bold, women! Get out from under labels of “introvert/extrovert,” cultural norms that restrict us, and grow a thick skin. Don’t expect easy! And don’t keep your head down, either. 

I always think of the example I’ve seen in play many times when someone of one country is speaking to a non-native language speaker, and the speaker increases their volume in hopes that translation will instantly occur based on a louder volume on their part. In retrospect, have you found you may have responded oddly to someone who is different than yourself? (age, country of origin, sex, race, etc.) How did your response help/hurt your business needs? What would you do differently today? How does this apply to being more inclusive in our thinking with regard to women as underrepresented individuals?

I can safely say that I am guilty as charged with responding oddly, if not worse. The good news is that I am among 7.6 billion people worldwide who do the same. Does anyone know anybody who has not done this? As a child, do you remember your mom or dad saying, “don’t stare!” Do you remember kids bullying kids who looked different?  Unconscious bias or conscious bias or sheer discrimination is real, thriving, and is going nowhere fast. 

There are gazillions of research articles that show the value of diversity in business. ROI statistics, studies, and number crunching. Has anything changed? 

I don’t consider women in the category of “underrepresented,” and I think there are categories of truly unrepresented people who face direct discrimination, either via exclusion, inaccessibility, or unconscious bias. Examples include but are not limited to persons with disabilities (visible or invisible), military veterans, underserved communities, those who can’t afford education, etc. 

We on this list and those reading this compilation are probably in the category of “privileged,” so we can do the genuinely underserved

When you think about giving advice or providing your input on issues facing young women entering into STEM field jobs, what would your biggest piece of advice be?  As you respond to this question, think about the following: Why would you give this advice? What difference could your advice make in someone’s life? Did you have a similar experience and who helped you through it?

I would advise young men, not just young women.  Men don’t “get” gender inequality, and they need to.  Great article here. 

Until men get it, gender equality will crawl along at a snail’s pace. Numerically, men are in control of the majority of actions, behavior changes, and professional decisions. 

Think about this fact (from the article): divided by gender, 21% of U.S. women think there is workplace equality compared with 42% of men.

That’s the problem statement.