Jessica Kosmowski: Our global Women in Tech series is an exciting collaboration between 50 Faces Productions and Monumental Me, an organization committed to wellness, including resilience, mental fitness, and strength, designed to help you thrive in life and your career. It also hosts the Mindshare podcast. In this first series of the collaboration, host Liana Slager talks to 4 senior female tech executives about what drove their success, how the tech industry is changing, and advice they wish they had learned sooner. In our podcast with Jessica Kosmowski, a managing principal at Deloitte, we turn to the most exciting tech trends surrounding us today.
Special Collaboration: I believe we see 3 trends that are in the here and now. The first is around immersive internet experiences. So think metaverse, VR, AR, and we see that as really coming into its own this year and being adopted into enterprises like oil and gas. The second is around greater trust for AI in business processes. And the third is around the simplification of multi-cloud management through MetaCloud, which of course does sound pretty meta, but basically it’s about how a family of tools and techniques can come together to simplify a multi-cloud environment through AI, data, security, operations, governance, and beyond.
Jessica Kosmowski: And Jessica reflects on how she is treated not being well represented as a senior woman in tech.
Special Collaboration: Throughout my career, I’ve worked in industries that feature a limited representation of women. And what I’ve done is I’ve always talked about my kids and my family because it humanized me and showed people around me that you can have a life while being a working professional. So that’s something that I’ve always done sort of personally on a day-to-day basis.
Jessica Kosmowski: We hear from the venture capital investor Katie Jacobs-Stanton. Katie is the founder and general partner of Moxie Ventures. She talks about the areas that excite her today, particularly in the areas of climate tech and healthcare, and shares the tips she believes will get more women the skills they need to get funded by investors like her.
Speaker C: One is developing technical acumen. It’s one of the things that we have become somewhat religious about as investors that you You really need that technical talent at ground zero to be able to build a world-changing product and company. It’s really hard to hire for that kind of talent. Second is probably the exact opposite, which is more psychological, which is get rid of imposter syndrome. We all have it and we just need to overcome it. The third is just your networks. One of the things that I have found to be really game-changing, especially in Silicon Valley, are these ecosystems and developing developing these high-quality, high-value networks of people that will challenge you, that will support you, that will help you get to the next level, that may fund you.
Jessica Kosmowski: Allison Reedy Williamson also believes in networks. She is the Chief Diversity and Culture Officer for Yahoo. She describes the importance of having a personal board of directors, but also believes in the importance of strong leadership of a very particular kind.
Speaker D: What I see a difference in is feminist leadership. That does make a huge difference when understanding women and how women are able to show up and what impacts them. It’s seismic. And the reality is there are men, and I actually think I happen to work for one who leads in that way. He is just high EQ. And so I would say that it does absolutely make a sense when we have feminist leadership.
Jessica Kosmowski: Alison also believes in creating a culture of belonging, and she gave an example of what that means.
Speaker D: We just launched actually a self-ID pilot in the UK and Ireland. We want to signal that we want people to show up fully, and so it’s an opportunity to both identify oneself by race and ethnicity if they so choose, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity. Those are the types of efforts that really let people know that we want them to be seen and feel seen, and that hopefully leads to belonging.
Jessica Kosmowski: Fiona McDonnell, a tech executive at Booking.com, describes what it is to have full self-awareness and how we learn it.
Speaker E: And the way each of us learns self-awareness is also different. I learn a huge amount by traveling, not just because I’m in a travel company, but when I look back over the years, you become resourceful, you’re forced to confront things when you are on a mountainside on your own.
Jessica Kosmowski: And she reflects on what it was that stopped her from bringing her whole self to work.
Speaker E: I think what stopped me from being myself was trying to live up to other people’s expectations. And the idea that success is what somebody else defines is where I draw a line. So in terms of being honest with yourself, what does being yourself mean? Well, it’s living according to your values whilst achieving your goals in life is my take on it, rather than living somebody else’s goals and adhering to other people’s values.
Jessica Kosmowski: Jessica sums up our theme perfectly, and we will leave you with her words. You can follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can find all of our content on the 50 Faces Hub, and this series is also featured on the Monumental Me website.
Special Collaboration: Women are warriors. Continuing to be curious, continue to talk with others about it, continue to find ways to bring it into real applications, I think, is a way for women to continue to drive things forward.
Jessica Kosmowski: Our global Women in Tech series is an exciting collaboration between 50 Faces Productions and Monumental Me, an organization committed to wellness, including resilience, mental fitness, and strength, designed to help you thrive in life and your career. It also hosts the Mindshare podcast. In this first series of the collaboration, host Liana Slager talks to 4 senior female tech executives about what drove their success, how the tech industry is changing, and advice they wish they had learned sooner. In our podcast with Jessica Kosmowski, a managing principal at Deloitte, we turn to the most exciting tech trends surrounding us today.
Special Collaboration: I believe we see 3 trends that are in the here and now. The first is around immersive internet experiences. So think metaverse, VR, AR, and we see that as really coming into its own this year and being adopted into enterprises like oil and gas. The second is around greater trust for AI in business processes. And the third is around the simplification of multi-cloud management through MetaCloud, which of course does sound pretty meta, but basically it’s about how a family of tools and techniques can come together to simplify a multi-cloud environment through AI, data, security, operations, governance, and beyond.
Jessica Kosmowski: And Jessica reflects on how she is treated not being well represented as a senior woman in tech.
Special Collaboration: Throughout my career, I’ve worked in industries that feature a limited representation of women. And what I’ve done is I’ve always talked about my kids and my family because it humanized me and showed people around me that you can have a life while being a working professional. So that’s something that I’ve always done sort of personally on a day-to-day basis.
Jessica Kosmowski: We hear from the venture capital investor Katie Jacobs-Stanton. Katie is the founder and general partner of Moxie Ventures. She talks about the areas that excite her today, particularly in the areas of climate tech and healthcare, and shares the tips she believes will get more women the skills they need to get funded by investors like her.
Speaker C: One is developing technical acumen. It’s one of the things that we have become somewhat religious about as investors that you You really need that technical talent at ground zero to be able to build a world-changing product and company. It’s really hard to hire for that kind of talent. Second is probably the exact opposite, which is more psychological, which is get rid of imposter syndrome. We all have it and we just need to overcome it. The third is just your networks. One of the things that I have found to be really game-changing, especially in Silicon Valley, are these ecosystems and developing developing these high-quality, high-value networks of people that will challenge you, that will support you, that will help you get to the next level, that may fund you.
Jessica Kosmowski: Allison Reedy Williamson also believes in networks. She is the Chief Diversity and Culture Officer for Yahoo. She describes the importance of having a personal board of directors, but also believes in the importance of strong leadership of a very particular kind.
Speaker D: What I see a difference in is feminist leadership. That does make a huge difference when understanding women and how women are able to show up and what impacts them. It’s seismic. And the reality is there are men, and I actually think I happen to work for one who leads in that way. He is just high EQ. And so I would say that it does absolutely make a sense when we have feminist leadership.
Jessica Kosmowski: Alison also believes in creating a culture of belonging, and she gave an example of what that means.
Speaker D: We just launched actually a self-ID pilot in the UK and Ireland. We want to signal that we want people to show up fully, and so it’s an opportunity to both identify oneself by race and ethnicity if they so choose, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity. Those are the types of efforts that really let people know that we want them to be seen and feel seen, and that hopefully leads to belonging.
Jessica Kosmowski: Fiona McDonnell, a tech executive at Booking.com, describes what it is to have full self-awareness and how we learn it.
Speaker E: And the way each of us learns self-awareness is also different. I learn a huge amount by traveling, not just because I’m in a travel company, but when I look back over the years, you become resourceful, you’re forced to confront things when you are on a mountainside on your own.
Jessica Kosmowski: And she reflects on what it was that stopped her from bringing her whole self to work.
Speaker E: I think what stopped me from being myself was trying to live up to other people’s expectations. And the idea that success is what somebody else defines is where I draw a line. So in terms of being honest with yourself, what does being yourself mean? Well, it’s living according to your values whilst achieving your goals in life is my take on it, rather than living somebody else’s goals and adhering to other people’s values.
Jessica Kosmowski: Jessica sums up our theme perfectly, and we will leave you with her words. You can follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can find all of our content on the 50 Faces Hub, and this series is also featured on the Monumental Me website.
Special Collaboration: Women are warriors. Continuing to be curious, continue to talk with others about it, continue to find ways to bring it into real applications, I think, is a way for women to continue to drive things forward.
