Aoifinn Devitt: The sky is the limit for our ambitions and dreams, in theory. But let’s hear how mentorship, networks, and the support circles we create can help us to climb. I’m Aoifinn Devitt, and welcome to this 50 Faces focus series, which showcases inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond. I’m joined today by Dalit Heldenberg, who is a vice president at Gloat a talent marketplace, and has had a close to two-decade career in high-tech. She is committed to helping people thrive at work and is a co-founder of Leadwith Women Leading in Tech, which is a nonprofit organization focused on empowering and promoting women in technology careers at all levels in Israel, as well as the Israeli chapter of Girls in Tech. She is also an active mentor within the tech community. Welcome, Dalit. Thank you for joining me today.
Dalit Heldenberg: Thanks for the invite, great to be here.
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s start with talking through your career journey to date, going maybe right back to what you studied at university. Where did it start and did your career take any surprising turns along the way?
Dalit Heldenberg: Okay, yes, sure. So I started my career during my studies. I’ve learned computer science and actually already in my first semester, while all other students were not looking for a job, I was eager to start working as a software engineer. So back then I worked in a big government office in a non-tech position and approached the R&D department to ask for a programmer position for students. And I’ve been told that this role is like for third-year students and that I can start with the tech support role. So I decided to take that, but I said to this manager that I’m interested like in a programmer position. And I was managed after 3 months to get into a software development role. Then I moved to this role that I wished and really enjoyed it. When I finished my first degree, I worked as a software engineer in the high-tech industry. Actually, one of the companies is CyberArk, which is a known company and it is now a public company. During this time, I’ve also completed my MBA degree. And after several years, I realized my passion is into business and product and like shape design and design product. So then my new goal was moving to a product manager role. In Israel, it’s not easy to get accepted this kind of a job without any experience. But this time I was even more passionate to get a product manager role. So I quit my job and looked for my dream job. After 2 months of searching, I replied to a tweet of a co-founder of a startup and went through 7 interviews, including the CEO, CTO, and got an offer from this amazing startup named Outbound. During my time in Outbound, my 2 kids were born, and also one of my other kids played with organization, which I will elaborate later. 4 years later, I moved to a startup named Gloat, joined as the first product manager, established a PM team during the time, managed to build a B2C product, go through a big pivot, and build like a product that is considered today as the leader in the market, internal marketplace. Seems like I had the classic journey starting from a technical role to see the bigger picture as a product.
Aoifinn Devitt: That’s fascinating. Journey just so far, I just wanted to ask you, it seems like you have pushed to get into roles that you are passionate about, which maybe were not easy necessarily the process. Did you experience much rejection during that process and how did you learn to cope with that?
Dalit Heldenberg: So yes, as I mentioned, like in the first time that I was looking as a student to seek for a programmer job, this manager told me that, I mean, he didn’t understand what I want, why I’m eager to get this position, which is I don’t have any experience in. And I realized that also other students, as they are not like working in this kind of position. So yeah, I had some kind of a rejection, but it didn’t stop me from like reaching my goal. Actually in the second day, in the second time when I searched like for the product manager position, Then in the current company that I worked as a software engineer, I was consulting the VP product and I told him what I wish, like to get a product manager position in a startup. And then he told me, you can’t get it. You don’t have any experience in product management, nor in like startup and nor in like a B2C products. So there’s no way for you to get this kind of a job. But luckily I proved him wrong and I got this job.
Aoifinn Devitt: That’s amazing because I think a lot of people do seek— well, it is a challenge to overcome rejection and to face it. But if you’re trying to pursue your dream, I suppose it’s necessary to build that kind of a thick skin. Moving to your role today, can you talk a little bit about your role today and what you do day to day?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yeah. So today, actually, I’m on maternity leave, on my third one. Going back to work really soon. I’m a VP Product in Glow managing a team of product managers and product designers and leading our product to its next level as a company that’s currently in scale mode.
Aoifinn Devitt: Speaking about your experience now, both as a manager and product manager originally, programmer before that, You intersect pretty closely with many aspects of the tech world. What are your impressions of the experience of women in tech in Israel?
Dalit Heldenberg: So the distribution is not equal. Only like the third population in the high tech is women. And when you climb on the ladder, you see even less women. The situation even worse when you look on VCs and the women CEO in Israel. So only like 3% of the CEOs are women. Luckily in the startup that I work at, Glow, there is a good representation of women in the management and in R&D and actually all the companies around like 50% women.
Aoifinn Devitt: And the fact that your organization, that Glow, has 50% women at some of these levels, does that make it a more inclusive, welcoming environment as far as you’re concerned? Was that part of the your thought process in deciding to work there?
Dalit Heldenberg: So when I joined, the company was like very small and we were about like 10 people or so. And when I became like a manager, I was like the first woman. So it wasn’t like part of this, but when the company grew and like, so I saw that many women are joining and also like becoming managers and leaders, it’s like really, I think this is like part of the reason that I’m still there. There is a big flexibility in mind and it feels like there is a good diversity, which is, I believe, part of the success.
Aoifinn Devitt: And it seems like listening to your own career path, it was very self-driven. You were very driven, very ambitious. You are. How useful have you found to be networks? And other support in your career progression and what drove you to start your own networks?
Dalit Heldenberg: So my support network is actually, I have 3 good friends which I met through Twitter back then in its early days. They are also from the industry as they work in companies like Microsoft, Google, and we support each other and each one’s career. In addition, I have a big support from my husband who is also in the industry. I think if I haven’t had like his support, I couldn’t make it because with kids, managing like kids and the career is not easy. So I find this like very, very helpful. Other than that, like establishing Latways as a source to increase the network for women in tech space, we are very focused on networking. In each one of our many events, we start the event like in a dedicated session for networking.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’d love to talk a little bit more about Leadwith because it seems it’s got multiple branches, including Leadwith Babies, which is focused on women during maternity leave, which can be a time when some women may feel isolated and disconnected. Can you talk about the origins of setting up Leadwith? Did you do it alone with a group of like-minded women? And what have you found particularly helpful that this network has brought to women in tech?
Dalit Heldenberg: So both me and my friend Shira, who established this organization, started our career as software engineers and were in a male environment most of our studies and career. When I was on my second maternity leave, I decided that I wanted to do something about it and change it. In Outbound, I had a mentor and I really liked the concept. And in addition, I’ve searched for sponsors or people in the industry. So I wanted to build a hub for women where they can meet and connect with other peers, where they can mentor and give mentorship and sharpen their soft skills. So we started with Girls in Tech in Israel and managed events for women. Back then, I approached my friend Shira, who is part of my personal network, and suggested to her, like, let’s do this. I remember us planning, like, the first event. We thought that only 20 women would arrive, and we were amazed by the demand. Around, like, 100 women arrived at the first event and every other event afterwards. A year after Girls in Tech, in 2016, we’ve established LeadWiz. LeadWiz is a nonprofit organization focusing focusing on empowering and promoting women in tech. Me, together with my friend Shira Weinberg, RL, co-founded it like 5 years ago to provide women with tools and abilities to grow their career in tech arena by hosting inspirational events, providing practical tools, creating a supportive community, and providing mentorship guidance. And we are running several major activities. Part of it is like Leadwith Ventures, which was established to create a safe environment for women in the very first step of their entrepreneurial journey to share their ideas, knowledge, and meet potential co-founders. Leadwith Babies that you mentioned, like many other initiatives, was born from a pain and a need of women who wanted to stay updated on their professional life, even with a newborn on their hands, but couldn’t go to evening meetups. So at this time, there was no solution for these moms. So we created Ladies with Babies Morning Meetups that took place every month for 2 and a half years until COVID, actually, in the mornings, hosting dozens of moms for professional tech lectures that enabled them to grow professionally while still being with their babies in the room.
Aoifinn Devitt: It’s wonderful. There’s a wonderful picture of one of those rooms with a bunch of strollers and babies in them. It was a packed room, and I think exactly what many women would have needed to continue with that community.
Dalit Heldenberg: Yeah, so it really is amazing that every event was full packed room with like moms and their babies. And what was also amazing that every session there was, I mean, the room was noisy from all the babies, and which was okay. You shouldn’t, like, usually if you are coming to a lecture and you are the only person with a baby, you are shy about, like, if the baby is crying. But there in our like, it events, was, this was the standard. You feel like you have noise from crying babies and it is okay. What we know also, like, from personal testimonies is that these kind of events open, like, new opportunities for many women. And we also have Ladies Mentoring. What we are doing is also monthly events of— we are matching between mentors and women, like in many positions, like product, HR, marketing. And what we are doing is like one-on-one sessions of mentoring.
Aoifinn Devitt: And you mentioned some of the topics when we spoke previously that you speak about, such as wage negotiations, interview tips, how to handle maybe returning from maternity leave. Which topics do you think resonated particularly well?
Dalit Heldenberg: So negotiation was really one of the tough ones with like high demand. I think we had like several sessions, even in Girls in Tech, we did some negotiation sessions. We had like, this was something that many, it has like a high demand. Communication skills, presentation skills, also. And I think like in general, discovery events of like different positions in the industry, it was also something that we held like during the Lead with Babies and like our general events. So sometimes like on maternity leave when you’re at the intersection of your career and you want to discover like other positions that are out there.
Aoifinn Devitt: And then moving to the Girls in Tech initiative, I’d be interested in knowing what is the— if you have to paint a picture of girls studying STEM in Israel today, is there equal representation? Is this changing? And does military service make a difference to some of the careers that are attractive to women and girls today?
Dalit Heldenberg: So, um, back then when I was in high school, I learned physics and later on computer science, and indeed most of the people were boys and as a student, like, as a woman. And I think today the situation is much better. There are many programs in Israel to encourage girls to learn STEM and not to give up. For example, like, from the Cracking the Glass Ceiling program that I participate, they monitor each year how many will choose STEM as a major, and the result was, like, amazing. At least 80% of the participating female chose the scientific major. And in general, the military service like expand the network of people, you know, when collaborating with someone from all over the country. In particular, there are tech units and there are— that has two specific benefits. One, if you’re serving them, you get the brand of the unit and employers appreciate it. And the second one on a more personal level, that you get exposed to tech-savvy people, which down the road of your career can help you to open doors by these people.
Aoifinn Devitt: And then in terms of mentorship, you’ve spoken a lot about that, but you’ve been working across 8200 Impact as well as the Cracking the Glass Ceiling program. Can you talk about these organizations and how they work?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yes. So actually back then I had a mentor during my first role as a product manager in Outbound, and after this, experience, I felt that this is something that everyone, women need. And this is part of the reason why I initiated Girls in Tech and LeadWiz. Except from that, I didn’t have a mentor, but recently I was accepted to a unique program of Facebook called Shishi. And I’m about to get like my first mentorship from a leading figure in the industry. Telling you more about the programs that I was mentoring. So Cracking the Glass Ceiling is a program that is aimed at young women in junior high school. The idea is to expose young girls to role models, top female scientists and women in top positions. This is due to the fewer girls in STEM and especially true for young women who grew up in an unprivileged area and societies, because these areas tend to be more gender traditional. So as part of this program, I gave classes to girls in those areas and like they had to build a Wix site and me and another mentor helped them to achieve this. Talking about the other one, the Impact Program, like A200, Impact is like A200 is the elite IDF signal intelligence and cybersecurity unit. And this specific program is the first acceleration program in Israel for cybersecurity social technology startups. And actually in this program, I wear my product and startup hats and help early-stage entrepreneurs like launch their startup, mostly from a product perspective. And then as funny as it sounds, I feel that all of these volunteering contribute to me a lot. First, it gives me like a big satisfaction to contribute from my experience. And it also gives me the confidence about the value I can give.
Aoifinn Devitt: So tied to that question around mentorship, who were some of the key people who influenced you and your career in life? And I know we’ve already spoken about your network among your 3 other women in tech, they support each other. Were there anybody else who had an influence on you?
Dalit Heldenberg: I read a lot of interviews of entrepreneurs and get inspiration from many senior female who lead and also manage a family. And change, like, and also people that change the conversation and make a change. I personally really connected to the main message in Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, that women should have a much bigger presence in the workspace in each and every step. She also, like, encouraged, like, have a support network for each one. She’s like a big believer of mentorship, like that mentoring is a key driver for success and that mentorship relationship benefits both sides, mentor and mentee.
Aoifinn Devitt: And in terms of any pieces of advice or any creed or motto that you live by, is there anything that you can share?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yes, so definitely I think don’t give up. Is anything you want, you can achieve it with hard work.
Aoifinn Devitt: And in terms of looking back now to your younger self, it seems you were always very driven and very ambitious. Is there anything that you know now that you wish you had known perhaps as you were emerging, having studied computer science from university?
Dalit Heldenberg: So I think mostly believe in yourself and be confident. I mean, you’re good and you can achieve anything. The sky is the limit when you have like passion and when you work hard. This is what I also like proved to myself along the years.
Aoifinn Devitt: Well, thank you, Dalit. Thank you for what you are doing to change the conversation and to really pass on the advice and the and the assistance you’ve had to the next generation. It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you and thank you for sharing your insights with us.
Dalit Heldenberg: Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to our 50 Faces Focus Series. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
Aoifinn Devitt: The sky is the limit for our ambitions and dreams, in theory. But let’s hear how mentorship, networks, and the support circles we create can help us to climb. I’m Aoifinn Devitt, and welcome to this 50 Faces focus series, which showcases inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond. I’m joined today by Dalit Heldenberg, who is a vice president at Gloat a talent marketplace, and has had a close to two-decade career in high-tech. She is committed to helping people thrive at work and is a co-founder of Leadwith Women Leading in Tech, which is a nonprofit organization focused on empowering and promoting women in technology careers at all levels in Israel, as well as the Israeli chapter of Girls in Tech. She is also an active mentor within the tech community. Welcome, Dalit. Thank you for joining me today.
Dalit Heldenberg: Thanks for the invite, great to be here.
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s start with talking through your career journey to date, going maybe right back to what you studied at university. Where did it start and did your career take any surprising turns along the way?
Dalit Heldenberg: Okay, yes, sure. So I started my career during my studies. I’ve learned computer science and actually already in my first semester, while all other students were not looking for a job, I was eager to start working as a software engineer. So back then I worked in a big government office in a non-tech position and approached the R&D department to ask for a programmer position for students. And I’ve been told that this role is like for third-year students and that I can start with the tech support role. So I decided to take that, but I said to this manager that I’m interested like in a programmer position. And I was managed after 3 months to get into a software development role. Then I moved to this role that I wished and really enjoyed it. When I finished my first degree, I worked as a software engineer in the high-tech industry. Actually, one of the companies is CyberArk, which is a known company and it is now a public company. During this time, I’ve also completed my MBA degree. And after several years, I realized my passion is into business and product and like shape design and design product. So then my new goal was moving to a product manager role. In Israel, it’s not easy to get accepted this kind of a job without any experience. But this time I was even more passionate to get a product manager role. So I quit my job and looked for my dream job. After 2 months of searching, I replied to a tweet of a co-founder of a startup and went through 7 interviews, including the CEO, CTO, and got an offer from this amazing startup named Outbound. During my time in Outbound, my 2 kids were born, and also one of my other kids played with organization, which I will elaborate later. 4 years later, I moved to a startup named Gloat, joined as the first product manager, established a PM team during the time, managed to build a B2C product, go through a big pivot, and build like a product that is considered today as the leader in the market, internal marketplace. Seems like I had the classic journey starting from a technical role to see the bigger picture as a product.
Aoifinn Devitt: That’s fascinating. Journey just so far, I just wanted to ask you, it seems like you have pushed to get into roles that you are passionate about, which maybe were not easy necessarily the process. Did you experience much rejection during that process and how did you learn to cope with that?
Dalit Heldenberg: So yes, as I mentioned, like in the first time that I was looking as a student to seek for a programmer job, this manager told me that, I mean, he didn’t understand what I want, why I’m eager to get this position, which is I don’t have any experience in. And I realized that also other students, as they are not like working in this kind of position. So yeah, I had some kind of a rejection, but it didn’t stop me from like reaching my goal. Actually in the second day, in the second time when I searched like for the product manager position, Then in the current company that I worked as a software engineer, I was consulting the VP product and I told him what I wish, like to get a product manager position in a startup. And then he told me, you can’t get it. You don’t have any experience in product management, nor in like startup and nor in like a B2C products. So there’s no way for you to get this kind of a job. But luckily I proved him wrong and I got this job.
Aoifinn Devitt: That’s amazing because I think a lot of people do seek— well, it is a challenge to overcome rejection and to face it. But if you’re trying to pursue your dream, I suppose it’s necessary to build that kind of a thick skin. Moving to your role today, can you talk a little bit about your role today and what you do day to day?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yeah. So today, actually, I’m on maternity leave, on my third one. Going back to work really soon. I’m a VP Product in Glow managing a team of product managers and product designers and leading our product to its next level as a company that’s currently in scale mode.
Aoifinn Devitt: Speaking about your experience now, both as a manager and product manager originally, programmer before that, You intersect pretty closely with many aspects of the tech world. What are your impressions of the experience of women in tech in Israel?
Dalit Heldenberg: So the distribution is not equal. Only like the third population in the high tech is women. And when you climb on the ladder, you see even less women. The situation even worse when you look on VCs and the women CEO in Israel. So only like 3% of the CEOs are women. Luckily in the startup that I work at, Glow, there is a good representation of women in the management and in R&D and actually all the companies around like 50% women.
Aoifinn Devitt: And the fact that your organization, that Glow, has 50% women at some of these levels, does that make it a more inclusive, welcoming environment as far as you’re concerned? Was that part of the your thought process in deciding to work there?
Dalit Heldenberg: So when I joined, the company was like very small and we were about like 10 people or so. And when I became like a manager, I was like the first woman. So it wasn’t like part of this, but when the company grew and like, so I saw that many women are joining and also like becoming managers and leaders, it’s like really, I think this is like part of the reason that I’m still there. There is a big flexibility in mind and it feels like there is a good diversity, which is, I believe, part of the success.
Aoifinn Devitt: And it seems like listening to your own career path, it was very self-driven. You were very driven, very ambitious. You are. How useful have you found to be networks? And other support in your career progression and what drove you to start your own networks?
Dalit Heldenberg: So my support network is actually, I have 3 good friends which I met through Twitter back then in its early days. They are also from the industry as they work in companies like Microsoft, Google, and we support each other and each one’s career. In addition, I have a big support from my husband who is also in the industry. I think if I haven’t had like his support, I couldn’t make it because with kids, managing like kids and the career is not easy. So I find this like very, very helpful. Other than that, like establishing Latways as a source to increase the network for women in tech space, we are very focused on networking. In each one of our many events, we start the event like in a dedicated session for networking.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’d love to talk a little bit more about Leadwith because it seems it’s got multiple branches, including Leadwith Babies, which is focused on women during maternity leave, which can be a time when some women may feel isolated and disconnected. Can you talk about the origins of setting up Leadwith? Did you do it alone with a group of like-minded women? And what have you found particularly helpful that this network has brought to women in tech?
Dalit Heldenberg: So both me and my friend Shira, who established this organization, started our career as software engineers and were in a male environment most of our studies and career. When I was on my second maternity leave, I decided that I wanted to do something about it and change it. In Outbound, I had a mentor and I really liked the concept. And in addition, I’ve searched for sponsors or people in the industry. So I wanted to build a hub for women where they can meet and connect with other peers, where they can mentor and give mentorship and sharpen their soft skills. So we started with Girls in Tech in Israel and managed events for women. Back then, I approached my friend Shira, who is part of my personal network, and suggested to her, like, let’s do this. I remember us planning, like, the first event. We thought that only 20 women would arrive, and we were amazed by the demand. Around, like, 100 women arrived at the first event and every other event afterwards. A year after Girls in Tech, in 2016, we’ve established LeadWiz. LeadWiz is a nonprofit organization focusing focusing on empowering and promoting women in tech. Me, together with my friend Shira Weinberg, RL, co-founded it like 5 years ago to provide women with tools and abilities to grow their career in tech arena by hosting inspirational events, providing practical tools, creating a supportive community, and providing mentorship guidance. And we are running several major activities. Part of it is like Leadwith Ventures, which was established to create a safe environment for women in the very first step of their entrepreneurial journey to share their ideas, knowledge, and meet potential co-founders. Leadwith Babies that you mentioned, like many other initiatives, was born from a pain and a need of women who wanted to stay updated on their professional life, even with a newborn on their hands, but couldn’t go to evening meetups. So at this time, there was no solution for these moms. So we created Ladies with Babies Morning Meetups that took place every month for 2 and a half years until COVID, actually, in the mornings, hosting dozens of moms for professional tech lectures that enabled them to grow professionally while still being with their babies in the room.
Aoifinn Devitt: It’s wonderful. There’s a wonderful picture of one of those rooms with a bunch of strollers and babies in them. It was a packed room, and I think exactly what many women would have needed to continue with that community.
Dalit Heldenberg: Yeah, so it really is amazing that every event was full packed room with like moms and their babies. And what was also amazing that every session there was, I mean, the room was noisy from all the babies, and which was okay. You shouldn’t, like, usually if you are coming to a lecture and you are the only person with a baby, you are shy about, like, if the baby is crying. But there in our like, it events, was, this was the standard. You feel like you have noise from crying babies and it is okay. What we know also, like, from personal testimonies is that these kind of events open, like, new opportunities for many women. And we also have Ladies Mentoring. What we are doing is also monthly events of— we are matching between mentors and women, like in many positions, like product, HR, marketing. And what we are doing is like one-on-one sessions of mentoring.
Aoifinn Devitt: And you mentioned some of the topics when we spoke previously that you speak about, such as wage negotiations, interview tips, how to handle maybe returning from maternity leave. Which topics do you think resonated particularly well?
Dalit Heldenberg: So negotiation was really one of the tough ones with like high demand. I think we had like several sessions, even in Girls in Tech, we did some negotiation sessions. We had like, this was something that many, it has like a high demand. Communication skills, presentation skills, also. And I think like in general, discovery events of like different positions in the industry, it was also something that we held like during the Lead with Babies and like our general events. So sometimes like on maternity leave when you’re at the intersection of your career and you want to discover like other positions that are out there.
Aoifinn Devitt: And then moving to the Girls in Tech initiative, I’d be interested in knowing what is the— if you have to paint a picture of girls studying STEM in Israel today, is there equal representation? Is this changing? And does military service make a difference to some of the careers that are attractive to women and girls today?
Dalit Heldenberg: So, um, back then when I was in high school, I learned physics and later on computer science, and indeed most of the people were boys and as a student, like, as a woman. And I think today the situation is much better. There are many programs in Israel to encourage girls to learn STEM and not to give up. For example, like, from the Cracking the Glass Ceiling program that I participate, they monitor each year how many will choose STEM as a major, and the result was, like, amazing. At least 80% of the participating female chose the scientific major. And in general, the military service like expand the network of people, you know, when collaborating with someone from all over the country. In particular, there are tech units and there are— that has two specific benefits. One, if you’re serving them, you get the brand of the unit and employers appreciate it. And the second one on a more personal level, that you get exposed to tech-savvy people, which down the road of your career can help you to open doors by these people.
Aoifinn Devitt: And then in terms of mentorship, you’ve spoken a lot about that, but you’ve been working across 8200 Impact as well as the Cracking the Glass Ceiling program. Can you talk about these organizations and how they work?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yes. So actually back then I had a mentor during my first role as a product manager in Outbound, and after this, experience, I felt that this is something that everyone, women need. And this is part of the reason why I initiated Girls in Tech and LeadWiz. Except from that, I didn’t have a mentor, but recently I was accepted to a unique program of Facebook called Shishi. And I’m about to get like my first mentorship from a leading figure in the industry. Telling you more about the programs that I was mentoring. So Cracking the Glass Ceiling is a program that is aimed at young women in junior high school. The idea is to expose young girls to role models, top female scientists and women in top positions. This is due to the fewer girls in STEM and especially true for young women who grew up in an unprivileged area and societies, because these areas tend to be more gender traditional. So as part of this program, I gave classes to girls in those areas and like they had to build a Wix site and me and another mentor helped them to achieve this. Talking about the other one, the Impact Program, like A200, Impact is like A200 is the elite IDF signal intelligence and cybersecurity unit. And this specific program is the first acceleration program in Israel for cybersecurity social technology startups. And actually in this program, I wear my product and startup hats and help early-stage entrepreneurs like launch their startup, mostly from a product perspective. And then as funny as it sounds, I feel that all of these volunteering contribute to me a lot. First, it gives me like a big satisfaction to contribute from my experience. And it also gives me the confidence about the value I can give.
Aoifinn Devitt: So tied to that question around mentorship, who were some of the key people who influenced you and your career in life? And I know we’ve already spoken about your network among your 3 other women in tech, they support each other. Were there anybody else who had an influence on you?
Dalit Heldenberg: I read a lot of interviews of entrepreneurs and get inspiration from many senior female who lead and also manage a family. And change, like, and also people that change the conversation and make a change. I personally really connected to the main message in Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, that women should have a much bigger presence in the workspace in each and every step. She also, like, encouraged, like, have a support network for each one. She’s like a big believer of mentorship, like that mentoring is a key driver for success and that mentorship relationship benefits both sides, mentor and mentee.
Aoifinn Devitt: And in terms of any pieces of advice or any creed or motto that you live by, is there anything that you can share?
Dalit Heldenberg: Yes, so definitely I think don’t give up. Is anything you want, you can achieve it with hard work.
Aoifinn Devitt: And in terms of looking back now to your younger self, it seems you were always very driven and very ambitious. Is there anything that you know now that you wish you had known perhaps as you were emerging, having studied computer science from university?
Dalit Heldenberg: So I think mostly believe in yourself and be confident. I mean, you’re good and you can achieve anything. The sky is the limit when you have like passion and when you work hard. This is what I also like proved to myself along the years.
Aoifinn Devitt: Well, thank you, Dalit. Thank you for what you are doing to change the conversation and to really pass on the advice and the and the assistance you’ve had to the next generation. It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you and thank you for sharing your insights with us.
Dalit Heldenberg: Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to our 50 Faces Focus Series. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring Israeli women in tech and beyond, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
