With the Women in Tech Global Awards & Inspire Summit 2022 fast approaching, we really want to raise your attention to some of the keynote speakers we had last year.
Their diverse backgrounds and career stories truly piqued our attendees’ intrigue and we hope they will enrich you too!
Edwige A Robinson, Sr. Vice President at T-Mobile
One of the most moving and motivational speeches was given by Edwige Robinson who came from Côte d'Ivoire and has been in tech for over 26 years now. She talked us through some highlights of her journey as a female, a foreigner, and a black professional in tech. Something she refers to as a “triple minority”.
In her presentation “Be your own hero” she shared some of the challenges she faced and how she turned them into opportunities to carve new trails. Edwige advises us to accept the card we’ve been dealt without playing the victim. She describes her childhood environment, the long kilometers she had to walk to school, as well as the limited financial resources of her family. The times were so tough, yet she learned a lot about perseverance and dived into education. Below are the three key takeaways from her career story:
Embrace the unknown
Later on, after winning a Green Card, she made her leap of faith. A ticket to the US was worth a 6 months’ salary, however, she knew she was the one who had to make the effort, not anybody else. So courage presented itself as the only option.
Love your uniqueness
Her second piece of advice is to own your uniqueness. Edwige urged the audience to love their differences, because all of us are non-repeatables. Just like the Sun and the Moon shine on their own, do not compete but rather focus on your own gifts.
Fight for yourself
The third point of Edwige was to ask for help when needed and fight for yourself. As she outlined - nobody wins alone.
Fight for yourself, not for everybody else.
Watch the full video here and check out ticket options for the Women in Tech Global Awards & Inspire Summit.
Robbin Jones, Coca-Cola
In her talk “Trusting Your Voice: Elevating Others by Prioritizing Yourself”, Robbin shedded light on how to find and believe in your own voice.
Her first insight was that we need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, take risks and be proactive.
She gave an example of how women and men approach job application: the former think they have to tick about 80% of the job requirements to even consider applying, whereas the latter often tick just one box and simply go ahead and apply.
Robbin then explained why it is OK to say no. She talked about the possibility of receiving a big task on Thursday that will definitely consume your whole time along with investing some overtime. Her advice is to use your voice and disagree. Later on in the presentation she spoke about a friend of hers who had to be promoted, however her superior stated the workload will be too much for her, given she is raising a child. Instead of being frustrated, her friend had to speak up and communicate to her boss - let my work show and not my personal life.
Last but not least, Robbin suggested women in tech to ask for help instead of trying to juggle it all. She reminded the audience we are all human and need a break.
You can watch the full video here
Vivienne Wei, VP, Salesforce
Vivienne’s presentation on “Resilient Leadership” revealed tips and tricks to supercharge your career.
She started off by sharing a story about her first U.S. employment and how the pitch she worked for so hard got teared down to pieces. Her boss crossed out every single table, wrong, and labeled her and her associate as incompetent. Vivienne felt defeated, however she did not succumb to the failure mentality and carried on until she saved the clients from bankruptcy. She shared that these are the lows that are inevitable, but what really matters is how you deal with them. Going through a rough patch or a series of them and besides that carrying on being committed to the goal and ready to succeed - this is resilience.
Lesson number two from Vivienne was to find opportunities, courage and conviction in the face of crisis. One of her tips was to prioritize speed over perfection. She then described her hardest life journey, that is becoming a mother. Through this journey she became very resilient.
Lesson number three was that women are the most resilient. She backed her statements with a beautiful story about her mother and the way she responded to “Why did you go through all of this?”
Vivienne’s dream is that before she leaves the planet, she wishes to see half of the leaders to be women.
View the full video here
We hope you feel recharged after listening or reading about these three amazing career and life journeys. Join us at this year's Women in Tech Global Awards & Inspire Summit to discover more inspirational gems and learn about tech from the industry heavyweights.
