Today we're talking about, you're not an impostor, you're an outlier. And um for those who don't know who are the outliers, you know, they're the ones that have chosen not to follow the pack. And um outliers have big dreams and unconventional approaches.So, you know, think about it if you have started a new career in tech after having a, an, a career in another industry, um that is really taking an unconventional approach to doing something. So, you know, going from being an educator to taking a boot camp, um and, and now graduating as a software engineer, that's a real different approach and you should applaud yourself for thinking outside the box. And if you're graduating from computer science, think of how many women, particularly women of color are in uh commu computer science um getting computer science degree. So you're taking an unconventional approach. Outliers are people who stand out from others for their individual accomplishments.

And what that means is that you don't sit there and think about, you know, this person's better at coding than I am or this person. It looks like they have it all together on social media and their career is going great. You have to just applaud your own personal um accomplishments and if you have any questions, please put them in chat. So I know. So, so I have five tips for, you know, being an outlier and owning it. The first is find your own definition of success. Everyone has their own understanding of success. But what's your definition? Look for the patterns in your profession on personal successes? And that, what that means is like, what have you, what are you doing that um Really that you could applaud daily, whether it's something simple as you know what, after I finish work, I just started working on my passion project or I'm just taking another course because I wanna learn about machine learning.

Those are successes that you should be just applauding constantly. OK? The second is cultivate intellect, intellectual humility. And what that means is keep a healthy perspective about success and failure. I think um we in especially society, we grew up thinking that success and failure.

It's, it's very um uh black and white, right? So it's polarized, but it's not that that's not the case, what we one person may see as success, another sees as failure and vice versa. So you have to keep a healthy perspective and look at it from a learning place. Like what have I learned from? Either something I thought was successful or I thought was a failure? And why do I think that and you know, why am I labeling it a failure and embrace not knowing everything. We can't know everything. So what do you know, what, what are you capable of just being able to talk about in five minutes? You know, or 10 minutes? Um always say like, what can you give a ted talk about? And so think about that, focus on what you do know, but don't think you have to know everything and also be curious, ask questions. Don't think that um you have to have again know everything, asking questions is really how you are able to move ahead, asking questions. And sometimes we don't wanna ask questions as women because we don't want especially if we're part of a team for them to think, oh my gosh, she doesn't know this and you know, so now I'm letting my team know that I'm, I'm not as knowledgeable.

It's ok to ask questions. It's better to ask questions than to make a mistake. And then now they see, oh, well, why didn't she just ask? The other one is when I talked about earlier, your passion project, let your passion project shine if you're going, you know, now that we are going back out in uh in public or even if you're online, introduce yourself with a passion project. So a self introduction with a cool project gives you social proof. So instead of saying hi, I'm Marie Roer Jones, co-founder of Esteem, I could say hi I'm Marie Roer Jones. I love organizing hackathons for women because it gives them an opportunity to upscale and really um showcase their potential. So it's you get your enthusiasm when you talk about your passion project and showcase your skills through storytelling. No one can tell our story the way we can and you have to be able to know what is my story. And the best way to tell your story is through something you care about. Something that you are putting time effort into and pro passion projects have a personal touch. They show off your personality.

So for me, when I talk about how much I love organizing a aon, I get excited about it because I get excited because the participants make me excited and I want to see them do well and I love to see, you know, the solutions they build. So I just wanna make sure no one has any questions. The next is incorporate systems of accountability into your life. Um It's, you know, and it's easier when we have systems in place, you know, we set goals or we, we say I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna write it out. But if you don't have a system in place, it's more difficult to set those goals. So incorporate these systems of accountability, whether that's having um I know someone who has hype docs. Um And actually she does such a great job with having these hype pods and they're suppo supposed to hype you up. Um So think about that. Who's your accountability partner?

Who in your life can get you thinking about? Ok, this is what you're gonna do. Stick to it and be, it helps you to be better equipped to tackle each day with a new confidence, right? Because you say, ok, my systems in place. I know what I need for today. I know what I'm trying to do. The other thing is strive for progress and not perfection too often. There's this pressure to be perfect and a lot of times it's the pressure that we put on ourselves that we now um I think that it's others that are putting it on us. So we project some of that um insecurity into this idea of perfection. But think about what's the progress, what have I done so far? Not have I done it so well that it's perfect and it's, yeah, I know that coding it requires that, you know, and everything is in place. But think about it, it's more about the progress to get there than to say I am such a perfect coder. You're not gonna be there all the time and I know not everyone here is a software engineer, but you have to think of it in those terms, no matter what it is, what you're trying to solve, it's all about the progress and also monitor and measure that progress.

When you do that, you're in a better position to see the growth, you're in a better position to see how much more you're doing and how well you're doing. And the last is find a niche where you can stand out and what that means is highlight what sets you apart from others. So if you are a, you know, a great data analyst and there's a particular niche where you excel, highlight that make yourself stand out in that area. You don't have to, again, going back to the second one, you don't have to know everything and be great at everything. But if you can find a niche where you can stand out and really start to show how knowledgeable you are, then that really helps you throw yourself as an outlier, share that knowledge with others. So, you know, if you, again, when you know something and you can give that 10 minute ted talk about it, share that knowledge with others because you don't know who else benefit from hearing from what you know and how you can help them in their personal and professional growth.

And I would also say keep learning, there's no, you know, there's no stop to learning. We're always constantly learning, we're always constantly um reading about stuff. So keep learning. Stay curious. As I mentioned before in asking questions, let's keep learning, find those opportunities.

There are so many free resources. If you can't find them, find me, I'm the resource queen and I will help you find a resource and lastly, I wanna say you got this when you're feeling like an impostor. Remember that it's time to celebrate your secret. I know that if you were to sit down and write down all the things that you have accomplished, you would, you know, shock yourself to realize. Wow, I forgot about this and I forgot about that. Think about those, celebrate those instead of saying, oh my gosh, I don't belong here. Oh my God. I feel like a fake. I feel like a failure. Think about the things that you had done and if somebody, let's say you're a manner or your teammate, someone says to you something that really offends or, or maybe hurts you because you feel like you let them down focus on the times that you have come through, the times that you've really um been a team member, the time that you have excelled because we're not, again, we're not perfect.

So there will be times we don't do things the right way. But that's ok in mind that there's gonna be good days and bad days, but focus on the days that you've done things right? So that when you have those bad days, you can go back and say, you know what, today, maybe I wasn't my best and that's ok because there's days I have been my best like this day, that day and, and you know, write it out if you have to and the times when you feel at the moment that you have shattered records, you've broken down barriers or aspired.

Others think about that. It's the times where you felt like I can't do this and you've pushed through, you've done it and proven for yourself and others how, and I'm gonna say how dope you are, how just great you are, that is what's important. And so your biggest successes in life have been your greatest moments of vulnerability. And that is so true. Like the times that I have been the most successful have been the times where I um have really shown how vulnerable I am, how much I, you know, it hurts and um and what I don't know or what mistakes I've met made, I think we don't embrace vulnerability enough. And as women, we have to um because it's in those vulnerabilities that we have those breakthroughs, it's through vulnerability that we realize who we are. And it, it, it helps to humble us and helps us to remember that we're human and um to give ourselves some grace. So I also wanted to um see if anyone had questions. This is your time. I'm just so hot in New York. So um but I want you to know that it's, you know, imposter syndrome. I really want us to change that narrative as women, particularly women of color, that we change this narrative because it is really the tech industry gaslighting us to have us believe that we're impostors and we don't belong there.

And the truth is if you are in the same space as other people, you earn the right to be there. And you remember that and even if you're sending out resumes and you're not getting callbacks and you feel like, oh my gosh, why did I just waste my time? I feel like no one's gonna respond. You're gonna get a response and you're gonna find your place. And when you do, you've earned the right to be there. So don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't be there because you've earned the right, just like anyone else. So um keep that in mind and you know, start living up to that outlier persona and if it takes um every day, you know, reminding yourself or hyping yourself up, then do that because it's up to you and it's up to us as women to really change the narrative, no one's gonna change it for us.

So if we wanna stop this idea of imposter syndrome is what's holding us back. Imposter syndrome is what's, you know, overwhelming us, then we have to come together. And that also means supporting each other. So being in a place of leadership, um being a team member, we have to remember that it takes you, it takes a group of us to make change. So we have to really support each other. So I really wanna hear about more women. Um coming together to embrace and help support other women that are coming through. And if there's anything that I, you know, can help with, please reach out. And uh I'm happy to share my network. If I can um share a word of inspiration. If I can, I'm gonna put my email in and chat so that um everyone can get it. So if you want a copy of, like I said, the, the presentation, oh yeah, I will give you my linkedin and thank you for the kind words. This has been um so helpful for me too. Like I, I feel like um I love the, the energy, especially for this conference. It's great to see other women and allies come together and really support each other. So let's keep this up. This doesn't have to be just during conferences. We can do this all the time. So um I want us to cheer each other up our women.

I want us to change that narrative and I want us to remember to be outliers and that again, we take unconventional approaches to things and it's not always going to be um so black and white or perfect. So I know I have three minutes. If anyone has questions, if there's anything I can, oh Which link did I give you? That's broken? Is it the linkedin? OK. Why is it broken? Hold on. I'm gonna just send a check. Shouldn't be just, oh, wait, what did it say just a little miss. Oh, I see. I missed. Ok. Uh Thank you. Um Thank you so much. And again, just today when you and other sessions just keep remembering and telling yourself I'm an outlier. I'm an outlier. I got this, I can do this and if not, I am going to put together a group and systems of accountability for myself so that I can feel that I am moving towards being an outlier. And um uh yes, I'm happy to connect with you too. I'm happy to connect with anyone. And again, just chat. I, I do that when I can uh and also invite you all. We, we do it qual aon, we have our uh hackathons monthly and they're a great way for you to upscale um and give back cause we, we help you. Uh we help nonprofits build solutions.

So it's always awesome and um that's it, you know, I, I thank you for coming. I thank you for spending this time with me. It's, it's been awesome. And again, I know I have one minute so I just wanted to give everybody an opportunity to just if you wanted to come up. Thank you. I I appreciate it. Thank you so much and I will see you around. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone and take care. I