Good afternoon. Good evening for whatever you might be in this world. My name is Fern Johnson.And I'm so thrilled to have with me some esteemed colleagues to have a conversation this morning. For me, it's still the morning. I'm in central time here, and then I States in Dallas, Texas. And so it's a wonderful opportunity to bring together, myself and 5 phenomenal women To have a little conversation about making pivots in your career, and what does it take to make pivots as you start to aspire or heading into the c suite And I thought I'd bring together some folks I know and some folks I've had an opportunity to get to know over the past couple of months to really talk about, what it means to make these pivots.

As we're talking, I'll share a few pivots I've made myself. But first, let me just go around the horn, as I would say, and hear from each of our esteemed colleagues that are joining us, 1, to introduce themselves and learn a little bit about their background. And so I'm gonna just go theater styles. I see it on my screen and start with miss Vivian Way. And Vivian, welcome to today's panel. And if you could just share a brief introduction about yourself, that'd be them.

Great. Hey. Thank you so much. I'm Vivian Way. I have been with Salesforce for the last six and a half years. My career journey to tech is unconventional. So I started my career on Wall Street with doing investment banking and then pivoted. I wanted to go into tech to think about the various aspects of scaling impact. So I got into tech who was working on corp dev, eBay, and then ended up in, engineering organization at at Salesforce for the last six and a half years. And based in the Bay Area, have 2 young daughters. So you know, helping women succeed is a personal passion of mine. I'll hand over to Valerie.

Okay. Great. And Valerie Mackie, I am the CEO of RightNow Solutions, and, always been in kind of a net STEM world. So I have a engineering degree. But shortly after graduating it and doing a little engineering, I switched over to technology. So started with Ernst Young, So it's kind of the big 5 or 4 or whatever it was back then, went to a smaller, consulting firm, still in the technology realm, and switched to industry, at Coca Cola for several years. And I know it's kind of funny. I'm here with Fern from PepsiCo, but we've been very, very friendly competitors for years. But did I actually left Coca Cola 6 years ago, probably to make the biggest pivot and started to run this business right now solutions about 6 years ago, and our focus has been really on creating more equity and, energy patient and careers. I just noticed that we didn't have as many women, as many minorities, as many non traditional background people as we should in technology, and itself.

And so I created this company to help try to push the needle and help organizations with their strategies to, get where they need to go, but he put people and, create a cultural belonging to equip people in a different way to make sure we could bring everybody along the journey.

Off the wall.

I'm not tossing it, or are you? You're not tossing it. I love it. Alright. Alicia.

Yes. Hi. Thank you, Valerie. My name is Doctor Alicia MacKaye. I'm the CEO and president of GXA. GXA, we're an IT company, and we provide IT solutions for other businesses in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And so my interest into technology happened over 20 years ago. I was invited to the table to be an entrepreneur by my business partner as well as my spouse of almost 21 years. I was previously in the in teaching technology prior to going into the deep on the deep side of technology, And then once I jumped in, I went in head first, and I have been hanging in there in the field of technology and really just being able to uplift and really provide other businesses with technical solutions.

So I'm happy to be at the table today. So I'm gonna toss it over to Kayla

Thank you. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. I'm Kayla Lazardi originally from Venezuela. So that's where my accent comes from. I am currently the chief scientific officer for Revlon. And what that means is that my teams create products for all of our portfolio of brands, Elizabeth Arden, you know, Me too, Revlon, American crew, you name it. You know, we create products for all of you to use and for those wonderful brands. Before that, I spent 17 years of my professional life at Procter And Gamble work in Japan, in my native Venezuela, in the States, and also in the UK. But the biggest type pivot of my career was that I was a very, very academic person. You know, my my life was about patents and about lab and all of that.

And I decided, you know, that I wanted to do something different and I joined PNG. That was the first of my of my big changes. After PND, I joined 2 small companies in the Bay Area and then, Recki and Kiser in the UK. So I have I have moved a lot and I am very excited to be here. My passion is people and products. So very excited to share my experience with the hope that may be helpful some of you. So I'm gonna pass it over to the lovely.

Oh, wow. So thank you all for affirming that my career wasn't as pivot, you know, didn't have the most pivots as well in this conversation. This is really exciting. The lovely Gibson, Senior Vice President at Equifax. And I certainly took a lot of jumps to get to fintech where I've been for the last 3 years where we help people live their financial best. Started my career in public health, where I was there for about 12 years doing communications and some front end, website work, where I shifted to doing, mobile app development at Turner Broadcasting. And then really focused my career in doing delivery for big companies like AIG and then did some marketing and brand with IHG as well. So I've been all over different industries. So if you're listening, just know careers definitely don't happen in a straight line.

I'm super excited to join these women in this panel. So I'll kick it back back to you, Fern.

Thanks, Steve Lovely. So, I guess, I was curious a little bit about myself, but, I've been at PepsiCo for, just 3 decades, which is a long amount of time. And in that time, I've had make some pivots. And I'll tell you as I was thinking and preparing for our conversation this morning, I said, gosh, my very first pivot was coming out of university. I thought I was gonna be 1st, I thought I was gonna be a broadcast journalist, and maybe this is my foray into that. I don't know. 2nd, I thought I was gonna be in public relations in the music industry. And lo and behold, I ended up in technology for the past 29, 30 years, working at PepsiCo.

So that was definitely a fair number of pivot And my most recent pivot is I was really just kind of continuing on maturing on the CIO track and, had a functional CIO role. And was asked to pivot and go back into hardcore infrastructure operations technology. And so, while it's all under the big umbrella of IT, It definitely is different from some of the work you do on the CIO side. So let's jump right in. You know, one of the things we talk about is when you make these pivots and you're thinking about pursuing your career, especially moving into the C suite, I would say anything vice president, or above, you know, kinda qualifies based upon the size of your organization, you know, what are some of the risks you have take in order to make those pivots effectively.

I think that, you know, we as women, this is just my take on it. We as women probably don't take as many risks. I think we are, hey, it's gotta be lined up, like, to the tee in order for that to happen, but I really think that taking those risks, it would help propel us. So, Kayla, you love risk. You're all you're all over this one. Share with us just a few words around what taking risk means to you and how that's helped you as you've made your pivot throughout your career.

Absolutely. Yes. I am a risk taker here. So I think the first risk was that after you know, 5 years of academic career, you know, in which, as I said before, I was in a lab and creating papers I decided that it was time to get something more, tangible. You know what I mean? It wasn't enough to have papers published patents that it was something that was more action oriented. So I joined Procter and Gamble. So I went from the lab to be in the office, you know, and it was a huge change. It was really significant change because even the community indication style that we use in the in in academy in in the academic world is very different. We focus a lot on the pros this and how we got there.

And, you know, and at the end, we end up with a conclusion in the industry was the other way around. So it took me, you know, some time to understand that I needed to give the conclusion first. And then the the the process may or may not be important. So that's just a noggin. You know? But even the how you you you have to communicate, you know, and all of that. The second biggest, was when I moved from Procter And Gamble, huge company to a tiny company in the Bay Area. Normally, I moved from a huge you know, very structured way of working to a very, you know, loose one, but also I moved from the Midwest. You know, with very specific, you know, culture to California, to Northern California. So it was whole adjustment.

I mean, in some details, it's it's funny, but gives you an idea. In the midwest, we start to work at 7:30. You know, I was in in the 7, 7:30, 7:15. My first day in in my new job, in in Oakland, you know, I was there at 8. And I have to wait until 9:30. That somebody show up to open the door. I was waiting outside. So that gives you an idea I was used to have a lot of infrastructure around me and in my new job, you know, like, 2 weeks later, I was asked, you have to organize a a a conference. And I'm like, who's gonna help me? No one.

You know?

I I had to set up my own computer. You know? Anyway, you know, it was a bit weak, but it pay off. It was a wonderful experience. I think I am who I am today, and I got where I am things too. To those big changes and, you know, I I just jump in and and it worked, you know, because I failed in my daughter that it was going to work. And and and he did, you know,

Awesome. And, Val, you've taken some risk as well. I know when you transition from Coca Cola to opening up your own business and being on Entrepreneur had to have been some level of risk. It could have been calculated, but can you share kind of your experience with taking those risks and making those jumps and how it's fair for you?

Yeah. I mean, that yes. Absolutely. They're taking some risks, but going from corporate, it was that big. You know, it's cushy. You get a paycheck. On time. Every time you get a bonus, it's wonderful, and then you jump out, and then you have to figure out how to pay yourself. And wonder if you're gonna get so it's a big deal to go from that mindset, but I I think also in your career journey setting yourself up to take those little risks throughout prepared me to be ready to take this big risk. Right? So now I mentioned going from engineering to technology. And to be quite honest, I only went to technology because of money. It was they needed some people in technology. There was a new system coming out, and they asked for some volunteers. And I had just come out with this engineering degree. That's long ago, and I didn't wanna waste it, but they offered 30% more money. So I'm like, alright. Boom.

Going. Didn't even look back. So it's, you know, those little things along the way going from, you know, big consulting, a little consulting, the, to, industry, So I think if you do little things along the way, then it'll prepare you for the big things. I liked even in my career, I liked going to the new technology. So you know, they came out with HR employee self-service. I was on that, cutting edge on that. And then they came out with intranets, and they came out with you know, business warehouse and intelligence and data. So just always kind of changing up to do something new. So when I made this big switch, I've always been used to trying something new. Now this one was calculated a little bit because I wanted to, I mentioned I I wanted to see things different. I love knowledge. I love leading technology teams.

And even within the company, when I was at Coca Cola, leading core technology, right, so I was responsible for HR solutions and legal solutions, sustainability solutions, the technology solutions, and know all the teams that went along with that global footprint, even within there, I said, you know what?

I wanna focus on the people. So I knew where my interests were, and I actually wrote a business case to my CIO that says, This is why we need someone to focus on the people that do the technology. This is why we need to invest in the people And it was different, and it was risky because it then it became less on the critical path of the business needs. But it's something I felt like that business needed. And so I wrote a business case to create this position, and it worked. I did it. And, even so in industry, I still feel like we can do this for other companies. And so I took that chance and was like, let me start a company. If if companies truly care about their people like they say they do, then they don't need these services. Right.

And so talking to the people that had always been colleagues with and, you know, an industry, you don't really need anybody. Everybody's coming at youth because they something. And when you start a company, it's very different because you want to do business with them. But also going to the fact that if you set your career up and you set those networks up, then when it's time to fall and leave the support of that network, they'll be there. So that risk didn't seem as bad because I've always calculated setting myself up to have the relationships that I needed to have. But the other is, like, yeah, if I I didn't know, you know, if I was gonna create enough money to sustain my lifestyle and to hire people, I needed to sustain their lifestyle and then payroll is on my shoulder. And I don't pay them. Their families don't eat. So, you know, you're doing a lot of things, but making sure that you knew why you're doing it.

So I my why kept coming back to me. Right? My why for starting that company, was because I wanted to help people launch technology careers that may not have ever been able to. So the the the the benefit for me is seeing these folks go from 15 bucks an hour to taking some of our certification courses, getting up skills, giving them some career awareness, and then they're able to come out making a 6 figure salary, right, or working with managers to manage teams because teams aren't doing well and making sure that they know how to create a place of belonging for their team.

So all those things is worth the risk to me. It's because we can get companies and people better.

So, Viv, so so so let's piggyback on that one. So Vivian, you know, you've also taken some risk And you've also taken some jumps. They've been planned. They've been calculated. They've not been, you know, give us your perspective around you know, making these pivots and these jumps. And what's been the impact for you and your career?

Yeah. So, you know, I was thinking about my role today, I'm responsible for products rather operations for about a $6,000,000,000 portfolio, including Marketing Cloud at Tableau and the data cloud. It was completely unplanned for VESpral. I was tapped. I was recommended to do this role about 3 years ago, working for a very senior leader at the company. And when I, I still remember during Green Force, he and I met, I was doing a different job. I was building this you know, profile and expertise around cost to serve on cloud computing, and this row is completely unexpected. And I met with him, and I was like, just I need to do more due diligence about this role.

And he said, I remember he said very clearly, take all the time you need. I wanna make sure I have the right person in the role. If that means you need to take the time and talk to different people to get comfortable with the position, do it. It's okay. Don't rush. And so, you know, lo and behold, it took me a month and a half to talk to all these different stakeholders. And ultimately, I decided, hey. I'm gonna make the move. And looking back, I was thinking about, hey. You know, why did it take me so long? Because now in hindsight, it's a no brainer. And there's so much of that was I was scared. I was worried that I was gonna fail, working for the senior leader, what if my, you know, skill set didn't it didn't match with what he was looking for.

And one of the biggest lessons for me is always to your due diligence for sure. But if you're tapped to do a role, somebody is willing to take the rest on you. So believe in yourself and do it. I'm so glad. There's no looking back. I'm so glad. Like, I took that risk and our portfolio has grown. You know, it went from, like, $2,000,000,000 to $6,000,000,000 and acquiring and integrating different businesses. So it's been a tremendous journey, and I'm glad I took that risk, and I did it.

Well, congratulations. It sounds like it's definitely paid off. Alicia, when we had our prep session, you also talked about some of the pivots that you made from Air Force And Teaching and then launching your own business. What's been the difference for you? Have you thought it through and has it been kind of really planned out, or have you taken some jumps along the way?

So I will definitely say absolutely not. It has never been planned. Really coming from a military background, I will tell you that I was still extremely young when I started a business. It was not anything where I've I I I did what I would encourage people not to do is basically walk away from everything and just put it all on the line. But I was so young. I didn't have anything to lose. There We didn't even own a house at the time. We didn't our cars were paid for, and we knew we needed good credit. And so that was what we were walking to the table with. So, really, the impact for us was we were already at the bottom because we were college graduates.

We had a somewhat of a career coming out of, but we never had lived in corporate America long enough to understand what corporate America had to offer us. And so, therefore, when we walked into being an entrepreneur, it was so new. And we were entrepreneurs before it cool. Now it's cool to be an entrepreneur. However, when once we walked into it, we walked into a level of uncertainty as well as success. And we you had being into that particular space, we did not know that we were going to walk into a level of success. Because of the fact that we only was bringing to the table what was in our hands, our own skills and abilities as an entrepreneur. If you don't work, you don't eat. And so we knew we had to work and, like, seriously, work.

We put it all on the line And therefore, the impact has been phenomenal. The lives that we've had the opportunity to touch, the people that we've seen really grow And even our staff members, when when staff members around, you start building houses and having children and then we're able to send them to different countries to go put in computer labs.

That's the impact. The impact has been beyond measure of just what 1 or 2 people can do if they are moving in the same direction. So that has been the impact of taking the risk as being an entrepreneur in this IT world.

No. I appreciate that. That was that was vivid, and I feel your passion around the impact and what that means for you as well as what has for others. So let's ask this, of you, Dee Lovely. You know, I'm a firm believer in mentors, coaches, and sponsors. I think they play different roles I think even as you get to the C suite and aspire to VP levels or CEO levels that you still need a mentor, you still need a sponsor, you still need a coach, How have they impacted the pivots that you've made in your career? I'll tell you, I have, my own personal board of directors And if I'm making any major rules, I they're the first group I, I reach out to so I help navigate that course so that pivot is, I guess, somewhat calculated for me. I'm a planner by nature, but, what's worked for you, Diloveline?

So if some of the participants saw my last talk for women tech, I actually talked about having your own board of directors. And, like, there's just been a few things that I just wanna bullet. Number 1, it was my mentors and responses around me that encouraged me to take that first leap and help me believe that I wasn't going to have to take ten steps back to make a leap forward because in my mind, I mentally thought, I'm gonna have to stop at the bottom. I'm gonna have to just start all over if I make this 1st pivot. So that first pivot was, hey. There's this graduate program I think you should be a part of because it really kinda merges together your technology, desire, and curiosity, but some of the things that you've already built with your public health and communication skill set. So, again, we as women, we tend to just, like, if I work hard enough, someone will notice me. And that's what I was doing.

I will just work hard enough and someone will notice me. But it was my leader. It was my manager. It was close colleagues. They said, this is the program you should be in. I went into that program, and I said, okay. This is awesome. I had such a great but I started meeting people in the technology space from everything, from infrastructure to front end. Then it was now I got this at graduate degree, and it was people around me that said, now it's actually time for you to change roles. Well, first of all, I didn't get into the program when I first applied. It was my village that said apply again, and I got in the second time. For 6 months, when I had the degree, I was applying for roles couldn't find anything, but they were the ones to say use your network, start to make sure that you're talking to people, let them know what you're interested in.

Not only did I get a new role, but I increased my salary by, like, 30 to 40%. First try. You know, like, this is, like, things that I had to have people around me build that courage up. Third thing is now I'm deciding to change, like, apply for different leadership roles. And change industries because I'm thinking, well, this is where the technology is. Well, you know what? There's technology in all kinds of industries. You've heard about Revlon. You've heard about, you know, you've heard about entrepreneurship. You've heard about Pepsi. All of these industries have technology, but it's really a challenge sometimes when you're so focused on career, home, car payment, family, those people around you can help you level up and see everything that's going on around you. So they can encourage you to say, look, you don't necessarily have to take a step backwards. Listen to their stories and hear that there's a possibility.

There's different industries out there where you can find technology opportunities. There's not just one. You know, sometimes you need people to actually give you that courage And some of the people who have been my sponsors, they are in the entrepreneurial side. They haven't necessarily been corporate. Some of my biggest cheerleaders and where I've gotten the biggest confidence is people like Val and Alicia because I'm like, like you said, you got a hustle. And I'm like, okay, if they can do it, I can do it, you know, because I'm okay with the the the paychecks and the bonuses. I'm more of on the corporate side.

But when I struggle and when I doubt myself, sometimes hearing from those people who are in that grind, who are pushing, who are really super confident, Sometimes you don't know where you're gonna land. That is great confidence building. So make sure that your sponsors and your mentors have a diverse setting But without those people, I wouldn't have even applied for this senior vice president role. I saw the role. I thought it was me. I thought it was it was the experience that I really wanted to have. I knew I could step into the shoes and do well, but I really didn't think of myself at a data or a fintech company. But here I am 3 years later and have done so much filled so, fulfilled in my career, and and I can share that story with the people here on this, panel.

No. That's amazing. And I think that, I'm a firm believer in sponsors. I had a sponsor, very, very senior executive. Actually, worked at PepsiCo and, ran the ELC. And while at PepsiCo, I had just hit my 20 year anniversary. And I thought I came from the camp, do hard work, do good work, and you will be seen, and then you will advance. I do think that the network is a huge piece of that. And luck is also a piece of that per constant preparation. Anyway, my 20th anniversary of PepsiCo, this senior vice president said Fern, Why are you you're already proven. You're working 22, 3, 4 times harder to continue to prove yourself You're already proven. You've spent 2 decades in a fortune 50 organization. We know your worth.

And now as I'm an avid Peloton rider, I'd say no your worth, then their tax. Because we are worthy for what we do and what we bring to the table. So with that, we're gonna just ask just a couple more questions, and I see that we've got a Q and A popping up. So That's awesome. Can any of you talk about any of the training and tools that you've used as you've made your pivots? Whether it is leadership development courses or certain books you've read or other tools that have might helped you in that path. Vivienne?

So I just really wanna echo the point about creating a tribe and the board of directors because in in in, you know, the board of directors composition also changes as you pivot your own career because your learning needs change. And what I've personally learned is, you know, last year, for example, I was asked to take on cybersecurity operations for the team. And now I had zero experience in cyber, and didn't know a whole lot. Now I was very fortunate. I was connected to a few other women leaders, and one of them happens to be a seesaw. So she connected then connected me to a few other people and I learn about, hey, you know, here's the next, the framework, various framework. Here's how you think about how how you approach and then they recommended a few of the resources and potential courses I could take on Coursera and others.

So that's kind of, you know, learning from the experts, and they can kind of share with you, oh, you know, here's the blueprint. Of how you can get a crash course into a new space that you can learn, is a really, really great way And then the second the second one is just remain curious. I think all of us have very different unique perspectives and skill set. A lot of these times, you know, it's it's the same group of engineers who've been solving the same set of problems for a long time, but couldn't get there. And we go in and we ask a few questions looking at the problem from a very different perspective, and then they go Oh, I didn't think about it this way. I never looked at this data or that other data so that curiosity and also that in car like, just the courage to speak up and ask the right questions.

A lot of the times, we're like, well, you know, I when I first got into Salesforce focus on cloud Computing. I was like, I don't know a whole lot about data centers, but I do know the money exchange. And how to make capital investment and what gives the best returns. When I work with the engineers, didn't necessarily think about it this way, and I was like, you are making decisions, few $100,000,000 of CapEx investment, and you don't think about the money. And that is when, you know, that curiosity and bring the perspective really helped us to accomplish greater impact in bulls. So, you know, a lot of times, or I'm the only woman in the room, the only underrepresented minority, and the only person who doesn't come from you know, wasn't training computer science and got a PhD in neuroscience and data science, but guess what?

I always have something unique to say and something additional value to bring to the table. That is why I've earned the seat at the table. And I want all of us to think about it this way, the audience in front of us.

No. I think I love that Vivienne. You talked about having a seat at the table I will leave a couple of things. 1, if you've been offered the seat at the table, have a voice. And then if you have the ability to bring an empty seat, bring an FTC and make sure it's a woman.

And so

I think we have a responsibility to help bring each other along and bring each other with us when we can. So, hey. I I know that. I was

never too early. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but it's never it's never too early to start supporting others. You know what I mean? Like, we were talking about mentor and sponsors at any level. You know what I mean? You can pay it forward. That is something that I do. I mean, I still do with people that I work 20 years ago, and I still mentor them, and I stay in touch because I'm paying forward, you know, what I received from many mentors and sponsors. So it's never too early.

You know, I think it's appropriate. We got a great question in our q and a from Maya Stone, who's out in the audience, and it kinda t talks about that mentors and sponsors. And she asks, how do you ask people to join your personal board of directors? And, dear lovely, I know you spoke a lot about you wanna share a few thoughts around what's the process you go to asking someone to, hey. Can you jump on board and and be on my board. My personal board.

Sure. So first of all, you probably have people on that board already. So, you know, don't overthink it too much. There are people that you go to for career advice, life advice, you know, just day to day task advice. Start there. Those people might already be on your board. What you may need to add to that tooling is someone who is either a peer or someone who is more senior who can really be looking out into the organization or out into the industry and know your skill set, making sure that someone who knows what you do, and that's more of the mentor.

And then looking for someone who can sponsor you, who oftentimes do you have to use the rest of your board to look for a sponsor because they're looking for people who would say, yes, I'm gonna stand up for, you know, this person a or b. But think of it more around. Start with the people that you know. It could be your manager. It could be a professor. It could be somebody in your family who is also in the corporate space or or is has a career like mindedness so my board of director is very. I have people who are on the family side, friend side, and then I have people who are worked with in different corporate spaces. I would probably say maybe only a third of those people. I talk in terms of you're on my board of directors, but there's a whole collective that are in my board of directors.

But there are some people I'm like, I need my board right now. I'm having these thoughts. I'm having this, you know, decision making problem. I need real honest feedback. And that's really important. Making sure that you have people that are gonna pump you up, you know, be your cheerleaders go in and go hard for you as well as some people who can give you critical feedback in a way that you can hear it and understand it. And accept it. But just making sure that you have that, that good selection, but, I'm pretty sure you've got people that you might be overlooking that are already part part of that board.

Awesome. Hey. I wanna hear a little bit from Val and Alicia on what tools you guys have used, or training you've used, Alicia, can you share with us and then pin punch it over to Val with, how you've sharpened your saw as you've made your pivots?

Yes. Absolutely. So, being a business owner, you have to really think multidimensional. You have the aspect of being the artist, Some people are artists, meaning that they come in. They only get paid to do that job. They focus on that job and that job only. But as an entrepreneur, you really have to be a business because not only are you thinking about an artist, or if you are the artist and you are the entrepreneur, you also have to think about the business. And so there there's 2 totally different, the dimensions of the brain that actually plays out whenever you're an entrepreneur And so things that you have to really consider thinking about as an entrepreneur is how do you get help running a business? Because it's so different from just delivering the service or or delivering the product. That's one aspect of the business and as entrepreneurs. A lot of times when people look at us from the outside, all they see is the product or the service.

But what you'd fail to see on the back end of that is the bid And so the one of the things that I had to really get help to learn how to do over these years is how do I run the business? How do I separate and understand the different aspects of the business because I can't I can't neglect marketing and sales. I can't neglect my services. I can't the the neglect the legal side of my business such as HR. I cannot neglect these areas. So you really wanna think from a more of a holistic standpoint of how do you get how do you get help? And there's a lot of services out there, bops in college, Goldman Sachs, 10,000 small business in, entrepreneurship program. That's that's a very national program. You also can consider then how do you get help with your leadership abilities? Because you gotta know how to influence people.

And so I just came back from the international leadership conference. In Orlando. And so I bought so many books out there. I had to ship them to myself. And so the constant level of reading as an entrepreneur newer. Because once you begin to separate yourself from the pack and you're no longer working for someone, you now gotta begin to become very disruptive in your thinking. You gotta up your own thinking pattern and say, am I thinking about what's next? What's gonna happen? Well, how is this next gonna impact my employee? So you gotta get outside of your office. The only time that you can advance as an entrepreneur is when you get outside of the business. So Vowel, I'm gonna just turn it over to you because I know I I've given people way too much, but a lot

good stuff. Wonderful nuggets. Never gonna have too much. And some some of the tools that I use, first of all, reading, there are a couple different areas, so I have to stay up on technology. So one of the things we do with companies is say, hey, we can obscure your people. Your your strategy is moving to a new technology, and we can obscure your people to be with that technology so you don't have to leave them off. But in order for me to be able to know how to train people to even train others in that technology, I have I have to know what's on the cutting edge. So I'm always looking at Gartner or the going to conferences to see what is it cutting edge.

So I can instruct you and advise a company on where we're going next. And I I can say I already know where you're trying to go with your strategy, and we can help you get there because we can actually come in and train you people in that technology. But I wanna piggyback on Vivian and what she said about how she was the only, you know, in scenarios, and we probably had all had this experience. And so I learned a lot from my experiences, and I built on that. I have a program a program called being the only. Mhmm. It is a part of this belonging experience, and that is because of

the Interrupt in between. Sorry to interrupt in between. I have to end the session because another session is waiting, and Thank you so much for your conversation. It happened great, hosting you all, and have a great life ahead.

Alright, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us, and thanks for joining the women's tech global conference. Thank you.

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