From a Young Woman’s Perspective

The importance of example and mentorship.

When I had the opportunity to participate on the Data + Women panel at the Tableau Fringe Festival the past week, I was a little apprehensive because — as a young, soon-to-be graduate who is just entering the data field — I wasn’t sure if I could contribute much to the discussion.

As I voiced my concern to my roommate, she told me that my position as a young woman entering the field provided a unique voice that needed to be heard. She’s right and even though I’m still in college and one of the youngest members of the community, I realize that I can contribute my perspective as a young woman about to start her career and speak on a topic that is extremely important to me and others like me.

This article comes from my overwhelming gratitude for the selfless and generous members of the Tableau community. I want you all to be aware of how much influence you can have on young women’s lives.

Since I’m a young woman, with only a student’s experiences, I want to speak directly about the impact that mentorship, guidance, and simple words of encouragement can have, especially when delivered by female role models.

In this piece, I speak on my experiences with female role models, express my gratitude for the women in the community, and encourage the men of the community to act as champions and allies to young women.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started my first internship last summer because I knew I was entering a mostly male environment in the data analytics department. To my surprise, I had many women working alongside me and saw a number of women in very high levels of seniority and leadership. When I learned that my boss’s boss was a woman, and her boss was a woman as well, I was profoundly encouraged. I hadn’t realized until then what it would mean to me and other young women to see such representation in leadership positions.

I was inspired, and it motivated me to reach out to women in the field to hear their experiences and stories and gather encouragement and advice from them. I have been able to sit down to lunch and hop on calls with women at different stages of their careers and they have not only generously opened doors for me and connected me to their network, but also provided me tremendous encouragement and advice.

Every time I spend quality time with female role models and leaders and workers in the field, I feel strengthened. It is so important to be able to spend time with women who occupy their own space and bring their own unique experiences to the industry.

It has been amazing to experience so much generosity from the Tableau community. I have found so much inspiration from women in the community who share their experiences, whether through their visualizations or their tweets or their blogs. To see women sharing their stories and their knowledge in the field is so meaningful to young women like me.

Eva Murray, for example, was one of the first women in the community whom I really started looking up to. There have been two instances where she significantly impacted me: one was a simple tweet describing her three rules for life and the discussion it sparked. Seeing her describe her beliefs and rules surrounding her time and the respect that comes with it resonated strongly with me because I had been struggling with establishing boundaries with some people who were taking advantage of my time. I had been afraid to speak up and I was stuck in a cycle of people-pleasing at the expense of my own needs. I had never heard someone speak so frankly and firmly about a little thing like that and I realized that I also could be in control of the time that I gave to others without “feeling badly” for expecting respect for my time.

The other instance was a piece Eva wrote on her blog about “not having to do it all.” I had been burning out trying to juggle school, two jobs, a sport, and my ambassador duties. Eva’s openness in sharing her experiences and advice helped me take a step back and re-evaluate what was important to concentrate on. To see these writings and beliefs expressed and shared openly by a female leader in the community and someone I very much look up to was so important and impactful for me.

Without knowing it, Eva and women like her in the community have strengthened me by their examples.

I am inspired, too, by women like Bridget Cogley who shares openly her journey with grief and her words on data ethics; Sarah Bartlett who encourages and welcomes every new member of the community; Lindsay Betzendahl who took the time to give me long and detailed feedback on a viz and who runs her own ProjectHealthViz; Emily Kund, an entrepreneur who runs an amazing podcast and the Fringe Festival; and Lindsey Poulter who stood on stage in IronViz and showed dataviz girls across the world what they could achieve.

I write this to emphasize that even though the women in the community may not realize it or intend it, your words and presence serve as inspiration and encouragement to those of us just starting our careers. We need to see your examples and hear your voices. You may not intentionally write or viz or tweet for the purpose of encouraging young women, but when you share your experiences and voice your opinions and knowledge, know that you are watched and looked up to by young women. You are noticed, you are admired, and you are seen.

I also want to speak to men. I have seen men of the community be allies and friends and champions of women, and we need that just as much. It is so important to receive mentorship and guidance from men as well. If you are in a leadership role or a position of power, it is important to use that position to encourage and advise young women, interns, and coworkers. I have been fortunate enough to have male coworkers that have championed me and shown my work to others, nominated me, and taken time to give me advice and hear my experiences. My coworker Eric Balash started me out with the community and nominated me for the ambassadorship and has shown nothing but encouragement and support within the community and within the workplace. That is as important as having female guidance, especially within the community.

I want to share a story which I hope will drive home the importance of having female representation in leadership positions and male support in encouraging these representations.

My friend’s brother interned at a large financial risk management corporation. He described how the male boss had taken all the males of the office out to lunch and while they were eating and having a good time, the boss looked around the table and said, “See, this is what it’s all about. Bros just want to hire bros.”

Hearing that story was so disappointing and discouraging to hear. How hard must it be to get hired with that mentality, and to climb the ranks when the deck is already stacked against you? When the leaders of such a company don’t want you because of your gender, or your inability to be “one of the guys.”

That kind of boss is detrimental to the company itself as it loses out on the unique qualities that women bring to the table. If “bros want to hire bros”, who is looking out for talented young women? Who is showing them that they have a voice in the discussion and their contributions matter?

This illustrates the need for female representation and female mentorship. This is why we need men in leadership positions encouraging and advising young women to grow and succeed in these places. Please, encourage and support us.

It’s also the little things. I remember listening to Joshua Smith’s episode on the Datasaurus-Rex podcast. During one part of the episode, he spoke about recognizing the issues that women face in aviation, the inspiration behind his viz on Captain Marvel, and female superheroes overcoming obstacles.

Frankly, I had never heard a man speak on the importance of female superheroes like that before. I had recently established my twitter and Josh was the first community member I ever messaged. I just thanked him for his words, because they had encouraged me. I still think about his words to this day. Like Eva’s example, Josh may not have been expressing his thoughts on female superheroes for the purpose of encouraging young women, but his words had an impact, intentional or not.

When Adam Selipsky’s TC19 keynote was dedicated to telling the stories of the female codebreakers in World War II, I nearly cried. I was overwhelmed with pride to see women being celebrated at the biggest Tableau conference on the biggest stage in Vegas.

. . .

In the end, my article is one of gratitude and it’s also a call to awareness of the impact you have and a call to provide mentorship and guidance where you can. If you know a young woman or intern or family friend who is in high school or college or just graduated, reach out to them and offer advice. Offer to connect them and open doors. Give encouragement and go out to lunch with them and provide your experience and stories. And if you have time, become a mentor to them.

I would not be here without the men and women whom I have reached out to and who have reached out to me with advice and encouragement.

We need your voice and we need your example.

Maria