Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Sunny Wanser of Braintrust Agency On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

Slow down. As a programmer, speed and efficiency are often key metrics. As a leader, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to slow down and take time to think. You may not know the best answer right away, and usually people aren’t expecting you to.

As a part of our series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sunny Wanser.

Sunny Wanser is a master woman of the web with a variety of unique skill sets that standout on any website platform that she has created. Sunny is a notable source in the web world, and currently serves as the role of Director of Digital Development at Braintrust Agency in Las Vegas, where her day to day includes developing, enhancing, and managing the websites of clients across the country.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was the perfect age to get into web development. Growing up, we had dial-up internet on an old IBM in our basement. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was in middle school in 1998 when the colorful new iMacs came out, and I saved up money to get one (the tangerine model). I spent all my weekends learning HTML and making websites on GeoCities. I’ve been making websites, in some form or another, ever since.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

Braintrust is a unique place. A lot of other companies hide their developers in a corner and just have them code all day. As part of the leadership team at Braintrust, I’m able to collaborate with other departments, have input in the company’s growth, and learn about the business side of things.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I worked at a high-security financial company when I first started my career. There were cameras in every cubicle. The camera feeds went directly to a monitor in the CEO’s office. Just going to work every day was nerve-wracking. One day, I went to sit down in the conference room and missed my chair, falling to the floor. Looking back, it must have been hilarious, but the atmosphere of that place was so tense that no one laughed. The lesson I learned was the culture of a company matters a great deal, and you need to be comfortable in your daily environment.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Braintrust is uniquely positioned in that we’re big enough to service large clients with tried-and-true processes, but also small enough in that we’re able to handle start-ups, curveballs, and unique projects. In the past ten years, I’ve helped make: a multimillion-dollar hotel management company’s corporate website; an iPad-powered virtual museum for a National Park’s visitor center; a ticketing and information website for a top visitor attraction in Las Vegas; and much, much more. Every day and every client is different and exciting, and there’s no challenge too big or small for us.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are very lucky to be working with Hope Means Nevada, a campaign for teen suicide prevention organized by Nevada Medical Center. It is their mission to eliminate teen suicide in Nevada by teaching our youth to practice mental wellness. They provide resources that are relevant to Nevada teens and the adults in their lives.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?

I would have to say no, I’m not currently satisfied. Women earn only 18% of computer science degrees (source). Whereas other STEM subjects have seen a steady increase of women graduates since the 1960s, computer science took a sharp decline in the 1980s (source). A lot of hypotheses around this decline relate to my industry: marketing. In the 1980s, computers and technology were marketed as toys for boys. From Radio Shack commercials featuring boys playing with computers to movies featuring all-male casts of nerds, the idea of the stereotypical male computer geek has become so ingrained in our culture that it’s proven to be very difficult to undo.

One very specific thing I like to talk about is video games. When I was a kid, playing the Super Nintendo taught me a lot of programming concepts without me even realizing it. If a game had multiple possible endings, the actions you took prior to that affected the outcome. In other words, it taught me if-then-else logic, a core programming concept.

You also die a lot in video games, which taught me how to deal with failure. I think a lot of young girls who may be interested in computer science get A’s and B’s in school. They’re used to excelling at a very early age. Failure is something that you need to do a lot of in programming. If you learn in video games that you can fail a few times, but then also learn that you can persevere and get through to the next level, that’s an incredible feeling. Your code will not work the first, second, or sometimes even the hundredth time. But when it finally does work? That’s truly one of the best feelings in the world.

So if you are the parent of a young girl, buy her video games!

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?

In my experience, it’s not outwardly hostile. There’s no sign on the door that says “Girls Keep Out” or anything like that. There are tiny papercuts though. I remember at my last corporate job being in a board room with several other (all male) programmers and a sales rep from a large software company. The sales rep went around the room pointing at everyone individually inviting them to a golf outing. When he got to me, he paused, said nothing, and then just moved his finger to the next person. Unfortunately, I think this kind of thing is ingrained in the culture. My suggestion for young women just starting out in the field is to not take it personally.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech? Can you explain what you mean?

The myth that you must follow a very specific career trajectory still seems to be prevalent. This path typically involves attending a prestigious school and relocating to Silicon Valley, where you work tirelessly in Big Tech, coding away for 80-hour weeks. However, a degree in Computer Science can lead to a lot of different career opportunities across various industries and regions. You don’t even necessarily need to be a programmer. Other roles such as business analysts, technical writers, or project managers, may also be great options. In my case, I work as a web developer at a marketing company where I also get to be creative and work with amazing clients in many different industries.

What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

Lesson 1 — Slow down. As a programmer, speed and efficiency are often key metrics. As a leader, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to slow down and take time to think. You may not know the best answer right away, and usually people aren’t expecting you to.

Lesson 2 — Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Hire accordingly. Early in my career as a leader, I was more likely to hire people that had qualities like mine. But sometimes you need someone with a different set of skills, especially on small teams.

Lesson 3 — It’s okay to walk away. Sometimes a project, client, or new hire just isn’t the right fit. You can’t be everything to everybody.

Lesson 4 — Collaboration is key. As an integrated agency, I am so lucky that I get to lean into our account services team for help communicating with a client, our creative team for help designing a feature, our PR team for advice on reaching an audience, our accounting team for help purchasing tools, and more.

Lesson 5 — Reward your team based on personality. For some people, big parties and social events are a true reward. For other more introverted people, like a lot of those in the tech industry, those types of social events aren’t rewards at all but instead can be really anxiety-inducing. If I know an introvert on my team is excited to play a new video game this weekend, I’ll let them go early that Friday.

What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?

As cliché as it sounds, trust your instincts. No one knows your job better than you, otherwise, you wouldn’t be in it right now. You can read all of the advice in the world, but in the end, you’re going to have to sit down, think things through, and make decisions. You wouldn’t be in a position of leadership if you didn’t have that ability.

What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?

In large teams, you have to delegate, which may also mean ceding some control. Let the people you delegate handle things the way they see fit. If they fail, they will have learned a lesson and you can make it a coachable moment. If they succeed, you may learn something.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

In college at Colorado State University, my favorite class was Foundations of Computer Science with Ross McConnell. This class covered concepts that form the foundation of computer science, including formal languages and automata; computability; and complexity classes. Professor McConnell was the best lecturer I’ve ever heard, and he made these abstract concepts really exciting. I remember one question on a test asked for a proof of some kind. When I got the test back, he had written something like “Sunny, you are the only person who used this proof, which means you are really thinking.”

Up until that point in my college career, I had gotten good grades, but I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself or in my career choice. I think this is a common experience for women in tech. Many women drop out of Computer Science programs even when they are on the Dean’s List and getting good grades. That small comment by someone I had enormous respect and admiration for, gave me a huge boost of confidence.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

At Braintrust, we’re proud to think about “marketing that matters.” Our clients in the nonprofit space are a joy to work with and make me feel like I am bringing goodness to the world every day.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I think it’s becoming more and more critical for people to have a deeper understanding of algorithms and computer science in general. There are countless studies out there about the harmful effects of social media on our mental health, not to mention on our children’s developing minds. Even though I am heavily reliant on the internet for my career, I strongly advocate for people to take mindful breaks from technology, especially social media, when they can. At the very least, educate yourself on how these platforms’ algorithms work.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It’s too long to put here, but the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann has always been something I come back to. It covers a lot of ground in life lessons, but the most relevant to my career has been “Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.”

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

Jaron Lanier is a computer science professor and author whom I’ve been reading a lot recently. His ideas about the future are very profound and I would love to have a conversation with him.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.