Trailblazing in Tech
Based on an episode with Sandra Warner 🇧🇴🇨🇱
Welcome to Latinx in Power, a podcast aiming to help to demystify tech, the way we do that is by interviewing Latinx and Caribbean leaders all over the world to hear their perspective and insights.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Sandra Warner 🇧🇴🇨🇱 (she/her), an accomplished Operations Executive with over 15 years of experience in project management and implementation, particularly in the federal and public sectors.
Sandra shared valuable insights on stakeholder engagement, cross-functional team collaboration, and integrating diversity and inclusion values into project management. As a woman in a male-dominated field, she also discussed the challenges she has faced and offered advice on conflict resolution.
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Can you tell us about your background and how you became an operations executive?
The bulk of my career was spent at a software as a service, SaaS company, locally to where I live, where the product we created helped organizations make decisions. It used an algorithm based on the analytical hierarchy process, AHP, which is a framework for decision-making. It was a very unique product and I really loved to be part of that team. I spent over ten years working at this company. When I initially started my career there, it was still considered a startup.
I grew professionally and where my work impacted the growth of the company very positively. It was impactful for me because initially my role was very internally focused. I supported our professional services team and their success with our customers, with the implementation of the software. As time went on and the company matured, my role also evolved. I started working heavily on major implementations with our customers. I was doing anything from facilitating meetings and direct training with them and other activities as such. Then toward the latter of my tenure at this company, I was tasked to manage the technical support team, which I gladly accepted.
With these added responsibilities of managing another team, it more than doubled my workload, but I took it as a great opportunity and chance to learn new technical skills. I was very enthusiastic when I started this role. I was heavily involved with DevOps, our product team and our engineering teams. We work very closely together, my team and I. In this role, I also expanded my touchpoints with our customers, where my communications with them were on a different level than they had been before when I was strictly doing implementations.
I continued to perform my duties as an Associate Director of Operations and then within this capacity, I also served as a primary liaison between several departments, which included marketing and the customer success team, our product team, and then account management. My focus then was ensuring our customers had the best experience with any aspect of their engagement with the product and with the company. We work with federal, civilian, state, local, and privately held customers. My job was to maximize our internal processes and workflows to ensure our teams were working as efficiently as possible, which also helped secure our renewals with our customers. My work helped us grow and scale over a number of years. I really like to think that I had a constructive and beneficial effect on the development of the company. This is how I became an expert at running operations and where I am now.
Did getting to tech was always your goal, or do you think it was something that just happened?
It was always my goal to get into tech. Even when I started college, my major was psychology, but my parents pushed me to go into technology. I did computer science for a couple of years and taking those computer science courses, the programming courses, and the math courses that were also part of the curriculum, it got me exposure to very tech-heavy work. I didn’t finish with CS because I didn’t want to just sit in front of the computer programming all day long. That wasn’t my personality. Even though I did get exposure to it and I was involved in it for like I said, a couple of years, I did switch back to psychology, but I added a minor in business.
Since then, technology has been growing and moving so fast. When I was in college, I remember at our campus we had a computer room where everybody would go in and use the computer. Each of us didn’t have their own laptop yet. It just wasn’t part of the mainstream like it was now. Just like as technology was growing, I was learning new things and then I just continued to evolve with technology.
I always knew I wanted to become part of a SaaS team and company because that’s where you’re changing the world. They move very fast, it’s very fast-paced. They are always keeping up and innovating the product to keep up with the consumer’s demand. I knew I wanted to be part of that, and I still want to be part of that. I think it just started when I was in college, all the internships I did after college, and then all of that. That’s how I became and started in SaaS companies and in tech. It’s the future, so I don’t want to be left behind.
What does it mean to be a Latina for you?
What it means for me is coming from a diverse background. Even though we have a lot of similarities within each other, we also have a lot of differences. Differences in dialects, in our food. Traditions are a little bit different. Our culture is similar, but there’s also differences in our culture, music, and more. I think it helps us with getting more unity amongst our people and supporting each other with troubles, even with successes. With whatever it is, we just need to be there for each other.
I think we are so close. We love to be Latina. I don’t know anybody who is Latina or Latino who doesn’t love to be one. It’s just such a rich culture, rich background, and history. I’m just so proud of it. I feel connected when I support others in the Latino community. I always try to look out for smaller businesses that are owned by Latinos and Latinas and just try to help them with their business and help support them, because that’s the way. If we all do a little bit of that, we’re all going to just help each other. That’s what it means to be Latina for me.
How do you typically engage with stakeholders and collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive performance?
It’s important to build relationships with whomever you’re engaging with. Whether they’re colleagues, clients, executive leadership at your job, or any subordinates that you may have. Getting to know and understand your audience is key in establishing a strong foundation to a long-lasting business relationship. Then, once you establish that good baseline and relationship, it’s easier to get buy-in, it’s easier to get them to listen to you and understand what you’re trying to get across and just get buy-in from them. It helps a lot with engagement and then that helps with contract performance.
For cross-functional teams to work cohesively, you need a strong leader that is dependent, that’s also trustworthy that their subordinates can trust them, and experience as both an individual contributor and a leader. For your team, you need them to be qualified in their roles. They need to have the right skills and they need to mesh and work well together. It’s very important that they get along in some way professionally. I’m not saying personally, they don’t have to get along, but at least in the workplace, they should work well together. You also need a clear and concise goal with the right expectations that are also part of the formula to drive good team performance.
Lastly, the team needs to be equipped for success and not overloaded with work. If you give them too much work, they’re just going to shut down and not be able to perform efficiently. I’ve learned to stick to these rules to have highly successful cross-functional teams and then we’re all working together to achieve the mission and to get the project done. I hope that’s helpful, how to run highly successful cross-functional teams.
Can you speak to the importance of diversity and inclusion in project management and how you incorporate these values with your work?
Diversity and inclusion are extremely important for any project or organization to thrive. There have been lots of studies done that prove that by having a diverse and more inclusive workforce, employees are less likely to leave and they become more loyal to the company. It increases loyalty and retention, which everybody knows, it’s really expensive to go out and hire new employees all the time. That’s a big expense for any organization. So, companies that are more diverse are 35% more likely to make higher profits.
As a leader, I incorporate these in any chance that I get either by learning about other people and other cultures as much as possible, just getting out of my comfort zone and asking questions. If I don’t know something, there’s always a good way to ask a question that you’re curious about, something you’re curious about, so just asking questions, learning independently about different people. When I form teams, I ensure that the teams are diverse and not only by including folks from different backgrounds but also by including folks with different skill sets.
At my previous jobs, I loved to have people from the engineering team and those very highly technical people along with the artistic marketing people because you can get great insights and great feedback from both types of skill sets. Not just having one type of group or one type of skill set in your team, I think you need a diverse team to get the best suggestions. The more brainstorming, you get better ideas that way.
So, advice for our community, I say just be open and explore new cultures. Get to know your neighbors. Get to know your children’s teachers or their principal. Or if they come from another background, just get to know them a little bit. You really will learn that everybody has really great traditions and cultures, so it’s nice to know what everybody’s about. Eat different foods, attend different events, and just keep your mind open and always learning.
I would like to hear more about your insights about working in the field as a woman, as a Latina, what are the challenges you face and what are the tips and advice you want to share with us?
I feel like as a Latina, I do have to work double as hard as my male counterparts that are not Latinos. They don’t even overexert themselves on any project to get recognized or even promoted while I feel I have to always work overtime and on overdrive just to get noticed. It happens. It’s the truth. It’s an ugly truth, but it happens. Men are given more opportunities to succeed, and I feel it’s easier for them to reach their goals. They have a stronger support system and they look out for one another. I’m not saying women don’t do this with other women, but some men in power positions don’t offer women the same opportunities they would if those women were men.
In my career, I was overlooked for promotions and raises, and I have seen firsthand other minority women, highly capable professionals, also get overlooked. It’s really demoralizing because I’m such a loyal employee, it’s hard when I go through something like that to talk myself into staying hardworking and loyal. But it’s something I still have to do to stay in the game. I think we continue in the US to struggle with this. Just women overall don’t get paid equally as men, that’s one thing. Then, Latinas, even worse. I think they’re paid maybe thirty cents to the dollar or something like that compared to men. I feel like we have to work so hard when men, I’m not saying men are not hardworking, but I just feel like we have to double to get noticed.
Part of this podcast is just to get out there and just let people know we do have great Latinas out here that are professional, loyal, very intelligent, hardworking. Give everybody a chance to succeed, give them an equal playing ground as much as you can, and as a leader, I would definitely do the same. So, that’s just my experience that I have.
I have three daughters. When they grow up and get out of college and start working, I’m very hopeful that things have changed for them. They’re going to be Afro-Latinas, so they’re going to face an even, hopefully not a difficult struggle like I have now but maybe they will. I mean, I don’t know. I’m just hopeful that I’m helping open up new doors for them and they won’t have to see the things that I’ve seen and just they’ll be successful easier, achieve their goals faster, get help better in their 20s, and start their careers.
How do you handle conflicts or disagreements within a project and what are the steps you take to resolve them?
I think conflict often arises with a miscommunication somewhere within the project. The best way to deal with it is to sit down, talk through the issues. Listen to what everybody has to say, whomever those stakeholders are, or employees. Come up with a good plan, and then make sure the plan is followed through. It can be as easy as just listening to somebody because most of the time when you’re listening to somebody and they know you’re actively listening and paying attention and you just repeat what they’ve told you back to them, you’re halfway there solving whatever the problem is. So, they’re willing to engage and participate.
The key is to just let folks talk it out and just listen to their grievances. I think just following these steps will get you a long way in resolving whatever conflict it is. People want to be heard and once they know that they’ve been listened to, then resolving that conflict becomes easier. The plan that you established to resolve that issue will become easier and it’s easier to accomplish it.
People are humans. Their emotions are involved a lot of the time. If you just listen to what they have to say and then make sure they understand that you’re listening because there’s a difference between hearing and listening. Listening, you need to make sure that they know they’ve been heard. Once they get that recognition, I think they’ll feel better. Their barrier, their wall goes down and then they’re willing to open up and be willing to resolve the issue. So, communication is big, talk it out, whoever it is that you’re dealing with, just talk it out and then the problem will get resolved.
Which resource helped you in your journey?
In my career, I’ve been very lucky to have great mentors along the way who have been women. They’ve been strong and independent, and they have overcome many hurdles to get to where they are. Some of them are not minorities, but some of them are. I think the minority women, they’re older than me. They’ve struggled with the same, even maybe more conflicts than I have in their career when they started off working.
They’ve helped me in offering me unbiased opinions and advice because I’m very emotional. If something happens to me at work, I take it very personally. If it weren’t for them to just listen to the issue and then just offer me an unbiased opinion, then it’s very hard for me to look at it without involving my emotions. They’ve helped me through that, and they’ve helped me be able to think that way too. Just get the emotions out. Don’t take it personally. It’s not about me. There’s other issues that I need to look at. There’s other aspects I need to look at. They’ve helped me during difficult times in my career, including several times when I have gotten overlooked for promotions.
With these women, I’ve often emulated what they did, the way that they worked, the way they presented to large audiences, and then the way that they problem-solved. I really try to capture very important aspects of them and try to incorporate that in the way that I started working. They taught me how to think and work strategically. For others out there, I think it’s important to find people that have already been through what you’re going through. Normally, it’s older people that’s just what I have found that have already struggled with those struggles. There’s a saying in Spanish. I don’t really know how to translate it well in English, but it’s like “The devil knows more from being old than being the devil.”
They know, they’ve been through more, their experience, just their age, and they know so much more than a younger person, just trying to find somebody like that for them to mentor you. And it doesn’t have to be like something that they take on full time. Just ask questions here and there if they’re willing to work with you, it will help you a lot. Because they will give you the best practices and those unbiased opinions that you need in order to overcome an issue or overcome a problem. I’m very thankful to those mentors that I have had and I continue to have because they do help me think in a different way that I would not think of myself. That’s how I’ve been kind of successful in my career with my mentors.
If you have any questions or if you just want to get some feedback or any way that I can help you if you’re just starting out in your career, you don’t know how to get to the next step, or you just want some quick advice on something, I’m more than happy to help. I love to just hear what you have to say and brainstorm together, collaborate together, and just find a solution. I’m here as a resource to anybody who needs it. I’m a hardworking Latina. I love the US. There are so many opportunities here, so let’s all just help each other grow and get better and help us get raises and promotions.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast. We will have more interviews with amazing Latinx leaders the first Tuesday of every month. Check out our website Latinx In Power to hear more. Don’t forget to share comments and feedback, always with kindness. See you soon.
Additional Reading Mentioned in the Interview
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