Women of Product on what it’s like to have women as allies at Dropbox
For Women’s History Month this year, Women@, our women-focused employee resource group, landed on the theme Empowered Women, Empower Women.
With this theme, not only are we celebrating the contributions of women in history, contemporary society, and at Dropbox. We have created a place for women to support other women, lift them up, and help them grow professionally and personally.
We asked women of our Product org to share how other women, or allies, have empowered them as Dropboxers. Here’s what they had to say:
“Going through the ups and downs of my first job has been crazy but the amazing women in engineering, product and design have been there to give support, advice, and guidance when I needed it the most. When I go through self-doubt or tough situations, hearing similar stories or that it’s normal to feel certain ways gives me strength to be confident in my abilities and continue moving forward stronger!” — Alice Deng, Product
“Women in EPD empower me on a regular basis. During one performance review cycle, a female peer offered to look over my self-review. She immediately made it less passive and more assertive in expressing my accomplishments (versus phrases like, “I helped to…”). More recently, a female Product leader recognized my unique strengths and experience and connected me to a project opportunity I wouldn’t have had otherwise. On a daily basis, women in EPD offer me empathy, recognition, and coaching.” — Graciela Kincaid, Product
“I came to Dropbox originally because of a female engineering mentor (who was also the only EPD female I’d worked even remotely closely with in my prior companies) and have felt so grateful to have such a strong and empowering women@ community here. Women across Dropbox’s EPD have been some of my strongest and loudest supporters and some of the people who are most willing to give me constructive feedback.” — Caroline Frost, Product
“Fortunately, the best allies I’ve had have been my managers. They took the time to understand my career aspirations; they understood my strengths and created opportunities to leverage my strengths while keeping me challenged; they gave me direct feedback when I screwed up. I know I can trust them to do the right things for me.” — Tina Schuchman, Product
“I’ve been fortunate to have had strong female EPD role models who have gone out of their way to mentor and coach me through my first couple of months in the real world. They’ve been extremely supportive and have offered me guidance and feedback when I felt especially lost. I know I have a strong support system I can lean on, thanks to the awesome women of EPD.” — Cheechee Lin, Product Design
