Women in Data — Choose to Challenge and Choose to Be Better Allies
In March, we gathered women leaders and advocates from Slalom and beyond to talk about starting a career as a woman in the data industry, maintaining the “Choose to Challenge” momentum, and stepping up as better allies during the pandemic and beyond.
In celebration of this year’s Women’s History Month, Slalom’s Women in Data community hosted its 2nd biannual open panel discussion. We were fortunate to have a phenomenal group of women leaders and women advocates from the data and tech industry join us on the panel;
- Jane Urban, Sr. Director — Commercial Data Management & Strategy at Takeda
- Tracy McDonagh, AVP Life Data Strategy at Amica Insurance
- Garima Sharma, Director, Data Strategy and Architecture at Amrock
- Ashley Kramer, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Sisense
- Hilary Feier, Managing Director — Global Data & Analytics at Slalom
- Tiago Dias, General Manager — Global Data, Analytics & Artificial Intelligence.
Facilitated by Michelle Yi, former Senior Director for Global AI at Slalom, the panelists shared their career stories including their wisdom on maintaining the “Choose to Challenge” momentum, mitigating COVID impact, eliminating the gender pay gap, and unifying a team of allies.
Break into the Data Industry
As Big Data and AI remain to be popular trends in the industry, early-career professionals often wonder, how did current data practitioners and leaders get into this buzzing field and achieve their career success? Well, it turns out that data people come from very diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Hilary and Jane mentioned their obsession with puzzles, problem-solving, meteorology, and forecasting since childhood. It felt natural for them to pursue education and a career in data. But, do people need to have a passion for data at the age of 10 in order to succeed? Ashley and Garima stepped into the professional world as software developers. After witnessing the power of data and seeing how data could power decision-making to help the business, they pivoted their career paths and decided to become data professionals.
If you’re considering a job in the data industry, maybe you just need to find your trigger or “the purpose”: Tracy got into the data world after her final exam grade in college was incorrect due to a database failure, while Tiago accidentally joined a project early in his career to build a real-time data warehousing solution for the London Stock Exchange.
Regardless of what you aspire to do, our panelists advised those starting out in data to be intentional and own their careers, whether that means brushing up on core skills and learning something new, or even taking a step back from a managerial role and starting a new job as an individual contributor in a vastly different technical area or industry. It may seem like a natural career progression for leaders to breathe through and succeed in their career, but it takes lots of volunteering, hand-raising, and self-promotion to get the right opportunities, and tons of hard work to make the achievement. Gather your courage and continue to break the barrier!
Maintain the “Choose to Challenge” Momentum
This year, “Choose to Challenge” had been selected as the theme for International Women’s Day. At Slalom, we honored Women’s History Month by facilitating a series of conversations and events at work, to drive positive changes for a more inclusive workplace and to give back to the women who need it the most.
As many women felt the joy and support in this past March, we also hope that seeing women’s efforts, celebrating women’s accomplishments, and supporting women’s progression isn’t limited to March only. What can we do to best keep this momentum all year round? When can women stop to “challenge” because they are offered equal opportunities and their voices are heard loud and clear?
Our panelists and leaders offered a few pieces of advice. First, we should start to take action on building a more equitable and inclusive workplace. It’s tangible, and it will have an immediate impact on those people who are already in the room. When inclusion and equity happen, diversity will naturally follow. Second, as women and women allies, we need to keep speaking up on the things we truly believe in. Trust the power of our voices, and use our voices to move things forward. Third, bear in mind our responsibility and paying it forward. For those of us who struggled to grow and thrive in a difficult work environment, we need to call out the improper behaviors that happened in the workplace, keep lifting other women, and be the women’s advocates. Last but not the least, never discount the power of networking. Continue to influence people around us and take the leap of faith.
Helping Women Return to Work and Get Equal Pay
From jobs to pay, the coronavirus pandemic has hurt women deeply and disproportionally. Thousands of women have dropped out of the workforce due to the caregiving burden for both young children and the elderly. Even before the pandemic, women devoted three times more hours to unpaid domestic and caring work than their male counterparts. As encouraged as we are when we see more men join and serve as caregivers, or when companies offer flexible work arrangements to all employees, what else can we do as an individual, an employee, or as a leader in an organization to change the status quo?
Let’s start with the recruiting process. When looking at candidate resumes, hiring managers should be mindful of the potential career gap caused by the pandemic, and instead focus on the skills and experiences of the candidates. Candidates should not need to worry about apologizing if they chose to prioritise their family over their career for a short period of time during the pandemic.
For compensation negotiation, promotion and raises, companies and managers should take the responsibilities of ensuring equal opportunities and equal pay. A simple action all organizations can take is to run regular pay equity and equality analysis. Companies should commit to “equal pay for equal work” and there is no excuse for not looking at this data. Moreover, companies and leaders should cast a critical eye over the numbers. When promotions are delayed for women who are already qualified, there is no more “equal pay for equal work”. The representation is skewed. Although we need to continue to drive awareness and teach women to always negotiate and self-advocate for opportunities, we should clarify and emphasize the responsibilities of company leaders. When someone doesn’t negotiate, leaders should instead run the race and negotiate for the candidate. When someone asks for a raise, leaders should look across the board and consider appropriate raises for the entire team instead of responding to one person’s request.
When exploring career opportunities at a company, don’t just look at the women who are on the C-suite or company board. Look layers down from there and assess how many VPs, Directors, Managers of the company are women. This is a good indication of what a career path could be like for you. Is there consistent diversity representations at all levels? Are there clear career paths for all women or people of color? Are people being valued for their experiences and capabilities, instead of their identities? If you are going to have difficult conversations, don’t forget your allies, peers, and families. Let them be your support. And if you’re an ally for someone, help change the mindset and offer a boost of bravery for your friend. The call to change requires changes from all of us.
Effective Allyship: Listen, Learn, Advocate and Recruit More Allies
Women need more female allies. As a woman, we can start small; recognize other women’s accomplishments and support women when they’re in need. As a leader, we need to lean in more and be more disruptive to drive broader changes.
Women also need more males to be mentors and sponsors for women and be the advocates to speak up for women, especially when women are not in the room. We need everyone to join the conversation so that we can make sustainable improvements and significant changes. Inevitably, some conversations will be tough and some people will be reluctant to get involved. As Brené Brown stated in the Netflix Special Documentary Film The Call to Courage:
“to not have the conversations because they make you uncomfortable is the definition of privilege. The people who are targeted should not responsible for initiating these conversations. Your comfort is not at the center of this discussion. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes. It’s going to be uncomfortable. You’re going to learn about blind spots that you didn’t even know you had. Take learning it into your own hands and that’s how we move forward. ”
Tiago, the only male on our panel, is a long-time ally and sponsor for women and other marginalized groups. He provided guidance on effective allyship based on his years of experience. He suggested the first thing allies should do is to listen and learn. While they may have good intentions, sometimes men can be afraid of engaging. Men should try to lean in more. They could try mentoring, sponsoring, or advocating for women in the workplace. Men underestimate the roles that they should be playing and how much they should be doing for women. Lastly, as male allies, they need to continue influencing others and recruiting more allies.
Representation Matters: A Call for More “People Like Me”
When we conduct internal meetings and surveys, we often hear from our consultants who come from minority groups: “I want to see more people who look like me”. Not only does the study show that diversity and inclusion efforts are important factors for millennials and the younger generation in their job search, but cognitive diversity is also believed to drive innovation, productivity, and a positive impact on business.
We welcome leaders and practitioners in the industry to join our conversations and look forward to seeing more colleagues and clients from diversified groups on our next panel.
Join our Women in Data Community on LinkedIn today to stay connected with like-minded individuals and enjoy a supportive community network of women and allies from the data, AI, and tech industry.
See you at our next event!
