ME, YES ME.
A white Latina woman’s story of working in Tech.
I am on a plane right now 38,000 feet above the earth on my way to a tech diversity recruiting event. I’m going from San Francisco to Seattle to talk with product managers who are not in the common gender or ethnic tech majority about why they should join my team, company, or heck — stay in tech in general.
I told a few friends that I was taking this trip and some common themes arose:
My husband, “listening to some Brazilian music to get back to your Latino roots before this event, I see?” (I was listening to some Bossa Nova that morning)
Friend A, “YOU? They chose YOU to go to this event?”
Friend B, “Oh, you’re going because you’re female and in tech? That’s cool.”
Friend C, “DAMN, Seattle is so white they decided to send YOU to make it more diverse?”
Well, my friends… yes, I am going. I, Bruna, a person who has such white skin and dark hair that my dad used to call me “Snow White” as a kid, am going to a tech diversity event.
Here’s the thing, I volunteered to go. I reached out to people I didn’t even know so I could go. And no, it’s not because of Seattle’s bright sun and no clouds-in-the-sky weather.
Here’s why me:
- I am a woman product manager.
- I am a person who was born in another country and immigrated to the United States.
- I am a product manager who is Latina.
- I am a product manager who didn’t study Computer Science for my degree.
- Heck, I’m a 30-year-old in tech! (anyone over 29 in tech, can I get an amen!?)
- I have a weird name, which no one can pronounce on their first try, and according to Freakonomics, makes employers less likely to select my resume at first glance compared to my friends Bob and Jim.
- I had an accent until I was 12 years old, which made teachers afraid to call on me in class for fear that they wouldn’t understand me.
- I had people tell me I just got into University of Michigan because of affirmative action (f-kers, I had a 4.0 in high school.)
- I had a swim coach in high school who told people that the “latino” kids couldn’t get the team’s t-shirts (racism sure is weird, isn’t it? Shout out to my mom who gave my swim coach a Momma Bear “no you didn’t!” stare and got me that swim t-shirt).
- I have been mistaken for the office admin one too many times when I’m actually a product manager, just because I’m a woman and dress nice.
- and I married a white Jewish man who grew up in low income housing.
So me, YES ME! This white Latina who people might call half-hippie, half-hipster, loves dogs and all types of wine and cheese, yoga and soul-cycle (sports known for their whiteness), is more likely to read at home than go to a happening night club, and likes quirky stuff like owl stickers. More awkward-clumsy than traditional Sexy-Brazilian stereotype (I dropped half-and-half on the floor of the plane while writing the last paragraph).
Yes, ME!
Diversity = Winning for all people, and here’s why: Building a more diverse workforce in tech makes sure we are building products for all people not just one type of person with one type of experience. At Facebook especially, we have a global audience, an audience of people in India, Africa, South America, men, women, people under 20 (the tech majority) and over 20 (the tech minority), etc… If we only staffed white men in their early 20s to build products; sure we could think of global solutions, but there will always be blind spots. When building well-used products, you need a global and diverse work force. You need to consider people with varying life experiences.
In so many ways, I am privileged, and in so many ways, I am not. I grew up with a loving family in a comfortable home. My family got our library cards on the same day in our first week in the US, and the whole library “awww’d” at our cuteness. My parents pushed me to go to a wonderful university and always helped me when I had questions with my homework. I never struggled for a meal. I had great friends who liked my weirdness and didn’t care that I was a girl who liked video games. I had a sweet dog who listened to my problems and never talked back. And for all the reasons earlier in this article, I’ve also had a challenging time in tech. Privilege is complex like that. It’s not just black and white, men and women. It’s race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, income, food security,<insert 100 more things>. There is more than one face of diversity and more than one face of tech. Diversity is diverse and that’s a beautiful thing.
Real Talk: I didn’t really believe in myself when I first started out. I didn’t go after a tech career because I was a “go getter”. I went after a tech career because I’d stayed up late every night exploring the world wide web via the beautiful sounds of the dial up connection. My first job out of college was at Google; I was nervous and excited all at once. I worked super hard, learned and developed through great mentors, and finally found the confidence to know that my thoughts in tech mattered. I’ve worked in the tech industry for 10 years now and every year gets a bit easier. I’ve grown infinitely more confident in my skills. There are momentary hiccups, but all-in-all, time and experience have helped me feel more secure. I’ve also learned to only give a f-k about things and people that are worth giving a f-k for.
I wasn’t looking to be an “outsider” in tech and shake up diversity, I just liked technology and playing with computers. I didn’t land on The Tech Diversity Problem, the Tech Diversity Problem landed on me.
In not-so-short, keep at it young kids and grown-up-kids. I’m doing this kind of for myself (because I like the work), kind of for Don Woods because he asked me to write this), but mostly for you all. If you ever feel like quitting, just say F-k Off to that swim teacher, those kids who tout affirmative action as the reason you got in to XYZ university, or that FedEx delivery person who assumed you were the admin of the office just because you’re a woman. There are going to be jerks. There are large societal issues to face (see Freakonomics reference above about resume names). There are going to be people who have unconscious biases that you won’t even know about. You’ll have some of those yourself, after all. But, if you love it, keep at it.
I’m hoping off the plane now. The pilot, a white female, thanks me for taking the flight. “No, thank you,” I say with a smile as I jump off the plane about to attend the talk. Thank you.
Love you kids,
~ brugoes
