There is a fact today, which is that
there are less women in tech than men.
And this can become, some days, a belief for some people
that it's going to be very hard
to get women in tech because there are less trained women
for the tech companies.
Actually, I would challenge that belief.
When you look at the users using tech, 50% are women.
You do represent 50% of the users of tech.
And I think that just thinking about it
increases the relevancy of how we sell tech,
how we teach tech, how we
think about the product.
Women have a big, big role to play there,
in making tech more relevant
for the users and for the world.
What is important to me is that women don't think
they have limitations.
I used to think that I'm not part of the big table.
If I go to a big meeting, if there was a lateral
set of chairs, I would always sit on the side.
And I remember once, I was going to a meeting
where we were 14 men and myself.
And I was a bit nervous about that.
So, I asked advice to mentors, now for me.
I said, "I'm going to a meeting,
I'm new to engineering, I'll be sitting with 15 men
in a room, and they all said, “Make sure you talk,
and you keep talking.
Make sure you interrupt, you get your voice in.
And when you're making your point,
make sure you finish and you complete it."
And I started behaving more vocal, and probably gaining
some of the self-confidence that I didn't have when I was younger.
When I was younger and I would walk into a room,
and be the only woman,
I would try to
not stand out.
I would not ask questions, I would sit to the side.
I would observe.
Looking around the classroom, I saw very few women,
I saw very few people who hadn't been programming
since they were 12 years old, and I sort of chickened out,
and I thought to myself, well, it's probably
gonna be too much of an uphill battle.
And I should stick to something where
there's more likelihood of people like me making it.
And so, I switched to economics and management.
And then when I joined BCG, I was exposed to experiences
that allowed me to experiment in a safe space
with technical topics, and actually allow me
to build that confidence around people
in a technology function.
Like the leader actually of our global IT practices,
as it was called at the time,
said to me, "You really would be great
to be in our technology practice."
And I thought, yeah, but I don't have a degree
in computer science.
So, am I really eligible for that?
And that was, I think an aha moment for me to say
you don't need to have a degree in a technical topic,
but building that expertise, building that
experience base over the course
of my professional career would be kind of
enough to form a basis.
I think now, walking into a room where I'm the only woman,
I actually feel like it's my duty to stand out
in a way.
And to be the curious person, to ask questions,
to convey that I have an opinion that matters.
And the reason that I want to be more visible
is not for myself, but for the fact that I know
that my contributions might inspire,
and might be something that just twigs in the back of
another woman's mind who wasn't in the room,
that they should have been there,
or that they could have been there.
It's about making technology as inclusive
for the widest amount of people.
Having a diverse leadership team is as important
as having a strong and growing business model.