Lessons From My Journey (Chapter 3 - People)

I had some very wonderful experiences over the past couple of weeks surrounded by people who have helped make my professional journey pretty memorable and special. Two weeks ago I had the honor of leading the American Council for Technology - Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) ELC conference with the amazingly talented Laura Stanton. The conference was a complete success and through the planning process, I had the opportunity to get to know Laura and several other people I had not had the chance to work with before, so my network expanded. This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of joining Erin Gallagher at her Ella Fairway event in San Francisco. At the event I met another 18 intelligent and powerful women, many of whom I hope to continue to stay in touch with and support, so my network expanded. My network has always been the key to my success ever since I was a little girl. That leads me to my story about the importance of people.

Once upon a time there was an intelligent little girl who loved math and science. This little girl lived with her mother and her grandparents and attended a Catholic school. Every day this little girl went to school, got good grades and excelled. She was kind and helpful and got along with her teachers and even was close with the school principal, a kind nun. Because of her love of math and science, one day her grandfather, who worked at a different school, took her to work with him to meet a teacher who ran the after school computer club. She joined the computer club, started to love computers and eventually got her own computer. When she was in the sixth grade, she found out that the Catholic school she loved would be closing. Because of that she had to find a new school and after visiting multiple, she ended up going to a college prep school where she received a nearly full scholarship and had great opportunities. She also was taught by wonderful teachers who encouraged her to dream big and continue to pursue math and science. Because of that she applied and got into the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Engineering and Applied Science and intended to study Mechanical Engineering. After figuring out that Mechanical Engineering was not an attractive course of study, she pivoted to Computer Science. The course work was still challenging, but she had good friends which included a group of friends she studied with who were also in the Computer Science program. Her study friends met weekly over dinner that one of them prepared. They ate and studied and supported each other. Until finally it was May 1996 and the little girl graduated and started her first job. And ever since then, she has had a career full of adventure, developing new relationships with people who supported her and helped her along the way.

My Catholic school principal, computer club teacher, teachers at the prep school to my study friends at UVA, were the people placed in my life to support me through my journey. The people we meet and let into our network are the support system that helps us get from one step to the next. Always keep your network growing.