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Elizabeth has been working as an engineer for over 15 years at some of the most well-known tech companies, including Macromedia, which later was acquired by Adobe, Foursquare, and now Instagram. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has experienced what it’s like to be the only woman in the room, which is why she is so passionate about ensuring more women have a seat at the table. We asked Elizabeth to share her inspiring advice for building a community of empowered women not just at Instagram, but across the entire tech industry.
Live Your Personal Mission
When I first started working in tech, it wasn’t out of the ordinary to be the only woman in the room. In fact, when I joined Macromedia over 10 years ago, I was the first female engineer on my team. Since then, I’ve made it my mission to ensure that the women where I work develop connections to each other, even if we don’t work on any of the same projects. It’s been important to me that there are opportunities for women to come together -- whether we talk about work or our personal lives. I’ve always wanted the women around me to feel like they are part of a community of like-minded ladies and to know they aren’t alone.
When I decided to move on from my last job, I knew I wanted my next workplace to be somewhere that made diversity a priority. As someone who has often stood out as the only woman or person of color in the room, it was important that I didn’t get distracted by this same dynamic in my next role. I had a few friends working for Facebook at the time, and they all had complimentary things to say about how inspired and empowered they were at the company, as well as the impactful projects they were working on; so I decided to take the leap.
When I joined Facebook, I went through Bootcamp, the company’s 8-10 week orientation program for engineers that provides an opportunity to meet different teams at Facebook. Interestingly, three years before I joined Facebook, while I was still at Foursquare, I attended a networking event where I chatted with someone who was trying to recruit me to join Instagram’s infrastructure team. I remember thinking at the time that I loved working on consumer-facing product and features, and didn’t believe that infrastructure would be a fit for me. During my time in Bootcamp, I met incredible fellow women engineers that exposed me to the full challenges that the Instagram infrastructure team was working to solve. Today, I’m fortunate to call these ladies my teammates, and friends.
I’ve been at Instagram a little over six months. When it comes time for your six-month review, one of the criteria your managers look at is, “What are you doing to help shape people?” For me, my personal passion for diversity and finding opportunities for women has fueled my efforts to help others. What's enabled me to drive these initiatives forward is the culture at Instagram. It’s been incredible to be part of a company that has a global presence, and believes in fostering a supportive environment for women and underrepresented minorities.
Empower The Women Around You
There are many ways you can cultivate an empowering and supportive environment for the women at your company. Here are a few tips I’ve learned throughout my career, as well as from my time at Instagram so far:
Connect Over Coffee
Soon after I joined one of my past jobs, I checked my calendar and saw a coffee date with a woman on the marketing team named Nina. I didn’t know her, and we would not be working on any of the same things, so I wondered why she wanted to meet with me. It turns out, she was just excited to hear that another woman had joined the team, and she wanted to connect. Now this is one of my favorite things to do at Instagram! It doesn’t take a lot to reach out to someone and have a 30-minute coffee, to get to know each other and share experiences. Being there for others is important; it establishes a culture based on trust, support and empathy. Fun fact, Nina and I now both work at Instagram!
Lead by Example
Recently, the CTO of Instagram, Mike Krieger, went out of his way to have a roundtable with the women who work here. It was amazing that he took time out of his to day to learn what’s important to us. It’s so great to be in a supportive environment with leaders who understand that this type of behavior has to start from the top. Seeing leaders reach out and having meaningful discussions fosters a sense of trust and security in the workplace.
Knowledge is Power: Share It!
When I first joined the Facebook Lean In Circle, I learned that the group was made up of a lot of people who were relatively new to their careers. As a senior woman on the team, the group thought I could bring a diverse and interesting perspective to an upcoming panel on personal and financial planning. As an engineer, I didn’t think I had anything to offer on this topic. But once the panel started, we didn’t even have enough time to get through everything! I learned that my knowledge and experience was very valuable to the younger women around me, who had not yet thought about the things that I've been forced to think about, such as retirement and investing. Your experiences are valuable and you might be surprised to find how much others can benefit from them!
Pay It Forward
When it was time for me to leave my last job, there was some concern from one of my fellow colleagues because I had helped organize a lot of the tech ladies offsites, lunches, and other inclusive programs. I took the opportunity to help her help others and told her that I expected her to take the initiative to keep the programs going. She was game! It doesn’t take a tremendous amount of effort to create a supportive and empowering environment -- but it does take some effort. And, sometimes a boost of confidence is all someone needs to know they can make a difference. Pay it forward!
Don’t Be Afraid to Be the First
As I moved up in my career and was trusted with building and developing teams, I realized there's still a lot of work to do. There are going to be times when I'm the first female engineer on a team, and that's OK. Because once you have one, it’s easier to find the next. While you may sometimes be on teams that aren’t as diverse as you would like, that shouldn’t stop you from being the first. It gives you the opportunity to drive change, and create an environment where one becomes two, and two becomes four.
Let’s Get to Work!
A few years ago, I volunteered with Girls Who Code, where I helped teach the girls how to code their own projects. The projects these ladies developed were so inspiring! I was deeply moved by their community-oriented perspectives and the potential impact these projects would have on the world. It made me realize that if you have a more diverse set of minds working in tech, it creates a wealth of opportunities that just may not be represented in today’s tech landscape. What could the future of tech be? Let’s get to work and find out.
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