#WomensHistoryMonth: Leading Female Voices Share

On Choosing Tech, Modern-Day Female Heroes, and Advice for the Generations 

I could not be more excited about this last post in our Women Leader Series! I am grateful to these amazing leading voices in business and tech who generously shared their wisdom and advice with me and our community. Your intelligence, drive, resourcefulness and accomplishments are nothing short of inspirational. Big thanks to Katherine Londergan, Amber Caramella, Lizzy Feliciano, Eileen Diskin, Leigh Moore, Aurélie Hélouis, Cathy Minter, Carol Meyers, Laura Kempke and Alice Jacobs!

Here’s what these incredible women had to say:

Tell us about your job.

Katherine Londergan, Chief Marketing Officer, Zapata Computing: I work with an incredible team of scientists, engineers and creatives to make quantum computing real as the technology comes into its own. The science and tech is gnarly in the best way and presents new communications challenges and concepts.

Amber Caramella, Chief Revenue Officer, Netrality Data Centers: I'm responsible for Netrality's revenue generation strategy and execution, including overseeing Sales, Marketing, Network Solutions, Interconnection, Channel and Strategic Alliances. As the Global Executive Sponsor for IM Women and a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, my goal is to promote diversity of women pursuing careers in technical infrastructure and data centers to promote the visibility and career advancement of women.

Eileen Diskin, Chief Marketing Officer and SVP, Comcast Business: I am the CMO & SVP for Comcast Business leading all marketing activities for the brand. I stepped into the role in February 2020 just before the pandemic hit.

Lizzy Feliciano, Chief Marketing Officer, Jvion: I would if I had one, but when you love what you do, is it really a job? I help people by making sure healthcare organizations understand the value of adopting technology. Marketing is the gateway to transforming any industry—to ushering in innovation, connecting with buyers and creating change. I get to influence buyer behavior, whether B2C or B2B, through storytelling and outreach. 

Leigh Moore, VP Growth Marketing & Community, Snyk: Snyk is enabling development teams to build software securely by integrating security into their existing tools and workflows, making it easy and accessible to everyone. I was lucky to join the Snyk team over two years ago to help build the marketing organization from three global marketers to almost 50 today. The marketing team at Snyk works closely with sales, product, engineering and business development, focusing on accelerating our sales team, crafting and promoting our differentiated message, and helping to educate and engage users through our free product for developers and development teams. The last few years have been an exciting journey, and we are just getting started.

Aurélie Hélouis, CEO & Founder, infinityQ Technology: The great thing about being an entrepreneur is that I never feel I am working. As a former military, I place a lot of importance on teamwork—InfinityQ is like family. We celebrate birthdays, help each other move into new places, build furniture together, and share a lot of jokes. Fun is part of our values.

I am lucky to be working with outstanding, smart people. And it is very fulfilling. I can’t help but smile because now our team is 90% female. Diversity is core to our DNA.

Being a CEO is not a boring job: there is no typical day. And 24 hours are never enough—my time is split between meetings with investors, the team, managing the board, fundraising, delivering to customers, ensuring we’re on time and on budget, hiring people, checking invoices are paid, launching our ISO certification, and ensuring everybody is aligned and happy. Although I live and breathe InfinityQ, I also try to dedicate time to my beloved family. 

My conviction in what we are doing is unwavering. Developing a disruptive technology is very exciting. Even though sometimes I share the frustration Galileo must have felt (lol), I never give up. Our results reassure me that we are on the right track. Quantum mechanics is mysterious and complex, even Einstein didn’t succeed to link it with general relativity!

Cathy Minter, Chief Revenue Officer, R3: I run the commercial operations, which includes sales, technical pre-sales, customer success, professional services sales, and marketing. R3 is a global company just shy of 400 employees. We work with large Fortune 500 institutions, mostly in the financial services space, to help them both build and consume new types of multi-party applications to drive trusted digital collaboration. I have a team of about 100 people globally and I love working to help solve problems for our customers.

Carol Meyers, Venture Capital Partner & Growth Strategy Consultant, Sotero: I am a venture capital partner, a board director, and a growth strategy consultant. I spend my days meeting with exciting new startups seeking investment, providing governance and strategic oversight as a board member, and collaborating with CEOs, CROs, CMOs, and CCOs on their growth strategies.

Laura Kempke, VP Communications & Content, Acquia: I head up the communications and content team at Acquia. We bring several external comms disciplines together, including global public relations, analyst relations, editorial content, advocacy and social media. We're part of the broader marketing team led by Acquia's CMO. I've always worked in tech or life science, which are more alike than they are dissimilar. I'm sure other industries are equally interesting, but this is the right one for me. 

Alice Jacobs, CEO, Convergence Group: I wouldn’t describe it as a job, it’s a mission. As a physician entrepreneur I’m committed to having an impact on human health at the population level.

What made you choose this career path?`

Lizzy Feliciano: I didn’t. It chose me. Literally. A political science major with my sights set on becoming a criminal prosecutor. I was working nights, paying my way through school and the owner of the company I worked for approached me randomly and asked for help responding to an RFP and setting up for a conference. There was no marketing function. I said yes—and never looked back.

Eileen Diskin: I have been with Comcast for close to 19 years largely focused on the Xfinity brand. I thought it was time to try B2B given the growth opportunity for Comcast Business; there is a lot of runway ahead to build the brand and grow market share across all segments.

Katherine Londergan: Every career decision I’ve chosen has been motivated by learning. In many ways, I’ve learned rapidly in the last 12 months at Zapata about how to create market momentum in edge tech and enterprise software—as well as some intricate and non-intuitive science concepts! Before Zapata I spent about nine years at IDEO learning customer centricity, design and advising the C-suite on innovation. Previous jobs had similar learning missions.

Leigh Moore: I've always been fascinated by the core elements of marketing—the ability to educate, engage and influence people through compelling communication and branding. That is how I originally got started in marketing and through some unexpected opportunities, I found myself in the tech industry. While I wouldn't have predicted that path when I started my career, once I got a taste of the fast-paced, ever-changing and widespread impact of the software industry, I found that I love it!

Carol Meyers: I cut my teeth growing startups from early stage through IPO and beyond. After 25 years and four IPOs, I decided it was time to use my learning and skills in a new way. I love being part of companies that are disrupting old line businesses, changing the way we work and live, and positively impacting society. I also love challenging myself to continually learn and grow. My new career lets me do all of this. Every day is different. Every day I meet new people, tackle new challenges, and grow.

Alice Jacobs: It chose me. Having spent most of my career operating inside the healthcare space I had the unique opportunity to spend a few years at Caltech working with Nobel Laureates, National Academy members and pioneering data scientists in their efforts to build the next generation of deep technology solutions. Through this journey I was able to interface with technologists, investors, companies, and countries to approach solving problems in healthcare with a novel data driven lense. This was the basis for founding Convergence Group.

Amber Caramella: Growing up, I had always planned to attend medical school. However, while in college, I had the opportunity to relocate to Georgia for my husband's company. This move opened my eyes to industries beyond the medical field and dramatically changed my career trajectory. I immediately landed a role working for a national telecommunications provider and discovered my passion for technology, connecting people, and bettering the future through innovation. My career accelerated faster than I had ever anticipated, and I quickly found myself becoming one of the youngest female leaders in the telecom industry. 

As I rose through the leadership ranks, I gained visibility into an industry that I came to realize had a lack of diversity. I started creating opportunities to promote diversity and inclusion by leveraging my network to build a platform for communication, collaboration, and improved recruiting and mentorship programs that would inherently attract and retain women in technology. Promoting the necessity for diversity and inclusion initiatives has enabled me to empower fellow female trailblazers, elevate women into leadership roles, and raise awareness around the recruitment and retention of women in technology.

Aurélie Hélouis: To ensure a smooth transition from my military career into civilian life I chose to do an MBA at McGill University. There I shared with my career service advisor that I wanted to be a CEO, or at least a VP. My best experience in the military was being head of the department of jet engine maintenance. I was 24, in charge of 80+ technicians, and luckily my workshop was located at the end of the Naval air station, far from HQ. We had challenging missions: ensuring the delivery of engines to aircraft carriers for operational missions. I worked with amazing engineers and we created a great working experience.

Then, at an entrepreneurship event at McGill, a CEO of an incubator was pitching entrepreneurship, and I got hooked. At the end of the class, he said, “If you have a great tech idea, a tech co-founder, and half a million dollars, send me an email.” I sent him an email, and I quit my secure, full-time job to become an entrepreneur. I had found my calling, and although my first experience wasn’t very successful, I learned a lot. A couple of attempts later, and here I am.

Cathy Minter: I have been in client-facing and sales-focused roles for over 20 years. I chose this career path early on because it felt like a natural fit for me and always allowed me a fantastic work life balance. As I grew into leadership roles, I have enjoyed mentoring and developing talent along the way as well as building winning and high performing teams. As sales strategy and empathy go hand-in-hand, it also is a career that presents a chance for life-long learning about oneself.

Laura Kempke: I love the news. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to journalists and trying to understand the issues they were talking about. I had no idea what public relations was when I started in this career, but it was appealing because much of comms naturally centers on making sense of and explaining what's new, against the backdrop of other things happening in an industry or the world. 

Once I started in this field and began to understand it better, I saw how much of an impact a creatively designed and aggressively executed communications program can have on an organization. The field is always changing—what worked a year ago may be no good now. Keeping on top of that and doing my best to represent the work of so many people is endlessly interesting to me.

What is one career defining-moment you are most proud of?

Carol Meyers: My defining moment was early in my career when I took the risk to shift out of a budding career in finance to sales and marketing. I found sales and marketing exciting and loved the impact I could have on the growth and success of a company. I was a financial analyst for the head of marketing. One day I told him, “I don’t want to analyze our performance, I want to drive our performance. I want to be a marketer.”

Eileen Diskin: Accepting the Comcast Business CMO role.

Aurélie Hélouis: My life is defined by many amazing moments: When we closed our first round of financing. When we moved to our office. When Krisi, our CTO, arrived in Montreal. When we got our first super exciting results.

Alice Jacobs: I lost a patient while in medical school from a staph infection and started a company to decrease the turnaround time and increase the precision for testing of infections. I took the company from an unmet need to products on 5 continents with 6 FDA clearances and 30 regulatory clearances globally.

Katherine Londergan: Co-leading IDEO’s practice to design and incubate new ventures, I helped design several startup business models and experiences. One that has impacted many human beings (and reached unicorn status) is PillPack (now Amazon Pharmacy). I love working with founders to make their ventures and brands compelling for customers.

Amber Caramella: Last year, I made the decision to leave a global infrastructure services provider and take on a new challenge as Chief Revenue Officer at Netrality Data Centers. I joined the company at a pivotal time, which allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone, embrace my entrepreneurial spirit, and drive transformational change across the organization. Diving headfirst into this challenge allowed me to amplify my capabilities, expand my reach, and inspire others to do the same. I have found that embracing change and stretching outside of my comfort zone continues to yield the biggest rewards in my career.

Cathy Minter: When I was 30 years old and working at Oracle, my client was AT&T and I was the key sales rep responsible for closing one of the largest and most competitive CRM software deals at the time against our rival, Siebel Systems. I learned so much from the executives involved and they taught me a long list of valuable lessons I live by today. It helped me launch my career and am forever grateful for the experience.

Laura Kempke: Doing outstanding work every day while treating others with kindness and decency is my goal. That's been far better over time than any single project, promotion, win or other ephemeral thing.

Lizzy Feliciano: Growing my marketing team at my previous employer was definitely a high point for me. It’s one thing to manage projects—something completely different to manage people. As my team grew, I found myself flexing skills and emotional intelligence I didn’t think I had. There is nothing more rewarding than bringing out the best in others and helping them achieve things they didn’t think they could.

What is the best part of being a female leader in the tech industry?

Leigh Moore: I have spent a lot of my career as the only woman in the room, and I personally didn't have many role models who were both female business leaders and full-time working moms to model or learn from. The best part of being a female leader in the tech industry today is seeing this change—and knowing that I have been part of the transformation. More and more women are joining leadership teams, board rooms and holding meaningful roles in the tech industry. The growth is exciting; the last year at Snyk alone I have seen so many female leaders join across departments. It is encouraging to know this is happening not only at Snyk but throughout the industry.

Lizzy Feliciano: Paving a way for other women.

Amber Caramella: The best part of being a female leader in the tech industry is that I am empowered to build a diverse team that promotes a culture of inclusivity. I can push boundaries and drive results that have never been achieved. It goes beyond being entrepreneurial. It’s about raising the bar and setting a new standard for individuals and organizations.

I enjoy being a mentor for aspiring females in the technology field. It’s an honor to serve as a role model for young minds, set precedent for our increasingly gender agnostic industry, and contribute to the collective genius both women and men alike are collaboratively cultivating. Together, with a community of progressive thought leaders, we will further empower and build an inclusive foundation which will support the innovations of tomorrow.

Aurélie Hélouis: You can promote other women in tech—I don’t see myself as an exception, but the beginning of the new standard.

Alice Jacobs: The incredible people I get to work with both internally and externally. The level of excellence I get to be surrounded by albeit virtually these days. They inspire me everyday.

Cathy Minter: The best part of being a female leader in the tech industry is that every year we get closer to not having to phrase the question this way. The women who came before me had to make sacrifices and break significant glass. Those efforts paved the way for my generation which will pave the way for the next generation. I think this question should soon be: “What’s the best part of being a leader in the tech industry?” The best part is watching the amazing women who are succeeding and changing the landscape forever.

Katherine Londergan: You can spot other females to collaborate with quickly.

Carol Meyers: Seeing all the women who are choosing careers in tech. I love seeing new tech companies founded by women thrive, like Armored Things, one of Glasswing’s portfolio companies.

Who is your modern-day female hero?

Amber Caramella: There are so many amazing women championing change in the technology industry that it is difficult to just choose one. I’m certainly inspired by the top influential women in technology such as Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO, and Meg Whitman, Quibi CEO (former CEO of eBay, HPE). I'm also proud and privileged to be surrounded by a strong network of female colleagues who inspire me daily.

Katherine Londergan: Melissa Waters, a close friend and mentor who leads with grace, wit and truth as Global VP of Marketing at Instagram and in life, in general ??. Many of my female friends from my Babson MBA class are entrepreneurial everyday heroes—we inspire and support each other. Being able to access a group of everyday heroes that are friends is so valuable.

Eileen Diskin: My daughter, Eliza; she’s fearless.

Lizzy Feliciano: My daughter. Her bottomless heart, compassion and willingness to help others is a constant source of inspiration.

Cathy Minter: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her unrelenting courage and determination throughout her life is a true inspiration.

Carol Meyers: This is such a tough question—there are so many! Women like Jennifer Anne Doudna who developed CRISPR. Malala Yousafzai who shows us what bravery can be. Amanda Gorman who is so talented and inspiring. The women I interact with every day are heroes too—the moms who are navigating school age kids and work from home with incredible drive, leadership and grace.

But if I must choose one, it’s Ruth Bader-Ginsburg who devoted her entire life to improving justice and equality in the U.S.

Alice Jacobs: Frances Arnold. She created all of her possibilities. Her groundbreaking work has resulted in paradigm shifts scientifically and has had an impact on multiple industries. She is a tremendous inspiration to me.

One piece of advice you would give to women considering a career in the tech industry? Something you wish you had known sooner?

Aurélie Hélouis: Don’t listen to people who say it’s not possible, especially if you have kids. It requires a bit of discipline (I have 3 kids and a step son), but you can make it happen. Especially right now with COVID, you can attend more meetings staying at home. Be aware that, as women, we usually suffer from the “good girl” syndrome and the imposter syndrome. Once you know that, make peace with yourself and just go! You can do it!

Carol Meyers: Don’t be intimidated if you are the only woman in the room. You have important ideas, you have valuable experience, you have a voice. Use them!

Laura Kempke: There are so many career paths in tech—you don't need to be writing code to have an impact. People with all kinds of talents and interests do very well in this industry.

Katherine Londergan: Like anything else, follow your passion. It’s not just about the tech—it’s about the problems you are using it to solve and how they affect human beings and how we live. Tech is the enabler.

Amber Caramella: Bring your authentic self to every situation. Being open and genuine has allowed me to see the potential in new challenges. With every challenge comes the opportunity to incite positive change. I continuously assess my own strengths and weaknesses so I may proactively grow professionally and personally. Commitment to self-awareness and self-investment is key to unlocking the true potential and promise an individual has to offer. Invest in your future self and the future of those around you. A community is as strong as those who comprise it. Cultivating a progressive future is a collective effort and mindset we all must embrace to grow.

Alice Jacobs: The power of having a network. Having a strong network of trusted advisors that are highly capable is very important.

Eileen Diskin: While it’s not unique to the tech industry, I would say don’t be afraid to take risks by moving around more frequently to gain broader experience. I was riskier early in my career, then got a little too comfortable for too many years, then took a risk with my new Comcast Business role. Be confident and charge ahead.

Lizzy Feliciano: Whether it’s technology or any other male dominated industry, don’t just walk in a room—command it; don’t just share an opinion—express your convictions; know your audience.

Leigh Moore: I wish I had been more proactive earlier in my career to find a female mentor that could support and coach me through times where I needed guidance and would have benefited from a woman's perspective. My advice is that if you don't have a female leader in your organization today, or don't see a natural fit with the people in your existing network, go find someone that does inspire you; ask for the support and guidance; and take control of your career by finding a mentor who understands the unique aspects of being a female tech leader.

Cathy Minter: Be yourself always and embrace your own femininity and style. I spent some of my earlier days trying to fit into molds more like my male counterparts (as I was outnumbered). Once I was truly authentic to myself…success and happiness at work followed.