In honor of Women’s History Month, 33Across hosted three Inclusive Conversation panels around work-life balance, engineering, and leadership. During these discussions, a few common themes emerged from our strong, smart, and hard-working female team members:
- Leadership that believes in the empowerment of women is key
- Don’t underestimate the power of connecting with your fellow female co-workers, these connections are empowering and help fuel perseverance in a male-dominated industry
- Find a company that creates space for your voice to be heard and respects family and work-life balance. We’re hiring 😉
Here are some snippets of the conversation from each panel.
Work-Life Balance: Fact or Fiction
The panel was moderated by Avalon Benoit –People & Culture Manager
Ann Liem – Yield Analyst
Lauren Williams – VP, Publisher Development
Melissa Diaz – VP, Finance
Paggie Yu – Sr. Design Director
This discussion focused on having honest conversations about how much of our time is spent working, caring for others, and caring for ourselves. What shined through to me during this discussion was starting with small daily rituals to make sure you’re doing something to give back to yourself.
Another theme that was discussed that I am particularly proud of is that 33Across is a family first company. In other words – employees are not family, 33Across wants your actual family to come first.
The group also touched upon what having it all means. Don’t think you have to do it all, seek help where you need it. Whether that’s subscribing to healthy meal deliveries, employing a cleaner, or taking a pause to reassess what you need.
Engineering
The panel was moderated by Aparna Hegde – Senior Software Engineer
Fatima Gomez – Senior Software Engineer
Kena Noti – Scrum Master
Yanyan Zhu – Senior Test Engineer
It’s no secret that engineering is a male-dominated profession, however; this group of women was quick to point out that 33Across has a much higher percentage of women engineers than the industry standard. Part of the reason for this is leadership has been key in creating a culture that attracts and empowers women. Having more women on the team means improved collaboration and in turn more innovation. I really appreciate that during this engineering panel it came to light that our female engineers felt equally empowered to their male counterparts.
First and foremost, I think of myself as an engineer, I don’t think about the woman part. So I’m just doing my work. And if I’m not reminded that I’m a woman, that’s great. So, that’s how we operate and definitely, but in 33Across, because I had female engineers on my team or as my boss or just on meetings, I quickly felt the difference … it’s probably just that my voice is heard better or you somehow can relate better”
– Fatima Gomez, Sr. Software Engineer
Leadership
This panel was moderated by Melissa Diaz – VP, Finance
Ashleigh Kukich – Senior Director, Publisher Success
Divya Bopuri – Principal Engineer
Jennifer Lamontagne – Senior Yield Analyst
Lisa Mollura – VP, Marketing
There is definitely still work to be done for women growing beyond middle management leadership, but I’m encouraged that we are moving forward. The group focused on how gender impacts career growth, what roadblocks they may have encountered, and the importance of working with leaders who support you.
In addition to workplace support, surround yourself with people who are aligned with your vision for your career. Don’t underestimate female support and finding role models you can watch up close.
These conversations showcased not only the role that gender plays in the workplace but how support and inclusion foster productivity. If you’re looking for a role at a company that values women check out our open roles on our career page.
