International Women’s Day 2021: Choose to Challenge

The theme for International Women’s day this year is #ChooseToChallenge. As the organization says, “A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.

According to a report by Pew Research, women remain underrepresented in the tech industry at 25% of the workforce. In an effort to continue to facilitate an inclusive environment, InsightSquared is using International Women’s Day to celebrate women in tech by opening up the floor to highlight some of the leaders at our company to find out what choosing to challenge means to them.

Amy Noack – Field Enablement Director

I transitioned from education to software in 2008, and I have held roles in everything from project management to sales. I came to InsightSquared by way of Olono, which was acquired in 2019. Today, I direct Field Enablement for the sales organization.

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

To me, choosing to challenge means going beyond posting about IWD on social media and calling it a day. Instead, companies must understand how bias shows up in the workplace (hiring, promotions, day-to-day interactions, meeting dynamics, etc.) and take physical measures to reduce gender inequality. 

Nehcole Felix – Customer Success Manager

I’ve worked in the tech and startup space for over 15 years. I’ve helped many companies to build processes and drive value through various Account Management and Customer Success roles. I recently joined InsightSquared in Q4 2020 after 4 years of consulting independently for small and medium sized businesses; I focused mainly on operational efficiency and maximizing profit. 

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

To me, choosing to challenge means that you have to choose to withstand passive aggression and constructively challenge traditional concepts of hierarchy to make real improvements. Often as a woman, you’re expected to be sweet, apologetic and non-confrontational. It’s important to focus on the best and most effective ways of pushing through micro-aggressions in order to achieve a goal. Focus on the things that you can control and work to win, understanding as you engage with your team, or anyone really.

Liz Brown – Services Architect

I’ve been at InsightSquared for 9 years. Funny enough, the only person who’s been here longer than me is the President / Co-Founder of the company! I went to Northeastern University at a time when there were very few women in the Computer Science program. In 8th grade, a few women from Brown University came and presented a program they were doing over the summer, the Artemis Project, for underrepresented genders in STEM. Seeing those women from Brown University majoring in Computer Science let me know the door was open to me as well. I always loved making things work, so from there on I decided I’d be a computer programmer. 

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

To me, it’s taking an active look at myself, my internal biases, and ways that I have meant well but haven’t been as inclusive as I strive to be. It’s looking at my brand of feminism and how I can grow and learn, as well looking at how I can challenge the institutions and systems around me. 

Rachel Senker – Senior Director of Client Services 

I started my professional career in finance and found my favorite days were the ones helping develop and train new team members. I pursued a leadership path that eventually led to a consulting role, where I built my client management and data analysis skills. I was eager to apply my experience to a new industry, specifically in technology and startups. 

InsightSquared hired me as their first Implementation Manager in 2016, and in my five years with the company I’ve directed Implementation, Support, and Customer Success Teams. I also spent time in a Strategic Operations role, project managing the due diligence process and integration of InsightSquared’s acquisition of Olono. Now, I lead our Implementation and Support teams as a member of InsightSquared’s Executive Leadership Team. 

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

Choose to challenge can mean so many different things for women. For me, I choose to challenge when women don’t believe they are qualified or capable enough to be effective leaders. We need to believe in ourselves even if others don’t, and we must push and encourage each other to do the same. The empathy, humility, and adaptability that come naturally to many women are the traits that make us strong leaders, not weak ones. 

Jackie Steger – Manager, Customer Success

I am a manager on our Customer Success team, and I have been working in Customer Success for 10 years. I worked at a few early-stage startups in Boston, MA, before joining InsightSquared in July 2019.  

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

Choose to challenge means that we should not only bring awareness to the biases that can impact our interactions at work but commit to taking action when we see gender, racial and other inequality present in the way we work with others. I will choose to challenge myself and the way I engage with colleagues of different backgrounds, as well as choose to challenge others in our organization to prioritize inclusivity and the celebration of women’s contributions.

One of the ways I have already chosen to challenge was in introducing our CEO to the founder & President of the Hack.Diversity program, which seeks to help tech teams identify, develop and equip high-performing underrepresented genders and races to launch careers in the innovation economy. InsightSquared is now a participant in this program. 

Lindsey Tishgart – Chief Marketing Officer 

I’ve spent two-plus decades in marketing and communications (how’d I get so old!?), working with more than 100 organizations from small seed-stage startups to Fortune 100 enterprises. I joined InsightSquared in 2019 through the acquisition of Olono and am proud to lead our marketing team today. 

What does choosing to challenge mean to you?

I love that this theme starts with the word “Choose.” Today, we can all agree women have many more opportunities to choose—from careers we can pursue to venues to express our opinions. We can and should celebrate this milestone, but we must also realize that the ability to choose isn’t enough if the communities around us and society as a whole are not supportive. 

Recent reports show that millions of women have left the workforce or downshifted their careers this past year due to the COVID pandemic. Female workforce participation has dropped to a shocking 57%—the lowest level since 1988. That means that much of the hard work that women put into their careers has been erased by “choices” to take on virtual-schooling children, caring for aging or sick parents, and other unpaid roles. These are people we all know—friends, neighbors, colleagues. So as we look ahead, we need to realize this is an ongoing “Challenge.” Each milestone is a moment in time, and the trajectory of “up and to the right” isn’t guaranteed. Every ally should be asking, How can we change this trend? How can we create a full support system that will allow women to make the Choices they want, not just the ones they feel the burden to own? As a first step, I’ve signed up with #2millionmentors. Will you join me?  

To all the amazing women doing industry-changing work at InsightSquared and choosing to challenge across the world, we thank you.

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