Our grassroots community, Women On IT, serves as an inclusive forum where women from different walks of life come together to share insights, support one another, and foster meaningful connections. What sets us apart is our commitment to inclusivity; we recognize that progress is best achieved when women are supported by men as allies and advocates.
At the heart of our community is our weekly livestream series, “Positivity Hack Delivered,” where we invite a diverse array of guests, both men and women, to share their expertise, experiences, and insights. Each episode covers a range of topics relevant to women in tech, entrepreneurship, boardrooms, and many more, providing actionable advice and inspiration for our audience.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we compiled top pieces of advice shared by some of our esteemed guests for females to navigate the challenges of their respective industries and emerge as leaders and trailblazers.
Join us as we delve into the invaluable lessons learned and discover how they can propel you forward on your own career and journey.
Document your journey and embrace a growth mindset.
“What will help people in their careers is understanding their goals and having check-ins to get themselves accountable. It also helps me to share my goals with my close friends and my support system, my mentors, and get their feedback on it and also get feedback on where I am. We also have to keep in mind that everyone will have different feedback. But I think what’s important is having a “growth mindset.” No one is perfect, but you should be working on yourself and improving. Let’s say something doesn’t go your way, so we’ll take it as a learning opportunity and then you grow from there.”
– Syeda Kauser Inamdar, Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 035
Start now, don’t wait for permission.
“Start right now. Success comes five seconds after you come to the conclusion that the world or no one in it owes you anything. Fear will often creep in. Don’t listen to negative internal messages, replace them with positive messages and reinforce that message with positive actions. Make fear your ally, and use it as a critical source of guidance to reach your goals and beyond. But start right now.”
– Mildred Murphy, President/CEO at Noontide Service Corporation
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 036
Believe in yourself and go for it.
“The queen of Scotland, most famously portrayed in a Shakespeare play, Lady Macbeth. Nowadays, I’m sure she would actually be a great mentor and coach to people. Her infamous remark was ‘Screw your courage to the sticking place, and you shall not fail.’”
– Patrick L Young, Founder of Exchange Invest
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 044
Know your worth and define your career goals.
“The first thing I would say is to get clear about what it is that you really want. You need to spend some time with yourself and determine where it is that you would like to be–where you see yourself, and what you truly want for your career. And once you’ve determined that, then you need to have the conversation with your manager or your senior leader to say, ‘This is what I aspire to. What do I need to do to prepare myself and what can you or the organization do to support me in getting there?’”
– Sheba Wilson, VP of Human Resource at Grace Bay Resorts
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 046
Follow your gut and stay true to your values.
“It’s okay to source outside opinion and be unsure about things, but always go back to your gut. Don’t do things that don’t feel aligned with your purpose and what you believe in. When something doesn’t feel right or feels misaligned, listen to your gut. Because even early on, a lot of times, we’ll say yes to things that might not be right, because we need to make the money. But I’ve had times when that has blown up in my face, and I have worked with the wrong person. And I have lived to regret it. And I’ve learned to listen to your gut in every instance possible because you will thank yourself later. You know best because this is your business.”
– Tamika Bickham, Founder & CEO of TB Media Group
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 054
Embrace your strengths and lead with authenticity.
“I think we want to know ourselves, know our strengths and our weaknesses. I think we want to connect, build relationships, and build rapport. I also think we want to act, we want to take appropriate risks, and we want to demonstrate professional courage. And then I think we want to reflect, just really always be thinking about what worked well, what worked less well, what might we do differently the next time.”
– Dr. Tracy Brower, VP of Workplace Insights at Steelcase
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 057
Find a positive work environment.
“If you want to work in a positive environment, assess the company and assess the recruiter during the recruitment process. Because even if the job looks good, you will be disappointed if you’re someone positive and someone who likes to joke who wants to be in a positive work environment, you won’t last in a toxic environment. And this is a quick act to decipher – to assess if humor and positivity are part of the work culture.”
– Dr. Vanessa Marcié, Founder of Leading With Humour
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 062
Find your tribe.
“Search for the supportive people around you. Stick with the right people and just avoid the negativity in your life. Someone once said, “If you can make a change in any place in the world, then you can make a change in your place too.” It’s not about where you live. If I’m talking to the girls in my country, I want to say that they don’t have to think that they live here. I search for successful woman around me and there are many. I ask them what they have done and what they are doing now. Have they stayed positive and are surrounded by this negativity sometimes? So you should change your circle and make it bigger with the positive people as much as you can.”
– Nayra Hashem, Flutter Developer
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 075
Challenge the status quo and advocate for yourself.
“I rarely hear from women ‘Oh God Cindy, I don’t want to get hired just because I’m a woman’ and my response is always ‘Get over that and look around you–all the mediocre men who got hired just because they were men.’ Affirmative action has been operating in the wrong direction for many years. So my response is absolutely, totally take the job that’s being offered to you to demonstrate gender equality and diversity, and then do the bloody brilliant job in that role that will demonstrate to people clearly why they were so right to hire in the first place.”
– Cindy Gallop, Founder & CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 081
Seek mentorship and remain open to learning and feedback.
“I’ve learned that having a mentor in the early stages of a career is very important. It really helps a lot ‘cause to me, that was very helpful. I didn’t have a mentor at the beginning of my career. It was pretty hard but when I continued growing, I started looking for mentors and then I found a mentor and everything was much easier. Sometimes you might want to ask a question that you might not feel comfortable asking your colleagues all the time. Rephrasing your question to your mentor might help a lot. Also ask your mentor to track your progress–how you’re progressing, and is your career progressing, for them to give you honest feedback. I would say definitely find a mentor and always be open to learning. I think learning to be open-minded is also very important and it’s a key way to being successful in this career because it’s not easy.”
– Madona Wambua, Founder & CTO at Jibu Labs
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 088
Solve a problem you can’t shut up about.
“The number one thing I would tell women who want to start their own company is to spend time honing your idea before you go out and start to pitch it and talk about it… I know a lot of things drive women nuts, frankly, because of the world that we’ve come up in, work in, live in, and some of the systemic issues that we face. So what is in your career that drove you nuts? Can you not stand? Are you unhappy about it? What are you frustrated about? And then can you do something with your skills, with your zones of genius to address that, to fix that inequity to fix that issue that you’re seeing? What drives you insane? The things that make you want to quit your job every day. And then think about how you can use your unique skills to solve or address that issue. That will be the thesis for your business if you haven’t figured it out.”
– Nora DiNuzzo, Founder & President at Pitcher
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 090
Your vibe attracts your tribe.
“We’re going for massive historic change, whatever we’re doing as female founders, as female innovators, as storytellers within technology, we are making history. The struggles that we are facing, we have to do it, we have to fight through, we have to break those ceilings because we’re doing it for the next generation.
Just own who you are, be who you are, be proud of it, and be your authentic self, do what you do, because you know, you’re good at it. And eventually, your vibe attracts your tribe, and you just have to keep pursuing and persevering. If people are not investing in you, or are not hiring you because of their own prejudices, that’s their loss.”
– Azadeh Williams, Managing Director at AZK Media
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 091
Surround yourself with a supportive network.
“Pay attention to who’s around you. If everyone around you is at a certain level with a certain level last year, the year before that, and you’re the bright light, get a better circle. When I started hanging with people that I long admired, when I was able to showcase my brilliance and they never saw anyone else, that was the push forward.”
– Precious Williams, Founder of Perfect Pitch Group
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 099
Be a life-long learner.
“I started to learn programming and design and try to enrich my world in every field while working in an actual media company. I just started as an account manager and I ended up shaping new experiences and new AI systems. And it’s something that would never have happened if I hadn’t kept learning–always learning new things, always trying to enrich my thoughts, and always trying to solve problems and to look at things to make them better. Just start working, start learning, even if it’s something that wasn’t exactly on your mind, or wasn’t the actual role you wanted. Just start, just dip your toe in the field and try to learn new things and be better than what you do from an actual working experience.”
– Chen Odesky, UX UI Designer at ZIGIT and C.odesky
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 103
Delegate and leverage your strengths.
“Think about which other skills you need to set on more focus in the future because they will increasingly become more important in the future. As a leader, you need to do less and you need to lead more. Spend your time thinking about how you want to lead your organization, your team, and your business. You need to set aside more time for strategic thinking, business planning, and risk management.”
– Pamela Kellert, CEO & Founder of Women Leading in STEM
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 104
Don’t be afraid to ask questions and speak up.
“Don’t say you know something if you don’t… It takes us back and the time of the project goes longer and longer and longer, just because you don’t have enough modesty to say “No.” You have to say you don’t understand for us to find a way that we’re going to suit your way of learning. Ask questions.”
– Tina Fisic, Senior IT Manager at Ipsos UK
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 110
Find your voice and lead with authenticity.
“If somebody tells you, you don’t have ‘executive presence,’ take that feedback. You don’t have to take all the feedback that people give you. You listen to it, and you can discard it, or you can take it to heart. But the one thing I want you to think about is what is your soul’s anchor. Every one of us has something special to us and our identity that we refuse to give up. That is the key to your ‘executive presence.’
So my soul’s anchor is speaking truth to power. That was one of my big things in the corporate world. Now I speak truth to power. Sometimes I had to modify those messages so it didn’t come off as hurting people’s feelings. People can be frail and fragile and all that. So I had to tailor that message for influence. Figure out what your soul’s anchor is, and stick with that as you rise and find a great coach.”
– Denise Conroy, Founder of Themy, LLC
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 113
Network and build relationships.
“Network, network, network. Get out there, talk to people, find other people that are doing what you’re doing or that you want to emulate, you want to learn from them. There are many opportunities out there, I’ve had people reach out to me, and I’m more than happy to give any tips or ideas, I like to share that knowledge. If you’re looking to start your business, go and ask for help. Many people don’t want to ask for help and don’t want to reach out to people. All you need to do is ask. Too often we think in our society that there’s more negativity, but there’s actually more kindness and more people willing to help than we realize. We need to get past that fear of reaching out and saying, ‘Hey, can you help me with this?’ Or’ I have this idea. What do you think?’”
– Gail Robertson, Chief Curiosity Officer at GailNow
Positivity Hack Delivered Episode 118
These insights serve as a guiding light for women embarking on their careers and entrepreneurial journeys. By embracing these lessons and forging their paths with courage and determination, women can overcome obstacles and achieve their fullest potential in the ever-evolving landscape of innovation and leadership.