Good afternoon. Good evening for wherever you might be in this world. My name is Fern Johnson and I'm so thrilled to have with me, uh some esteemed colleagues to have a conversation this morning for me. It's still the morning.I'm in central time here in the United States in Dallas, Texas. And so it's a wonderful opportunity to bring together uh myself and five phenomenal women to have a little conversation about making pivots in your career. And what does it take to make pivots as you start to aspire or heading into the C suite? And I thought I'd bring together some folks I know and some folks I've had an opportunity to get to know over the past couple of months to really talk about um what it means to make these pivots as we're talking. I'll share a few pivots. I've made myself. Uh but first, let me just go around the horn as I would say, and hear from each of our esteemed colleagues that are joining us, one to introduce themselves and learn a little bit about their background. And so I'm gonna just go um theater style as I see it on my screen and start with Miss Vivian Way and uh Vivian, welcome to today's panel and if you could just share a brief introduction about yourself, that'd be awesome.

Great. Hey, thank you so much. Um I'm Vivian Wei. I have been with Salesforce for the last 6.5 years. My career journey to tech is unconventional. So I started my career on Wall Street was doing investment banking and then pivoted. I wanted to go into tech to about the various aspects of scaling impact. So got into tech was working on Corp DEV at ebay and then ended up in um engineering organization at at Sales Force for the last 6.5 years. I'm based in the Bay Area. I have two young daughters. So uh you know, helping women succeed is a personal passion of mine. I'll hand over to Valerie.

OK, great. I am Valerie Mackey. I am the CEO of right now solutions and um always been kind of in that stem world. So I have an engineering degree. Um but shortly after graduating and doing a little engineering, I switched over to technology. Um so started with Ernst and Young. So it's kind of the big five or four or whatever it was back then. Uh went to a smaller um consulting firm still in the technology realm and switched to industry um at Coca Cola for several years. Um And I know it's kind of funny, I'm here with fern from Pepsi Co, but we've been very, very friendly competitors for years. Um, but did I, I actually left Coca Cola six years ago, probably to make the biggest pivot um and started to run this business right now. Solutions about six years ago. And our focus has been really on creating more equity and, um um in education and careers. I just noticed that we didn't have as many women, as many minorities, as many nontraditional background people as we should in technology and in corporate itself. And so I created this company to help try to push the needle and help organizations with their strategies to uh get where they need to go.

But equip people and uh create a cultural belonging to equip people in a different way to make sure we could bring everybody along the journey. Awesome. I'm not tossing it or are you,

you know, toss it. I love it.

All right. Uh Alicia.

Yes. Hi. Thank you, Valerie. My name is Doctor Alicia MacKaye. I'm the CEO and president of Gxagx A. We're an IT company and we provide it solutions for other businesses in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And so my interest into technology happened over 20 years ago, I was invited to the table to be an entrepreneur by my business partner as well as my spouse of almost 21 years. Um I was previously in the in teaching technology prior to going into the deep on the deep side of technology. Um And then once I jumped in, I went in head first and I have been hanging in there in the field of technology and really just being able to uplift and really provide other businesses with technical solutions. So I'm happy to be at the table today, so I'm gonna toss it over to Kayla.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. I'm Kayla Lazard, originally from Venezuela. So that's where my accent comes from. Uh I am currently the Chief Scientific Officer for Revlon. Um And what that means is that my teams create products for all of our portfolio of brands, Elizabeth Arden, you know, Mitu Revlon American crew, you name it, you know, we create products uh for all of you to use and for those wonderful brands. Uh Before that, I spent 17 years of my professional life at Proctor and Gamble work in Japan uh in my native Venezuela uh in the States. Um and also in the UK. Uh but the biggest high pivot of my career was that I was a very, very academic person. You know, my, my life was about patents and about labs and all of that. And I decided, you know, that I wanted to do something different and I joined PNG. That was the first of my, of my big changes. Uh after P and G I joined uh two small companies in the Bay area and then uh Rec K in the UK. So I have, I have moved a lot and I am very excited to be here. My passion is people and products. Uh So very excited to share my experience with the hope that may be helpful for some of you. So I'm gonna pass it over to the lovely.

Oh,

wow. Uh So thank you all for affirming that my career wasn't as pivot, you know, uh didn't have the most pivots as well in this conversation. This is really exciting. Um The lovely Gibson, senior Vice president at Equifax. Um And I certainly took a lot of jumps to get to Fintech, um where I've been for the last three years where we help people live, their financial best started my career in public health, uh where I was there for about 12 years doing communications and some front end uh website work.

Um where I shifted to doing um mobile app development at Turner Broadcasting. Um And then really focus my career in doing delivery for big companies like a IG and then did some marketing and brand with IHG as well. So I've been all over different industries. Um So if you're listening, just know careers definitely don't happen in a straight line. Uh I'm super excited to join these women in this panel, so I'll kick it back back to you, Fern.

Thanks. The lovely. So I, I guess I'll share just a little bit about myself. But uh so I've been at Pepsico for uh just three decades, uh which is a long amount of time. And in that time I've had to make some pivots and I'll tell you as I was thinking and preparing for our conversation this morning. I said, gosh, my very first pivot was coming out of university. I thought I was going to be, first. I thought I was gonna be a broadcast journalist and maybe this is my foray into that. I don't know. Second, I thought I was going to be in public relations in the music industry. And lo and behold, I ended up in technology for the past 2930 years uh working at Pepsico. So that was definitely a fair number of pivots. And my most recent pivot is I was really just kind of continuing on maturing on the CIO track and uh had a functional cio role and was asked to pivot and go back into hardcore infrastructure and operations technology. And so, um while it's all under the big umbrella of it, it definitely is um different from some of the work you do on the cio side. So let's jump right in.

Um you know, one of the things we talk about is when you make these pivots and you're thinking about pursuing your career, especially moving into the C Suite. And I would say anything vice president um or above, you know, kind of qualifies based upon the size of your organization. You know what are some of the risks you have to take in order to make those pivots effectively. I think that, you know, we as women, this is just my take on it. We as women probably don't take as many risks. I think we are, hey, it's gotta be lined up like to the t in order for that to happen. But I really think that taking those risks is what helped propel us. So Kayla, you love risk, you're all, you're all over this one. She does just a few words around what taking a risk means to you and how that's helped you as you've made your pivots about your career.

Absolutely. Yes, I am a risk taker here. So I think the first risk was that I, after, you know, five years of uh academic career, you know, in which, as I said before, I was in a lab and creating papers, I decided that it was time to get something more uh tangible. You know what I mean? It wasn't enough to have papers published or patents that it was something that was more action oriented. Um So I joined Proctor and Gamble. So I went from the lab to be in the office, you know, and it was a huge change. It was really significant change because even the communication style that we use in the, in, in academy in, in the academic world is very different. We focus a lot on the process and how we got there and, you know, and at the end, we end up with a conclusion in the industry was the other way around. So it took me, you know, some time to understand that I needed to give the conclusion first and then the, the, the process may or may not be important.

So that's just a nugget, you know, but even the, how you, you, you have to communicate, you know, and all of that, the second biggest uh was when I moved from Proctor and gamble huge company to a tiny company in the Bay area. Uh not only I moved from a huge, you know, very structured uh way of working to a very, you know, loose one. But so I moved from the Midwest, you know, with very specific, you know, uh culture to California to Northern California. So it was a who whole adjustment, I mean, on some details is, is funny, but gives you an idea in the Midwest, we start to work at 730. You know, I was in, in the lab, 77 37 15, my first day in, in my new job uh in, in Oakland, you know, I was there at eight and I have to wait until 930 that somebody show up to open the door. I was waiting outside. So that gives you an idea. I was used to have a lot of infrastructure around me and in my new job, you know, like two weeks later, I was asked, you have to organize a, a AAA conference and I'm like, who's gonna help me? No one? You know, I, I had to set up my own computer, you know. Anyway, you know, it was this big risk but it paid off. It was a wonderful experience. I think I am who I am today.

And I got where I am thanks to, to those big changes and, you know, uh I, I just jump in and, and it worked, you know, because I felt in my God that it was going to work and, and, and it did, you know,

awesome and val you've taken some risk as well. I know when you transitioned from Coca Cola to opening up your own business and being an entrepreneur had to have been some level of risk. It could have been calculated. But can you share kind of your experience with taking those risks and making those jumps and how it's fair for you?

Yeah, I mean, it, yes, absolutely. I've taken some risk but uh going from corporate was that big? You know, it's cushy. You get a paycheck on time every time you get a bonus, it's wonderful. And then you jump out and then you have to figure out how to pay yourself and wonder if you're going to get a bonus. Um So it, it's a big deal to go from that mindset. But I, I think also in your career journey, setting yourself up to take those little risks throughout, prepared me to be ready to take this big risk. Right. So, you know, I mentioned going from engineering to technology and to be quite honest, I only went to technology because of money. Um It was, they needed some people in technology, there was a new system coming out and they asked for some volunteers. Um and I had just come out with this engineering degree not too long ago and I didn't want to waste it, but they offered 30% more money. So I'm like, all right, boom gone, didn't even look back. So it's, you know, those little things along the way going from, you know, big consulting to little consulting, the to uh industry.

So I think if you do little things along the way, then it'll prepare you for the big things I liked, even in my career, I liked going to the new technology. So, you know, they came out with hr employee self service and I, I was on that cutting edge on that and then they came out with internet and they came out with, you know, business warehouse and intelligence and data. So just always kind of changing up to do something new. So when I made this big switch, I've always been used to trying something new. Now, this one was calculated a little bit because I wanted to, um I mentioned I, I wanted to see things different. I love technology, I love leading technology teams and even within the company when I was at Coca Cola leading core technology, right? So I was responsible for hr solutions and legal solutions, sustainability solutions, the technology solutions. And though all the teams that went along with that the global footprint, even within that, I said, you know what I wanna focus on the people. So I knew what my interests were and I actually wrote a business case to my cio that says this is why we need someone to focus on the people that do the technology.

This is why we need to invest in the people and it was different and it was risky because it then it became less on the critical path of the business needs. Um But it's something I felt like that business needed. And so I wrote a business case to create this position and it worked. I did it and I even saw an industry, I still feel like we can do this for other companies. And so I took that chance and was like, let me start a company if, if companies truly care about their people, like they say they do, then they don't need these services. All right. And so talking to the people that had always been colleagues with a and you know, an industry, you don't really need anybody. Everybody's coming at you because they want something. And when you start a company is very different. Because you want to do business with them. Um, but also going to the fact that if you set your career up and you set those networks up, then when it's time to fall and need the support of that network, they'll be there. So that risk didn't seem as bad because I've always calculated, setting myself up to have the relationships that I needed to have.

Um, but the other is like, yeah, financial, I didn't know, you know, if I was gonna create enough money to sustain my lifestyle and I hired people and I need to sustain their lifestyle and then payroll is on my shoulder and I don't pay them, their families don't eat. So, you know, you're doing a lot of things but making sure that, you know why you're doing it. So I, my wife kept coming back to me. Right. My why for starting that company was because I wanted to help people launch technology careers that may not have. I've never been able to. So the, the the the benefit for me is seeing these folks go from 15 bucks an hour to taking some of our certification courses, getting up skills, giving them some career awareness and then they're able to come out making a six figure salary, right? Or working with managers to manage teams because their teams aren't doing well and making sure that they know how to create a place of belonging for their team. So all those things is worth the risk to me because we can make companies and people better.

So, so, so, so let's piggyback on that one. So, Vivian, you know, you've also taken some risks and you've also taken some jumps. Um they've been planned, they've been calculated, they've not been, you know, give us your perspective around, you know, making these pivots and these jumps and what's been the impact for you in your career.

Yeah. So, you know, I was thinking about my role today, I'm responsible for product strategy and operations for about a $6 billion portfolio including marketing cloud that tableau and the data cloud. It was completely unplanned for the brawl. I was t I was recommended to do the brawl about three years ago working for a very senior leader at the company. And when I, I still remember during Green Forest, he and I met I was doing a different job. I was building this, you know, profile and expertise around cost to serve on cloud computing. And this role is completely unexpected. And I met with him and I was like, just I need to do more due diligence about this role. And he said, I remember he said very clearly, take all the time you need. I want to make sure I have the right person in the role. If that means you need to take the time and talk to different people to get comfortable with the position, do it. It's OK, don't rush. And so, you know, lo and behold, it took me a month and a half to talk to all these different stakeholders. And ultimately, I decided, hey, I'm gonna make the move and looking back, I was thinking about, hey, you know, why did it take me so long?

Because now in hindsight, it's a no brainer and there's so much of that was, I was scared, I was worried that I was gonna fail, working for the senior leader. What if my, you know, skill set didn't, didn't match with what he was looking for. Um And one of the biggest lessons for me is always your due diligence for sure. But if you're tapped to do a role, somebody is willing to take the risk on you. So believe in yourself and do it. I'm so glad there's no looking back. I'm so glad like I took that risk and our portfolio has grown, you know, it went from like $2 billion to $6 billion and acquiring and integrating different businesses. So it's been a tremendous journey and I'm glad I took that risk and I did it.

Well, congratulations. It sounds like it's definitely paid off. Alicia when we had our prep session. You also talked about some of the pivots that you made from Air Force and teaching and then launching your own business. What's been the difference for you? Have you thought it through and has it been kind of really planned out or have you taken some jumps along the way?

So I would definitely say absolutely not. It has never been planned. Um, really coming from a military background. I will tell you that I was still extremely young when I started a business. It was not anything where III I did what I would encourage people not to do is basically walk away from everything and just put it all on the line. Um But I was so young, I didn't have anything to lose. Uh There, we didn't even own a house at the time, we didn't, our cars were paid for and we knew we needed good credit. And so that was what we were walking to the table with. So really the impact for us was we were already at the bottom because we were college graduates. We had a somewhat of a career coming out of, but we never had lived in corporate America long enough to understand what corporate America had to offer us. And so therefore, when we walked into being an entrepreneur, it was so new and we were entrepreneurs before it was cool. Uh Now it's cool to be an entrepreneur. Uh However, once, once we walked into it, we walked into a level of uncertainty as well as success. And we ha you ha being into that particular space, we did not know that we were going to walk into a level of success because of the fact that we only was bringing to the table what was in our hands, our own skills and abilities as an entrepreneur.

If you don't work, you don't eat. And so we knew we had to work and like seriously work, we put it all on the line. And therefore the impact has been phenomenal, the lives that we've had the opportunity to touch the people that we've seen really grow and even our staff members, when when staff members around you start building houses and having Children. Uh and then we're able to send them to different countries to go put in computer labs. That's the impact. The impact has been beyond measure of just what one or two people can do if they are moving in the same direction. So that has been the impact of taking the risk as being an entrepreneur in this it world.

No, I appreciate that. Um That was, that was vivid and I feel your passion around the impact and what that means for you as well as what has helped for others. So let's ask this of you the lovely, you know, I'm a firm believer in mentors, coaches and sponsors. I think they play different roles. I think even as you get to the C Suite and aspire to VP levels or CEO levels that you still need a mentor, you still need a sponsor, you still need a coach. How have they impacted the pivots that you've made in your career. Um I'll tell you I have a uh my own personal board of directors and if I'm making any major moves, I, they are the first group I um I reach out to so I help navigate that course. So that pivot is, I guess, somewhat calculated for me. Um I'm a planner by nature but um what's worked for? You do? Lovely. So, if some

of the participants saw my last talk for women in tech, I actually talked about having your own board of directors and like, there's just been a few things that I just wanna bullet number one, it was my mentors and sponsors around me that encouraged me to take that first leap and help me believe that I wasn't going to have to take 10 steps back to make a leap forward.

Because in my mind, I mentally thought I'm gonna have to stop at the bottom. I'm gonna have to just start all over if I make this first pivot. So that first pivot was, hey, hey, there's this graduate program I think you should be a part of because it really kind of merges together your technology, desire and curiosity. But some of the things that you've already built with your public health and communication skill set.

So again, we as women, we tend to just like if I work hard enough, someone will notice me and that's what I was doing. I will just work hard enough and someone will notice me, but it was my leader. It was my manager. It was close colleagues that said this is the program you should be in. I went into that program and I said, OK, this is awesome. I had such a great time but I started meeting people in the technology space from everything from infrastructure to front end. Then it was now I got this graduate degree and it was the people around me that said now it's actually time for you to change roles. Well, first of all, I didn't get into the program when I first applied, it was my village that said apply again. And I got in the second time for six months when I had the degree I was applying for roles, couldn't find anything. But they were the ones to say, use your network start to make sure that you're talking to people. Let them know what you're interested in. Not only did I get a new role, but I increased my salary by like 30 to 40% 1st try. You know, like this is like things that I had to have people around me build that courage up. Third thing is now I'm deciding to change, like apply for different leadership roles and change industries because I'm thinking, well, this is where the technology is. Well, you know what, there's technology in all kinds of industries.

You've heard about Revlon, you've heard about, you know, uh you've heard about entrepreneurship, you've heard about Pepsi, all of these industries have technology, but it's really a challenge sometimes when you're so focused on career home car payment family, those people around you can help you level up and see everything that's going on around you.

So they can encourage you to say, look, you don't necessarily have to take a step backwards, listen to their stories and hear that there's a possibility there's different industries out there where you can find technology opportunities. There's not just one, you know, sometimes you need people to actually give you that courage. And some of the people who have been my sponsors, they are in the entrepreneurial side. They haven't necessarily been corporate, some of my biggest cheerleaders and where I've gotten, the biggest confidence is people like val and Alicia because I'm like, like you said, you got to hustle and I'm like, ok, if they can do it, I can do it, you know, because I'm ok with the, the, the paychecks and the bonus is I'm more of on the corporate side.

But when I struggle and when I doubt myself, sometimes hearing from those people who are in that grind, who are pushing, who are really super confident. Sometimes you don't know where you're going to land. That is great confidence building. So make sure that your sponsors and your mentors have a diverse setting. But without those people, I wouldn't have even applied for the senior vice president role. Um I saw the role. I thought it was me. I thought it was, it was the experience that I really wanted to have. I knew I could step into the shoes and do well, but I really didn't think of myself at a data or a fintech company. Um, but here I am three years later and have done so much so, uh fulfilled in my career and, and I can share that story with the people here on this uh panel. No,

that's amazing. And I think that um I'm a firm believer in sponsors. I had a sponsor, very, very senior executive actually, um worked at Pepsico and uh ran the ELC. And while at Pepsico, uh I had just hit my 20 year anniversary and I, I came from the camp, do hard work, do good work and you will be seen and then you will advance. Um I do think that the network is a huge piece of that and luck is also a piece of that, but constant preparation. Anyway, on my 20th anniversary of Pepsico, um this senior vice president said, Fern, wh why are you? You're already proven? You're working 2234 times harder to continue to prove yourself. You're already proven. You've spent two decades in a fortune 50 organization we know you're worth. And now as I'm an avid Peloton writer, I'd say no, you're worth then that tax because we are worthy for what we do and what we bring to the table. So with that, we're gonna just ask just a couple more questions and I see that we've got a Q and A popping up. So that's awesome.

Can any of you talk about any of the training and tools that you've used as you've made your pivots um whether it is leadership development courses or certain books you've read or other tools that have might helped you in that path. Vivian.

So I just really want to echo the point about creating a tribe and the board of directors because in, in, in, you know, the board of directors composition also changes as you pivot your own career because your learning needs change. And what I've personally learned is, you know, last year, for example, I was asked to take on cybersecurity operations for the team. And now I have zero experience in cyber and didn't know a whole lot. Now, I was very fortunate. I was connected to a few other women leaders and one of them happens to be a ciso. So she connected, then connected me to a few other people. And I learned about, hey, you know, here's the n the framework, various framework, here's how you think about it, how, how you approach. And then they recommended a few of the resources and potential courses I could take on Coursera and others. So that's kind of, you know, learning from the experts and they can kind of share with you. Oh you know, here's the blueprint of how you can get a crash course into a new space that you can learn, um, is a really, really great way. And then the second, the second one is just remain curious. I think all of us have very different unique perspectives and skill set.

A lot of the times, you know, it, it's the same group of engineers who've been solving the same set of problems for a long time, but couldn't get there. And we go in and we ask a few questions looking at the problem from a very different perspective and then they go, oh I didn't think about it this way. Um I never looked at this data or that other data. So that curiosity and also that encour like just the courage to speak up and ask the right questions. A lot of the times we're like, well, you know, I, when I first got into sales force focus on cloud computing, I was like, I don't know a whole lot about data centers, but I do know the money exchange and how to make capital investment and what gives the best returns. When I worked with the engineers, they didn't necessarily think about it this way. And I was like, you are making decisions on few $100 million of Capex investment and you don't think about the money. And that is when you know that curiosity and doing the perspectives really helped us to accomplish greater impact in goals.

And so, you know, a lot of times I'm the only woman in the room, the only underrepresented minority and the only person who doesn't come from, you know, wasn't training computer science and got a phd in neuroscience and data science. But guess what, I always have something unique to say and it's something additional value to bring to the table. That is why I've earned the seat at the table and I want all of us to think about it this way, the audience in front of us.

No, I think I love that. Vivian. Um You talked about having a seat at the table, I believe a couple of things. One if you've been offered the seat at the table, have a voice and then if you have the ability to bring an empty seat, bring an empty seat and make sure it's a woman. And so I think we have a responsibility to help bring each other along and bring each other with us when we can. So

it's never too early. I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but it's ne it's never too early to start supporting others. You know what I mean? Like we were talking about mentors and sponsors at any level. You know what I mean? You can pay it forward. That is something that I do. I mean, I still do with people that I work 20 years ago and I still mentor them and I stay in touch because I'm paying forward, you know, what I received from many mentors and sponsors. So it's never too early.

You know, I think it's appropriate. We got a great question in our Q and A from Maya Stone, um who's out in the audience and it kind of talks about that um mentors and sponsors. And she asks, how do you ask people to join your personal board of directors? And de Lovely. I know you spoke a lot about that. Do you want to share a few thoughts around? What's the process you go to asking someone to, hey, can you jump on board and, and be on my board, my personal board?

Sure. So first of all, you probably have people on that board board already. So, you know, don't overthink it too much. There are people that you go to for career advice, life advice, you know, just day to day task advice start there. Those people might already be on your board. What you may need to add to that tooling is someone who is either a peer or someone who is more senior who can really be looking out into the organization or out into the industry and know your skill set, making sure that someone who knows what you do. Um And that's more of the mentor and then looking for someone who can sponsor you who oftentimes you have to use the rest of your board to look for a sponsor because they're looking for people who would say yes, I'm gonna stand up for, you know, this person A or B. Um, but think of it more around start with the people that, you know, it could be your manager, it could be a professor, it could be somebody in your family who is also in the corporate space or, or is, has a career like mindedness. Um, so my board of directors is varied. I have people who are on the family side, friends side and that I have people who I work with and corporate spaces.

I would probably say maybe only a third of those people I talk in terms of you're on my board of directors, but there's a whole collective that are in my board of directors, but there are some people I'm like, I need my board right now. I'm having these thoughts, I'm having this, you know, decision making problem. I need real honest feedback and that's really important, making sure that you have people that are going to pump you up, you know, be your cheerleaders, go in and go hard for you as well as some people who can give you critical feedback in a way that you can hear it and understand it and accept it.

Um But just making sure that you have that uh that good selection. But uh I'm pretty sure you've got people that you might be overlooking that are already part part of that board.

Awesome. Hey, I want to hear a little bit from Val and Alicia on what tools you guys have used. Um or training you've used. Uh Alicia can you share with us and then p punch it over to val with um how you've sharpened your saw as you've made your pivots.

Yes, absolutely. So, uh being a business owner, you have to really think multidimensional, you have the aspect of being the artist. Some people are artists, meaning that they come in, they only get paid to do that job. They focus on that job and that job only. But as an entrepreneur, you really have to be a business owner because not only are you thinking about an artist or if you are the artist and you are the entrepreneur, you also have to think about the business. And so they're there two totally different uh dimensions of the brain that actually plays out whenever you're an entrepreneur. And so things that you have to really consider thinking about as an entrepreneur is how do you get help running a business because it's so different from just delivering the service or, or delivering the product. That's one aspect of the business and as entrepreneurs. A lot of times when people look at us from the outside, all they see is the product or the service. But what you fail to see on the back end of that is the business. And so that one of the things that I had to really get help to learn how to do over these years is how do I run the business? How do I separate and understand the different aspects of the business? Because I can't, I can't neglect marketing and sales.

I can't neglect my services. I can't neglect the legal side of my business such as hr I cannot neglect the areas. So you really want to think from a more of a holistic standpoint of how do you get, how do you get help? And there's a lot of services out there, Bobson College, uh Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business uh in, in uh entrepreneurship program. That's, that's a very national program you also can consider, then how do you get help with your leadership abilities because you gotta know how to influence people.

And so I just came back from the International Leadership Conference in Orlando. And so I bought so many books out there. I had to ship them to myself. Uh And so the constant level of reading as an entrepreneur because once you begin to separate yourself from the pack and you're no longer working for someone, you now got to begin to become very disruptive in your thinking. You gotta disrupt your own thinking pattern and say, am I thinking about what's next? What's gonna happen? What, how is this next gonna impact my employees? So you gotta get outside of your office the only time that you can advance as an entrepreneur is when you get outside of the business. So val, I'm gonna just turn it over to you because I know I, I've given people way too much, but a lot

of that good stuff, wonderful nuggets. I'm never gonna have too much and some, some of the tools that I use. Uh First of all, reading, there are a couple of different areas so I have to stay up on technology. So one of the things we do with companies is say, hey, we can upskill your people. Your your strategy is moving to a new technology and we can upskill your people to be with that technology. So you don't have to lay them off. But in order for me to be able to know how to train people to even train others in that technology, I have, I have to know what's on the cutting edge. So I'm always looking at Gartner or the going to conferences to see it is a cutting edge. So I can instruct you and advise the company on where we're going next. And I, I can say, I already know where you're trying to go with your strategy and we can help you get there because we can actually come in and train your people in that technology. But I want to piggyback on Vivian and what she said about how she was the only, you know, in scenarios. And we probably have all had this experience and So I learned a lot from my experiences and I build on that. I have a program, a program called Being the Only. And it's a part of this belonging experience.

And that is because the

in between uh sorry to interrupt, in between, I have to end the session because another session is waiting. And uh thank you so much for your conversation. It have been great uh hosting you all and have a great life ahead.

All right, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us and thanks for joining the Women Tech Global Conference. Thanks

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