Sheila
Vida
Principal Customer Solutions Engineer at Cisco Duo
"Tech, Talk and Triumph: How Women Excel in Technical Customer-Facing Roles"
"Tech, Talk and Triumph: How Women Excel in Technical Customer-Facing Roles"
Don’t miss out and join visionaries, innovators, and thought leaders from all over the world at the Women in Tech Global Conference.
Vote by Sharing
Unite 100 000 Women in Tech to Drive Change with Purpose and Impact.
Do you want to see this session? Help increase the sharing count and the session visibility. Sessions with +10 votes will be available to career ticket holders.
Please note that it might take some time until your share & vote is reflected.
Session: Tech, Talk and Triumph: How Women Excel in Technical Customer-Facing Roles
Technical customer-facing roles demand a rare blend of technical expertise, emotional intelligence, and resilience. These positions sit at the intersection of innovation and human connection - a space where women often face unique challenges but also possess powerful, natural advantages.In this talk, we’ll explore the realities of navigating technical customer-facing roles: balancing deep technical problem-solving with empathy, communication, and credibility. We’ll unpack known hurdles from imposter syndrome to bias — and highlight how qualities often undervalued in tech, such as active listening, collaboration, and emotional awareness, are actually key drivers of success.
Through real-world stories and practical insights from her own journey, this talk will show that thriving in these roles isn’t just about mastering technology, it’s about bringing your authentic self, and fueling your passion for people and problem-solving.
Key Takeaways
- Women are naturally equipped in technical customer-facing roles
- Keep challenging the "demarcation lines" of what you can or cannot do to see how far you can go.
- Remember to give back and give forward to the community to keep the cycle going
- Stay true to yourself the entire process.
Bio
Sheila Vida is a Principal Customer Solutions Engineer with Cisco Duo and has 22 years of experience in customer success, systems engineering, professional services, customer engineering and quality assurance.
With nearly five years of cybersecurity expertise at Cisco Duo, she helps organizations strengthen their security posture through expert guidance, strategic consulting, and best practices in the Zero Trust and Identity and Access Management space. She partners internally with cross-functional teams to deliver comprehensive, tailored solutions that drive customer success.
She LOVES collaborative problem solving with internal and external teammates (aka customers) then sharing her learnings and stories.
