Editor’s Note: Recently, three WellSky female engineering leaders participated the 2023 Texas Conference for Women conference, and they shared their favorite sessions and take-aways. In the picture above (left to right): Andrea Barto, Director of Engineering; Kassandra Foote, Director of Process and Release Management; Angela Duffel, Director of DevOps.
Theme for this year’s Texas Conference for Women is PASSION. PURPOSE. POSSIBILITY.
That’s right. Purpose. Because we know you want it. A life lived well is a life lived with purpose, and possibility.
That’s a Good Question: Navigating Board Dynamics
Moderator: Laura Rice, Managing Producer, Texas Standard, the National Daily New Show of Texas
Speaker: Myrna Estrada, SVP & Field Executive, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Speaker: Laurie Dalton White, Founding Executive Director and Strategic Advisor, Conferences for Women
Speaker: Michelynn “Miki” Woodard, CEO, Amalgamation Group
Andrea Barto- WellSky has always been supportive with teammates’ involvement with boards and giving back to the community. The panel shared their own experiences being on a variety of boards from non-profits to corporate organizations. Board meetings can be challenging to navigate with the different personalities and agendas. Often, boards grow organically over time and new members want to propose ideas and suggestions. The panel encouraged the crowd to voice how the changes would be beneficial for the organization. Another question from the crowd was about long running meetings. The piece of advice was setting meeting objectives with time allotted for each topic to ensure healthy boundaries. Overall, it was great to see women becoming more involved on boards and branching outside of their comfort zones.
That’s a Good Question: Navigating the Tech Workplace
Moderator: Amber Gunst, Co-Founder & CEO FundLyst
Speaker: Tamara Fields, Austin Office Managing Director, South Market Unit COO, Accenture & Board President, TX Conference for Women
Speaker: Shane Woods, Executive Director, GirlStart
Angela Duffel - The tech community has historically had a lack of visible mentors and role models for women. While that is slowly changing, more change is needed.
In this interactive session, the audience drives the conversation. They offered insights and lessons learned for how to navigate the male-dominated tech field.
The speakers also talked about what technology companies and individuals can do to close the gender gap in STEM professions. One of the suggestions that resonated with me was to get girls involved early by exposing them to programs in the STEM field such as “Girls who Code” and science summer camps. I can’t wait for my grandchild, who is 6, to get excited about technology.
Keynote Speaker: Gail Devers, Olympic Gold Medalist & Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) Patient Advocate
Kassandra Foote- In 1990, just two years before clinching her first Olympic gold, Devers faced a challenging health crisis. She candidly revealed the life-altering symptoms she experienced, including significant hair loss, blurry vision, eye pain, fatigue, and a drastic weight drop from 125 lbs to 79 lbs. After months of uncertainty and perseverance, she was diagnosed with Graeve's disease, and many years later she was diagnosed with Thyroid Eye Disease (TED).
Devers left the audience with three profound takeaways: First, to always “trust your gut.” She stressed that nobody understands our bodies better than we do and encouraged persistent questioning, regular medical check-ups, and seeking second or even third medical opinions when something feels amiss. Second, she emphasized the need to “be proactive” in cultivating healthy habits, urging everyone to make necessary changes without delay. Lastly, Devers encouraged everyone to fiercely “be your own advocate” when it comes to your health journey. Gail Devers' story serves as a reminder to prioritize self-awareness, take proactive steps, and always be your biggest advocate.
Keynote Speaker: The Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister, New Zealand (2017-2023); Senior Fellow, Harvard University; Special Envoy, Christchurch Call to Action; Board Member, The Earthshot Prize
Angela Duffel - Ms. Ardern’s focus on people, kindness and what she has called “pragmatic idealism” saw New Zealand achieve some of the lowest losses of life experienced by any developed nation through the pandemic, the ban of military style semi-automatic weapons in her country, and the creation of the Christchurch call to action to eliminate violent extremism online, which Ms. Ardern continues to hold the role of Special Envoy. She is a champion of woman’s empowerment. My favorite quote she delivered was “Batman had Robin; Wonder Woman deserves a crew too.” One of her talking points was that woman seem to think they must do things alone and shoulder the weight of the world to be perceived as strong. We need to break through that stigma and let go of those insecurities. Sensitivity is not a weakness but rather a way to keep your empathy to see the world through other’s eyes.
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
Speaker: Liz Wiseman, CEO & New York Times best-selling author
Angela Duffel - There are two dramatically different types of leaders: the leader who drains your intelligence, energy, and talent and the one who amplifies the smarts and capabilities of the people around them. These are the “Multipliers.” And the world needs more of them, especially now when leaders are expected to do more with less. In this session, Liz Wiseman, shared the five disciplines behind this leadership style so that you can learn how to be the type of leader who gets the ideas flowing and inspires teammates to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. She also talked about accidental “Diminishers” who think they are motivating their teammates and have good intentions. We did a fun exercise where she brought up characteristics of leadership and what the leader's intention was vs. what the team's experience was. This one was my favorite.
Strengthening Social Connection, Community, and Collaboration... And Why It Matters
Speaker: Dr. Marisa Franco, Professor & New York Times best-selling author
Kassandra Foote - Dr. Franco, an expert in human connection, shed some light on the pervasive issue of loneliness in the United States. Backed by a comprehensive analysis of both pre-pandemic and post-pandemic data, she emphasized that "connection is the key to happiness" and it plays a pivotal role in our mental and physical well-being. Dr. Franco also expressed that “the quality of our relationships shapes the overall quality of our lives.”
Dr. Franco’s talk reminded me of our agile coach and scrum master team at WellSky. Beyond the active enhancement of processes, agile coaches and scrum masters are dedicated to fostering a culture of collaboration and connection among their scrum teams. These amazing agile practitioners create time and space for interpersonal connections to happen in the workplace through a Fun Friday Question, leading a team building activity, facilitating a team networking session, or leading a retrospective, and by doing so they are contributing to the holistic well-being of our teammates.
