What Holds Women Back in their Careers

During this episode of Manifest Your Career I interview Marisella Bodrero; she is a career coach and expert who helps high-achieving mid-level women in tech reposition their experience for leadership roles. 

She is the founder and CEO of Accelerator, which is a 6-month elite program dedicated to helping women ditch imposter syndrome, articulate their value, and attract ideal Management + Director level opportunities. Marisella was a former tech recruiter turned career coach where she specializes in helping corporate women have a seat at the table so they can make a massive impact with their organizations

EPISODE LINKS

• Connect with Marisella on Instagram.
• Interested in Booking a Call with Marisella? Click Here
• Book discussed:  The Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay Alana Karen
• Is your career mindset holding you back? Take the Career Mindset Quiz, Today!
• Click Here to learn more about my career coaching services. 

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Visit my site for more information: https://manifestyourcareer.com/ and manifest the career of your dreams. 

Transcript

Norma Reyes: 0:07

Welcome to the manifest your career podcast. I'm your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach. With this podcast I help successful women learn how to combine their intuition and logic so that they can manifest their dream career. By listening to my podcast, you'll learn how to go from feeling stuck and lost on what to do next to having the clarity the motivation and strategies to manifest the career of your dreams. Each episode, I'll teach you the skills, strategies and mindset you need girl to get in alignment with your career goals. Now, let's go ahead and get started. Hi, everyone, welcome back. This is Episode Three and I have my first podcast guest for you guys. This is going to be Mati Sela beaudry ro and Mati Sela is a career coach an expert who helps high achieving mid level women in tech reposition their experience for leadership roles. She is the founder and CEO of accelerator which is a six month elite program dedicated to help women ditch imposter syndrome articulate their value and attract ideal management and director level opportunities. MADI Salah was a former tech recruiter turn career coach where she specialized in helping corporate women have a seat at the table so they can make a massive impact with their organizations. I am so grateful to have her here and share knowledge with us.

Unknown: 1:52

Can you go ahead and tell me about your family background? Where did you grow up? And Whom did you live with? So I actually grew up in California, and I grew up with both my parents. I have two siblings, a brother and a sister and older sisters. I'm the middle child. And we grew up in California, went to school in two years in Virginia. And then I did two years back in California for my undergrad. And then I got my masters online. So yeah. And so when you were young, and people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what do you recall telling them? Oh, that's a good question. Because I remember I actually would tell people, I wanted to be a veterinarian, which is so opposite than what I do now. But I wanted to be a vet because I loved horses. And I like I really loved animals like I, I just I was so fascinated by like dogs and cats and farm animals. And I like, for a long time I thought I was going to be a veterinarian. I love asking that question because we were like, Oh, we thought about that. And then it brings all these memories without. So then a little bit different here, but still within the same thing. Who do you recall as some of your earliest career role models, those that you imagine being like when you grew up? Yeah, so I actually one of my first I would say my, I like to call it like my first big girl job. I actually had two leaders that I reported to they were both female leaders. And I really admired them because one of them, one of them was a lot older. And the other one she was like she was a little bit older than me. But they both I love their leadership style because they were go getter women, they were the type of leaders where they really were hands off. And they just allowed you to really kind of do your thing. And they were definitely not the type of leaders don't micromanage. Like they were very good at just kind of like letting the reins loose and letting you do your thing. But giving you direct feedback. I always like that, because I like to know where I stand with people. And I can appreciate when people are being authentic and transparent. And so they always gave direct feedback in a very, like a very productive way I feel like and I liked how they were willing to also roll up their sleeves and jump in when I needed help or if I needed roadblocks removed. I think that is one of the best key indicators of leaders when they're trying to always look at how they can remove roadblocks. Other people can go faster and be more productive and efficient. And so the two women that I reported to when I first started my career, they definitely had a huge impact in how I saw leadership and really just how I wanted to be as I progressed in my career, so I feel like they really did make a huge impact on my career and really shaped like kind of how I wanted to be as a manager and how I wanted to treat my people and like how I wanted to just operate. And so I always really appreciated them. I've also had a lot of other mentors that I didn't directly report to, but people that I really do aspire to be like, I've read a lot of books, I've been to conferences, and I feel like one of the big mentors I've had is Brendon Burchard. I really like his high performance habits book is literally life changer. I went to one of his conferences two years ago. And it's really been a huge shift for me in my career and my mindset, and really just how I operate life. So definitely a huge mentor for me, that's really kind of helped me shape how I view leadership, and really just the standards that I set for myself in my career and in my life. So yeah. So step back just a little bit. Can you tell me about your educational background? You already kind of saw that you went to college, but I was like, like to know, did you take a break before going? Did you go in with the same major? Did that transform in any way for you? Yeah, so I really do believe that. There's a lot of, there's a lot of us out there where the, the industry that we ended up with it or ended up in is like completely, like you trace backwards or started it's like, it doesn't even look like the complete polar opposites. And that was me. So I had a very unconventional education I wanted right before I was going to even go to college, I honestly, I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do, I was thinking I was going to be a teacher at one point, then I thought I was going to go be a fashion major. At one point, I thought I was going to go be a bee in culinary school. Like I had all these different things I was considering. And I really just at the end, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And so once I got my once I got into school, I would say probably the second into the third year of college. That's where I really started taking gravitation towards HR because I had to figure out what what my major was going to be. And I was in an HR marketing internship. And I worked at a staffing agency. And I just fell in love with it. The internship that I had, I worked for a company where they supported other companies to do their hiring for them. So they were an agency. So they had multiple companies within the area that they were hiring for. And so I really got to see so many different like aspects of hiring. And I knew right away, I was like this is it like this is this is what I want to do. And it was just like a true testament on how internships can be just so powerful and impactful. And so after that, that's when I decided I wanted to be like all in on the major. And so that's where I started leading my major and undergrad and masters more towards HR. Can you tell me more about the transition after so you've you've finished your degree? You did you go straight into the workforce, then go get your masters? Yeah, good question. So once I was done with my undergrad, that's when I went right into the workforce. And I worked for probably about three years before I even went and got my masters. And actually, my job actually paid for some of my masters. So I didn't even entertain the idea of getting a Masters until my employer was like willing to pay for it. And so I had been about three years of gap time before I decided to go get my masters. And so what did make you want to Was it because they were willing to pay for it? So you took it as an opportunity? Or was there something else that kind of gave you that push? Yeah, to be honest, at that time, I think I just didn't know what I didn't know. I think at that time, I saw it as an opportunity to Yes, one if my employers willing to pay for it, why not? You know, I can do it online. It's self paced, my employer is paying for it. But there was part of me that wanted to have more specific courses that were just more niched down within HR that I didn't get my undergrad that I thought could potentially be helpful for me down the road as I you have to remember, you know, this was Geez, like, quite a bit A while ago, I mean, over 10 years ago, I mean, you have to remember, HR has really been kind of an evolving industry, especially within the last like 15 to 20 years. You know, when I got my master's degree in HR, there wasn't really a lot of programs for HR. So now it's nice because there are a lot more resources for people to really learn the industry and really understand like what it takes to really build a career in HR. Whereas when I was going to school, that really wasn't around very much. So, to me, I did it because I was like, well, where else am I really going to learn Aside from Yes, my job, but if there's other areas of HR that I'm considering, if I want to make this a long term career, I see this as an opportunity. So my situation I think was a bit a bit unique, because of the circumstance that I was in with my industry. Whereas like Now, like I would give myself totally different advice if I was, you know, a recent grad coming out of like wanting to make a career in HR now today, if that makes sense. Yeah. So what would you give recent grad advice right now? Within HR? Yeah, so I've been going into that field, one, get experience, you need to get in there and get experience. So get an internship, get your first full time job, get an HR coordinator role, get a talent acquisition coordinator role, like, just get in there and start getting experience, and start taking on as many different HR projects as you can like, start looking at how you can do projects, maybe for benefits, maybe take on things that you can do for hiring and recruiting take on things that you can do for diversity and inclusion, take on projects that you could do for employee relations, like get a mix of it. Some companies even have what's called HR rotations, where they will actually rotate you around into different organizations within HR. So you can really learn the business and understand how an HR department runs on all levels. And then at the end of the rotation, which is usually about a year and a half to two years, then they will give you have the option to figure out like where they'll place you at depending on your interest and what's available. So I would get some type of full time HR rotation role, or I would make sure that whatever role that I'm in, I'm allowing myself to be visible in all different areas. So I can really start learning what parts of HR I really want to potentially make my career In, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, totally does. Thank you. That's such great advice. So you kind of went into this a little bit already. But before you started your first full time job, what were some of your career interests, I had a big interest in marketing, I had a big interest in sales, I also had a big interest in human resources. That's why recruiting worked out so well for me, because it's kind of a combination of all those. It really is. It is and I did all of those while I was in school, I did sales, I did marketing roles I did I mean, I tried a lot of different things. And then once I got to an HR internship where I was doing kind of all of those, that's when I knew I was like recruiting, this is what I this is like my calling, this is what I need to do. So that's why I was so good at it because I was so excited and passionate about it. And I was just like, naturally curious. And it's funny, because a lot of times in our career, we don't realize that there's all these different facets of the role, or the industry and a lot of things that we don't consider on like how like, for example, like, I really like client facing. So for me, like I like to be in front of the clients, I like to be interacting with them. I like to be, you know, there's HR roles where you literally don't talk to people. Like there's HR roles where you're on the back end, and you're dealing with like payroll and systems and like you're not really dealing with like you're not client facing. So recruiting worked out so well for me because I was client facing 24 seven all the time. And then I also had to put on my marketing hat because we were always looking like back then they didn't have talent branding roles. Now they have more talent, branding roles. But recruiting was like they were responsible for branding the company, to potential candidates. And like we had to always put on our marketing hats of how we were going to like what kind of branding message were we trying to put out to people that we were trying to attract to our company, and roles that we were trying to fill. So it gave me a mix of all those. Yeah. And then ultimately selling the company to them and selling the role and the position together something that people think about. Yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I can totally see it with some I've had some HR experience as well. Yeah. Okay. I love that. When are you just, I'm still processing algorithms, a lot of good gems right there. So that was before right? You talked about that you had those and then you enter the workforce. Little bit about how did that change for you? So for me once I started realizing that I wanted to really be all in with recruiting that's where I started looking at because like once you figure out and again this goes back to like advice I would give people is like once you figure out what industry you want to be into like HR, such a huge industry, different areas, you can go go in through with HR, then I narrowed it down to recruiting well, recruiting you got to get more niche than that. So now it was okay, I like recruiting but what type of recruiting to I like. And I knew that I really like tech recruiting, I like tech recruiting, I like the energy within technical recruiting. I really specifically liked more of like that mid level recruiting, I've done college recruiting all the way to like mid level and executive recruiting. But I like that mid level recruiting. I liked seeing people go from individual contributor roles into their first management role, or that you were in a management role go into director roles, like that was my sweet spot. That was the area that I really, really was really good with candidates especially, like, I was always good at identifying really good talent for those roles. And I always built such great strong business relationships with my business partners, internally, aka hiring managers for those roles. And so it came so natural for me. But I started understanding what were the decisions that they were making on how they were going to hire for those roles? Like how did those interviews, look, the questions they would ask, what specifically made a hiring manager make a decision on them moving forward with an offer or not moving forward with an offer. So that became my sweet spot. And I specifically liked working within the software space of technical recruiting, because there's different areas within tech recruiting that you can go into. So I got even more niche down. So like, as you can see my career route from like, a funnel over from here, and it went all the way down into like, a more niche role. Right? And that's something that had I asked you this, you know, way before you even enter it, you'd have no idea. And but it's so neat how you are describing everything and the whole navigation of it. So I want to hear more about that. Then so you got niched down. Yeah, to tack the software time, right? Yes, yes. And then how did you develop further there. So the biggest thing is building relationships with your business partner. So for me, it was really important to build relationships with the hiring managers that I work for they, there's a level of trust that they start to build with you. And there's a level of you no credibility. So building a lot of trust was important. That was one thing I was really, really good at with the hiring managers that I partnered with lot. They trusted me to make kind of those hiring decisions on the front line. And a lot of times like I would, it would get to the point where I'd be like, hey, you need to interview this person, like, they are exactly what you need for your team. And they trusted me, they're like, I trust you, like, all the candidates you sent us so far have been amazing. So there's like a level of trust, you know, because you're hiring people, for someone's team, you know, that's an investment. And at the end of the day, if there's a bad hire, like part of it falls on you, too. So I always looked at my role, as you know, there was a level of responsibility to the business, right. So I wanted to make sure that the process was always done correctly, it was done with, you know, good integrity, that we were always in compliance, but also making sure that my business partners were happy at the end of the day, and the candidates are happy. I always wanted candidates to feel like they were special. And I always liked hearing their stories. You know, every time we'd ask question, like, tell me about yourself. Like I loved hearing those stories, and how have they kind of came to this point of wanting to step into like a leadership role. And I will say like, being a recruiter like you, you have a pretty big bs meter. So I can really pick out who's like being authentic and real, and people that are just kind of spoon feeding me information. So I kind of have some, like ninja skills with that. So yeah, so I just, I got really niched down. That was kind of my focus. And a big part of it was partnering a lot with the hiring managers that I worked with, and building those relationships. And even till this day, like, sometimes they'll message me on LinkedIn, and like, say, thank you. They're like, yeah, someone. So remember that person that we hired together back in this day, and like, now they're on to this role. And like, it's just like, you have that immediate connection. You know, before COVID happened. I like here in Phoenix. It's so funny. I was actually at a it's like this little cafe, place where your kids can play and you can get like coffee and baked goods and stuff. And I was there with my husband. And I ran into a hiring manager that I used to work with, at one of the companies I worked at, and it was so funny, because like we ran into each other and she was like, You brought me the best engineers ever, like because I was telling her that I'm a career coach now. And she's like, I'm so happy you're doing this because you brought me the best engineers ever. Like, that's the kind of trust you build like they they trust you with their business. So I really took it really seriously, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. No, I totally understand. In my current role on the clinical manager side, when I hire a candidate, it takes a skill to be able to really find the right candidate at first You may not be very good at it. But over time, if you really invest yourself, I mean, it becomes no easy. I'm sure you probably talk to them within the first five minutes, you knew if you like them or not? Yeah, for sure. And if I know they're going to be a fit for the role, like understanding the quirks of the organization and the car the way the culture is, and like, you can quickly see if someone's going to be a fit, and what questions to ask to get further clarification if it's a right fit or not. So, yeah, I like that. You said that too, because there's been some excellent candidates that I've had. And I'm just like, you don't fit here, especially for the role, I think you could be somewhere else doing something bigger. It's typically what I have found. So I would like to ask you about your networking experiences, because it sounds like you've had a very interesting career, not just in HR, but you've navigated it into a lot of different roles. How is it that you network? How did you figure out how to network because that's something that a lot of women, especially Latino women, have no idea how to do? So I think, first of all, I'm the word networking, I think, is just so over. I like to use like relationship building, or like, you know, building connections, because that's what you're doing, you're connecting with people. I feel like networking has such a negative connotation to it, because people like imagine this big room when you're handing out business cards. Yeah, just kind of like handing out your resume and stuff. And I think we have to change the perspective of what is networking today. And really, what networking is, is its relationships. It's building your circle of trusted advisors, it's building your circle of people that will I like to call champions that will champion you people that you can pick up the phone and say, Hey, like, I'm, I'm kind of struggling with this in my role, can you offer me advice, or Hey, I, you know, I just got laid off, and I, you know, I need to have some contacts at this company, can you help me out or, you know, it's building that type of connections within your circle. And that has to really start ASAP. And it's something you continue to do in your career, it doesn't just start just when you start job searching, and it doesn't end just when you get the job offer, like it should be something you should continually be doing. And the biggest thing is like, again, building connections, it's building the authentic connections, it's putting the other person first and looking out what can you do to add value to them? Or what can what is something like that might be top of mind for them? What's something that you can go out of your way to help them with, again, kind of parking your needs for a second? And how can you connect with that individual first, that goes a long way? Because we live in a world where it's always about me, me, me, me, me, and what's in it for me. And you have to flip the script on that when it comes to building relationships in corporate America. Right, what I want to share with clients, which is what I'm hearing from you, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's like having that curiosity to connect with that person. And kind of learning and developing and growing, you know, asking them to share, because I think a lot of times, we are quick to be like, Oh, this person could help me with this. But instead flip it around and be like, Oh, you know, I'd really love to learn more about this. And then do the Ask after you develop an authentic relationship. I think that's what's also really important, don't just build a relationship with an airline. Yeah, and making it fun, find commonalities. Like if you went to the same school, if you belong to the same community groups, if there's something that you have in common, maybe have a common connection on LinkedIn, maybe you guys used to work together at the same company years ago, like, whatever the thing may be, maybe the person volunteers at a certain organization that you really care about to like, it could be anything. I have seen some pretty crazy networking stories of people that have been able to build some amazing contacts from some of the things that you would have never thought of. And so it's just again, it's always putting that person first connecting with them staying curious, asking questions. I had met one of the first females that was at Google, at a women impact tech conference. This was a tech conference that happened last year. And it was so interesting, because we were both like speaking at the event. And we had chatted a little bit and kind of stayed in contact. And I noticed that she was working on a book. She was like, announcing it on LinkedIn that she was trying to come out with some different ideas for her book, things like that. And I just got prompted to like, messaged her, and I was just like, hey, like, here's some advice that I had gotten from some mentors of mine who have New York Times bestselling books. And these are like some of the things that they had said were their best advice for anybody that's new to writing a book. And I just said, Hey, like, I hope everything's well with you since the conference, you know, and really kind of just left it at that. And it was so funny, you know, she messaged me back and we had kind of talked kind of on and off as she was writing this book. And she sent me a message probably like a month ago. And she was like, Hey, I just want to give you a heads up, I actually, I'm gonna send you a copy of the book, I'm gonna send you a signed copy. And thank you so much for the advice he gave. I actually mentioned you in the book, like, admit that much to her to mention me in the book. And like her acknowledgments, and I'm like, Holy moly, like, you know, and she's a very well known visible, I mean, Sheryl Sandberg endorsed her book. And so it's just like crazy, like, and I did it with the intention of like, Hey, here's like, some advice that I got, you might find it useful. But now her and I like have this like, fun, like, relationship, like we're going to be doing an Instagram live together in the next couple weeks. Like, we're now like, new friends basically, from that we just met a year ago. It's like, it's just funny how, that's how you do it. It's being curious, authentic. It's putting the person first it's like, now like, she's in my contact of networks. And I'm now a contact of her within her network. And it's like building that relationship. Right, providing her with a value that to you was just something that you came across, you know, you were inspired. You had this intuition to be like, why people want to share this. I love that. Oh, I love that whole. Yeah, everything. That's amazing. And so her book is coming out this year. already came out. It already came out. Because I can be john sugar book with us. Yeah, it's actually the adventures of women in tech. By Alanna Karen. So yeah. Awesome. And amazing. And it was I mean, I could just tell your story, just organic, natural with this from your heart. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So let me see here, I'm going to ask you one more question that I'm going to have you share about the biggest setbacks that you know women have in trying to move into corporate. So we'll move into that in a bit. But Next, I want to know what have been some of your most influential experiences in your career so far. So I would say the biggest pivotal moment for me was becoming a mom, because my entire life change, and my whole identity changed. In a good way. I think becoming a mom, especially working moms, like you really do start to uncover your gaps of the some things that you just didn't realize were there. Becoming a parent is such a special gift that it allows you to look internally and really see what's kind of going on with you. And it's just really interesting, how much of a gift that was for me, because there was so many struggles of just embracing, like the new journey of becoming a mom. And that also shifted my career, because that's when I was led and felt inspired to start my business. So it was like one of those things where it was like, really, really hard transition. But also, if I hadn't become a mother, I wouldn't have my business today. Yeah, so that was a huge pivotal moment. For me. The other pivotal moment was anytime I've made investments in myself, I always compounded the results that I wanted. So a couple years back, I heard like my first coach to help me with getting started in my business. And then I hired my second coach almost a year ago. So my first coach helped me get my business off the ground. And then the coach that I hired a year ago helped me scale my business to six figures. So it's one of those things where I realize the importance of women investing themselves expecially women of color investing in themselves, it's so critically important. I think I was reading a stat that only 10% of women make six figures. And that percentage, pretty much like drastically goes down for women of color. So I want to leave legacy, I want to leave generational wealth for my children and their grandchildren. So it wouldn't be possible if I hadn't made those investments, even when we're scary even when it was uncomfortable, even when it felt like I don't know if I should do this was like, one of the biggest messages I hit home on is like, you have to invest in yourself. You can't do this alone. It doesn't matter if you're starting a business. If you're in corporate America, like you have to invest in yourself, if you want to continue growing and leveling up. You can't just expect things to be systematically given to you. It's just not going to happen. You have to go out there and you have to create the reality for yourself. Definitely want to explore that a little bit more. So can you tell me about your transition from corporate America? starting your own business? And the reason you know the story behind wanting to start a career coaching business. Yeah, so I had spent quite a bit of time in corporate America and after I said that one of the pivotal moments with having my daughter is that it made me realize again, What I felt called to do, and I went back to work about seven months after I had my daughter. And it just, it didn't feel right. Like I didn't feel right being in corporate America, I just I had such a hard time getting back into recruiting again, it was, I literally, I'll never forget the first week, I went back to work. And I know a lot of moms will relate to this. I literally cried every day, like I was just sobbing because I felt so confused. I felt like, I don't feel like I should be here. But I also feel like I need to be doing something else. And I don't really know what that is right now. And it just was such a weird, like, energetic, cool. And it was like one of those polls, where like, I couldn't ignore it energetically, I literally could not ignore it. And whether you believe in like, energy, the universe, God, whatever it is, like, for me, it was like I knew God was saying, Marcella, you're called to do something else. Here's what I need you to do. And I need you to just like, go be curious, explore it, lean in, listen, take action, and it was just like, constant. And so that's when I started really getting serious to be honest about my business. And like, what did it need to look like? Even financially, like, I mean, I was making really great money in corporate America. And I needed to replace that. Oh, I needed to. And I was like, Okay, so how am I going to replace that and make sure that I can leave, and be able to also be home with my daughter, and create a schedule and create a life that I want on my terms. So that's what led me to continue, like, really focusing and dialing in on my business. But like, from what I wanted that to look like, again, it was just as calling of like, you need to be helping women, you need to be a voice, you need to use your voice. And you need to help provide the tools to help women get into these leadership roles to help women advance their careers. Like, again, it was like this calling, like, I don't know how to explain it. But that's just like, where I felt called to do it. And so I just I listened to the call, I answered to the call in So can you tell me a little bit more about why you wanted to do career coaching? I mean, because you could have made a business and almost anything can become like, you know, recruiting company, but decided to do yeah, coaching? Yeah, so the reason why I wanted to do career coaching is because, you know, when I was in recruiting, I was always like, my loyalty was always to the business to the company, right to the hiring managers, like I was always prioritizing that first, because that was, you know, that was the priority. Right? And for me, like career coaching allowed me to be on like the candidate side, and be able to help them and help them understand certain things that they like that they're not going to understand. So for example, like if somebody says, like, I went into the interview, and they said, it wasn't a good fit, or they said, I have enough experience, a lot of times candidates, they kind of just take that as like, Bible, and they're like, Okay, well, that was the feedback. But they don't understand on the back end, what that might have really meant. And I can tell them what that really means. And so and I have no ties to the company, I have no biases, I'm, I get to be as authentic and real with my clients, and explain to them what is happening on the back end that's causing this. But then also, a lot of times as women like we don't see our blind spots, we don't understand I've worked with some really successful women and they don't see their blind spots, right? Because we don't write like, sometimes it's tough for us to see that. So if we have that person that is asking us the right questions, helping us to get outside of our comfort zone, helping us to see a different perspective on things. It helps us make more well informed decisions on where we need to take our career. And also from just like a heart centered space, I feel like it's my calling. And it's my duty in this life to help women get more seats at the table to help them get into more leadership roles to have more representation in these decision making roles. And so career coaching, like that's why our program is like there's a huge mission behind it. Like we want more women represented in corporate America, at the leadership level, especially in tech. It's so underrepresented right now. And if I can be a vessel and be a part of the solution, like Sign me up, that's that's like the reason why I do it. Yeah. And to go back a little bit about what you saw, you know, the blind spots, you know, made me think of something you actually said in the beginning is you don't know what you don't know. And if you didn't make this, there's countless women that would not have known what you were able to show them. So thank you for that. I had a client who she's making the jump from being like a senior engineer into a engineering manager. And so there's this big myth out there in the tech industry, especially in technical roles that are Hiring managers only care about your technical expertise. And they will only pay you based on how many years of technical expertise you have. In management, it's a completely different ballgame. And a lot of individual contributors that are in the technical space, they don't realize that it's just like a totally different decision making process that happens. There's a lot more leadership and soft skills that really do matter and are actually more important. And so like, helping her see those shifts, and realizing that and also having her see like, Okay, how do I need to like level up my leadership ability? Yeah. For her, she's had 15 years of technical experience, worked out really big fortune 500 companies, has all the bells and whistles of experience from a technical perspective. But bridging that gap between an individual contributor to a management role, it's a completely different type of interview. And what people don't understand is they keep thinking their resume is going to get them the job, it's going to get them the interview, it's going to get them like through the door, because they have all this like experience and technologies and degrees and all that it's like, when it comes to management roles. It's completely different. And so just to give you an example, like she didn't even see that blind spot that she had for a long time. Yeah, yeah, actually was just talking about that earlier how a good worker doesn't necessarily mean that they will be a good leader. And then, you know, a leader may have experience in x, y, z, but they have always been the leader. And some people just need to grow that. And you don't know what you don't know. So to get going on that. So what are some of the biggest things that hold women back from moving up in corporate America themselves. That's the truth, though. I mean, it's imposter syndrome. It's doubting your abilities. It's constantly second guessing yourself, feeling like you're enough to actually go after, like the big roles. It's breaking belief systems that have been embedded in you since childhood. There are things that you experience in your career. You know, I always tell people, there's trauma that we go through in our careers, like, some of us have experienced discrimination, some of us have experienced sexual harassment, some of us experienced very toxic work environments. So a lot of trauma that happens there that we don't realize, and it also bleeds into us not going for the next level. So to answer your question, I know I said it very, like bluntly and shortly, but that's the truth, we hold ourselves back. Because we don't start looking inward to see how can we get out of our own way? How can we start healing some of those internal doubts, and some of those things that have caused us to play small, not go for the advancement level roles, not be bold enough to like, speak our truth, to be vulnerable? You know, these are the things that we don't talk about a lot in corporate America. And I think that's what holds a lot of women back to be honest, is they only see, especially in the tech industry, it's like, they only see Instagram worthy. You know, they see the they see the Sheryl Sandberg and they see the women that are up on top, and they're very successful. And I think they just like, popped out of the womb like that. It didn't happen that way. And so yeah, it's realizing that it's a journey, it's realizing that you have to fail to progress forward, that your career, it's probably gonna be unconventional, it's not going to be like, there's a constant like learning muscles that you're exercising and there's gonna be jobs that you take that aren't the right fit. There's going to be bad bosses you work for it. That's like part of the journey. Yeah. Yes, that is. So everything that my podcast is trying to highlight that, you know, we have this masculine logical view that, you know, we we get the degree, we get the job, and somehow we're just going to keep going and get rewarded with some sort of leadership position. But that's not how it happens. And we gotta combine them with our intuition with our inner knowing with our higher self and integrating that and overcoming and recognizing those limiting beliefs. And as for myself, and probably for you, it sounds like we are very self aware that, you know, we kind of see that and when I've worked with clients that come to realize that that's not a norm. There's so many people like you said that just don't even realize their blind spots. And so by you pointed that out, because I always forget because it's always been something with me and like yourself, always had a pool to do career coaching. I love hearing careers, everything that you said. About your HR experience are reminded me so much of my own as well. So another question I have for you is, how do women break into the tech industry? What would be some tips that you would give? So the biggest thing is that there is no one way to do it. I think a lot of times people think there's like the secret magic like recipe, and there's not, there's multiple ways you can do it. The key thing is just to start, and to be consistent, and start fact gathering start figuring out like, what, first of all understand why do you want to go to the tech industry? Like, what what is it about being in that industry? Our lights your heart on fire? What is it like what specific technologies are exciting to you? even understanding like, what missions Do you want to get behind? Right? So like, what are some of those? And how can you start getting more targeted in what type of tech companies that you want to be a part of? And why? and really understanding how you can start figuring out who are the key decision makers, key players within that company, and start building relationships? And start staying curious or asking questions start connecting with people on social media start, just start like that's like the thing. It's like, just start, like, the thing is, like everyone wants like this, like perfectly curated like recipe on how you land your first tech role. And there's really not a it's not a one answer. There's so many ways you can do it. I mean, I have I've had clients who they came from a non technical industry into the tech industry, and one of their biggest, like, limiting beliefs are, well, I led a team in this industry, and it wasn't a technical, like company, it wasn't, you know, or I was in like more of the financial services. And it wasn't really a tech focus company, like how like, am I even going to be considered and it's like, the reality is, is like, you have to realize that the experience that you have within the tech industry is not as big of a deal as you being able to articulate and be able to effectively communicate how you can come in how you can add value, how can you add ROI, to them hiring you? Can you like, effectively communicate that that is like the magic that's like the secret sauce is like, how can you get so targeted in your approach to where they can't say no to hiring you? Like they would need you they would be making a silly decision, if they didn't hire you. You have to get obsessed about the organization and be curious and clearly articulate how you can add value and improve processes, save them time. You know, add ROI. That's like the biggest thing is effectively being able to clearly communicate that. It doesn't matter what industry you're going into. It's Can you bridge that gap and really nailed that part? Right, show how your skills are transferable. And those skills are transferable because Aliyah is the leader no matter what industry. And yes, ultimately, you know, what I'm hearing from you is really make sure that if you're going in for the right reasons, you know, not just for the money, because so many people do want to go to the top industry for that. And yes, there's money to be made. But if your heart's not in it, you're only going to find yourself, you know, maybe 235 1020 years later, you know, who knows, hopefully sooner than later if ever, because some people just continue on. And you know, you lose a piece of yourself. And it's hard to come back, it's hard to turn around if you aren't following your heart. So thank you so much for everything. I would love to hear anything else that you would like to share with us? Yeah, so we have a six month accelerator program. And our program specifically helps mid level professional women ditch imposter syndrome, reposition their experience, so that they can attract ideal management roles within the tech industry, we work a lot with senior individuals that are going into their first management role. So they're like individual contributors making that bridge that gap that we've been talking about, where those that are in a management role now and want to make the jump to a director role. That's like the individuals that our program is specifically a great fit for specifically for high achieving women. Those that are go getters know they're capable, maybe they've been passed up on promotions before, but they're always in like the running. And they've always been just a high achiever at their company, but they just haven't been able to crack the code on how to really land that ideal leadership role. So that's really what our program is best suited for. And as far as like getting in connection with me, they can just message me on LinkedIn in chat more about where they're at in their career and see if the program might be a good fit. Do you have an Instagram handle too? Yeah, so it's out Marcella Boudreau. I even have a tick tock but Instagram, I like the messaging better the messaging platform on like LinkedIn and Instagram. Those are better. So yeah, thank you again, that program sounds amazing. I'd sign up if I was looking to move that's so needed in that, you know, just for women and our community in general because there's just not it's not out there and women, especially high achieving women start feeling like there's no matter an option, you know, that's not going to happen to them. So knowing there's something else for them there. I think that's just amazing. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Norma Reyes: 45:41

Thank you for listening to the manifest in your career podcast with me Your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach. Are you ready to take action today? visit my site manifest your career calm and get your free confidence through clarity guide