The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #BreakTheBias, and its relevance can’t be overstated. Between the recent “My name is Peter” campaign — inspired by the fact that there are currently more CEOs in the Netherlands named Peter than CEOs who are women — and the Women Tech Council’s recent reports that show the share of women in the US workforce has decreased to levels not seen since 1988, it’s clear that the tech industry still has much work to do when it comes to representation of women.
Mentorships, both formal and informal, boost minority representation on the management level, and dramatically improve promotion and retention rates for marginalized communities. Here to speak to the power of those relationships are some of Miro’s women employees. Read on to learn how woman-to-woman mentorships have helped them build their careers, move to other countries, and lift up their communities.
When Sierra Kaslow and Emma Pessereau met at a startup boot camp, they were each in very different career moments. Emma, who’d just made a career switch, didn’t have any experience in recruiting, while Sierra was several levels above her and looking to gain a deeper understanding of equity in recruitment. After hitting it off, Sierra mentioned that she was doing coaching on the side and offered to be Emma’s unofficial mentor.
“I think that some people don’t see their own potential,” says Sierra. “So with Emma I was like, ‘Okay, this girl is a rock star’ and I can see that from what she’s sharing with me. But she isn’t so sure. Sometimes your job on the other side is to shine a mirror on the other person.”
They’ve been meeting once a quarter over Zoom for a year now, tackling challenges together as they come up and acting as a sounding board for one another. “She’s been a wealth of knowledge over the past year,” says Emma. “I’m the only one in my family and friend group that’s in tech, so I don’t really get to talk about it outside of work. She helps me see the possibilities.”
Emma was promoted this year to her current role and has been mentoring two junior hires on her team, supporting them and making sure they’re set up for success. As for Sierra, she has her own informal mentor, a former manager with whom she discusses big career moves.
“Oftentimes tech is a male-dominated industry, and we both have male bosses,” Sierra notes, “so it’s nice to just have somebody you can ask questions, like how to ask for a raise, advocate for myself… The more information you can share, the better. No trade secrets!”
Emma’s big advice? “Don’t be afraid to ask for a mentor! I had a client who ran a VC [firm] in Silicon Valley and she told me once that anytime you wanna know something you should offer to buy them coffee and pick their brain. Everyone likes to know you think of them as an expert in their field!”
Amy Rivers is no stranger to the power of mentorship. After having several pivotal informal mentor-mentee relationships of her own, as well as spending time outside her day job volunteering for Re:Work, a Chicago-based non-profit that aims to diversify the tech industry, she’s been on a mission to develop a formal mentorship program for members of Miro’s Women and Allies employee resource group.
“When I came to Miro, I came from a tech company that was very alpha male, and a lot of us [in Women and Allies] had come from similar situations,” says Amy. “Miro wasn’t that way, so we wanted to continue to foster that supportive and healthy environment.”
What started as an idea for a Sales Development Representative-focused initiative has since developed into the beginnings of a dynamic woman-to-woman mentorship program that spans departments, time zones, and bandwidths. Pulling on some best practices learned at Re:Work, the new Woman and Allies mentorship program will be built on 2 types of mentoring: a long-term, 1-on-1 matching program based on needs and specialties, and a Slack channel for on-demand coaching and mentoring. Anyone can be both a mentor and mentee, and so far the employee resource group has received lots of interest for both roles. “People will have different needs at different times,” says Amy, “so this structure gives more flexibility based on what you can do, while still letting you participate.”
The mentorship program is still in its early stages, but Amy notes that people have wanted this for a long time, and every day it’s gaining more traction. Women and Allies is hoping to roll out the program later this year, and Amy is hopeful that more Mironeers will join her in coordinating these efforts.
“Since the beginning, I’ve felt like I can actually impact our culture and programs here,” Amy says. “When I have ideas, I have the freedom to go do them.”
Vishakha Pugalia is a boundary pusher, a structure nerd, and a go-getter — but she didn’t always feel that way. Born in Silchar, India and raised in a traditional family, she’s had to overcome a lot of imposter syndrome and cultural expectations to get to where she is today.
“It isn’t really the norm for women to work where I’m from,” Vishakha says. “When I got my first Masters, my family said, ‘Okay, she’s pushing the boundaries a little bit.’ After that, I wanted to work, and it was like, ‘Oh, of course not, you’re gonna get married.’ Then I wanted to study outside the country, and at that point they said, ‘Now you’re losing it because this is a little bit much!’ So my life has always been pushing that boundary a little bit more.”
When Vishakha moved to the Netherlands to pursue a second Masters, she initially took on an internship at a small CGI production company, with short-term expectations: “All I wanted was to complete the course and go back home, because that’s what I told my parents I’d be doing.” Her first manager, however, had a different vision. “When she hired me,” says Vishakha, “she went through extra effort to help me sponsor my travel to and from home because she believed I would bring good work to the table. Without me asking for it, she gave me the space to take these opportunities to develop into a person who could ask for more.” When her manager offered her an official full-time position, it seemed like Vishakha’s career dreams were coming true.
Then, just one month before she was supposed to start, the company went through a hiring freeze and backed out on hiring her.
“It was an exceptionally stressful time because my residency was attached to my employment,” says Vishakha. “It felt like my doors were closing and something that was going to be wonderful was suddenly not an option.”
But what could have been a disaster turned into something else.
“My manager really helped me navigate that time, tactically, emotionally, and professionally. She went through her network to get me interviews and advocated for me super hard, all while simultaneously being emotionally supportive of the fact that I would make it through this challenging moment. She also showed me exactly how she networked for me, so I could do this for myself when I needed to.” Vishakha grins. “Because of her I landed my next job.”
For Vishakha, the most significant impact of having a woman mentor is the support. “She supported me immensely in showing me the ropes of an international work environment, supported me through a crisis situation, and helped me realize my own potential professionally. She helped in not selling myself short.”
