Title: Senior Technical Program Manager
Company: Amazon
Age: 45
Education: Bachelor of Arts in digital design from Colorado Univesity in Denver
Professional Credentials/Accreditations: Six Sigma Green Belt, ITIL Certified
Organizational Affiliations: Reginal Animal Services of King County
My first professional job was in a call center answering calls for a marketing company. I was fascinated with how phone calls came in and were routed to people. One day, I realized I was spending too much time learning the phone system instead of answering calls. I transferred to the IT department and never left the tech industry.
My team is working on bringing internet connectivity to underserved communities of the world. This mission resonates with me. I see the goodness Amazon brings to the world and am honored to be a part of it.
It’s a pivotal part of my life. At home we work on identifying conveniences that harm the plant and then work on taking steps toward putting more effort into being inconvenienced. At work, we have a principle to leave the Earth better than when we found it, so we pay attention to anything that increases sustainability — even if it is as small as planting wildflowers instead laying gravel.
Speed. Information technology never sleeps or slows down. It requires constant curiosity and learning new ways of doing things.
My kids would say it’s my ability to lose my phone, car keys, and glasses. They say I am good at hiding things where I can’t find them.
Most people would say it’s my ability to absorb and understand complexity.
My dependability. People know I will do what I say. This quality helps me earn trust with people.
As a woman who has been in the tech industry for over 20 years, I have experienced and seen a lot of inequalities and unfair treatment of people. It’s important to me to give women an opportunity to break into this heavily male dominated industry.
The industry has potential in innovation spaces, where new ways of living and evolving exist. The industry needs to do better with equality. They need more diverse ideas and opinions to truly increase growth. I don’t see that happening enough even in the fashion industry — the world wants my daughter to be a princess even though she doesn’t. I struggle finding clothes she likes because most affordable girls clothing is overly feminine.
I hope it’s one where people have the opportunity to decide how much tech is a part of their life and how it enriches them. I am not inclined to the idea that life is better based on the number of devices you are connected too. I am fascinated with time crystals, but I hope their usefulness (quantum computing) betters humankind.