Day: October 20, 2022

Jen Dallas: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Bring Nature inside: I love to go plant shopping and have a favorite nursery close to home that I call my happy place. It inspires me when I look at all of the different plant varieties and the beautiful different colors of the pottery to plant them. There is something rewarding about nurturing a plant and then watching it grow. It is proven to be more healthy to have houseplants in your home. They clean the air and give your home the beauty that only nature can provide.

As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jen Dallas

Jen Dallas Interiors is a multifaceted design studio that focuses on high-end residential and commercial projects both local and worldwide. Their design team manages all aspects of a project from start to finish, including consulting with architects, builders and craftsman to ensure the final result reflects the design intent. The key to their project success is the wholehearted connection they develop with their clients. Most recently their studio launched their own product line called Maple Jude & Co., Lifestyle Shop for the Home, that offers original textile patterns all hand-drawn at their Santa Monica, California studio. Jen also has her own indoor/outdoor rug collection as well as lighting collections coming soon.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I always knew I wanted to be an interior designer. I’m a sensitive, intuitive person that can hone in on what makes a space comfortable and feel good. At a young age, my mom would hear me moving furniture around late at night because, “I didn’t like my dresser in its location”. As a life-long art student, I love to draw and have always had a very creative side to me. Also, I love people and I find that this profession melts all of those passions together. My sensitivity, my artistic side and my desire to help and inspire other people.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Living in LA for the past 20 years, I have had some amazing experiences in designing homes from new construction to remodeling. I have had the opportunity to meet people that I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet, to see, and be part of some amazing projects. I think what makes the most interesting story involving my projects is when I have the upmost trust from a client. We always like to do a big reveal when installing homes for a client. What makes it more interesting is when we get to do a complete turnkey project. I have experienced this twice in my career and it is the most rewarding of installations. We select everything from furniture, rugs, bedding to cabinetry design, appliances and window treatments. For both projects, I choose flatware, dishes, spices for the spice drawer. To what books were sitting on the bedside table. Talk about playing house! It is always very rewarding to see my client’s face upon their return.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I was a design student in school I worked for a retail drapery and fabric showroom. I had a passion for design from the beginning and drew in customers who liked to work with me. One day I was helping someone design their dining room and had an idea that we could have the finials on the drapery rod painted a color. The customer loved that idea. The problem was the store where I worked did not sell the the colored finials and definitely didn’t offer to paint them. So, I suggested to the customer we buy an unfinished pair and offered to painted (faux) them myself. The finial order came in and I took them home to paint. I presented them to the customer and they loved them. My boss on the other hand was not happy. He was livid and did not like that I had sold something that was customized. I thought I might be fired. He had quite a few words for me that day. The next day I came in and was pleasantly surprised that my boss suggested the idea that my finals would be part of his inventory and would pay me for my artistry to create them. My lesson: I am an entrepreneur. I love my craft. I should always suggest the best solution for my clients even if it means I am misunderstood in the beginning.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

I am working on some unique family homes that we personalize for each family. I love digging deep into how each home can improve the life for each client. I like to ask a lot of questions in the beginning about how they live now and what is working for them and what isn’t working. That can help set the project priorities for us on building or remodeling their home. I am working on a ranch that will be a future winery and event space. I love this new project because it melds all of my experience in to one project. My work goes beyond the physical as I also consider how things feel to those who live there. How does the door handle feel in your hand? Is the lighting enough or too bright? Will someone trip over a rug if it is too thick? There is so much for a designer to consider when creating a home. Good design feels simply feels good and it changes the dynamic of our mood and our perspective. A well-designed home or space inspires us and can allow us to relax and release stress in our body. Our environment is powerful. It can greatly influence and enhance the quality of our life.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You are where you want to be”. I have always said that to myself for years…..I like the quote because it holds you responsible for your life and where you are at the current moment. We only have one opportunity to live our best life right now. It is my responsibility to create a life I love and empowers me. My life can then be used to help others to live their best lives too.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I had an amazing mentor when I first moved to LA. I worked for the interior designer, Chris Barrett for over five years before I went out on my own. She taught me the LA design scene and mentored me in residential design. I was a hotel designer before I moved out to LA from Chicago. Chris hired me part time to assist her on a hotel project she had just acquired. She needed someone with hospitality experience. It was the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara. They needed a residential approach to the project because the hotel is made up of a variety of cottages. We were a great team and it was my first introduction to working as a designer in LA. Chris is a talented designer and an amazing person. I am grateful to of worked with her and still call her my friend.

Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Little Things are Joyful Things: What are some things you do everyday that can be embellished in some way to make doing what you are doing more fun? For example, I use a Nespresso coffee maker and instead of keeping the coffee capsules in their separate boxes I picked up a beautiful, antique container that I fill with my favorite coffee capsules. Keep flowers at your bedside. Tape a favorite quote to your vanity mirror. These things might seem small to do but seeing these “gifts” in my everyday life make me smile every time I use it or see it. I think the way you spark joy is by looking at the little things you can add to your daily life that creates a higher quality of life for you. Joy is in the little things.

2. Framed Memories: I love to frame notes, silly photos and art that most people would look at and think what is that about? Nothing professional about any of it. All of these pieces represent a memory in time, a person I love or a place in time I want to remember. Most of what I frame are things I have created with my son. Starting with our finger paint sessions when he was super small to a variety of self portraits he has done of himself through his elementary school years. I have a couple of old candid photos of me as a baby or my grandmother at a very young age. I have collected these pieces over different chapters of my life and have had them all professionally framed. Not one piece is perfect or something that would be placed in a gallery but it all brings me joy to look at on a daily basis. They always support my joy and make me smile.

3. Bring Travel Home: During my travels I like to create a list. A list of things I love about the hotel or place I am visiting. I think of ways to create that feeling or experience at home. For example, in Italy they had these floral tablecloths with bright colors on every table. I bought one and it helped me to bring Italy home with me. Or maybe it is a meal or a style cookie that you had picked up as you were sight seeing….upon returning home, I will find the recipe to bake those at home. That freedom feeling of being on vacation and experiencing something new is a feeling of joy I love to feel. If I can create that for myself, in my own home, often it makes my life much more joyful.

4. Bedroom Peace and Comfort: Create a bedroom that feels like a personal haven for you. A bedroom is a restorative place. It should be comfortable and peaceful. Somewhere that you can go and release stress. If there is one room in the house that can give back to you, it is your bedroom. The bed is the best place to start. Buy a mattress that is the most comfortable. Most mattress companies give you some suggestions depending on your sleep position. I like to use organic sheets on my bed and have recently discovered I like linen sheets too. I also like to make my bed in a way that allows me to lounge in bed as well as get good sleep. For lounging, I like to have my regular standard sleeping pillows along with a couple of Euro pillows to prop me up while sitting in bed. I like to have a throw at the end of my bed, that I can tuck my feet under or pull up over me without having to unmake or get all the way into the bed. I like to use soft materials such as cotton, washed linen and down pillows. Down pillows need some maintenance but they are worth the comfort. The combination of using different textures on a bed makes it pretty to the eye but also provides more comfort. I like mixing a cotton throw at the foot, mixed with a cotton quilt over the bed. Comfort is different for everyone the trick is to take time to find what works and feels best for you. I like to have bedside table lamps and not overhead lights. I like to use soft white bulbs and not bright white. The soft white is a warmer glow and feels more restful. Get rid of clutter. If there is one place in the home that should be 100% clutter free it is your bedroom. Take pride in how your bedroom looks and feels as it is essential in sparking more joy in the comfort of your bedroom.

5. Bring Nature inside: I love to go plant shopping and have a favorite nursery close to home that I call my happy place. It inspires me when I look at all of the different plant varieties and the beautiful different colors of the pottery to plant them. There is something rewarding about nurturing a plant and then watching it grow. It is proven to be more healthy to have houseplants in your home. They clean the air and give your home the beauty that only nature can provide.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would start a movement on the importance of feeling confident and secure as your own person. This is what I hoped most for my son. If as people we have a solid foundation of feeling good in our own skin and secure as a person, it sets you up for such a better life experience. Far too many people struggle with low self-esteem and fear of judgement in revealing who they really are. This goes beyond race, nationality, ethnicity or gender. It is something we all as human beings need in order to be happy and to have a fulfilled life. If you have confidence, you aren’t afraid to try new things and know without a doubt that the right people and experiences will show up for you. You have the confidence to put yourself out there and to try. So many people give up before they even get started. I would love to help people live large and believe in themselves fully.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them 🙂

Yung Pueblo. He is an amazing poet, meditator and writer. He inspires me through his writings and I would love to meet him in person and discuss his new book “Lighter”. I have read his other two books “Inward” and “Clarity and Connection”. His written works focus on the reality of self-healing, the movement from self love to unconditional love and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. I always walk away after reading a book or a quote by him, forever changed.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram: @jendallas @maplejude

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!

Jen Dallas: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sarabjit Dahyia of IT Careers 4 U: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway”

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Follow Your Gut. If I had not taken the overly expensive certification courses after a college degree, maybe I wouldn’t be in a position to help millions of others out there find their career path. I wanted to take those courses (not that I wanted to be highly technical) but those courses gave me the confidence I needed to enter the IT real world vs the IT textbook world.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarabjit Dahyia

Sarabjit Dahyia is an IT Specialist, Mentor, and Founder of IT Careers 4 U. She has extensive experience building large-scale systems for renowned Fortune 500 Companies such as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Healthcare organizations such as Centene. After decades of honing her craft, Sarabjit now guides aspiring business leaders who want to follow a clear path to a successful IT career. Her proprietary program, IT Careers 4 U has a track record of drastically helping her students increase their income in the IT industry without additional college degrees or certifications, while also providing tangible training, experience and internships that ensure their success.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you better. Can you tell us your backstory?

Growing up, I never had any career guidance. Making your way in Corporate America can be difficult and as a woman, it is harder still. Being a child of immigrant parents created many challenges. I grew up seeing the insane hours my parents worked to earn a living. I often tell people that my morals and values come from TV shows like Full House and Family Matters because my parents were always at work. I so badly wanted to earn a good living without having to work the same crazy schedules my parents had. Where other little girls dreamt of Barbie dolls and finding their Ken, I dreamt of having a high-paying job, a car, financial security, and freedom. After all, that is the American dream.

It was challenging for me to get a decent-paying job right out of school even with my college degree. It seemed to me like everyone had a connection or knew somebody, whereas I had to truly make my own path in the world of IT. Paving my own way without the guidance or support that many of my colleagues had was not only difficult but scary. The first job I got with my BS in Computer Science was with Citigroup’s Remote Access Support. As it turns out, “Remote Access Support” was just a fancy name for a team of individuals who provided help desk support to Citigroup’s investment bankers, who yelled at us anytime they couldn’t connect to WiFi, or anytime they had other issues accessing their systems remotely. I remember going into the bathroom many times and staring at myself in the mirror; in my gut, I knew that I could do better. Trusting my instinct is what gave me the motivation to talk to recruiters about other opportunities that better matched my skill set.

My very next interview was for a Junior Business Analyst role with MetLife. I had no idea what this role was or how far it would take me. All I knew was that I didn’t want to be in a help desk role. I knew I deserved better. Now, many years later I manage large-scale projects for State & Federal governments while coaching and mentoring individuals to help them find fulfilling careers that match their skill sets.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, absolutely! I’m working on getting the Business Analyst & Scrum Master 90-Day FastTrack Program training approved and certified for the Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses.

Background on the 90-Day FastTrack Program:

Business Analyst and Scrum Master roles are high paying IT positions that are needed in all industries including but not limited to healthcare, banking, and insurance. The Business Analyst (BA) and Scrum Master (SM) positions are responsible for bridging the gap between IT and the business teams using analytical techniques to determine requirements that deliver solutions to business teams and executives.

The goal and objective of the program is to provide an understanding of how IT projects are implemented as well as the role of a Business Analyst and Scrum Master during the implementation of IT projects. The course allows students to work on assignments (i.e. workflow diagrams, case diagrams, user stories, business requirement documents, test cases or test scripts) that equip them to be successful in their new roles.

Our mission is to provide practical hands-on training that accelerates the knowledge needed to be successful in the Business Analyst and Scrum Master roles and subsequently, for individuals to find full-time employment with high-paying salaries. We not only provide training but also on-the-job support for 30 days after a Business Analyst and Scrum Master role has been acquired to ensure that those in the program are set up for success.

Once the training gets certified with the VET training program, we will have the opportunity to serve the men and women who have bravely served our country. We will have the pleasure of working with veterans to help them transition into stable careers within the IT business. Nothing could make me happier than to be able to give back to our community in this way.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your organization stand out from the crowd?

We train in the areas of Software Development; specifically in the roles of Business Analyst and Scrum Master. Landmark universities such as Howard and Cornell have courses dedicated to Business Analyst and Scrum Master along with many other individual trainings. I believe our “IT” factor is more than the teaching of skill sets needed to succeed in these positions. Our system is more focused on teaching from a practical hands-on approach to how IT projects are really implemented. What do the day-to-day Business Analyst or Scrum Master roles look like, as well as how do they interact with the other team members on the project. Our training gives us the ability to bring a “live” hands-on experience by showcasing a past IT project in order to bring awareness, understanding, provide experience and most importantly, confidence to our students.

Another key element in the program that I believe sets us apart is the implementation of mindset practices. Mindset is such a powerful and underappreciated contributor to success. My favorite quote by Henry Ford is “If you think you’re right, you’re right. And if you think you’re wrong, you’re right” and to me it indicates that our beliefs shape who we are and therefore, what we can accomplish. As part of the program, we talk about mindset on a weekly basis and help students identify their roadblocks to success. Oftentimes a small shift in perspective can create pathways to success.

Lastly, I think what also makes us stand out is that our program provides On-The-Job support for 30 days after students successfully land full-time positions. The program provides training on the skill set needed in the Business Analyst and Scrum Master roles, guidance, and support until students land amazing jobs. We also provide ongoing mentorship to ensure students feel comfortable in their new positions.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

After being in the IT industry for 15 years, I had a burning desire to help others in this lucrative domain. I wanted to teach Business Analyst (BA), Scrum Master (SM), and Project Management (PM) roles for two reasons. First, not everyone I worked with knew how to perform well in these roles. I often found myself coaching or mentoring my peers on how to get the job done well, or teaching what my approach was in a given scenario. I realized everyone in the Business Analyst and Scrum Master roles ended up in these positions because of their knowledge within the business domains, but they didn’t necessarily have the formal training on how to “implement IT systems/applications”. Of course, there is lots of textbook knowledge, articles on Google, and videos on YouTube that talk about these roles, but unless you have exposure to an end-to-end IT project, it becomes hard to do well in these positions.

Second, I also saw the potential to help women and minorities in these roles. Over my 15+ years of experience in this field, I haven’t worked with too many women of color, Hispanics, or African Americans. I realize that because there are not many Hispanics or African Americans in IT, it naturally limits the exposure to the vast number of roles available in this business. Most people shy away from IT because they think it requires coding or programming, which is by far the biggest misconception. Business Analyst, Scrum Master, and Project Management are among the many roles that don’t require any coding or programming skillset. My goal and hope is to bring more awareness to these business roles and enable more women and minorities into these careers choices.

After realizing these two aspects, I decided I wanted to create a unique program that would bridge the gap by providing hands-on training and experience to help women and minorities in the IT domain. However, anytime I spoke with my colleagues about wanting to teach these roles, I would get the same question — “Why? There are dozens of people teaching this stuff and there’s no money in it. You are great at what you do, so do what you’re good at.” I was both disheartened and bothered by these comments. I wanted to create a training program that was based on practical knowledge to help anyone fully understand the role without actually being in it. Despite the naysayers that is exactly what I did.

I began training for free on my FB Group (link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BAInDemand/) and people from all over the world joined the group. Because I didn’t want my training to overlap with my daytime job, I would wake up every Saturday at 6 AM to hold live sessions on various topics within the Business Analyst & Scrum Master domains. Most of my peers thought I was crazy for holding a full-time job while being a mom of 3, and adding to that time to train and engage with people during my “off hours.” At the end of the day, supporting people in their career journeys felt like the most amazing piece of my life. For that reason I continued to train and teach until one day, I decided it was time to build a full course. To date, I have helped 200+ individuals transition into high-paying jobs in the Business Analyst & Scrum Master roles with my practical hands-on training. My program has been endorsed by IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) and I am an authorized Training Partner for Scrum Study.

At first, I didn’t even share my training program with friends, peers, or extended family. It was my own little secret because I was afraid of getting “judged.” However, after seeing the positive ripple effects my training efforts have made on my students and their families, I now believe that what I do is definitely worth sharing.😊

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

My ideas on how I wanted to train were always different. It took a lot of trial and error to find the right approach and I have to be grateful for the naysayers and for those who didn’t believe in me. The naysayers actually forced me to work harder and think about how to structure the program in such a way that it would provide skillet, experience, and mentorship. There were times when my husband and kids would say “do you ever think or talk about anything else? LOL”. I remember going on my morning walks every day thinking about how to make the program better. I was on a mission to create something really amazing that would be of benefit to others. During my journey of “figuring things out,” my training program was:

Endorsed by IIBA (one of thousand worldwide)
Authorized Trainer by Scrum Study

I have also gained international YouTube subscribers of 6.5K, as well as an international Facebook following of 5.5k on my Facebook Group. All of this happened from simply sharing my knowledge and love for the software development domain and my experience in implementing large-scale systems and applications. I get messages almost daily about how much my free content has helped make a difference to others. For me that’s enough.

My husband Harpreet Dahyia has been my greatest cheerleader from the day we met. He is able to see qualities in me that I didn’t even think existed. Harpreet is a visionary and I was more of an “I’ll believe it when I see it” type of person. When we married, I used to think that I would be the breadwinner because I had a killer resume and amazing experience under my belt. However, a few years after we got married, Harpreet turned a sinking business into a multi-million dollar food franchise right in front of everyone’s eyes. It goes without saying that it was a lot of hard work and grit, especially since he had zero experience in the food industry or franchising, but he still did it. He took every challenge that came his way and turned it around.

Harpreet’s success gave me the motivation to launch something that I truly believed in. Being a product of immigrant parents, I had no mentors or direction on what to do with my career. I wanted to create a program that could help young adults like me succeed, and also have a support system in place to help me make it into Corporate America. And of course, Harpreet being the visionary that he is always encouraged me to keep going for my dreams.

It must have not been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

Yes, of course. When I graduated college it was the boom of the .com industry. An industry that was doing amazingly well when I started college; 4 years later it was one of the worst industries to be in. I found it very hard to get a decent-paying job right out of school, even with my college degree. Disappointed yet never losing hope, I attended a Career Fair organized by my university. At that fair, I met with a company that provided training and certifications such as A++, Networking, etc. The cost was $10K and as a broke college student, I decided to pay for it with my credit card.

All of my friends in college thought I was crazy! But I knew there had to be a better way than settling for any job like most of my colleagues in college did. I decided to continue working my 3 part-time jobs (on campus, at Macys, and as a receptionist at a Real Estate company) and started taking the tech courses in the evening. Those courses provided me with hands-on experience and helped me land my first position with Citigroup’s Remote Access Support. From Citigroup I moved onto MetLife as a Junior Business Analyst and it was there that my career took off.

Had I listened to my college friends and not invested the 10K on myself, I’m not sure my career would be where it is now. I truly believe we are a product of the choices we make in life and therefore, it makes me really glad I chose to invest in myself.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

Nothing exciting comes from following the rules and doing what you’re told. Think about your favorite restaurants, for example. They might do something a little different in order to stand out. That’s how I believe life should be approached. I use the following 5 strategies in my own life. I hope they spare some light in the lives of our readers.

Follow Your Gut. If I had not taken the overly expensive certification courses after a college degree, maybe I wouldn’t be in a position to help millions of others out there find their career path. I wanted to take those courses (not that I wanted to be highly technical) but those courses gave me the confidence I needed to enter the IT real world vs the IT textbook world.
Learn From Your Mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn and do better going forward. The more you learn, the better you do. Early on in my career I didn’t realize how critical it was to test applications before letting your business teams test them. After testing was successfully completed by our Quality Assurance Analyst, I would simply work with our Business Team to manage User Acceptance Testing (UAT). In one of my projects, UAT was such a disaster that I was ashamed to put my name on the project documentation. Now, after getting the thumbs-up from the Quality Assurance teams I make it my priority to test functionality before handing it over to UAT which gives me an opportunity to fix anything that requires a change and to also support my business teams better during testing efforts.
Goal Setting — Eat That Frog. I recently heard on Audible a book called “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy and it changed the way I work. I have always been a big “to-do list’’ type of person, but this book helped me prioritize the most important items (AKA eat the ugly frog first) as the book recommends.
Gather Feedback. While it’s extremely difficult to gather feedback from stakeholders, customers and students on how I’m doing, it’s something that has helped me craft and improve my skills even more. Gathering feedback on what’s working as well as what’s not working allows me to continue growing and evolving, whether I’m leading a multi-million dollar project or conducting a training session. Feedback is critical to success for every role and every business. Sometimes it can be difficult to listen to feedback, but at that moment you have to decide:
Is it personal?
Is it true? And if it’s true — you owe it to yourself to find a better approach.
Rinse and Repeat. As you grow in your career or business, there will be many events that shake you or leave you feeling uncertain. Following your gut, learning from your mistakes, goal setting, and gathering feedback are the key determining factors that will allow you to keep moving forward.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

“Either be the victim of your circumstance or be the result of it.”

I have gone through many hardships in life as many others out there. My past or my trauma does not make me different or unique. What makes me different is how I choose to keep moving forward. During the most difficult time in my life, I read a book that had the quote “Either be the victim of your circumstances or be the result of it” which motivated me to get up and keep going because I wanted to be the result of my circumstances. I wanted to hold my head up high and tell the world that I did it despite all the “ish” stacked up against me. And I am proud of having done just that.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I often think about what kind of impact I want my life to have. I want to create an environment where we strive to provide opportunities for individuals that best meet their skill sets. One where skill-based training is available, instead of only “4-year college” which guarantees nothing. That is not to say I am against college and universities. I just feel like they should do more to provide the real-world experience that students need to get hired into fulfilling jobs that match their skills. This is the reason I created a training program that provides hands-on experience in the roles of Business Analyst and Scrum Master. It allows students to successfully transition into high-paying roles after they’ve completed training, giving them better job opportunities, a positive work-life balance, and a higher pay. That also gives their kids the chance to grow up with parents who are present, happy, and living their own American dream. Who knew that a petite brown woman like me could do so much!

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Of course! I can be found on the following platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/InDemandBusinessAnalyst (6.2K subscribers)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarabjit-dahyia-pmp-mba-21b0196/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BAInDemand

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

The pleasure is all mine. It has been an honor to share my story with you and the readers and I hope to inspire them to keep going with their vision, mission and dreams.

Sarabjit Dahyia of IT Careers 4 U: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Tracy Young of TigerEye On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior…

Women Of The C-Suite: Tracy Young of TigerEye On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Make the money work and always have runway. You need to create so much value that people are willing to pay you every year for the products your company creates.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy Young, CEO of TigerEye.

Tracy Young is the co-founder and CEO of TigerEye. Tracy is an experienced company leader with a successful track record in scaling private enterprise technology companies. Previously, she co-founded and served as CEO of PlanGrid, the leader in construction productivity software that Autodesk acquired for $875 million in 2018. During this time, Tracy led the company through years of massive growth — from inception to product-market fit, and from $0 to $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) — and drove teams to execute on strategic business initiatives.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I am the co-founder and CEO of TigerEye, a sales software company currently in stealth. Previously, I was the co-founder and CEO of PlanGrid, a leader in construction productivity software, which Autodesk acquired in 2018 for $875 million.

I studied construction engineering management at California State University, Sacramento. I cut my teeth in the construction industry as an assistant to a foreman, then worked for a chief estimator bidding jobs, and spent another four years in the field managing construction of large hospital projects. From these experiences, I saw firsthand how complex construction projects are — they require sophisticated coordination between many different organizations. And yet, data was shackled in legacy, paper blueprints. PlanGrid got everyone on the same page across any device.

In between PlanGrid and starting TigerEye, I served as a visiting partner at Y Combinator (Winter 2020, 2021).

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I’ve enjoyed bringing some of the best former PlanGrid people back to help build my new company, TigerEye. We are the sum of everyone we surround ourselves with. At TigerEye, everyone understands we are all excellent at something, and amateurs at most things. We are humble, approachable teammates, and we walk it like we talk it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful to who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I would have never become a construction engineer and I would have never become a founder had I not had role models like Karen Hansen (a builder) and Julia Hartz (a founder). I looked at them and thought, “I’d like to do that too.” Magic occurs when something that we previously believed to be impossible happens.

As you know, the United States is facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

In 2021, female founders secured only two percent of venture capital in the U.S. Founding TigerEye is activism for me. Being a great founder and a great leader is not dependent on gender. But when the leadership of an entire industry is predominantly male, the world is simply missing out. As someone who often thinks about what kind of world my children will grow up in, I wholeheartedly believe that a world where at least 50 percent of the decision-makers are women would be a better world than it is today.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example.

The only way I can be successful as a co-founder, CEO and mother of three is having a partner who shares 50 percent of the child care duties with me. I cannot stress enough how important equality is in the workforce and in the household. We’ll all be impacted by sickness and aging, and we’ll need to care for loved ones at some point in our lives, which is why we embrace time flexibility at TigerEye. We devote our most energetic hours to the most intellectually demanding work tasks and take care of family as needed. We share core hours so we can be available to each other and work as a team. We only have a handful of standing recurring meetings, and we believe a five-minute phone call can resolve most problems.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

I see the CEO job as having four key responsibilities:

Define the vision (northstar) and mission for the company. Running a startup can be very chaotic, so having a vision and mission helps anchor us.
Right people on the bus at the company. I like the way author and teacher Jim Collins puts it, “If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”
Sales. So much of the executive role is selling to people they want to recruit and retain at the company, selling the product to customers and selling the vision and a chance at high return to venture capitalists.
Make the money work and always have runway. You need to create so much value that people are willing to pay you every year for the products your company creates.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

You do not need to know it all. But you have to have a growth mindset. I believe in kaizen, a Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous improvement. I’m a construction engineer by trade. I knew more about HVAC systems and the tensile strength of rebar than business. The most challenging part of being the CEO of PlanGrid was that every single day I was in the biggest job I had ever held before. I constantly worried that I was letting everyone down. At times, I knew I was completely out of my depth. But I surrounded myself with leaders who were smarter, more talented and more experienced than me. I asked for help and I grew professionally and personally.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

On top of commanding daily operations, fundraising and fielding multiple M&A offers, I went through two pregnancies at PlanGrid, childbirth and a miscarriage. No male executive knows what it is like to try to navigate your business while going through these highly personal and traumatic events happening in your own body and mind.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

I was an engineer by trade and I thought that company building would be a big engineering problem. But unlike engineers, the CEO’s job requires a lot more talking and selling. It became apparent early on that I needed to get good at sales.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

First and foremost, your team matters most. It’s crucial for you to prioritize and protect your company’s culture. You do not need to tolerate oversized egos, arrogance or cynicism.
Focus on solving a real problem that is worthy of decades of your life (if you’re lucky). I’ve said in past interviews, “Keep an eye out for things that are so painful it makes you wince — you want to build software to solve it right that minute.” It takes years to build a lasting company. Focus on solving a real problem that carries significant value for you and will make a huge difference for customers.
The best product doesn’t necessarily win in enterprise, but those with the largest sales team will. Even with a meaningful outcome, PlanGrid lost in the market. A big reason why we’re building TigerEye is to build sales software to help companies with the best products win.
If you find yourself at a job where you do not have the opportunity to be at the leadership level, it’s your responsibility to let management know how they’re failing you. That might be scary, but there is little to lose. Feedback is vital. If that doesn’t work, remember that time is a fixed resource, and you need to go find a company that values you. If you can’t find any company that values you, start your own company. Be your own boss.
Lastmover advantage is an opportunity. Leverage tech that’s only possible thanks to innovations made in recent years, and learn from the mistakes of the pioneers.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? (You never know what your idea can trigger.)

I want to see a movement of generosity and care. Our time here is very short. I believe the best we can do is be as generous as we can.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?

Jane Goodall, because we’d have a good conversation.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Women Of The C-Suite: Tracy Young of TigerEye On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Power Women: Author Alexandra Nicole Nolan On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As…

Power Women: Author Alexandra Nicole Nolan On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As A Powerful Woman

Keep an Open Mind — This is a tough characteristic to learn if it doesn’t come naturally. Being open minded is a must for a female business owner as they need to capitalize on every negative experience, event, or obstacle and view it as an opportunity for improvement. When I hit a “speed bump” my open-mindedness allows me to crank up the gears and get the creative juices flowing in another direction. This new direction may be contradictory to what I had originally believed to be correct, but being open minded help me to pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Nicole Nolan.

Appearing in Forbes and featured on “Yahoo’s Most Inspiring Influencers” list, Alexandra Nicole Nolan is a mom, self-made digital entrepreneur, author of The Unconventional Entrepreneur, founder of City Chic Living Blog and The UE Academy. She obtained her MBA from the University of Memphis, studied International Business Studies at Bournemouth University in England, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business. Through her newly released book, The Unconventional Entrepreneur, and her online academy, she dedicates her work to helping other aspiring entrepreneurs launch successful businesses to achieve the work-life dream.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?

Thank you so much for having me! I was born in Memphis, Tennessee but we lived right over the state border in Southaven, Mississippi. I moved around a bit as a child living in Nitro, West Virginia and also a suburb right outside of Chicago, Illinois before moving back to the Mississippi for high school. After graduating high school, I moved to Memphis to attend The University of Memphis for my undergrad degree in Business and have continued my college education through to my Ph.D. at my alma mater. Go Tigers!

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

After graduating college, I went to work for corporate America. I had the dream job! I was in my 20s, traveling all over the US, making great money, but there was always this lingering feeling of being unfulfilled in my work-life. I started my own brand of cosmetics while working in my corporate job (I had a background selling makeup for years while in college) and really loved branding and running my own business.

One morning, while on a business trip, I decided to inquire about potential retail space availability located on the little island town I lived in back in Memphis. From what I had observed, there was no availability but something told me to call and inquire anyway. I told myself, if there is a commercial opening coming up, it is a sign, if not, I will continue in my corporate job and lay this idea of being a business owner to rest. Much to my surprise, the building manager told me there would be a very rare street level commercial space coming available in 2 weeks. If I wanted the space, I needed to sign for it before it was listed because it was expected to be rented soon after being listed.

So what did I do? What any sane person would do… I instantly signed all of my assets away, without a business plan, and quit my corporate job. Not something I would recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs but I am so thankful it worked out.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The most interesting thing aspect of my story, is where my career ended up. I quit corporate America to open a women’s makeup and clothing boutique, 7 years later I sold the clothing store to pursue a full-time entrepreneurial career as a national brand influencer and marketing consultant. Ten years later, my first business is still in operation. I love popping back in to shop when I am in town.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Confidence
In looking at the definition, per Oxford Languages, confidence really boils down to three components, trust, action, and appreciation. Feeling confident in the “truth” of yourself is having trust in yourself. One’s abilities would imply action, as there must be some sort of action taking place to realize your abilities. And while some would say that it is pompous to be so sure of yourself, I would argue that self-assurance garners self-appreciation which is essential for achieving higher levels of confidence. Each feeds off of one another in a never-ending loop that I call, The Confidence Loop. Trusting in yourself feeds into taking action, which feeds into self-assurance, which feeds into confidence, which then feeds into greater trust in yourself. And so, the loop continues.

Assertiveness
An assertive unconventional entrepreneur is a leader who will share their opinions on important topics and most importantly, know when to say no. Saying “yes” to everything that is put in front of you will uproot your strategy and your business will suffer. This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn.

Adaptability
In my opinion, adaptability is the second toughest character trait needed for entrepreneurial success, right behind confidence. It is so hard to take what life throws at you in the moment and make executive decisions at the same time, yet a master of adaptability does just that. An entrepreneur will experience bend and flex daily. Being able to creatively absorb changes and turn them into opportunities or push them out of your path based on what they can or cannot bring to the table, will help you to minimize stress and run a tight ship.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. The premise of this series assumes that our society still feels uncomfortable with strong women. Why do you think this is so?

I actually just read a bunch of studies about this in my management Ph.D. Class. Studies show that women, over men, are expected to be more communal in their behaviors versus agentic. This means, while men are expected to be direct, to the point, more assertive; socially, women are expected to be kind, nurturing, and empathetic. It is a fact that women carry more communal characteristics than men, and while this helps with communication tasks in business, it’s isn’t generally viewed as a leadership trait. When we do see women in top level management positions, there is a stereotype that she must carry more agentic traits than the average woman and therefore is more of a cold, assertive leader, and while studies show that she will be viewed as a more competent leader than her male counterpart, this position, nonetheless, makes a lot of people feel very uncomfortable around her.

Without saying any names, can you share a story from your own experience that illustrates this idea?

There is a fine line between becoming too communal with your employees, and with women, this can lead to employees taking advantage. In my first business, the majority of my employees were college-aged and I was only roughly five years older than them. They came to me for mentorship about school and on some occasions, their personal life. I was happy that they trusted my advice and was thrilled to give mentorship, however consulting my younger employees with personal matters, tarnished the barrier of work and personal life.

Eventually, some of my staff began to treat me more like a sister than their boss and leader. Needless to say, some took advantage of the situation which resulted in a re-organization of my staff. I learned the hard way to not muddy the waters with business and personal life. It is ok to “be there” for your employees when they need help, but I no longer give the impression that I am a relaxed, “hangout” boss.

What should a powerful woman do in a context where she feels that people are uneasy around her?

Be a team player with her subordinates. Take time to get on their level and ask them their thoughts about important business projects. This will show that she genuinely cares about her team’s opinions when it comes to matters of business and they will feel more valued.

What do we need to do as a society to change the unease around powerful women?

In a recent study, it was discovered that the communal traits of women are more favored in a leadership position over the agentic traits of a male, however powerful women tend to hide these traits as they do not want to be viewed as weak. Many women will even cover in job interviews to make their resume fit the job description, especially in male dominated positions, however research found that men do not seem do this. In society, we need to celebrate the inherent characteristics of women, especially in the workplace, and champion the benefits that these traits can bring to a team so women no longer have to feel that they need to cover traits that were inherently gifted to them.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women leaders that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

When a man does it, it’s ok, but when a woman does the same thing, people turn heads.

Traditionally, women were considered homemakers and caretakers. In many cases today, these roles have not changed, women have just had extra titles added to their repertoire. While we are expected to wear the many hats of traditionally female and male roles, we are expected to stay within the confines of what is acceptable to female behavior. The evolution of the woman in modern day is such a fascinating and beautiful thing to witness. I suspect the next step in this social evolution will be the acceptance of non-traditional behaviors.

Let’s now shift our discussion to a slightly different direction. This is a question that nearly everyone with a job has to contend with. Was it difficult to fit your personal and family life into your business and career? For the benefit of our readers, can you articulate precisely what the struggle was?

As an entrepreneur, I have to work extreme hours to ensure my business is a success. After all, it puts food on the table. Yet as a mother of two, it is a priority to spend ample time with my children. They are growing so fast and their time as fun-loving little kiddos is ever fleeting. It took several years for me to finally master the balance between my work and personal life. I actually have an entire chapter called Never Tip The Scales, dedicated to the topic in my upcoming book, The Unconventional Entrepreneur.

What was a tipping point that helped you achieve a greater balance or greater equilibrium between your work life and personal life? What did you do to reach this equilibrium?

Unfortunately it played a part in the dismantling of my family. The imbalance contributed to what ultimately ended in divorce and I knew that I could never let work prevail over my family ever again. I spent 4 years as a single mother and business owner, and while it was hard to balance everything, I always prioritized my children first. Their lives are too important to me to miss out because I am too wrapped up in achieving certain success levels within my company. Now, I put my work down in the afternoon when they get home from school so I can spend quality time with my family.

I work in the beauty tech industry, so I am very interested to hear your philosophy or perspective about beauty. In your role as a powerful woman and leader, how much of an emphasis do you place on your appearance? Do you see beauty as something that is superficial, or is it something that has inherent value for a leader in a public context? Can you explain what you mean?

In 2007, I branded a line of cosmetics, this was my first business. I worked in the beauty industry for 12 years after that selling my line and doing wedding makeup. I guess you can say my entrepreneurial career began with beauty in mind! With that being said, looks should not play a role in the success of a smart and dedicated female, or anyone for that matter. I think the most important thing here is that leaders should not place value on looks when building a team. A true leader will recognize an individual’s natural and unique abilities and value that skillset.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Powerful Woman?”

Keep an Open Mind

This is a tough characteristic to learn if it doesn’t come naturally. Being open minded is a must for a female business owner as they need to capitalize on every negative experience, event, or obstacle and view it as an opportunity for improvement. When I hit a “speed bump” my open-mindedness allows me to crank up the gears and get the creative juices flowing in another direction. This new direction may be contradictory to what I had originally believed to be correct, but being openminded help me to pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

Keep Your Leadership Style Creative

In my world, the epitome of entrepreneurism is creativity. Everything I do stems from this, including my leadership style. If you are not a very creative person, it could be challenging to motivate others. Traditional leadership is out the window and more innovative leadership strategies are taking the stage. Creativity helps you to discover a relationship between two unrelated items, events, or situations that when put together, solve a problem, strengthen a team, and create a completely new path for group success.

Passion

You MUST love what you do. Your success depends on it. You will not be willing to put in the extra hours or go the lengths to make your leadership successful if you aren’t passionate.

Create Healthy Competition Within Your Team

Everyone doesn’t get a trophy in the business world, or in the real world at that! You must be determined to ensure successful outcomes for your expectations by motivating your team to keep their eye on the prize. In my experience, this is done best by creating fun group competitions and joining in yourself. It is important for a leader to keep their team motivated when they aren’t getting a pat on the back.

Mirroring Abilities

Who do you look up to? Think about the qualities that make them a great leader. Why do people like them? Reflecting on those that you admire as successful leaders and then mirroring their technique helps to build upon your own leadership skills!

Sarah Jessica Parker! Of course I originally knew her as an actress and enjoyed her work, but it wasn’t until I attended her panel at a BlogHer conference in 2019 that I put her on a pedestal as the ultimate boss babe!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Power Women: Author Alexandra Nicole Nolan On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Katarzyna ‘Kasia’ Bargielska of AdTonos On The Five Things You Need To…

Women Of The C-Suite: Katarzyna ‘Kasia’ Bargielska of AdTonos On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You don’t have to ‘act like a man’ as a woman or ‘act like x successful leader’ in order to succeed. It is sexist to think that if a woman is an assertive and capable leader, this is somehow because she is not your typical woman, ‘not like the other girls’; women of all shapes and sizes should lean into what makes us unique, and explore the roles we can best play and excel at in a company, rather than force ourselves into someone else’s expectations or image of success.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite” , we had the pleasure of interviewing Katarzyna ‘Kasia’ Bargielska, CMO and Co-Founder of leading programmatic audio platform, AdTonos.

A graduate of Gdansk University, Kasia moved to Germany to study Business Management at the University of Trier before launching her career in online marketing.

Kasia has worked with Agora (publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest and most prestigious journal in Poland), Wirtualna Polska (Poland’s first and largest Internet portal), and Polskapresse Media Group, and as Marketing Director for IVONA Software — an Amazon subsidiary that develops text-to-speech technology — where she developed marketing strategies that helped the company achieve a top-ranking position in the industry.

She played a key role in introducing new technology products on the market and creating successful marketing strategy to propel ClickMeeting — a leading video-conferencing solution — to the top of their field, and it is her 20+ years of experience that helps AdTonos remain at the forefront of the digital revolution.

A massive pull for me is self-development and being able to make a meaningful impact through my work. I also take pride in delivering the best standard of work possible.

My C-level career began as a marketing director in martech and adtech, because they combine the world of technology with marketing, which makes them innovative and it’s also a space where I get to learn more every day.

Twenty-three years ago, I joined Wirtualna Polska, the company that rolled out the first internet portal in Poland. I’m proud to say that I was working for a martech company that helped pioneer the internet in Poland. What convinced me to take a leap of faith into the unknown? Curiosity. I wanted to know what the internet was and what it could do, and to meet all its challenges and opportunities head-on. In a short space of time, the company grew from a small team to a staff of hundreds.

As well as curiosity, I have an aversion to routine and monotony, and my thirst for bigger and better challenges is what led me to quickly rise to leadership positions in several of my previous roles.

My experience taught me not to accept all the advice I’m given about my career — can you imagine, I was warned not to take up the job with Wirtualna Polska because ‘the internet might not last’? So by the time Michal Marcinik approached me with his pitch for an audio advertising platform, there was no question about whether to take the risk or not! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a huge impact in the audio AdTech industry.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Unlike some other startups that have access to ample funding from day one, we were rather low on resources at first! Then in 2018, we had a breakthrough. We were invited by the UK Department for International Trade to join the Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP), a mentoring programme for ambitious entrepreneurs.

It’s funny looking back now, but I remember that we had to pool our money for fuel to drive to the UK Embassy in Poland for one of the GEP Programme events. It was such a strange juxtaposition that we were self-financing this passion project and struggling to make ends meet on the one hand, while on the other, we were enjoying a fancy meal at the embassy in front of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II!

It’s incredible that we’ve gone from operating on a shoestring budget, and paying for everything out of pocket to keep the company afloat, to where we are today. We now have 27 employees, a global reach of 272 million unique users, and we serve over 5 billion audio ads monthly.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was on maternity leave during the acquisition of one of my previous employers. As a leader in the marketing department, I was asked to come in to deliver a presentation on our marketing strategy.

I was very stressed and didn’t have much time to prepare, never mind the fact that I had a 6-week-old newborn to look after! So off I rushed, baby carrier in one hand and laptop in the other.

I was so nervous and exhausted throughout the entire presentation, exacerbated by the fact that English is not my first language. And there I was, having to lead a presentation to an American director!

The presentation was going well despite everything, and I made sure that I practiced plenty of times beforehand — to the point where I virtually knew the entire presentation off by heart — then I made quite a big language mistake: instead of saying FAQ, I accidentally said ‘F**k You’ to the CEO and the senior team. The room became deathly silent for what felt like an eternity, and internally I was catastrophizing: “That’s it, I’m going to lose my job!”

After a very tense and awkward silence, one of my colleagues, the Chief of Technology, burst into a hearty laughter. One after another, everyone else in the room started laughing and in the end I didn’t lose my job! This experience was so critical for me as it taught me not to unduly stress myself out or worry too much about little mistakes. Generally speaking, if you’re well prepared then things will go well. There was no need to be so tense, and at the end of the day, we are all human, we all make mistakes.

Good leaders and great employers should create space for these mistakes, and also be able to deal with them when they do occur — because they will — with humour and openness!

There are so many people I’m immensely grateful to. In every company I’ve worked at, there was someone who motivated me and helped me get to where I am now.

There has never been a success I’ve had that wasn’t achieved without the support of amazing teams. It’s always been about teamwork: all my successes and marketing results were thanks to their support.

There are many people who have inspired me in my career. However, I am particularly close to Dobrochna Kedzierska, whom I met at Wirtualna Polska. Dobrochna massively contributed to the creation of Polish media by creating the first professional digital marketing editorial office in Poland.

She was a member of Parliament, a lecturer at several universities, and it’s no exaggeration to say that she raised many journalism students and helped a lot of people. She is an amazing woman with strong values, a brilliant mind, and a lot of compassion. She is very active and has achieved a lot — basically an all-round amazing lady.

I was fortunate enough to be able to pick her brains directly and learn from her. She showed me that being a woman doesn’t have to be an obstacle in reaching senior positions and succeeding professionally. Dobrochna was also one of the first investors who trusted in the AdTonos project. She believed in our vision and project, and became our very own Adtonos’ Business Angel. She taught me how women, too, can be brave, strong, consistent and able to accomplish great things.

According to a 2019 McKinsey report, the most diverse companies are also around 36% more profitable than less diverse businesses. Diversity offers huge value to companies at every level, both in terms of business and general human terms, beyond just being trendy.

Only with true diversity can you gain fresh perspectives, see issues from all angles, and adapt to change. Drawing on the lived experiences of people from all walks of life helps us reach better solutions and anticipate consequences that others might not be able to predict. It also lets us see how we can manage companies better, how we can do business or develop services better, as well as create more extraordinary and innovative solutions.

Every culture — social, educational, professional — brings something valuable to the table. We can draw on the best resources from all of our cultural understandings to inspire the future trajectory of the business. What’s important is that teams share a similar basic value system and everyone from junior to executive level is motivated by the same goals. Maintaining this balance between underlying values and diversity is a recipe for company growth.

At Adtonos, we have people from different cultures, countries, ethnicities, religious, social, and educational backgrounds, as well as neurodiverse employees. As we have grown in the last year, so has the number of women in the adtech company: 42% of our team are female, from the junior to C-level, and this has only made us go from strength to strength! This year alone we noted a tenfold growth — coincidence? I think not!

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

We need to remove obstacles to equal participation at work, and employers should give young people a chance to kickstart their career and learn on the job. Healthcare should be accessible to everyone, especially for people with disabilities and additional needs, so it’s not just the well-off who can thrive. Women should be encouraged to try and do what they love in their careers and empowered to take risks.

We need a system that teaches us that everyone needs to be respected regardless of what makes them different, to see the value in others, to understand that generally speaking, everyone has the same feelings and needs: the need for respect, dignity, meaningful work, and opportunities to make a real difference through their talents. We might speak or look different, but everyone needs to feel appreciated. Every conversation we have needs to reflect that tolerance and acceptance!

A CMO, CTO, and CEO are very different titles despite being C-level. Yet, every C-suite leader has to be a visionary in their respective area, and extraordinary in different ways.

They all take more risks, take greater responsibility for employees, shareholders, business operations, the company, and have a strong ability to pre-empt trends and anticipate how the market will develop. Executives chase important news updates and constantly try to have their finger on the pulse. They are attacked from all angles with different sources of news, so should be able to sift out the most relevant or important updates, and make lightning-fast decisions about what should be priorities in the short, medium and long term.

The job of a senior leader versus an executive at C-level doesn’t change that much, but what distinguishes the two is the C-suite leader’s ability to pick themselves up no matter how massive a failure might be. They build back better, becoming more resilient to setbacks each time, and are passionate. They are laser-focused on their business goals and on the bigger picture, not getting too stuck in details or micromanaging. Executives motivate people and inspire them with their vision. They have a magical ability to convince you that their vision is also the vision you want to strive towards, and recruit you on a journey of a lifetime.

C-level is less about how to do the job, and more about which personality is best placed to do the job. For example, Steve Jobs was such a charismatic personality, believing in his vision enough to convince the team at Apple to develop products in ways that were unthinkable for tech companies at the time, and Apple has enjoyed tremendous success off the back of his ideas. Don’t be afraid to be revolutionary and perfect your storytelling to get people behind your vision!

Elon Musk is another example; not everyone has the persuasion skills that he does to send people to Mars, or the credibility he has as a leader and one of the world’s greatest thought leaders.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

That executives can do it all alone — it’s hard juggling the responsibilities of multiple people in just one day, day in, day out! Another myth is that executives play the biggest roles in the company’s success. Yes, C-level leaders need to be able to convince employees of a united vision, motivate them to achieve greater goals together, while at the same time giving them the freedom to work and grow without micromanaging. They also need to ensure all processes and internal mechanisms run smoothly, adjusting where necessary. Despite this, I strongly believe that junior and non-executive level employees keep companies alive and ensure the smooth running of services and business operations by doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Women entrepreneurs outperform their male counterparts, but despite their businesses generally being more resilient than male-led organisations, funders can be biased against women. According to data published by the Centre of Entrepreneurship, the U.S. Census Bureau, Dow Jones, the Harvard Business Review, the World Economic Forum and The French National Agency for Research, women make better entrepreneurs. They are more ambitious, focused on long-term success, are fairer negotiators, take less uncalculated risk, prioritise business success over egotistical gain, and overcome more barriers to success than male entrepreneurs do.

Women entrepreneurs tend to secure more return on investment and use company funds more wisely than some of their male counterparts, and often try to ensure win-win situations for businesses and their stakeholders.

So why are there so few women entrepreneurs in the first place, when there is so much potential out there?

Research suggests that banks are biased against female entrepreneurs, even though women-owned firms generate significantly higher revenue, create more jobs, have lower portfolio risk, and 97%-98% repayment rates on loans, and all this despite the fact that women are 10% more productive than men and do more work in less time.

Existing women entrepreneurs are under-resourced, and aspiring entrepreneurs lack the confidence to get started in the face of all the structures that are set against them, especially if they come from marginalised backgrounds.

What might also complicate matters is that women-led organisations more often than not take on a more social dimension and seek to resolve a social issue, so often the foundation of their business decision is not for personal gain but rather for the greater socioeconomic good. Personally, I think that the biggest challenge is convincing women themselves that they are able to establish businesses, scale them from small to large, achieve success, and manage this effectively. This is achievable for any woman, and the first step to business and C-level.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

A lot of my time currently goes into event planning and organisation as well as stakeholder management and budget meetings. I expected that we would focus more on digital marketing, but events were prioritised this year due to years of pandemic-induced lockdowns as we decided to make up for lost time and focus on building relationships with potential business partners and customers in 2022.

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

It’s only natural that we always look at the biggest business leaders and try to follow their example, but no one particular leadership style or role works for everyone.

Personality isn’t something you can totally change, or ‘copy and paste’ onto yourself. We should be open to learning from experience, but have realistic expectations that rather than being a second rate Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, the only option we really have is to learn from the best to become better versions of ourselves. Weakness in one area is a strength in another, and it may very well be that you’re the right executive in the wrong role.

For example, empathy is a strength in marketing and other relationship-based industries, but it may be a weakness in other industries. Instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole, aspiring C-suite professionals should find their unique niche. Where do you best fit? Where can you be the best version of yourself? What is the unique role that only you can play? Maybe not everyone can do my particular executive role, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of executive roles out there, so there may just be something for everyone who’s willing to put in the work and self-development!

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to be perfect and perform flawlessly all the time.

Prioritise wellbeing and mental health, no one will say to themselves ‘I wish I worked more overtime and cancelled more holidays’ on their deathbed.

You don’t have to ‘act like a man’ as a woman or ‘act like x successful leader’ in order to succeed. It is sexist to think that if a woman is an assertive and capable leader, this is somehow because she is not your typical woman, ‘not like the other girls’; women of all shapes and sizes should lean into what makes us unique, and explore the roles we can best play and excel at in a company, rather than force ourselves into someone else’s expectations or image of success.

Take all ‘expert advice’ with a pinch of salt and balance it with your own expert opinion — even the best of us aren’t always right. Take Bill Gates for example — he famously stated that in a 2-year period, we would eliminate all spam messages, yet here we are in a much less spamless world than he hoped for! Sometimes we will be advised about the directions we should take our businesses and services, but in our dynamic world of rapid change, there will always be new situations and technologies where nobody is really the expert. The best you can do is make calculated, data-driven risks, and hope for the best, whilst planning safety nets in case the worst-case scenario becomes a reality.

Sometimes I wish I had better coaching around recognising the Sunk Cost Fallacy. We all have a tendency to pursue projects destined for failure because so much time and effort has already been invested. Persistence is good but we don’t always know when to throw in the towel and move onto bigger and better things. I wish someone had taught me the value of ‘failing forwards’ sooner, it would have saved me a lot of time, energy, and resources in my previous roles!

As the global energy crisis deepens, sustainability is more critical than ever. It will be a massive challenge for our times and our industry to become Net Zero, or even better, Carbon Negative. I would love to be able to create such solutions that combine profitability and financial sustainability with environmental sustainability and social equity. For example, listening to x hours of audio could help us plant trees, fund ocean cleanups, and support initiatives that support the educational and professional outcomes of disadvantaged young people.

Hands down it would have to be Jeff Bezos, mainly because he is the head of one of my previous employers! You could say he was my boss in the past, even though I never met him directly during my time at Amazon. I remember going to Seattle on business, only to have my colleagues advise me: “You need to have an elevator pitch prepared in case you meet Jeff in the elevator!” I didn’t meet him then, and still haven’t met him unfortunately, so now, if I had the opportunity, I’d like to meet him for lunch and find out what it’s like to be the owner of such a big company, whether he has any plans, dreams, or if he wants to achieve something else. It would be interesting to get some insight into who he really is as a person, not just as a business leader. Since I am a Co-Founder in an audio adtech company, I would certainly ask Jeff Bezos what kind of music he likes to listen to, if he has a favourite radio station or podcast! It would also be fascinating to hear which direction he sees interactive ads heading, especially on Alexa smart speakers.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Women Of The C-Suite: Katarzyna ‘Kasia’ Bargielska of AdTonos On The Five Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.