Parenting & Work Life in the 2000s and Beyond – Clelia’s Career Journey at Dell Technologies

Clelia M.| Account Services Management Consultant | Melbourne, Australia

Originally Published: September 5th, 2023

I recall my apprehension and nerves on my first day at Dell Technologies in August 2000, as I was only four years into my full-time career in IT and still adapting to an industry where females were very much the minority. What struck me the most was how friendly and welcoming everyone was and the level of autonomy everyone seemed to work within. I soon learned that with most of the company’s senior leadership in the United States, there was a culture of self-reliance and resilience built on a foundation of strong teamwork and collaboration, which excited and motivated me.

Back in the 2000s, working for a vendor was the place to be, with many travel opportunities available to network and get training. Who would have thought that within four weeks of my first day, I would spend a month in Germany for bootcamp training? Needless to say, I took the opportunity to explore Paris and Milan during this time and developed friendships with colleagues who are still at Dell today. In my 23 years at Dell, I have experienced and grown across seven different roles, all of which my leaders have supported and encouraged me to pursue. In these roles, I have even been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Japan. Perhaps the hardest experience I had in my time at Dell was navigating back into work after the birth of my first child. I placed a lot of pressure on myself to return to work after ten months and will be forever grateful to my leader at the time, who allowed me to work from home two days a week as I transitioned my daughter to daycare, something not many employers were offering at the time. In fact, not long after that, there were two other first-time mothers who worked with their leadership team to trial job sharing, another great initiative that Dell was able to offer.

Over the years at Dell, I watched the number of females joining the company increase, and it became more important to me that they were made to feel supported the way I was, so I joined the Women in Action Employee Resource Group (ERG), participating and volunteering in the diversity and inclusion events or initiatives, including the Lucy mentoring program at the University of Technology in Sydney. Just as important is the support for our LGBTQIA+ employees. I am fortunate to have met fellow colleagues and customers of Dell and people in my own life who have gone through and endured resistance to their change for many years, which prompted me to join the Pride ERG and plan events for the ANZ region to raise awareness and show my support. I am so impressed with and proud of how far Dell has come in its diversity and inclusion journey since I joined in 2000, and I have witnessed the positive impact these initiatives have on employees.

After 23 years at Dell, my story is proof of the continued diversity and inclusion efforts at Dell, which make it such a great place to work. In addition to this, it is the people that make working at Dell so enjoyable, especially post-Covid. Now that we are back in the office a few days a week, that sense of belonging has returned as everyone comes together to achieve great things for our customers and ourselves.

To learn more about life at Dell, please visit our stories.