I am the global co-lead for Dell’s Women in Action Employee Resource Group (WIA ERG). My “day job” is customer innovation lead within our Sustainability and ESG group. Women’s professional development groups have always been a part of my career journey. In college, I was a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), which helped me make connections and decide to pursue graduate school. I started my previous employer's first ERG to find ways for the few other women in the company and industry to connect. We brought in speakers from other tech companies in the area. When I was ready for a career change, I invited each of them out for coffee to ask them what they liked or didn’t like about their jobs. That was how I decided that I wanted my next role to be at Dell Technologies. I used that network to help me find the right place for me. 

After joining the Dell team, I immediately sought out the WIA ERG to ask how I could help. I found a huge group of people who gave excellent professional development advice, and I made what are now some of my closest friends. Planning and hosting events together gave us so many reasons to connect on a regular basis. My WIA involvement helped me learn about all the areas of Dell outside of the group I was currently working in.

I am passionate about parity in parental leave policies and gained a lot of experience at previous jobs trying to influence policy changes. That participation and exposure taught me how to drive change at large organizations by calculating the return on investment, quantifying workforce retention impacts, and gathering information on competitors. I now use these skills regularly within my role in environmental sustainability.

Being a part of the WIA ERG has significantly influenced my career. I’ve found mentors and sponsors and made connections that have influenced the path I chose to take in my career. I met people across the company I never would have worked with otherwise, learned how to manage a large organization, control a budget and set strategy to drive change. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I've received so far and can’t see where else it leads!

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