(US and Canada) Julia Bardmesser, SVP, Head of Data Architecture and Salesforce Development at Voya Financial, talks with Jason Masker, Chief Technology Officer- Field, StrataScale, about women in data and technology.

Bardmesser shares that her involvement with data was purely accidental. Nevertheless, it turned out that she had an affinity for it. Her advice for young technology and data professionals is, "Go where you’re uncomfortable, keep pushing your comfort zone, take risks, and believe in yourself." She often hears during many women’s programs — and it doesn’t matter the level of seniority, from junior people to very senior people — that there is a lot of imposter syndrome. The common phrase goes something like, “I’m not sure why I got here. Why am I going to succeed? Am I going next? I’m going to take the next job. If it’s too far out there and I don’t know 100 percent of it, am I going to be able to do it??"

Her one piece of advice to all these women is, "Just take it if you find it interesting." First, she shares, it’s hard to do anything if you’re bored and if it’s not interesting enough. That’s just not an excellent way to spend so much of our lives. So, secondly, take jobs that get you outside of your comfort zone because that’s how you grow.

Bardmesser notes that sometimes, of course, when one comes out of their comfort zone, they fail. She shares that not all her jobs and initiatives were successful, but she learned a lot. Some of the technology just made their own decisions. Sometimes a lot of learning is just political leanings. How much support do you get from the organization? How do you get executive buy-in? How do you keep building support? How do you collaborate? So many times, projects just don’t succeed. So, if you try something new and if it doesn’t work, just move on and try something else.