MOJO Maker for Womxn in Tech

Episode #21: The Resilience Road to the Board room with Vanessa Pegueros

October 30, 2020 Karen Freeman Worstell Season 1 Episode 21
MOJO Maker for Womxn in Tech
Episode #21: The Resilience Road to the Board room with Vanessa Pegueros
Show Notes

Resilience is a necessary condition for women to rise to senior positions in the tech world. Today we speak with OneLogin Chief Trust and Security Officer Vanessa Pegueros about what it would take to have more women in senior and boardroom positions. 

We open our conversation by exploring Vanessa's passion-fueled career path and why, by following her intuition, she transitioned into cyber-security, despite it not being her area of expertise.  After chatting about the power of networking, we talk about how falsely militant perceptions of cyber-security have frustrated women’s entry into the industry. 

Vanessa dives into why security is ideal for women before sharing how women in tech have to constantly justify their skills and knowledge. We touch on other limiting factors including race, how our culture links appearance to ability, and how a lack of confidence can hamper your progression. We then discuss how sport and other competitive activities can build resilience in young women. Vanessa shares the virtue of healthy locker-room talk in fostering resilience, and we chat about the importance of looking after yourself. Near the end of the episode, Vanessa gives young listeners her final advice; change the tech sector by creating companies and hiring women. Tune in to hear more of Vanessa’s hard-won insights on what we can do to create a more inclusive tech scene.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Introducing CISO, board member, and tech investor, Vanessa Pegueros.
  • Passion meets survival; hear about Vanessa’s early life and career trajectory.
  • Why following what you love leads to career success.
  • Listening to your intuition when making career decisions.
  • The power of your network to help you to find new jobs. 
  • How perceptions of cyber-security led to the field becoming a male-dominated space.
  • Vanessa shares her thoughts on why there is a lack of women in senior tech positions. 
  • Why having resilience is a requirement for becoming a senior woman in tech.
  • How race and gender can be a lightning rod for negative attention.  
  • Why appearance is a poor indicator of ability and character. 
  • How your feelings about yourself affect what you can bring to the table.
  • Vanessa’s advice to young girls; play sport — you will learn how to win and lose.
  • The unexpected value of having a locker-room mentality.
  • Dealing with stress and the importance of taking care of yourself.
  • Vanessa’s final advice to young women; “Go out and create companies.”

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Vanessa Pegueros on LinkedIn
    Expedia
    OneLogin
    DocuSign
    US Bank
    Karen Worstell
    MOJO Maker
    Flameproof