 Thank you for joining us at the GitLab cultural open house, and I have the pleasure today of Women's leadership panel. My name is Tracy Robinson Williams, and I'm a senior product leader here at GitLab With us today. We have an esteemed panel. I'm very excited to introduce We have Christy Leno who is the vice president of user experience We have Dava Satcher who is our senior manager of engineering Brittany Rodie who is senior manager of total rewards and Erica Flowers who's the manager of digital production I'm calling. I'm talking to you from our Washington, D.C. Remote office, which is of course my home but I'd also like to have each of these ladies talk to you a little bit about how long they've been here and Where they're based as well and a little bit of an introduction. Can you start us off Christy? Yeah, hi So I'm located in San Antonio, Texas And I've been with GitLab for about a year and a half and it's been a very exciting year and a half I've grown the UX department from 12 people to over 60 in the last You know 12 plus months. So been an exciting journey And Darva Hello, I'm Darva Satcher. I am a native of Oakland, California But I presently reside in Atlanta, Georgia I started at GitLab June of 2019 and I started as an engineering manager here for the create knowledge and create editor teams and Right now I'm in transitioning into a senior manager for development role. Okay, wonderful. Thank you, Brittany Hi everyone, I'm Brittany Rodie. I've been at GitLab for just over four years So we were a very different company when I first joined I think there was about 50 to 60 people at the time. So being able to see this company grow and expand It's up to 1300 has been really excited and challenging I've been part of total awards since the function was created at the company and so enjoying also scaling that organization as well I'm located in DC as well Alright, and Erica Yes, I am Erica Flowers. I Managed a digital production team. So that's all things audio video visual and all that fun stuff and I have been at GitLab for Just under three years now and we're closing out a great team here Well, thank you very much for those introductions and let's get started with our questions So I want to pose the first one to Brittany and to Darva Can you tell us about the opportunities around mentorship that are available here at GitLab? Informally for myself, I actually reached out and asked if a handful of people would be willing to mentor me so when I started to Move into a leadership role first into management and moving the senior management It's you know, I wanted to be able to talk with a peer who was at a similar level to me that I you know I'm aspiring to be at and so having someone within the people group to come to kind of just run different managerial situations past and talk through different Ways to respond ways to react and how to improve myself as a manager since that was a new skill that I was building and then Also asking one of our executives to be sort of an executive sponsor and mentor for me to understand Different parts of the organization than just the people group, which is where I've historically spent my career So having sort of that broad-based understanding and knowledge being able to think about Situations in different ways has been really helpful for me to be able to grow and develop You know and I encourage team members at GitLab to do the same I was actually inspired to do this through our CEO shadow program Where I you know heard people talking about mentorship got to see a lot of different parts of the organization And so then I just raised my hand and asked, you know, my mentors were, you know Very happy to speak with me on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and it's been a wonderful experience since then Follow-up on that. Brittany, you are awesome. I didn't realize you just became a man Go, Brittany So I participated in three formal mentoring programs here at GitLab So I've had a different role in each program. The first one is a program we did with Plato HQ And it was setting up engineering managers with outside senior management. So these are mentors outside of GitLab It's been a really great experience I can go outside the company and get a different perspective on how to handle different issues I'm able to go to my mentor and explain to him. These are my weaknesses Can you help me now be a cheerleader help me move on to the next level and through the process I have been able to go through the process of promotion And I think that my mentor has really been helpful in that respect for me I've also participated in developing a mentoring program with them MIT minorities and tech Organization that program is a little bit more formal We have 20 mentees that are in the minorities and tech program that are paired with leaders at GitLab They work together for a period of three months and they get personal one-on-one development But also work on a project that's impactful to GitLab I think this has been wildly successful because you're growing team members and you're growing the product and you're making better Process so really excited about that the third program. I was involved with is the engineering internship program So that's when GitLab reaches out to University students outside of the company and we mentor them and we teach them skills about career Agile development Get lab working in a remote environment and this was a really successful program We had four participants and 50% of them were women and I will say 42% of the MIT mentees Were women so those are three areas that GitLab has been really engaged in and the final area I was not participant of but that was the women in sales mentoring ship program And that program is when you have an individual mentor with someone in leadership And then they have monthly coaching panels where they discuss various topics and Topics related to women so transitioning your career work like balance things like that So I'll end it by saying that GitLab is truly invested in mentoring and the representative team members and Just women in general Thank you for sharing that there's just some fascinating experiences that tell me you've had Brittany and and Darva Darva, can you tell us a little bit about? How GitLab is demonstrating a commitment to supporting gender diversity? Yeah, this one is interesting because I know this is the women's panel, but we truly do support all Diversity gender and non-gender right? So I'm gonna speak to the women gender in particular The first thing that I learned here was I had to change my vocabulary. I'm notorious for saying guys I grew up in that generation. I don't say So at GitLab we have a list of misused words and words that you know, you should avoid And I really appreciate the fact that I'm learning and growing and just the way I speak and and I feel that's very supportive for women Another thing that was mentioned in the previous session was the women's slack channel This is a great safe space for us We talk about the latest articles that are being published related to women in industry or challenges we have to COVID And also if we have questions and we just need advice in a traditional company Where you're walking into the office, you're usually not going to have a lot of well in my position Engineering they're not a lot of women peers but at GitLab I feel like there are tons of women They're from all over the world and every you know department you have marketing sales engineering So I feel like I'm very supportive just by going to that channel And the the other thing that I wanted to mention is in the previous session there There's a women's team MRG that's a team member resource group Which is also a group dedicated to supporting and growing and developing women at GitLab And the final thing that I love about GitLab is the parental leave policy. I'm a mom If you are having I think your first child you get the first 16 weeks 100% pay Okay, that's new for me I know in other countries, maybe they have it a little better, but that is fantastic And also they focus on pay equity, which is also very near and dear to my heart So I think GitLab does an excellent job supporting women Sequent children as well. So first child is in any other ones that you have as well And the other thing that you know, I think is important about our parental leave policy Is that it's not just for women, but it's also for it's a parental leave policy for both genders As well as with any type of event that led to a child coming into your life Which is amazing because when I had children that wasn't even a thought So I'm excited to work for a company that that that supports this Thanks for bringing those things up Christie, can we start with you this time? Can you tell us how the experience here at GitLab has been different than your experience at other companies? And then maybe Brittany and if there's time Erica jump jump into Um, so I'll say I've worked in tech for 20 years So a very very long time And I've been really pleased to have a good experience overall, but GitLab is really an exceptional experience Um, it's a place where I really feel like my voice is heard um I think the fact that we work so asynchronously is a big part of that And then also the fact that uh, we're virtual. I think in a lot of ways it adds to that One of the things that stands out to me is that at every meeting at GitLab We have an agenda, which is nice just because meetings are much more pleasant when you have an agenda But in addition to that it's a real level leveler. Um, it's a really democratized way of making sure that everyone's voice is heard because We update the agenda in real time So as we're having a conversation If you have something to add you put your name in the agenda You put a high level view of what it is you want to add and then you're next in line And you get to speak and people make sure that you really do get to have your voice heard Which is incredibly empowering and it makes sure that even folks who Um have a tendency not to feel as confident speaking up will speak up Um, I also will say that I've had allies at GitLab where you know, and look it happens inadvertently where you go to speak and you And it's something that you are an expert on and someone speaks over you and I've had allies stop People and say wait a minute Christie's the expert on this. You need to let her speak Which I think is a really Unique experience that I've really appreciated Thanks, Christie Brittany. Yeah, and I think the the piece that's interesting for me is out of all of those meetings or out of anything that we do The radical transparency of posting that in the handbook so that other companies can also Have learnings or be able to review how GitLab works so that if you were to apply to GitLab If you were to perhaps transition to a different role at the company You have the ability to see not only what the you know Like policies look like the how they're actually processed step by step within the handbook For myself moving from a more traditional human resources environment Which transparency does not typically go hand in hand with a lot of you know people or human resources functions and other companies and so it's been really refreshing for me to see how Changing that can be to the way that we work getting different insights diversity of thought and being able to take all of that into consideration before we implement anything New is really helpful as part of any change management process that other companies might not happen in the same way So it's interesting to see kind of that difference The other thing is just being able to work remotely and you know, it's exciting seeing this become more and more common I'm super passionate about remote work because I wouldn't be able to have a career if I wasn't working remotely my significant other we move Well, I've moved four times in four years. So To different states and so, you know that creates a bit of a gap in your resume if you're Popping from co-located jobs every single time and so being able to have that continuity in a professional career And balance kids and dogs and you know everything else that kind of goes on in your life Is is wonderful and and very different from other companies I've worked at Erica, how does this play into collaboration in your opinion? Um, I think it's it's great to have folks Engaged especially when you're in all remote environment. Sometimes people are in a bubble And no one really knows what's happening in anyone else's world and there's this feeling of isolation But um with GitLab and the way we do things even though we're all remote, you know, I mean, I've I've fostered More relationships in an all remote job than I have And some, you know traditional roles because of all the collaborative work that we do together as an organization and cost-functional Over like different departments or organizations. So I think that's, you know A huge benefit of the way that we do remote work Well, you mentioned the interesting situation we're all in right now and you know, so balancing your Your job and personal life has become very difficult During COVID-19, right? Was this something that you anticipated or something that you expected it's, you know, as part of Acclimating to the situation where now, um, you know, can you tell us how remote has impacted Your ability to to manage and balance your your life and your job right now Brittany, can you can you start us off with that? I think when when the pandemic, you know for for myself it started in, you know, kind of mid-march when Things started to become a little bit different and my daughter was home with me 100 of the time because her school was completely shut down she's too so she is Right at the rational reasoning step being able to understand why we have to do different things at a certain time She's also very entertaining. So it makes up for all of the lack of reasoning But it can be difficult to balance I I have to, you know Do this work and meet these, you know results that I had promised to my team and to my company that I would do In this new forum and so finding a new schedule and also not reverting back to a more traditional setting of I am now a mother who's expected to keep my house my children and my job all Running at, you know, the top of my game. That's not it's not an expectation that I wanted to set for myself My partner and I You know set up certain ways in which we could mitigate some of that But that was a bit of a fear in the beginning is we have women have come so far And having everything shut down not having the help that you typically would have with schools being open Your partner being able to have a flexible schedule Maybe family members that you see on a regular basis that can help you Really did scare me at first, you know, I think things have started to level out and we've come into a new routine or a new normal but also keeping Up with productivity and how am I going to keep up with productivity? I was really fortunate that the ceo shadow program that I had referenced earlier ended just about a month before the pandemic hit and so I had learned a lot about productivity and efficiency and sort of reinvigorating is a lot of those learnings that we talk about At an executive level and I was able to bring that into How i'm going to be productive in this new normal with a two-year-old having her in a meeting and also You know the acceptance from my team when I'd randomly be speaking and she'd start screaming behind me And I just knew and everyone would laugh and we'd move on to the next thing It wasn't a topic of conversation So I think all of those factors combined me setting new expectations acceptance from you know the company and from your peers on what you can and can't do and being really Communicative and collaborative and and how we make that happen going forward Help to make it a bit of a better situation Okay, that that sounds great Erica, do you have any advice that you might be able to offer in this type of situation? Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that folks can do in this situation is to give themselves some grace You know and make sure that you are you know taking time out for your friends for your family and for yourself and self care Um, there's a lot of people out there who are like Oh, this COVID-19 time has been so great for me because I've been able to slow down and You know have my zen moments and all that which is great for those people But for some people like myself um in digital production Everything has pivoted straight to video right so it has caused this major ramp up And I think our events team can also feel that pain as well in terms of having to change the way they do things So, you know don't feel that pressure to you know feel like this is just this amazing, you know Zenny moment because for everyone it's a pandemic, right? So it's stressful, but you know that whole time of self-care and all those things you have to Create that time for yourself and create hard boundaries and you know For work and all other parts of your life to make sure that you are taking care of yourself But you can take care of your family and be there for your friends and the family and everyone else so I think um Don't feel the pressure to Feel what everyone else is feeling and do what everyone else is doing You know reflect on what your needs are and your family's needs are and and go towards that That's excellent advice erica. Thank you for sharing that um as as women in leadership you you face some unique challenges Can you provide some advice on to other women about what to do as they pursue leadership positions in their own careers Chrissy, can you can you start us out? um So I'll start by saying imposter syndrome is a real thing. Um, and I'll be vulnerable and admit that I have imposter syndrome um Men and women experience it depending on who they are but as women we're more inclined to experience it So some of my advice would be around Don't assume that you're less qualified than your peers. Uh, because chances are you're not You have a lot of really amazing skills to offer um, and then also don't assume that when you are looking at an open role that every Qualification that's listed on that role is an absolute requirement because I can tell you as someone who has hired Many many many people in my career. That's not the case. Um, You know, we're talking about our ideal candidate and we're aware that You know what ultimately ends up being our best candidate may not hit 100 of those qualifications And they're still awesome and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. So don't hold yourself back um Another piece of advice I have is to help other women along the way Um, you know, we always want the best person in a position. I'm not going to hire someone because they are a woman Um, you know, we we always want to make sure that we're hiring fairly and that we're hiring the best person Uh, that being said as women in leadership We have an opportunity to give other women a hand up and to make sure that biases That might have come into the process We can make sure that those stay out and that we are offering women the same opportunities that men get Um, and then lastly, I'll just say speak up. Your voice is important It deserves to be heard just as much as anyone else's A lot of that comes down to just confidence that yeah, you have something valuable to add So go ahead and add it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry after the fact about whether what you said was Right or perfect. Just get in there. Get your voice heard. It's important and it encourages other women to do the same thing When they see you do that Thank you for being vulnerable with that christie because I think that a lot of us have that same sort of feeling um Erica your thoughts Um, I you know would echo uh, some of the points that christie has made I think you know, it could be difficult for folks who have a hard time reconciling that you are an authority Um or an expert in a certain area or subject Especially when you're in a field that's traditionally male heavy I'm working in tech and I'm also working in production. Which is also very male heavy, so um Then you also have to add to that There's all these cool apps and ways that people can create their own videos and graphics and all these things So everyone thinks that they are a pro at production now, right? Which is great, but you know, you have to exert, you know, your authority and your expertise and make sure that you know While you don't feel the burden of having to know everything make sure that you highlight your expertise and You know, don't also because I think sometimes this happens and I've had you know If I have experiences where you know folks will tell me Particularly males that I don't need to exert myself or voice my experience or expertise in the field, but There's no reason to stay mum about what you know I mean other folks are free to you know Talk about how great they are at everything and what they've done So you should feel free to to do that yourself. Um, just you know, don't be egotistical about it Be do it in a non-english physical manner that illustrates also your openness collaboration You always want to be open to collaborate, but you also need to make it known that you know, hey I got this right And then also I would say, you know, sometimes it's just as simple as letting your work speak for itself and do time you know folks kind of figure out like Maybe she does know what she's talking about right and so You know just let your work speak for itself But also speak up and don't hesitate to make suggestions and voice your opinion Um, it is difficult not to second guess yourself and you know, I've done that sometimes and then it's like Someone else to say the same thing that I I already thought like two weeks ago or wanted to say it But didn't say it because I was like, you know, so, you know speak up and don't second guess yourself because No one, you know, no one's perfect. No one's gonna get everything right. So still be yourself up Choice words. Thank you And d'arva, can you wrap that question up for us, please? Yes, very quickly. Um, so There was a time that I would say to myself They're not many people who look like me in this room In this organization and this career And what I want to say is don't worry about it Someone has to be the first woman Someone has to show the next generation of leaders what they can become and all of the men my male peers that I've had When it comes right down to it, we're all focused on credit Collaboration results efficiency diversity inclusion belonging iteration and transparency We connect on those levels Point I forget that I'm the only one in the room More similarities than differences And I think that's one of the most awesome things about GitLab is the inclusivity to bring that back About everyone belongs here And we all have our part to play because we can all contribute. So thank you all Unfortunately, we're out of time. We could talk forever with this stellar group of women that I admire so much So thank you all for participating In this panel and for sharing your very vulnerable and candid moments with us So thanks for joining and thank you ladies