 Hey everyone, welcome to the AWS partner showcase season one episode three women in tech. I'm your host Lisa Martin We've got two female rock stars here with me next Stephanie Curry joins us the worldwide head of sales and go-to-market strategy for AWS at NetApp and Danielle Breschock is back one of our Cube alum ISV PSA director at AWS Looking forward to a great conversation ladies about a great topic Stephanie let's go ahead and start with you give us an overview of your story how you got into tech and what inspired you Thanks so much Lisa and Danielle. It's great to be on the show with you. Thank you for that My name is Stephanie Curry as Lisa mentioned I'm the worldwide head of sales for AWS at NetApp and run a global team of sales people that sell all things AWS Going back 25 years now when I first started my career in tech It was kind of by accident I come from a different background of a business background and a technical background from school But it had been in a different career and I had an opportunity to try something new I had an ally really that reached out to me and said hey, you'd be great for this role and I thought I'd take a chance I was curious and it turned out to be a 25 year career that I'm really really excited about and Really thankful for that person for introducing me to the industry 25 years and counting I'm sure Danielle We've talked about your background reports what I want to focus on with you is the importance of Diversity for high performance. I know What a machine AWS is and Stephanie I'll come back to you with the same question But talk about that Danielle from your perspective that importance For diversity to drive the performance Yeah I truly believe that you know in order to have high performing teams that you have to have People from all different types of backgrounds and experiences and we do find that oftentimes being you know field-facing If we're not reflecting our customers and connecting with them deeply on on the levels that they're at we end up Missing them and so for us. It's very important to bring people of lots of different technical backgrounds experiences and of course Both men women and underrepresented minorities and put that force to our customers In order to make that connection and to end up with better outcomes. So Definitely, it's all about outcomes. Stephanie your perspective and net-ups perspective on diversity for creating highly performing teams and organizations I'm really aligned with Danielle in the comments. She made and in addition to that, you know, just from building teams in my Career know we've had three times as many women on my team Since we started a year ago and our results are really showing in that as well We find the teams are stronger. They're more collaborative and to Danielle's point really reflective Not only our partners, but our customers themselves. So this really creates connections Which are really really important to scale our businesses and really meet the customer where they're at as well So huge proponent of that ourselves and really finding that we have to be intentional in our hiring and intentional on how we attract diversity to our teams So Stephanie, let's stay with you so a 3x increase and women on the team in a year, especially The kind of last year that we've had is really incredible I like your thoughts on there needs to be a there needs to be focus and And thought in how teams are hired Let's talk about attracting and retaining those women now, especially in sales roles We all know the number the percentages of women in technical roles But what are some of the things that that you do Stephanie that net app does to attract and retain women in those sales roles? The the tracking part is really interesting and we find that you know You read the stats and I'd say in my experience They're also true in the fact that a lot of women would look at a job description and say I can't do 100% of that so I'm not even going to apply with the women that we've attracted to our team We've actually intentionally reached out and targeted those people in a good way to say hey We think you've got what it takes some of the feedback I've got from those women are gosh I didn't think I could ever get this role I didn't think I had the skills to do that and they've been hired and they are doing a phenomenal job in addition to that I think a lot of the feedback I've got from these hires are hey It's an aggressive sales is aggressive sales is competitive It's not an environment that I think I can be successful in and what we show them is bring those softer skills around Collaboration around connection around building teams and they do they do bring a lot of that to the team Then they see others like them there and they know they can be successful because they see others like them on the team The whole concept of we can't be what we can't see but we can be what we can't see is so important You said a couple things Stephanie that really stuck with me and one of them was an interview on the cube I was doing I think a couple weeks ago about women in tech and the stat that we talked about was that Women will apply will not apply for a job unless they need 100% of the skills and the requirements that it's listed But men will if they only meet 60 and I that just shocked me that I thought you know I can understand that imposter syndrome is real. It's a huge challenge But the softer skills as you mentioned especially in the last two years plus the ability to communicate the ability to collaborate are Incredibly important to to drive that performance of any team of any business Absolutely Then you have talked to me about your perspective and AWS as well for Attracting and retaining talent and in particularly in some of those challenging roles like sales and as Stephanie said can be known as aggressive Yeah, for sure. I mean my team is focused on the technical aspect of the field and we definitely have an uphill battle for sure Two things we are focused on first and foremost is looking at early career Women and that how we can we bring them into this role whether in they're in support functions Club like answering the phone for support calls, etc And how how can we bring them into this organization, which is a bit more strategic more proactive? And then the other thing that as far as retention goes, you know Sometimes there will be women who they're on a team and there are no other women on that team and for me It's about building community Inside of AWS and being part of you know, we have women at solution architecture organizations We have you know, I just personally connect people as well I'm like, oh, you should meet this person always talk to that person because again Sometimes they can't see someone on their team like them and they just need to feel angered Especially as we've all been, you know kind of stuck at home During the pandemic just being able to make those connections with the women like them has been super important And just being a long tenure in Amazonian. That's definitely one thing. I'm able to bring to the table as well that's so important and impactful and Spreads across organizations in a good way. Danielle. Let's stick with you Let's talk about some of the allies that you've had Sponsors mentors that have really made a difference and I said that in past tense, but I also mean in present tense Who are some of those folks now? That really inspire you Yeah, I mean, I definitely would say that one of my Mentors and someone who has been a sponsor of my career has Matt Yancheshen who is one of our control tower GM's he has Really sponsored my career and definitely been a supporter of mine and pushed me in positive ways Which has been super helpful and then other of my business partners, you know, Sabina Joseph Who's a cube alum as well. She definitely has been was a fabulous Partner to work with and you know between the two of us for a period of time We definitely felt like we could you know conquer the world It's very great to go in with with another strong woman, you know and and get things done Inside of an organization like 8 of us Absolutely, and I've had I've interviewed her several times. So Stephanie same question for you You talked a little bit about your kind of one of your Original early allies in the tech industry would talk to me about allies sponsors mentors who have and continue to make a difference in your life Yeah, I know I think it's a great Frantiation as well, right because I think that mentors teach us sponsors show us the way and allies make room for us at the table And that is really really key difference. I think also as women leaders We need to make room for others at the table to and not forget those softer skills that we bring to the table Some of the things that Danielle mentioned as well about making those connections for others right and making room for them at the table Some of my allies a lot of them are men Brian a big was my first mentor He actually is in the distribution was in distribution with admin tech data no longer there Corey Hutchinson who's now at Hashi Corp. He's also another Ally of mine and remains an ally of mine even though we're not at the same company any longer So a lot of these people transcend careers and transcend Different positions that I've held as well and make room for us And I think that's just really critical when we're looking for allies and when allies are looking for us I love how you described allies mentors and sponsors Stephanie and the difference I didn't understand the difference between a mentor and a sponsor until a couple of years ago Do you talk with some of those younger females on your team so that when they come into the organization and maybe they're Fresh out of college or maybe they've transitioned into tech So that they can also learn from you and understand the importance and the difference between the allies and the sponsors and the mentors Absolutely, and I think that's really interesting because I do take an extra Approach an extra time to really reach out to the women that have joined the team one I want to make sure they stay right. I don't want them feeling Hey, I'm alone here and I need to I need to go do something else And they are located around the world on my team They're also different age groups so early in career as well as more senior people and really reaching out making sure they know that I'm there but also as Danielle had mentioned connecting them to other people in the community That they can reach out to for those same opportunities and making room for them Make room at the table. It's so important and it can you never know what a massive difference and impact you can make on Someone's life and I bet there's probably a lot of mentors and sponsors and allies of mine That would be surprised to know the massive influence. They've had Danielle back over to you Let's talk about some of the techniques that you employ that AWS employs to make the work environment a great place for women to Really thrive and and be retained as Stephanie was saying of course. That's so important Yeah, I mean definitely I think that the community building as well as we have a bit more programmatic Mentorship that we're trying to get to the point of having a more programmatic Sponsorship as well but I think just making sure that You know both Everything from recruit to on board to everboarding that they they're the women who come into the Organization whether it's they're coming in on the software engineering side or the field side or the sales side that they feel as So they have someone Working with them to help them drive their career Those are the key things that we're I think from an organizational perspective are happening across the board For me personally when I run my organization I'm really trying to make sure that people feel that they can come to me at any time Open-door policy make sure that what they're surfacing any times in which they are feeling excluded or Anything like that any challenges whether it be with a customer a partner or with a colleague And then also of course just making sure that I'm being a good sponsor To two people on my team that is key how you can talk about it, but you have to start with yourself as well That's a great point. You've got to start with yourself and really reflect on that and Look am I am I embodying what it is that I need and not that I know they need that focused Thoughtful intention on that is so important So the let's talk about some of the techniques that you use that NetApp uses to make the work environment a great place for those women are marginalized Communities to really thrive Yeah, and I appreciate it much like Danielle and much like AWS We have some of those more structured programs right around sponsorship and around mentorship Probably some growth there are opportunities for allies because I think that's more of a newer concept in really an Informal structure around the allies, but something that we're growing into at NetApp on my team personally, I think leading by examples really key and unfortunately a lot of the Lifestaff still lands on the women whether we like it or not I have a very active husband in our household, but I still carry when it push comes to shove it's on me And I want to make sure that my team knows it's okay to take some time and do the things you need to do with your family I'm I show up as myself Authentically and I encourage them to do the same so it's okay to say hey, I need to take a personal day I need to focus on some stuff that's happening in my personal life this week now Obviously make sure your job's covered but just allowing some of that softer vulnerability to come into the team as well so that others Men and women can I feel they can do the same thing and that it's okay to say I need to balance my life And I need to do some other things alongside So it's the formal programs making sure people have awareness on them I think it's also softly calling people out on biases and saying hey I'm not sure if you know this landed that way But I just wanted to make you aware and usually the feedback is oh my gosh I didn't know and could you coach me on something that I could do better next time So all this is driven through our NetApp formal programs, but then it's also how you manifest it on the teams that we're leading Absolutely and sometimes having that mirror to reflect into can be really eye-opening and allow you to see things in a completely different light Which is great. You both talked about Kind of being what you can see and and I know both companies are Customer obsessed in a good way Talk to me a little bit Danielle go back over to you about the AWS NetApp partnership Some of that maybe alignment on on performance on you obviously you guys are very well aligned In terms of that but also it sounds like you're quite aligned on diversity and inclusion Well, we definitely do we have the best partnerships with companies in which we have these value alignments So I think that is a positive thing of course, but just from a from a partnership perspective, you know from my Five now plus years of being a part of the APN This is you know, one of the most significant years with our launch of FSX for NetApp with that key Key service which we're making available natively on AWS. I can't think of a better testament to the to the Partnership than that and that's doing incredibly well and it really resonates with our customers And of course it started with customers and their need for NetApp So, you know, that is a reflection. I think of the success that we're having together Something talk to about the partnership from your perspective NetApp AWS what you guys are doing together cultural alignment But also your alignment on really bringing diversity into drive performance Yeah, I think it's a great question and I have to say it's just been a phenomenal year Our relationship has started before our first-party service with FSXN, but definitely just the trajectory Between the two companies since the announcement about nine months ago has just taken off to a new level We feel like an extended part of the family We work together seamlessly a lot of the people in my team often say we feel like Amazonians And we're really part of this transformation at NetApp from being that storage hardware company into being an ISV In a cloud company and we could not do this without the partnership with AWS and without the first-party service of FSXN That we've recently released. I think that those joint values that Danielle referred to are critical to our success Starting with customer obsession and always making sure that we are doing the right thing for the customer We coach our team teams all the time on if you are doing the right thing for the customers You cannot do anything wrong just always put the customer in the center of your decisions And I think that there is a lot of best practice sharing and collaboration as we go through this change And I think a lot of it is led by the diverse backgrounds that are on the team female male Race and so forth and just to really have different perspectives and different experiences about how we approach this change So we definitely feel like part of the family We are absolutely loving Working with the AWS team and our team knows that we are the right place at the right time with the right people. I Love that last question for each of you and I want to stick with you Stephanie Advice to your younger self think back 25 years What advice would you see what you've accomplished and maybe the the turns and Starendipitous route that you've taken along the way. What would you advise your younger Stephanie self? I Would say keep being curious right keep being curious keep asking questions and sometimes when you get a no It's not a bad thing. It just means not right now and Find out why and and try to get feedback as to why maybe that wasn't the right opportunity for you but you know just go for what you want continue to be curious continue to ask questions and Find a support network of people around you that want to help you because they are there and they are they want To see you be successful too. So never be shy about that stuff Absolutely, and I always say failure does not have to be in a bad effort a no can be the beginning of something amazing Daniel same question for you thinking back to when you first started in your career. What advice would you give your younger self? Yeah, I think the advice I'd give my younger self would be don't be afraid to put yourself out there It's certainly, you know coming from an engineering background Maybe you want to stay behind the scenes not not do a presentation not do a public speaking event those types of things But back to you what the community really needs this thing, you know, I genuinely now Took me a while to realize it, but I realized I needed to put myself out there in order to You know allow younger women to see what they could be so that would be the advice I would give don't be afraid to put yourself out there Absolutely that advice that you both gave are it is so fantastic so Important and so applicable to everybody Don't be afraid to put yourself out there ask questions Don't be afraid of a no that it's all gonna happen at some point or many points along the way that can all so be Good, so thank you ladies you inspired me I appreciate you sharing what AWS and that up are doing together to strengthen diversity to strengthen performance and The advice that you both shared for your young ourselves was brilliant. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you For my guests, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching the AWS partners showcase. See you next time