P.O.W.E.R. Sessions!

I know what you are all thinking: please, not another tech acronym! I promise you, this acronym requires no white board diagrams, could be easily explained to a third grader, and will only include words that you know and can pronounce.

I am excited to introduce you to a group of devoted women pioneers at Rackspace who tell their stories, make their voices heard, and challenge us ALL to be empowered by their inspirational words.

RackerTalent Readers - meet P.O.W.E.R

P.O.W.E.R - meet RackerTalent Readers

P.O.W.E.R is: Professional Organization of Women Empowered at Rackspace.

P.O.W.E.R. is a new Racker resource group founded by our Inclusion and Innovation team, primarily Tina McDaniel, who is also a fellow blogger (click over to her site for another healthy dose of “girl power”).

Tina and her team organize one-hour, monthly sessions featuring a speaker in a leadership role at Rackspace coupled with a guest panel. These events are open to all Rackers and the topics of discussion are all gender-neutral . Mary Stich, VP of Legal, kicked of the series with an invaluable session entitled “Building Relationships: Networking is one Key to Success.” Since then, we have had the pleasure of hearing and learning from:

Sharon Durham, Enterprise Marketing Director, on “Goals, Gumption & Greatness“
Lisa Larson, VP of Enterprise Technical Sales on “Getting Things Done the Racker Way“
Melissa Gray, Director of Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships, on “Inventing your Future“

Following each presentation, the sessions open up to the floor and there is an informative Q&A with the panel members . The sessions are also available on Livestream for our remote location listeners and are recorded and available on a number of internal sites for Rackers to view and comment on.

I feel very fortunate to be part of a growing and innovative company, made up of talented women that freely invest their time to reveal the failures and successes that have brought them to their upper level leadership position. American novelist Louisa May Alcott, who was also an advocate for women’s suffrage, may have said it best:

“I’m not afraid of the storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship.”

Having been to every P.O.W.E.R Session so far, these women are really teaching me how to sail. Not just to keep afloat, but to sail confidently in a direction of my choosing, knowing I am not alone or without a compass.

In the ever changing world of IT, storms will certainly come and go, but we Rackers are not afraid. Women in IT are here to stay, and that is a good thing!

Counting down the days until the next P.O.W.E.R Session …..an hour beyond compare!

Choose joy,

-EJ