Leading up to International Women’s Day 2021, I have been thinking a lot about inspiration. I found a few mentors early in my career who supported me and believed in me long before I believed in myself. All of them were men, and they were instrumental in my professional growth.
A few years ago I made a conscious effort to increase the gender diversity of my professional network, and the gender diversity on my personal board of directors — no easy task for someone in tech. I found them. They have been incredible! I learned what I had been missing…
As it was for many of you, 2020 cursed me with perspective. (I initially wrote gifted but really, it’s too much at once.)
I felt insignificant in the face of a pandemic, in the face of a movement for racial justice, and in the face of a comet moving through the solar system once every 6000 years.
We lost a loved one, and life felt short. I got a view into the injustices faced by the Black community, and it strengthened my resolve to fight for equality for the rest of my life. I experienced the importance of feeling heard…
We’re not used to this conversation. We are generally encouraged to stray from controversial topics in a professional setting. Politics, sure. Religion, maybe. Race, though — shouldn’t be a controversial topic.
It might be uncomfortable if race has been invisible to you for most of your life. We might be trained to do our best to be colourblind and treat everyone equally. But here’s the thing. Avoiding conversations about race doesn’t treat everyone equally, because our experiences are different depending on our race. …
This is my daughter. This was the moment when Darth Vader stretched out his arm towards her and said, “Join the dark side” and I stood in the audience terrified for her, thinking of how nervous she must be feeling right about now.
There was also guilt — because she wasn’t sure about being up there in the first place. She hadn’t even seen a Star Wars film. They won’t let anyone over 12 do this, though, so she was my only hope. I bribed her by promising to buy her the Minnie Mouse bubble wand afterwards. …
I wear dresses most of the time. There was not much choice to that growing up in Sri Lanka, but you would find me in a dress now even in the middle of Winter in Ottawa. Pants are too tight at your waist if you like to eat as much as I do, and they require too much coordination trying to match a top to it. Dresses are breezy, one-piece, and take little thought when you’re getting ready in the morning. It’s basically like wearing pajamas. …
This is Tibul. She was there for many significant moments in my life — marriage, kids, house, but more importantly, the two of us shared many special moments that made up our everyday lives: getting the tomato garden ready in the Spring, chasing bunnies in the Summer, raking leaves in the Fall, sleeping under the Christmas tree every December.
She died this week after 16 years. So, before I forget, here are some life lessons I learned from Tibul.
1
cherish naps.
2
if someone rubs you the wrong way, make sure they know it.
3
when the door of opportunity opens, run…
The world’s largest gathering of women technologists
I had the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando this Fall, along with another engineering manager, Emily. Thanks to Magnet Forensics for sending us!!
My handwritten notes are a little messy, but I promised a few folks I’d share so I must. (side note — commitments to others is a great way to hold myself accountable. I might let myself down, but not my friends!)
The very first lesson from GHC was months earlier. They opened nominations for a “Senior Leadership Summit”, for women who are in positions of Director and above, or as they said “at…
A few years ago, around the time Canada was welcoming a large number of refugees, I called the office at my high school and asked if they’d be interested in visits from past ESL* graduates like myself. I started high school a month after I arrived in Canada in the snowy Spring of 1993. I wrote about my first day of school here.
I wanted to give the new students something I had so badly wanted back then: hope.
I could tell you so much about my school visits! They were humbling and rewarding. “How long did it take you…
In the Spring of 2004, CBC promoted a non-fiction writing competition called Broken English Writing Contest open to first-generation Canadians. If you won, there was a $500 prize, it would be published in the Ottawa City magazine, and with the help of a theatre director, you had the chance to turn it into a play that would be performed at National Archives during the International Writers Festival. The best part for me was the opportunity to read it on CBC Radio One. …
Originally published in Ottawa City magazine and aired on CBC Radio One, 2004.
The lunch bell rang, and suddenly there were students everywhere. So many people in such a small place. I stepped out into the hallway and started walking slowly in the same direction as everyone else. I wasn’t sure where to go. I wasn’t aware of a cafeteria,we didn’t have one back home. I wanted to ask for help but couldn’t. I could form only a few sentences in English, and I was hesitant to speak it. I was afraid someone might give me funny looks or laugh…
