Deborah Olaniyi

I attribute my success to my family, especially my mom. I come from a family of immigrants - my mom came from Nigeria all the way to America just so that me and my brother could have a better life, and she was able to accomplish her American dream. She motivates me a lot because when I see the struggles that she came through, and where she's at now in America, and how she was able to accomplish all of her dreams and everything that she set for herself, it motivates me to want to do the same thing for myself.

The best career advice I've received centers around dealing with imposter syndrome. Going into this field, I would constantly doubt myself and compare myself to other people's journey. While there isn't one specific idea that anyone told me, the synopsis of everything was that no one can take your spot. What's really meant for you is for you, and there's no one that can take anything from you if it's meant for you. For example, if you're applying for a software engineering position and you're comparing yourself to someone else, thinking they're going to somehow take your spot - if it's yours, you're just going to have it.

We need more women in tech, and don't be scared to make an impact in this field just because it's framed as male dominant. I feel like the smaller groups speak the loudest. If you're a woman who's coming into tech, don't be afraid to step out of the box and to do something different, because that's what's going to set you apart. Don't be intimidated by the men in your field, because throughout history, you'll see that women in male-dominated fields are often the ones that have the most impact.

The biggest challenge that our field faces right now is definitely access to tech for minorities. There's a large disparity when it comes to people who come from backgrounds that aren't very tech-heavy versus people who have been surrounded by tech their whole lives, either by their family members being heavily involved in tech or just being able to have a large amount of access to it. The biggest challenge is not having access for minorities who are interested in building projects and working on really cool tech to be able to have that access.

My first and utmost value is diversity, especially when we live in a time where diversity is seen as less than or isn't seen as important. I feel like it's very important for different faces and different backgrounds to be able to come together to work, not only just to work on a project, but to add value to each other. I really value being in an environment where I not only come in and make an impact just because of the way that I look and the background that I come from, but also I'm able to meet a bunch of people from different backgrounds, and learn from them, and gain different ways of thinking and perspectives that I didn't know before. Another value of mine is ambition and drive. I'm really passionate about what I do and why I'm doing the things that I do. It's very important for me to be surrounded in an environment where people have that same passion and drive to accomplish what they want to do, whether that's in tech, art, or fashion. Meeting people that have that drive to do what they want to do is important because you can learn from that drive and improve your own drive.