Jessica Gardner, MBA

Honestly, I think it's the strong women around me. Building community and just really working to - every mentor I've had, every person that has been in my life has taught me something, and so I really think it's the people around me. The people around me, and specifically the ones that were strong women, to kind of show me how to do that. I've been building what I call my Jedi Council over the last year - a group of incredible women including CEOs, life coaches, and authors. These are women around me that inspire me, that take the time to really lift me up and talk about different things happening. Having this council of women in either this industry or corresponding industries, or just women with different strengths and weaknesses than mine, has been paramount for my success because it gives me a sounding board for whatever's happening in my specific role, field, or company.

Probably to just ask. Just ask for what you want, just ask for time to share your ideas. The worst thing that they can do is say no - that kind of adage. It's interesting that the older I get, the more I believe in cliches. They're kind of true for a reason, right? And so it's that asking, and maybe in tandem with that, practicing, right? Practice asking, and it gets easier, and now I'm at a point in my life where I can ask for anything. You know, a parking spot, a raise, whatever it happens to be. Most people are very human and are happy to help. You just have to ask.

My biggest advice for the software industry specifically is to be bold, to be bold and know you belong. Build your Jedi Council - and it doesn't have to even be in this industry, right? If you can build a group of women that are in either this industry or corresponding industries, or just have different strengths and weaknesses than yours, that's going to be paramount for your success because it gives you a sounding board. Whatever's happening in your specific role, field, or at your specific company, you're going to have this group of women to really say, hey, is this - to temperature test, right? You know, maybe asking for those raises or doing things like that, and they feel like they embolden you. Something I wish I had created sooner was kind of my Jedi Council of women that I go to that are professionals in different industries that really helped me kind of bounce ideas off of, temperature check, etc. I've been building my council over the last year, and now I just have some incredible women - CEOs, life coaches, authors - just women around me that inspire me, that take the time to really lift me up and talk about different things happening.

I think they're actually different sides of the same coin. The tech space, and accounting specifically, is a very male-dominated field. I think that this is something that - there are very successful women in this industry, but it's a handful, right? So I think the tech space is still a place where we have a lot of wood to chop in regards to equality. On the other side of that coin, though, a lot of those men that have established this industry are either retirement age or about to be, right? So I think there's going to be a really big shift in the software space of this rotation of the guards. I really think there's going to be a lot of opportunity for women, people of vulnerable groups, younger people to really start to take leadership roles in the tech space as some of these legacy products - the owners and the creators of the space - are retiring out.

Transparency. I think that, especially in the age of AI, right? Like, what's real, what's not - it's about just being really transparent about your motivations, about your sales process, about product feature functionality. I think it spans all categories for me.