Lanesha Schultz

I attribute my success to being given opportunities and learning as I go, partnering with really good people who have been able to teach me along the way. I’ve treated these opportunities to learn like a huge internship. I really give credit to my time between IBM and when I started at Caliber - I became friends with some developers and architects, and they really sat down when we had downtime in the beginning and taught me a lot about ServiceNow. They had me go on to ServiceNow University and do some trainings. Even though my background is not in tech but in fashion merchandising and marketing, I just happened to land in tech, loved it, and I've been learning ever since. I'm a living, breathing example that you don't necessarily have to have a degree in computer science or engineering - obviously that's great if you can, but in my case, I was just lucky to be given the opportunity to take on some of these roles. I'm big on networking and online training, self-paced training. I also love sharing my non-traditional journey because I feel like it motivates people to realize that if I can do this, they can too.

One of the best career advice pieces I’ve received is that every phase of your career is a stepping stone to the next. No role, experience, or challenge is wasted if you take the time to learn from it. Each position teaches valuable lessons whether it’s technical skills, leadership, communication, or problem-solving which may later become useful in unexpected ways.

I love sharing my story because I think it's important to call out that you can have a successful career in any field you choose as long as you stay the course and remain willing to put in consistent hard work. My background and degree is in fashion merchandising and marketing, not in tech, and I like to share that with people because I feel like it can motivate them. When I was at KPMG, I was part of the Mentoring program and had a couple of mentees that wanted to get into product management but didn’t come from a Technical background. Since I also didn’t take the traditional route with obtaining a degree or certification in Computer Science, Engineering or any Technical field but still landed in the Tech industry I feel like it encourages people to be like, well, if she can do this, I can too, regardless of my background. Taking advantage of online training courses, joining community of practices and attending networking events are also very valuable with not only entering a new industry but also staying educated and engaged as Tech is an ever evolving industry. I also think it's important to share when I started out working in the Tech industry there were not very many young, African American women, especially when I began moving into more senior and leadership roles. When you layer those three things on, along with my journey of how I got into this field it presented challenges which I considered as opportunities to learn and grow so I hope to encourage any young person, especially young ladies and women of color by sharing my experience, the many challenges I faced and more importantly the steps I took to not only overcome but continue to progress, improve and grow to be given the opportunities I’ve earned and received today.

As a professional in Product Management, one of the biggest opportunities in today’s technology industry is leveraging the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence to create smarter, more efficient, and more personalized customer experiences. AI is transforming the way products are developed, analyzed, and delivered, allowing Product Managers to make faster data-driven decisions and improve innovation at scale. At the same time, the industry faces challenges around keeping pace with constantly evolving technology, balancing automation with human-centered design, managing ethical concerns around AI, and ensuring teams continuously adapt their skills. Success in Product Management today requires agility, strategic thinking, cross-functional leadership, and a strong understanding of how emerging technologies can drive both business value and customer impact.

In my work life, I really value the opportunity to mentor people and share my journey, because I feel like my path is not the predictable journey, especially in tech. I love being able to guide people, whether through formal mentoring like I did at KPMG, or just by sharing my story of how I got into this industry. I think it's super important to empower upcoming leaders, especially young women and women of color, by showing them what's possible. I'm also big on networking and continuous learning and will always tell people these are both so important and in my opinion the keys to building a successful career. In my personal life, when I'm not working, I'm busy and active with my kids. I have 3 children - my oldest son is in college, my youngest son is an upcoming senior who plays football, basketball, and runs track and my daughter is going into 6th grade and plays volleyball and track. My weekends and when in season, some weekdays, are normally spent at football games, basketball and volleyball games and tournaments and track meets. It can be tiring but I love seeing my kids doing something they enjoy and watching them learn the discipline and hard work it takes to accomplish whatever goals they set for themselves. I’ve taught my children the importance of setting goals and intentions and it’s great to see them learning & succeeding in their own lives. When I'm not doing something with my kids, I enjoy reading in my free time, doing meditation, Pilates, and more recently juicing and learning more about holistic medicine and healing techniques - just anything to keep me mentally & physically on track.