Her Story
About Priscilla
My path to technology was completely unexpected. I started out wanting to become a neurosurgeon because I watched my mom suffer with diabetes, blood clots, and high blood pressure, and I wanted to help people like her. I was accepted to Penn State Harrisburg and went to University of Buffalo, but during a trip to Southeast Asia with my former best friend, he told me I should look into something I love and see how I can make a career out of it. When I made that list, computers was the first thing, and I felt this strong pull toward it. So I dropped out of UB in 2017 and started applying everywhere. I got my start at Buffalo Computing Solutions writing code for credit card readers that you can still find in stores across the United States. Then I joined MVP Network Consulting, where I spent four years and became the face of the company, even though I was the only woman on the IT team. I cried the first year or two because it was like boot camp, trudging through the trenches, but I built amazing client relationships and they were looking to make me a partner success manager. Instead, I took a role managing Microsoft 365 for over 16,000 users at Jamaica Hospital, the hospital I was actually born in. After dealing with a difficult CIO there, I worked at Tech Experts managing solutions for financial companies across Manhattan, which was fast-paced with sleepless nights but taught me how I want to lead my team. Then a recruiter on LinkedIn reached out about Lowe's, and I knew it was God's plan because I felt so at peace. Now I handle enterprise collaboration solutions, conference and AV systems, compliance and legal investigations, security policy implementation, and I'm leading stakeholder meetings and building roadmaps. I've accomplished all of this without a college degree or certifications, while supporting my parents financially since I was a teenager. Every step of the way, through the ups and downs, has been by God's grace.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Priscilla
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, at the end of the day, all of this is by God's grace. I don't have a certificate, I don't have a college degree, and I didn't even apply for this job at Lowe's - a recruiter on LinkedIn reached out to me. I feel like when God blesses you, it comes in rapid fire. I was praying to God, stressed out, high anxiety, tired, burnt out working for Tech Experts, but when I got to Lowe's, I knew this was God's plan because I just felt so at peace. It's not even just the culture or the people, but I just felt like I was in the right place. Everything that I do that I touch, it's just been God working throughout it all. Some things I just feel like I may not have the answer to, and sometimes I just find the answer, and I don't know how, or I say the right thing, and I'm just so grateful to God because it's honestly been a blessing. I also attribute my success to using every experience as a stepping stone, trying to look at the positive side of every aspect, even the difficult times. I learned from negative and positive influences - the tough management at Tech Experts taught me how I want to lead my team, while the amazing CEO at MVP Network Consulting, Ikram Misabini, showed me what great leadership looks like. And my drive to support my parents financially since I was a teenager kept me pushing forward through all the challenges.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from my former best friend during our trip to Southeast Asia. He told me, 'You know what, Priscilla, you love school so much, I know you're debating on how long these studies will go, you want to support your parents and help them out so much, why don't you try to look into something that you love?' He suggested I make a list of everything that I love and see how I can make a career out of it. I didn't know at the time that I would do this, but once I made my list, the first thing on my list was computers. I just had a really strong pull towards it, and that's when I decided to leave school and pursue technology. I don't think he expected me to drop out of college, but if it wasn't for him bringing that idea up to me and making me really think about it, I don't know where I would be today. That advice to pursue what I love instead of just following a traditional path completely changed my life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I want to speak out to those who want to pursue this and they don't know if they can make it, especially if they have a love for it - you should keep going despite how hard it could be. I've been the only woman on IT teams throughout my career, and I know what it's like to not feel supported enough, to feel like people don't have your backs, to be looked over or underlooked. I know what it's like when your ideas aren't heard at the big tables with stakeholders. The first year or two at MVP, I cried because it was like boot camp, trudging through the trenches. New companies didn't know me, so they'd think 'who's this girl? She doesn't seem to know anything, or why is she taking so long?' But by God's grace, some of these companies took patience with me, and I built great client relationships over time. I remember during COVID, people were trying to sign up to become cybersecurity professionals within six months, and most of them dropped it because they didn't really have a love for it. So my advice is: if you have a genuine love for technology, don't call it quits after a week or two weeks of classes. It might take you a lot of years and patience, but these things are possible, it can happen. I made it this far without a college degree or certifications, starting as a full-time manager at McDonald's and supporting my parents since I was a teenager. Use every experience, even the negative ones, as stepping stones. Learn from difficult managers how you want to lead differently. And most importantly, don't give up - meditate and pray on it, and your answers will be revealed to you in different ways.
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