Her Story
About Rachel
I started my career as a nurse, working in healthcare for 7 years before transitioning into IT. When I made that switch, I brought with me a very empathetic-for-the-customer mindset and the ability to triage - to understand which problems we need to attack first to save lives, and which things need to be put to the side. I began in what I call boots on the ground work, as a technician installing switches, routers, APs, and data center gear. After almost 6 years with my first company, I moved to Cisco, where I've now been for 11 years focusing on software, licensing, and design. Throughout my 16-year IT career, I've consistently worked with Fortune 1 and Fortune 100 companies. I supported Walmart for 10 years total, and for the past 6 years I've been supporting the largest healthcare company in the United States, HCA. Working for a healthcare company is a completely different ballgame - when the network goes down, it's not that people just can't buy toilet paper, it means that if your husband is on the operating table and the network goes down, that's a big deal. Having that empathy and understanding where healthcare customers are coming from is what made me grow so quickly with them. Anytime I'm consulting them or being that trusted advisor, my mindset is: if my mom or my daughter or my husband is laying in that hospital bed, how do I want the network to perform? I'm also what I consider a chameleon - I'm a high I with a D as my secondary on the DISC assessment, which means I'm able to tailor my personality to what different people need. Some people like to be direct and get to the point, some people like you to ask them about their kid's Taekwondo class. I can adapt as needed to the environment and the team I'm working with. I'm also a pioneer and innovator - I was one of the first within Cisco to see the early need to get on board with AI. I took the AI for Leaders course through UT in 2023 because I saw the shift happening in 2022 when OpenAI became a thing, and I knew I had to learn what needs to happen in the data center, in the cloud, and from a data security perspective.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rachel
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to the empathy I developed during my 7 years as a nurse before transitioning to IT. I came into IT with a very empathetic-for-the-customer mindset, and I learned how to triage - how to understand which problems we need to attack first to save lives, and which things need to be put to the side. What made me excellent at what I do is that ability to prioritize and understand where customers are coming from. Working for a healthcare company, having that empathy is what made me grow so quickly with the customer. Anytime I'm consulting them or being that trusted advisor, my mindset is: if my mom or my daughter or my husband is laying in that hospital bed, how do I want the network to perform? I'm also what I call a chameleon - I'm able to tailor my personality to what different people need, whether they want someone direct who gets to the point, or someone who asks about their kid's Taekwondo class. That adaptability and ability to be what the environment and team needs is one of my strong suits. Additionally, being a pioneer who can see shifts early - like recognizing the need to get on board with AI in 2022 when OpenAI became a thing - has helped me stay ahead and be one of the first within my company to lead in new areas.
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