Her Story
About T. E.
Timalyn Franklin is a consultant with 25 years of experience in the technology consulting field. She began her journey with a math degree from Spelman College and an engineering degree from Georgia Tech through a dual degree program. After working as a network engineer, she earned her MBA from NYU between 1999 and 2001, which led to her start in consulting at Gartner. Franklin later completed her doctorate in engineering at George Washington University in 2024, with her dissertation focusing on learning models and artificial intelligence applied to client data. She holds PMP, Agile, and Scrum certifications and emphasizes delivering complete, high-quality products to clients. Franklin splits her time between Maryland and North Carolina, where her business is based in Maryland. She attributes her success to never stopping learning new concepts, technologies, and methodologies. In addition to her professional work, she mentors women in consulting engagements and supports autism awareness and resources for nonverbal autistic individuals, informed by her personal experience caring for her grandchild.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with T. E.
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to never stopping learning, especially in the technology consulting field where you have to constantly learn new concepts, technologies, and methodologies to stay competitive and give clients the best advice.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to never stop learning. Especially in technology consulting, you must constantly learn new concepts, technologies, and methodologies to stay competitive and provide the best advice and resources to clients.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Identify an expertise to focus on and build your skill set in that area, as well as really marketing yourself. Do informational interviews by setting up meetings with companies and consulting firms to learn about their business and build a network. People are happy to help when you're reaching out just to understand what they do.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Artificial intelligence presents challenges for companies in determining what to use it for and how to use it effectively. The key is understanding which processes can benefit from AI to improve operations versus those that would be a waste of time or not provide ROI, especially for government clients.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In work, always give clients the best quality product possible, never doing things halfway but ensuring a complete product that I can be proud of. At home, focus on making sure family is taken care of by identifying needs and helping.
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