Her Story
About Vicki
I work with organizations in their technology departments where they are looking at large-scale deployments or AI implementation. I ensure that they keep the people first, they understand what goes into change management culturally, as well as education and training, and the ability to get individuals to adopt it, to use it, to embrace it, so that the organization can move forward. As I'm helping them to do that, I also work with model strategies, leadership development and training. I've been in consulting for 14 years, and it will be 15 years in November of this year. What I'm extremely proud of is my ability to bring others forward, helping them to reach their goals and dreams, because I had the visibility, the influence, and a seat at the table. I never allowed the fact that I may have been the only African American in technology as a woman to deter the fact that there are many more men and women that are capable and have the skill set and the abilities to do the same things. My accomplishments are not about the physical things I've done. It's been about my ability to serve, to help others, and to watch them grow and develop because of my ability to influence and help them. I built my career by doing anything that no one else wanted to do. I was a builder, a creator, and a calculated risk taker. I took on things other people didn't want to do in order to build it, create it, show that it could be done, and make it happen.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Vicki
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to never stopping and never giving up. From a professional perspective, I always was able to move up by doing anything that no one else wanted to do. I was a builder, a creator, and a calculated risk taker. I took on things other people didn't want to do in order to build it, create it, show that it could be done, and make it happen. That's how I built my career. I didn't know that at the time, but as I reflect on it and look across my career, every single job I had, I was doing things that hadn't been done before.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was probably from my mother. No matter how hard the road may be, and the journey that you have to go through ups and downs, never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. And never give up. Because it's through those knocks, those challenges, that are going to help you grow, and help you to be a better leader and a better person in life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't let fear deter you from the art of the possible when it comes to technology, because everybody has a strength or a capability that can be applied and used in technology to move the country forward. Technology is just a tool. But the tool is made up of wisdom, experience, capabilities, and ideas. So, leverage yours.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Some of the challenges are there's still very few women that are in this field of technology, and growing and leveraging technology. The other challenge is that technology is changing so fast. And because of that, the industry itself has the challenge of keeping up with the capabilities of technology and managing that with the humanistic side of individuals. How do we manage using technology to the abilities that people bring to the table? How do they coexist? How do we leverage the maximum of both for an outcome? And everybody is struggling with that because it's not a set answer. Everything has to be considered when you think about technology and moving forward. And so we struggle with how much should technology do, how much should people do, and what's the combination thereof, and what's the right answer as an industry.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My faith is number one. Respect, honesty, authenticity. And I have a strong value in helping others.
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