Nielet D'Mello

"You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own." -Michelle Obama Every year I look forward to March 8th – The International Women’s Day which celebrates the achievements of women worldwide. I invite you to join me in this journey as I highlight my experience as a woman in technology (STEM) and share some of the key learning I have had in the early stages of my career.

#BalanceforBetter I always wait in anticipation for the International Women’s Day theme that calls for action year around to accelerate gender parity. The theme for 2019 is #BalanceforBetter . A powerful theme as it is, it brings out the question as to why be a balanced world a better world? As per this McKinsey report, balance helps drive a better working world.

What it calls for is noticing the absence of balance and celebrating its presence. In today’s world, stereotypes are being challenged and more diverse representation of women is more evident. Every individual has a part to play here- all the time, everywhere.

Although I am in the early stages of my career, I have been fortunate to work in/ with organizations led by strong, talented and visionary women. I have always been motivated and inspired by their unique thoughts, strengths and perspectives. After all, ‘Empowered women empower women’ .

Achieving balance through Diversity and Inclusion On my first day at Intel when I attended the new hire orientation, I was surprised by the diversity in the room. Intel has gone beyond their engineering excellence to put diversity and inclusion at the core. Every day when I walk into work, it brings me a feeling of belonging and inclusion.

During the first week at Intel, in a meeting that had members of multiple teams in my organization, our head of engineering introduced me to everyone and urged them all to take some time to make acquaintance. Although it was a small gesture, it made me feel very comfortable and welcome in my new work environment. #IBelong in Technology

The value of Mentorship Many women who work in male-dominated fields like STEM experience the 'Imposter Syndrome' (the feeling of self-doubt) in the workplace. At the beginning of my career, I always wondered if I was good enough when everyone around me seemed so perfect.

That’s when I found out the influence and importance of having a mentor (s). I have since then learnt to approach my peers and senior leaders for their feedback, guidance and learnt a lot from their experiences (achievements, failures, power of resilience and persistence).

On my last day in my previous company before joining Intel, I had a conversation with my mentor and said – ‘You know I am super excited but equally nervous and scared’. My mentor told me something that has hence been a driving force for me - ‘ Attitude matters. Having the right attitude will help you overcome challenges’

Visibility This Harvard Business Review article articulates how managers can provide their direct female reports more visibility. In all my regular 1:1’s with my manager, there is always a time slot reserved for career conversations where we discuss what my career aspirations are, what my short/ long term career goals are and the plan to work on it, followed by a candid feedback. And yes- the occasional ‘You did great’, ‘What you did speaks a lot about our team’ , etc. make me feel more visible and gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Intel Sports- Driving the inclusion of women in Sports and Sports tech Sport is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls. According to the olympic.org , the goal for 2020 is to #BalanceForBetter , by striving for gender parity in the sports industry.

Sports has long been thought of as a male dominated world and this brings in the need to have more female voices present. Intel Sports is changing the way we experience sports thru VR and Volumetric solutions. As a woman in STEM, I have the unique opportunity of working on microservices, data pipelines, app backends, transcoding & media services, etc. to deliver immersive sports experiences that is inclusive of women, considering the female sports fan base interacting with the technology is increasing.

We are disrupting the status quo by having a robust representation of women in the engineering teams at Santa Clara. I interact and work closely with these female software developers, architects, experts in media streaming, encoding, virtual reality, program management, quality assurance, application development and security. Women are not only a part of but are leading this new generation technology.

Dr. Uma Jayaram (Managing Director and Principal Engineer) who leads the engineering teams for Intel Sports in Santa Clara is an industry veteran and her deep passion for innovation combined with a humanistic approach to all things informs her leadership style. Initiatives like Women in Intel Sports pioneered by our leaders are steps in the direction to make the change and difference.

Women and men at Intel Sports are driving a #BalanceforBetter and we are just getting started. Concluding my article with a quote by Dr. Jayaram-

“The world has taken immense strides for women in the past few decades – particularly to bring parity in the economic and social fabric at our work places. Over the past 3 decades I have personally participated in this journey – from being one of the first women admitted to the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate class at IIT to now leading a team of about 45 engineers at Intel Sports as Managing Director and Principal Engineer. My reality embodies the spirit of Intel to be an inclusive place where women thrive professionally. We continue to work relentlessly to ensure that we empower our women engineers thru an inclusive culture, leadership positions, involvement in cutting-edge projects, opportunities to learn the latest technologies, and responsibility to execute and deliver on high profile events such as the Winter Olympics, NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, La Liga, Premier League and NCAA” #IBelong #IWD2019 #IamIntel

I would love to know the readers perspective on what #BalanceforBetter means to you . Happy International Women's Days!!!

Nielet D'Mello

Sacramento, California, United States

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Nielet D'Mello

Sacramento, California, United States 500+ connections

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Sacramento, California, United States

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