How Identity Has Influenced a Technical Project Manager at Specright's Career
Tessa, a senior technical project manager, feels that identifying as a woman has spurred a "go-getter" attitude, driven by a need to counteract subtle assumptions about women's career ambitions and capabilities in a male-dominated field. This has motivated a commitment to exceeding expectations and proving "people wrong" by excelling as a leader in technical project management.
Project Management, Leadership, Overcoming Challenges, Gender in Tech, Motivational Stories
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Tessa Frey
Sr. Technical Project Manager, PMO Special Projects
Specright
University of California, Irvine - 2013
N/A
History, Art History
Technology
Operations and Project Management
Honors Student, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Tessa's identity as a woman motivated her to work harder and prove assumptions wrong about women in the workplace.
2. She felt the need to exceed expectations to overcome subtle gender biases in her career path.
3. Her ambition to be a leader and achieve career goals drove her to succeed in a male-dominated field of technical project management.
Transcript
As someone who identifies as a woman, how has that impacted how you've navigated your career?
I think it's made me a little more of a go-getter. It's very subtle, but people still assume a lot about women in the workplace.
They might assume women want to ease up on their careers when they have kids, or that they don't want to enter or do certain things.
I've always had goals for myself. I want to be a leader and go far. So, it's made me feel like I have to prove people wrong in my career.
I try to work harder, be better, and lead better to show people. I'm a technical project manager, which is somewhat more male-dominated than other career choices.
I've definitely gravitated towards those fields because I want to prove people wrong. That's what I would say.