March is Women’s History month. To honor this important event Resonate is publishing a series of blog posts featuring several of the women here at Resonate. We spoke with them about a variety of topics related to their lives and careers. Each article in this series will highlight a theme that emerged from those conversations.
To get the conversations going we asked: Which women have been role models in your life? The question was open-ended and the responses ranged from siblings to bosses to celebrities. One answer that we heard repeatedly: moms. Moms have had a huge impact on our female employees and it was great to learn more about the strong women behind our Resonate women.
Deb Correa, Resonate’s VP of Client Services discussed how her mom taught her from a very young age that she needed to be able to take care of herself financially and emotionally, and that she was strong and smart. Deb recalled that as she was growing up her mom said that she had never met someone like Deb who knew that her life would work out. That moment set her up for success and gave her a quiet confidence that she’s carried with her throughout her life.
Confidence was a trait that Tatyana Yanush, Director of Business Solutions, also identified as being nurtured by her mom. Academics were very important in her family and growing up Tatyana pushed her mom a lot starting in elementary school. She recalled one specific instance when she came home one day and said that she wasn’t being challenged at her school; she was bored and wanted her mom to find her another school to attend. Her mom immediately agreed that she would help find that opportunity for her and that gave Tatyana the chance to continue learning and growing.
Mary Long, Executive Director of Client Solutions, highlighted the fact that her mom had been a superintendent of a public school system and the only woman on a staff of men. While this may have been intimidating for some women, when Mary was young her mom took her traveling with the school’s staff and the men on her team never seemed to mind. Her mom had her to take golf lessons when she was growing up and insisted that since she would go into business she needed to learn how to play the game. While Mary initially resisted wanting to do the lessons she now sees how much it has helped her in sales throughout her career.
The theme of having moms who weren’t afraid to work among groups of men as the only females was echoed by Jennifer Flynn, Director of Product Marketing. Her mom was a computer science manager and was often the only woman in classes of men and then later on at IBM. She was the primary breadwinner in the family for a while and when Jennifer was born her mom tried part time and then stayed home. The most important thing that Jennifer learned from her mom was the mentality of “I can do this and I don’t need to wait around for someone else to help me”.
The mentality that “I can do this” was shared by Bijal Soni, Director of Analytics and Data Strategy’s mom. Most of the women in her family are working women which had a huge influence on Bijal growing up. Both of her parents had a huge role in framing how she looked at career and life. Her mom worked as a teacher and also managed the home and showed that it was possible to do both. In addition to her mom, Bijal also highlighted her dad as a huge role model. Indian men who are traditional don’t attribute much to education for women but Bijal’s dad was very supportive and that helped give her the confidence to achieve her dreams.
Ritvika Chandra, Manager of Client Strategy and Partnerships, highlighted how her parents didn’t necessarily follow cultural norms either. She was brought up in an environment where the only options were to pursue career paths that she wasn’t interested in. Growing up she saw that her mom and sister went after the things that they wanted to achieve and seeing how they were supported in doing so played a huge role in Ritvika also going after what she wanted. Her older sister paved the way to come to America and go to college here and pursued what she wanted to pursue which inspired Ritvika do to the same thing.
Julie McGoldrick, Director of Human Resources, was inspired by her mom for always pushing her to be passionate. Julie’s mom taught her about being resilient and going after what she wants in life, and that is something that she’s carried with her throughout her life and career.
A note from the author: Being passionate about what I do is something that was instilled in me at a young age by my mom as well. My mom has always encouraged me to follow my interests and passions and to never be afraid to try new things and take risks. Having that support allowed me to have the confidence to go after what I have wanted in my career thus far.
Hearing about the mom’s behind our female employees was truly special and shed light on why the women at Resonate— and millions of other women— are as passionate and hard-working as they are. The theme of having strong women role models extended to mentors as well. Our next blog will focus on the female mentorship that our employees have received in their careers thus far. Stay tuned!
