On the Record with Lonye Ford

On the Record with Lonye Ford For more resources and links mentioned in today's episode, please visit https://tech-transforms.captivate.fm/episode/on-the-record (https://tech-transforms.captivate.fm/episode/on-the-record) Episode Table of Contents[01:18] Bringing the Women in Technology Together [06:24] Women in Technology Are Creating Their Own Lane [09:36] Issues Women in Technology Have to Deal With Episode Links and Resources Bringing the Women in Technology TogetherCarolyn: Today, we have https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonyeford/ (Lonye Ford), CEO of ARLO Solutions. Lonye served for over 10 years in the US Air Force. Thank you for your service, Lonye. She was named one of the Top 50 in Tech Visionary at InterCon 2021. You talked about your superpower which is to get the teams, all these experts with these egos, to come together. I'm wondering, when you walk in a room you have to be a little bit disarming. You look super young, you're a woman and you're African-American. When you walk into a room, do you think those things help you with bringing the teams together? Have you seen it played against you? Lonye: It's so important to ask those questions. To be honest, I have been feeling weird about addressing that directly. You come up in the military and you don't talk about sex, religion, color. Now, I'm asking a lot of diversity questions this year, because diversity has really been pushed to the forefront. It's really the first time I have been asked those questions before. We talk about it, but not in the open forum. I'm getting more comfortable with addressing it. When I first started, it did not help me. It was very difficult to gain respect. So when I walked into the room, I would tell people I had to be over-prepared. Not Because I’m a WomanCarolyn: Dismissed because of the way you look. Tracy and I talked about this a little bit. I want to be known for what I can do, not because I'm a woman. So I haven't even wanted to address those questions. It's like you know what, it's not about me being a wo