Worldwide Girls in Engineering Day gives us with the chance to acknowledge the work and achievements of girls engineers all internationally. As we speak I have fun all of our Cisco Girls in Engineering by spotlighting two extraordinary girls, Priya Aiyer and Christelle Mombo-Zigah. Each share their profession journeys, together with their expertise taking part in Cisco’s Exemplar Various Feminine Mentee program which has been sponsored by Cisco SVP and Common Supervisor Alistair Wildman and can proceed beneath Cisco SVP Buyer Expertise (CX) Americas Harry Caldwell.
Priya Aiyer: A ardour for course of enchancment
Priya Aiyer is a System Engineering Chief who has been a know-how chief for greater than 15 years at Cisco. She started her profession in India as a individuals chief and transitioned to customer-facing buyer expertise roles in america. With a concentrate on know-how transformation and companies, she supported clients throughout service suppliers, enterprises, and the general public sector. Later, she moved to Gross sales management. Cisco is an organization that provides many careers, and Priya has skilled these in her journey.
“I knew I used to be thinking about a customer-facing function, however on the enterprise unit, I used to be restricted in what I might do,” says Priya.
Priya at all times knew that she wished to land a customer-facing function. Her ardour for course of enchancment, for addressing gaps and for offering end-to-end options was acknowledged with a supply excellence award. She is an energetic member of Girls of Cisco and at present, she leads the Chicago chapter of the Girls in Science and Engineering. The inclusive neighborhood is concentrated on making a constructive affect within the lives of girls and women in STEM fields inside and out of doors of Cisco. She is enthusiastic about supporting girls early of their careers and connecting them to alternatives.
Participation in Cisco’s SVP and Common Supervisor Alistair Wildman’s mentee program vastly expanded Priya’s community. As part of the mentee program, Priya and different mentees had been launched to every of the senior management staff members and she or he’s grateful to have had the chance to listen to from senior executives about their management journeys.
“After I take into consideration mentoring and sponsoring, it’s a journey,” says Priya.
“Every of the mentors gave me a distinct perspective and shared helpful nuggets that helped me broaden my very own perspective and helped me in my management journey,” she added.
Christelle Mombo-Zigah: A life-long learner
Christelle is a Buyer Success Americas Regional Chief who has labored at Cisco for 9 of her 15 years as knowledgeable. Christelle started her profession in France the place she was born and raised and labored in a number of industries, together with luxurious items, shopper items, and banking. She began her journey in know-how at Cisco Meraki for 4 years earlier than transferring to Gartner. She then returned to Cisco to hitch M&A integration. She later discovered her present residence in Buyer Expertise (CX). Her first function in CX was as a Success Program Supervisor in GES West earlier than being promoted to the function of Buyer Success Americas Regional Chief.
With greater than 15 years of expertise in gross sales, enterprise improvement, M&A integration, and buyer expertise in numerous industries, Christelle has taken benefit of quite a few skilled improvement alternatives at Cisco and past.
Having at all times considered her profession as that of a normal supervisor, Christelle knew that what she wanted was to be taught from totally different enterprise features, enhance her management expertise, her visibility, and publicity. She participated in Cisco’s Subsequent Era Chief program designed to assist underrepresented minorities develop management expertise. She additionally participated within the firm’s Bounce Girls’s Management Program, the Government Shadow Program yearly and within the Multiplier Impact, which leverages sponsorship to foster range and inclusion and speed up the pipeline of various expertise throughout the tech business.
She was additionally an energetic member of the Related Black Skilled (CBP) worker useful resource group (ERO), the place she served as a co-lead of the San Jose chapter. She then joined the Girls of Cisco San Jose Chapter management staff together with the Accountable AI committee to align her work, values, and goal. By way of the CBP, she has mentored 10 to 12 early-in-career professionals yearly to provide again, elevate as she climbs, and develop her individuals’s management expertise. Serving as a mentor additionally offers her a chance to know what her personal mentors anticipate from her.
A lifelong learner, Christelle accomplished Stanford’s LEAD program, an government training program by means of the Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise (Stanford GSB) the place she now serves as a course facilitator. This system proved to be a transformative expertise for her. She subsequently launched improvements at Cisco to unravel issues impacting buyer expertise by means of provide chain and cross-functional alignment and was quickly promoted.
Wish to supercharge your profession? Use Priya and Christelle’s 5 key takeaways
1. Have a transparent imaginative and prescient.
“Be intentional. Know your passions. Make your plan. Have a imaginative and prescient to your future and imagine in it and the universe will conspire to make it occur,” advises Priya. “This program has helped me construct my mentorship tree. I’ve mentors and sponsors throughout totally different verticals in addition to in business consequently.”
2. Be daring and brave.
When Cisco’s SVP of World Buyer Expertise Alistair Wildman joined the Americas from the EMEA area in 2018, Christelle reached out as a fellow European residing in america, to welcome him to Cisco’s Americas staff and to let him know that she loved his All-Palms assembly. She additionally made positive to share her work in Buyer Success World Enterprise Gross sales West by cross-functionally aligning buyer success, gross sales, and renewals. She additionally shared her two improvements. Later, she was nominated to take part in Alistair’s Exemplar Various Feminine Mentee program in addition to Gross sales Champions 2022.
3. With mentors or sponsors, attempt to make the dialog as useful for them as it’s for you.
“When you have a mentor, at all times summarize what you be taught and ship a thanks notice,” says Priya.
“All the time comply with up and share your learnings. Share your perspective and your takeaways from these conversations. Probably the most important is to be intentional together with your relationship together with your mentors and sponsors. It will go a great distance.”
4. Concentrate on sponsors, not simply mentors.
“Most of my sponsors have come by means of the Government Shadow program during which I shadowed and added worth,” mentioned Christelle. “Considered one of our executives was new. I used to be working in M&A so I might share insights on Cisco tradition, and our acquisitions integrations working mannequin [with him].”
Totally different from mentors, sponsors, “will use [their] personal capital to advocate in your behalf so it is advisable to be in a trusting relationship in order that they are going to characterize you effectively and advocate for you once you’re not [in the room],” she continued.
“In any case, you possibly can enhance your skillsets by means of on-line studying through Coursera [and] LinkedIn Studying however tapping into the connection you develop with a sponsor two ranges above your personal is a useful asset with an amazing affect in your profession.
5. Make your work seen and get as concerned as attainable with a wide range of packages.
“[There are] many components you possibly can’t management however having a sponsor in a task advocating for you, saying you ought to be thought of is most vital,” says Christelle.
“One important program I participated in was the Government Shadow program. It helped me discover my mentors who then grew to become my sponsors. Get as concerned as attainable with these packages. Reap the benefits of these to be taught, develop your expertise, and construct relationships at Cisco.”
In case you’re trying to take the next step, discover your own home at Cisco with
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Bounce Girls’s Management Program,
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