admin Passion is the key driver of change. Leaders who are passionate enough to break the conventional norm are rare gems who have the potential to disrupt the market landscape, one project at a time. Women in Cloud Co-Founder and Microsoft VP, U.S. AI and Sustainability, Gretchen O’Hara is one such leader. Drawn by the world of possibilities the tech universe has to offer, Gretchen always had a strong affinity and interest for this industry segment. While at Microsoft, she works to make sustainable AI solutions accessible to all, Gretchen’s goal with Women in Cloud is to bridge the gender bias gap that exists in the field of tech.
Mapping Legacies
After beginning her career at IBM, Gretchen served as the Vice President of Marketing for a publicly traded independent software vendor. Before joining Microsoft, she Co-Founded her own startup. Gretchen’s approach to leadership has been shaped by her expansive experience in working with the diverse sub-fields within an organization including developers, CIOs, business leaders and the end-user. Learning from her past experiences, Gretchen has developed a uniquely crafted business outlook that’s based on prioritizing the customers. She has helped enrich Microsoft with all these experiences.
There is a large mentorship component that’s critical to getting women to build technology products as well as helping them stay in STEM while simultaneously building mentorship and sponsorship along the way –Gretchen O’Hara
Facing Challenges
As a woman, owning your own space within the overtly male-dominated tech world is a difficult task. Quite early on in her career, Gretchen had to deal with the dearth of peer and female leaders as role models or mentors. The gender bias of the tech world also became visible when it was time to make strides in her career. Being overqualified for a role in order to compete with men in the industry, became the norm for Gretchen. However, remaining true to her ideals, Gretchen learnt the values of grit and dedication when trying to overcome all these monumental challenges. Owing to her unabashed courage and strong will power, Gretchen kept pursuing the opportunities she desired without letting these obstacles block her course of progress. She decided to grow in the midst of adversities, making the most of these challenging circumstances.
Inspiration behind the Venture
Gretchen’s own journey inspired her to work towards making it easier for the women coming into the tech world after her. She achieved this goal by going back into the community and creating female representation through various groups enabling women to engage with each other and lift each other up. To this end, Gretchen Co-Founded Women in Cloud, as an organization that creates opportunities for female entrepreneurs to have access to capital to create businesses and build sustainable business models.
Bridging the Gender Gap
Women in Cloud was founded under the astute and passionate leadership of Gretchen O’Hara. Envisioned as a community-led economic development organization, with diversity and inclusion as foundational tenets of its fabric, Women in Cloud focuses on getting global leaders, corporations, and policymakers to help women entrepreneurs create a billion dollars of economic access and opportunity by 2030. However, given its inclusive character, the organization is not limited to entrepreneurs. Women in Cloud provides access to community leaders and others that can support the goal of mentorship, connection, and community.
Opportunities to Cherish
Since the lack of mentorship can significantly dwarf your future prospects in the world of tech, Women in Cloud works toward women empowerment by providing them with access to mentorship and sponsorship programs. Apart from that, the organization also provides a range of training sessions and classes to help women optimize their potentials. They offer initiatives that allow women to receive free Azure credits, providing access to core platform capabilities along with support for building and deploying solutions in the cloud, free training on how to do your business pitch and services to support a strong go-to-market plan. Women in Cloud essentially works to ensure women have support, network and access to resources when stepping into the tech entrepreneurial space.
Seeing this organization move from an initiative to a movement excites me each day and I feel fortunate to be part of something that is truly making a difference and will continue to impact lives in the years to come – Gretchen O’Hara
Empowerment is not solely about skills, it is also about a certain mindset that let’s women pursue their dreams. To this end, Gretchen strives to impart knowledge about the dynamics of risk and courageous to these budding women, so that they can cultivate the audacious outlook needed to follow their passion projects.
Fluidity over Balance
According to Gretchen, trying to strike a harmonious balance between one’s personal and professional life is a futile endeavor as it leads to a constant feeling of dissatisfaction. People are just left wanting more when attempting to establish this balance. Moreover, from a practical standpoint, there will inevitably be times when you’ll have to put more time into one of these two domains. Because our priorities are not static, we cannot hope to create a static balance between work and home, according to Gretchen. Instead, she believes in establishing a fluidity between these two domains. She ensures that her family understands her need to invest time in work, while simultaneously remaining unapologetic about the time she spends with them. Gretchen chooses to be present in the moment to make the most of it –whether at work or at home!
Finding Purpose and Motivation
Gretchen’s passion for making a difference in the world of tech –both through Women in Cloud as well as her responsibilities at Microsoft- stems from the well-being of her team members. If her team is happy and performing well, Gretchen is motivated to continue pioneering change. Laughter and fun must be incorporated as a part of a firm’s daily operations as these are the key motivators of employees. Each member on Gretchen’s team is aware of the pioneering consequence of their work on AI and sustainability. This leads to the creation of an astute purpose driven approach, one that is fueled by untainted motivation.
Sphere of Influence
With its success in the U.S, Women in Cloud has spread its influence over a total of seven- soon to be twelve- countries. In each of these countries, the organization works to build representation, find mentors, and get access to capital. During the pandemic, the Annual women in Cloud Summit moved to the virtual space, increasing the reach of the organization well-beyond its operational borders.
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