Appscrip interviews women who are actively holding the key positions in the organization they are part of.
Nicole Glasgow, Business Support Analyst, ForeTees
‘I love problem solving and being able to express my creativity’
What inspired you to be in the role that you are in today? Where do you see yourself 3-5 years from now?
I’ve always had an interest in technology and software but honestly never saw myself making it my career.
In 2012, I was looking to make a career change and I decided to take an entry level job at a tech startup in my hometown of Buffalo, NY.
That is where I fell in love with system design and QA and working with a team to build out a functioning product.
I love problem solving and being able to express my creativity and this job allows me to do that every day.
What business productivity tools(Slack, Skype, Trello, Google Calendar) do you find most helpful?
Are there any apps that help you stay organised and charged throughout the day?
We heavily use Google Calendars to keep ourselves organized as we have many meetings day to day and it helps us to know what everyone’s travel schedules look like.
We also love Slack. We use that day in and day out to keep conversations on various customers organized and in the right spot.
Trello has been a great way for us to manage customer implementations as well. We love being able to see exactly where we are in the project and clearly see what is still pending.
What are some strategies that can help women achieve a more prominent role in their organizations?
I think women need to be bold and forthcoming with their thoughts and ideas
No matter how crazy or insignificant you think they might be.
It’s easy to hold back for fear that your team might not agree with you or understand your idea, but it’s always best to express exactly what you’re thinking and feeling.
It just takes one small idea to be the launchpad for something great!
Who would you say are your top role models that inspire you everyday?
Having recently become a mother myself,
I am always impressed by powerful women who can juggle careers while also having a family.
Serena Williams has always been an inspiration of mine. She is incredibly talented in her sport, smart in business and bounced back from having a child and went right back into winning championships.
Truthfully though, it doesn’t take someone of celebrity status for me to look up to or be inspired by them.
More often than not, I find myself inspired by the moms at the grocery store, with their kids in the cart while still in their business clothes from work.
Or perhaps the mom who is attending night classes while working to pursue her dreams or make a career change to better support herself and her family.
Those are the women I look up to and admire.
What is your “Secret Recipe” for overcoming your daily hurdles?
My secret recipe is understanding how to prioritize my tasks and how to set reasonable expectations.
When I come to work in the morning, I set an achievable task list for myself and I do my best to complete it.
If I don’t, I can walk away knowing that I did my absolute best and I need to be content with that.
There is always another day
Any interesting business resources (books, podcasts, tutorials, TV shows etc.) that you would recommend ?
I love the TV show Shark Tank. It’s always fun to see people who are taking their creative ideas and trying to make something out of them!
Alison Koenig, Founder & CEO, Sales Paddock
‘Surrounding myself with smart women and men in all types of business.’
Is this your first business? What were you doing before this?
No. Horse Farm and Training Business was my first business.
What outside resources were helpful for you? Incubators, SME Loans, Financial/Technical Advisors etc.
Surrounding myself with smart women and men in all types of business.
What advice would you give to women entrepreneurs or business owners in their early stages?
Are there any specific advantages they can leverage or hurdles they need to overcome?
It will take a long time to create and grow your business no matter how great your idea is.
There will be set backs but continue to push through if you believe in your product or service.
Who would you say are your top role models that inspire you everyday?
I wouldn’t say there is someone daily, but I love inspiring stories of people that come from nothing and aspire to great things. Everywhere you turn you can find a success story.
Again is perseverance and picking yourself up every time you fall.
Any interesting resources (books, podcasts, tutorials, TV shows etc.) that you would recommend ?
Gary Vaynerchuk has all the above. Practical social media advice and very motivational
Sam R. LaDue, Pro Support Business Analyst & Communications Specialist, ForeTees
Don’t let people soil your water well
What inspired you to be in the role that you are in today? Where do you see yourself 3-5 years from now?
I love working on projects that help build better organizational communication.
Many people don’t realize the importance of recognizing that your communication is your organization, and the software we use for our organizations are a key piece of internal and external communication.
What business productivity tools(Slack, Skype, Trello, Google Calendar) do you find most helpful?
Are there any apps that help you stay organised and charged throughout the day?
Headspace. It’s a meditation app that helps me find focus and organize my thoughts when things are getting really busy and workload is very high.
What are some strategies that can help women achieve a more prominent role in their organizations?
Though it can be really frustrating, it’s important to recognize the social institutions and structures at play that are potentially contributing to keeping you from a more prominent role.
Once you have a sense of those structures and institutions, the next step is recognizing how you’ve been socialized to help support those structures.
Finally, once you have a clear sense of how these structures are at play in your organization, you can begin to build a healthy game plan for working around them and climbing despite them.
There’s a lot of analysis, but when you start to understand the unspoken cultural social structures that are driving change within an organization, you can really identify how to work with them or find ways to get around them.
Who would you say are your top role models that inspire you everyday?
Thich Nhat Hanh is an enormous role model for me. His wisdom comes in handy for me all the time, especially his book No Mud, No Lotus.
What is your “Secret Recipe” for overcoming your daily hurdles?
Don’t let people soil your water well. We all have our own personal well we can draw up for our strength, tenacity, courage, joy, peace, etc.
If we allow others to soil those places (by having poor boundaries and not enforcing time for rest, time for reflection, time for learning) we open ourselves up to burnout and deep unhappiness.
So! Protect your well, take care of it, and don’t let others soil it!
Any interesting business resources (books, podcasts, tutorials, TV shows etc.) that you would recommend ?
I highly recommend reading Brene Brown’s books. They all speak directly to women’s experiences and encourage healthier working as well as living.
Shivangi Sharma, Co founder, Appscrip
‘Sheer hard and smart work can get any person, man or woman, to any position in an organisation’
What inspired you to be in the role that you are in today? Where do you see yourself 3-5 years from now?
My mother has been a constant inspiration in my life.
She gave up on a lot of things to make me the woman I am today, and my success is not my alone but her’s as well.
Combine that with my passion for technology and working with people, I have reached the place where I am today.
3-5 years from now, I see myself pushing into multiple domains with a strong tech base – specifically Interior Design Industry.
What business productivity tools(Slack, Skype, Trello, Google Calendar) do you find most helpful?
Are there any apps that help you stay organised and charged throughout the day?
All of them ! We are a 100+ strong team and getting through a day of business without organizing work can be maniac (been there done that), so all these tools have been a boon for not only organizing the work but helping the team communicate.
We have seen an increase in productivity, communication, more learning, knowledge transfer and the most important of all – Happy Clients.
What are some strategies that can help women achieve a more prominent role in their organizations?
Women, specifically, don’t need to have any strategy in an organisation to achieve a prominent role.
Sheer hard and smart work can get any person, man or woman, to any position in an organisation.
Who would you say are your top role models that inspire you everyday?
Michelle Obama
What is your “Secret Recipe” for overcoming your daily hurdles?
My secret recipe constitutes of 3 very important ingredients :
1. Moving on ! When you don’t really know what to do, you should “do something” and you will always figure it out.
2. Communication. If you talk to people around you, and keep constant communication, it creates a sense of ease and strong understanding in your team, and this helps me overcome hurdles as a team.
3. Believe in people and work on building an A-team because the wonderful things a team can achieve, a single person can’t.
Any interesting business resources (books, podcasts, tutorials, TV shows etc.) that you would recommend ?
Alibaba – The House that Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark & Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Shoutout To All Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs
We at Appscrip, encourage more women to take the reigns and help grow the global economy. We stand in solidarity with all aspiring women entrepreneurs and extend all our help with their app related business ideas.
Check out our business ready all-powerful, feature rich business app solutions here