In this 7-video interview series, Nancy Wang, general manager of data protection services at AWS and CEO of Advancing Women In Tech (AWIT), joins Neha Pradhan Kulkarni for a chat on how to balance the responsibilities of data protection along with leading the conversation on advancing women in tech. They discuss how AWIT is working to bridge the gender gap in technology and balacing career and passion.
Watch the complete conversation with Nancy Wang, GM of data protection services at AWS and CEO, AWIT in this first video:
Key Takeaways on How Women in Tech Balance Career and Passion:
- Combining operations and experience with advocacy can create meaningful change.
- Mentoring programs (run by industry experts) can be a catalyst for growth for rising women executives.
- Being in the tech industry and also having passions goes hand-in-hand for women in tech.Â
Here are the edited excerpts from our interview with Nancy Wang:
How do you balance the responsibilities of data protection and governance along with leading the conversation on advancing women in tech?
When I get that question often, it sounds like two very different initiatives or very different pursuits. In fact, this is where I encourage us all to think about being in the industry and also having passions such as creating more representation where tech is going hand in hand.Â
So, in my day-to-day role, as the GM of business at Amazon Web Services, I lead across many different teams, including product engineering design, as well as solution architects. Now with that said, I’m often in a lot of meetings with my peer GMs or vice presidents of the company, making strategic decisions for where to take the business next. During those meetings, I often look around the room and I don’t see people like myself, and that’s not just a diversity issue within AWS in particular, but also across the tech industry.Â
And that’s really what I want to focus on. My day-to-day experiences of running a business unit at Amazon Web Services fuels my passion to create change. And what’s really exciting about AWS is we have a very unique model where I’m still the GM at AWS and the CEO and a founder of another organization. Combining operations or industry expertise and experience with policy and advocacy can create meaningful change.Â
For example, if you look online, we now have, I believe eight courses through our Coursera offerings that specialize in real-world product management, as well as cloud product management, using skills and principles that are specific to Amazon Web Services. Our executive mentoring programs (run by industry executives) are for the next generation of rising senior executive women. So that’s the breadth of offerings that we offer. And it’s really fueled by my day to day experiences of running two businesses.
If you missed the second video, you can watch it here: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Women in Tech: Q&A With Nancy Wang, AWS
About Nancy WangOpens a new window
Nancy Wang is an American technology business leader and philanthropist. She has held leadership roles at Google, Rubrik, and Amazon, while also founding and serving as the CEO of Advancing Women in Product (AWIP). She has received multiple awards and has multiple patents pending. Â
About Amazon Web ServicesOpens a new window
For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud offering. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 81 Availability Zones within 25 geographic regions.Â
About Tech Talk
Tech Talk is an interview series that features notable CTOs and senior technology executives from around the world. Join us as we talk to these technology and IT leaders who share their insights and research on data, analytics, and emerging technologies. If you are a tech expert and wish to share your thoughts, write to [email protected]Opens a new window
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