Introducing a new HashiCorp Women in Tech podcast series

[Hashicorp]

We’re excited and humbled to share that HashiCorp was included on the 2023 Great Place to Work and Fortune Magazine’s Best Workplaces for Women. This is HashiCorp’s second time being named to the Great Place to Work list, and since the award is determined through employee feedback, we want to extend our thanks to all of the HashiCorp employees who shared their valuable input.

To determine the Best Workplaces for Women, Great Place To Work analyzed the survey responses of more than 600,000 women who work for Great Place To Work Certified companies. The survey covers areas such as trust in management, communication, respect, well-being, opportunities for growth, and more.

To celebrate our recognition by Fortune and Great Place to Work, we’re launching a podcast series aimed at empowering women and others to enable change and help diversify technical organizations.

Introducing Women in Tech: A new HashiCast podcast series

Each month on the new HashiCast podcast series, Women in Tech, HashiCorp hosts Kelly Kitagawa and Sarah Polan sit down with guests to share real-world stories, lessons learned, and practical advice for growing your career. You’ll hear about the challenges women face in the tech industry, inspirational career wins, and actionable strategies to hire and retain technical women. The podcast was centered around the blog 4 secrets for hiring and retaining technical women they co-wrote earlier this year.

• Kelly Kitagawa, Senior Solutions Engineer: A fast-paced leader with a growth mindset, working with our largest global customers. Her mission is to enable marginalized communities to thrive in the tech space.
• Sarah Polan, Field CTO: Thought leader throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa and an outspoken advocate for Women in Tech and those from non-traditional backgrounds.

Episode 1: Career progression

In the first episode, Career progression, join our hosts Sarah and Kelly as they speak with guest Sigal Zarmi about her secrets to building a successful career in tech.

Sigal is an award-winning Chief Information Officer (CIO) and former International CIO and Head of Digital Transformation at Morgan Stanley. She currently serves on two public company boards, ADT Inc. and HashiCorp as well as GoDaddy.

This episode explores the challenges and misconceptions that many women in technology and leadership face — and how they can upend the status quo. Listeners will gain a holistic view of career progression, including how to deal with setbacks and the importance of self-care, as Sigal shares her journey and learnings to help tech professionals break through barriers in the industry.

Tune in as she shares her journey, discusses the negotiation of promotions (11:47) and setting career goals (17:50). You’ll learn lessons from the unspoken rules (26:21), the gender dynamics that have shaped Sigal's exceptional career (21:59), and the importance of mentors, sponsors, and allies (8:18).

Don’t miss an episode

We also have planned guests for November through January. Read the episode previews below:

• November 2023 — Representation matters: Sarah and Kelly explore the remarkable journey of Deborah Carter, Founder of NewTechKids, a leader in teaching computational thinking skills to primary school-aged children. They discuss the profound importance of representation and equal opportunities for all, drawing on Deborah’s experiences — from working in the corporate world through to STEM education. This episode touches on the need for digital literacy and strategies employed by Deborah at NewTechKids, including the limiting beliefs students often face, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and how these beliefs evolve with age. The episode highlights the varying needs of primary and high school students, and the impact of representation on Deborah’s entrepreneurial journey.
• December 2023 — Pay transparency: Get the lowdown on the importance of transparency in compensation. Join Sarah, Kelly, and guest Bogdan Manta, founder of Essential Experts, who helps organizations understand how our brains work through neuroscientific research and strategic thinking. Using his advanced degrees in cognitive neuroscience, Bogdan upskills his clients in everything from executive coaching and cross-functional collaboration to negotiation and persuasive communication to breaking down cognitive biases in the workplace.
• January 2024 — Hire for potential: Learn how to identify and nurture potential in your technical teams with Sarah, Kelly, and guests Noor Shadid and Emily Johnson. Noor is the senior engineering manager that leads teams of site reliability and platform engineers responsible for managing Ansible and HashiCorp Terraform. Emily is an engineering manager in the Cybersecurity team.

Subscribe to Women in Tech

To avoid missing a single episode of Women in Tech, subscribe to the series on your favorite podcast platform as we journey together toward a brighter and more efficient future in the cloud — one episode at a time:

• Subscribe to Women in Tech on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe to Women in Tech on Google Podcasts
• Subscribe to Women in Tech on Spotify
• Subscribe to the Women in Tech RSS feed

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