Closing the IT Gender Gap
Gender gaps in the IT world are still very large even though it is the 21st Century. Women are still a small minority in the field. Jasmeet Kaur is a successful cybersecurity professional, motivational speaker, and business coach. She is determined to close the IT gender gap. Jasmeet is an advocate for gender equality in the tech landscape and the author of the book Code Her Rising: Empowering Women Across Borders, Navigating Challenges, and Cultivating Success. Her book dismantles gender disparities and talks about the essential elements of empowering women in the tech field. Jasmeet’s goal is to create a space where there is no existence of gender. Listen to her powerful insight in this episode of Women Road Warriors with Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tuccaro.
https://www.amazon.com/Code-Her-Rising-Empowering-Cultivating/dp/B0CQJ5ZB5R
https://womenroadwarriors.com/
https://womenspowernetwork.net
#WomenInIT #Women #IT #ITCareers #GenderGaps #JasmeetKaur #CodeHerRising #ShelleyMJohnson #ShelleyJohnson #KathyTuccaro #WomenRoadWarriors
Transcript
This is Women Road warriors with Shelley Johnson and Kathy Ticaro.
Speaker A:From the corporate office to the cab of a truck, they're here to inspire and empower women in all professions.
Speaker A:So gear down, sit back and enjoy.
Speaker A:Welcome.
Speaker A:We're an award winning show dedicated to empowering women in every profession through inspiring stories and expert insights.
Speaker A:No topics off limits.
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Speaker A:I'm Shelley and this is Kathy.
Speaker A:Can women be great coders, programmers and IT geniuses?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:The problem is, even in the 21st century, there aren't as many women in certain fields.
Speaker A:Tech is one of them, which is crazy considering tech is the future.
Speaker A:STEM programs and other educational opportunities are starting to bridge these gaps by encouraging girls to go into what they may have been taught were not their roles.
Speaker A:Jasmeet Kaur is a cybersecurity professional, motivational speaker and business coach who's determined to get more women to succeed in it.
Speaker A:She's an advocate for gender equality in the tech landscape.
Speaker A:She's also the author of the book Code Her Empowering Women Across Borders, Navigating Challenges and Cultivating Success.
Speaker A:Her book dismantles gender disparities and talks about the essential elements of empowering women in the tech field.
Speaker A:Jasmeet's goal is to create a space where there's no existence of gender.
Speaker A:That would be wonderful if we could get to that place everywhere.
Speaker A:We wanted to talk to Jasmeet about her book and her advocacy for women, so we invited her on the show.
Speaker A:Welcome, Jasmeet.
Speaker A:Thank you for being with us.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:This is wonderful.
Speaker A:First of all, I wanted to say bravo for what you're doing.
Speaker C:No kidding.
Speaker A:You know, you're amazing.
Speaker A:I mean, you're giving women a voice to succeed in one of the highest paid industries.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And I think it's high time that we realize this.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So we are about 27 to 28% of women's end technology and we need more of us so we can have better jobs, better work, life balance and better vision for ourselves.
Speaker B:And I think my book Code Her Rising actually is focusing on what is needed to either start your career in technology or even thrive in technology.
Speaker B:And when you read it, you will see what are the key things that we really need.
Speaker A:What are the disparities?
Speaker A:I mean, how many women are in it versus men?
Speaker A:Is it a huge disparity?
Speaker B:Oh, yes, absolutely.
Speaker B:As I mentioned, it's like 27, 28% of women in technology.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you know, if you're, if when you are working technology, you will see, you'll have, you're part of big meetings, conferences and interviews even.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And you were maybe like a handful in those big rooms or office buildings.
Speaker A:Wow, that's got to be intimidating to be one of the few.
Speaker A:And I would think that that kind of puts women off too.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And I think that's the point.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We have to stop thinking like, oh, yes, or we can't do it, it's hard.
Speaker B:Or, you know, we are the small number.
Speaker B:But, you know, if you start making a bigger impact, you know, if we start leading the meetings, if you start leading, we are in the leadership role.
Speaker B:That would really change the trend because we can advocate for better policies for women.
Speaker C:Here in the mine, there's not a whole lot of women, there's only 8% in on curl that work for Imperial here on site.
Speaker C:And yesterday I had a very first.
Speaker C:They're trying to do a women in networking meeting.
Speaker C:And so we had our initial dinner last night.
Speaker C:And because I'm such an advocate for women out in the world, the lady who's co hosting or co chairing the new committee, she asked me to be a part of the committee.
Speaker C:And I immediately shrunk back and thinking, what?
Speaker C:Like, I don't, I don't know how to do meetings.
Speaker C:I don't know how to.
Speaker C:Like I work out in the field, I'm out on heavy equipment, I'm playing in the mud in a giant sandbox.
Speaker C:I don't know how to.
Speaker C:I mean, I have a hard time.
Speaker C:I can manage a zoom, but only because Shelly's the queen of this.
Speaker C:And I immediately, my.
Speaker C:All my insecurities came rushing to my head.
Speaker C:And you know what I did?
Speaker C:I said, absolutely, sign me up.
Speaker C:Good for you.
Speaker C:Just because when I feel so afraid of something that it scares the crap out of me, I automatically do it because that is where growth lies.
Speaker C:That is where I am going to change, even though I have no clue on how to do it.
Speaker C:I said, absolutely.
Speaker C:Put me up.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:You follow your, your motto.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker A:Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Speaker C:Anyway.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And besides, I mean, how else am I going to grow and change?
Speaker C:And this is only another tool for get women in networking in an area where they might not feel comfortable.
Speaker C:So, yeah.
Speaker C:So there you go.
Speaker C:That's my story.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I will define that as your warrior spirit ready to take a challenge.
Speaker A:You really do have to just face it head on.
Speaker A:Jasmeet, what would you say are some of the Reasons women aren't going into this are girls being told, you're a girl, you can't be good at math, you can't be good at coding.
Speaker A:Is that still being said?
Speaker B:I don't think so.
Speaker B:I think that the problem is both ways, right?
Speaker B:Not only our younger generation, right?
Speaker B:Even for us adults, we don't really want to enter field of technology, right?
Speaker B:Even we are scared.
Speaker B:Like, we have less examples, less mentors to actually tell the younger generation of girls, like, you have to look up to somebody, right?
Speaker B:And if we are not out there, if we are not sharing our store success stories, then they really don't know what's out there, right?
Speaker B:So we not only have to educate them, like to train them, but also share the success stories and tell them it's okay to fail, right?
Speaker B:When you do programming, right?
Speaker B:You write a program, it works one time, it doesn't work, you fix it, you try it again, right?
Speaker B:So accepting failures and working through that has to be the spirit in.
Speaker B:And it goes both ways, right, adults?
Speaker B:Because we need to face our challenges if we are in technology and maybe not yet fully established careers in technology, but we have to keep moving.
Speaker B:We have to keep challenging ourselves.
Speaker B:And for the younger generation, we have to teach them, keep trying.
Speaker B:It's maths or coding or computer science, any field.
Speaker B:Just keep trying.
Speaker B:It's okay to fail.
Speaker B:It doesn't mean that.
Speaker B:Failure doesn't mean that.
Speaker B:You know you're going to fail rest of your life, right?
Speaker B:As my mom used to say, failure don't define you.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:And try, try and try again, right?
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:You know, you learn from your mistakes, you learn from your failures and you keep moving on.
Speaker B:In fact, you have a better lesson now.
Speaker B:You've learned your lesson.
Speaker B:So you know what to do and what not to do, what to focus on.
Speaker B:What is your strength?
Speaker B:What is your weakness?
Speaker A:You know, the mentor programs, those would be so important.
Speaker A:And it's true.
Speaker A:If you don't have somebody as a child or a teenager to look up to, who, say is in the IT field, if you're given a bunch of code to look at, that looks so intimidating.
Speaker A:It's like, what the heck are all these symbols?
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:You know, you're going to shy away, you're going to be intimidated just because of that.
Speaker A:It's another language.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:But the thing is, you know, technology, technology doesn't only mean coding.
Speaker B:There are multiple other jobs in technology where you can flourish, you can work through, you can lead, you can learn.
Speaker B:Bunch of Tools, learn the workflow processes and identify what works best for you or what really you want to work into.
Speaker B:If you want to design workflows, there are many tools out there that you can learn.
Speaker B:If you are an artistic, you want to do AI tools.
Speaker B:If you want to do in data sciences or database, you really have to figure out if you love numbers and tables.
Speaker B:And it's not that hard.
Speaker B:I think we just, you know, we just say, you know, it's, it's a shift in mindset.
Speaker B:You know, we need to just accept that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:We need to challenge ourselves.
Speaker B:We need to try, try a few times.
Speaker B:And I think in my personal life, what I have learned is that you will succeed if you really want to.
Speaker B:If you have this burning desire within you that you have to do it, there is no option for no, you will be able to achieve it and there is no replacement.
Speaker A:Yep, yep.
Speaker A:Totally agree with that.
Speaker C:When you want something so bad.
Speaker C:Like, I know when I got out of homelessness after losing my nursing career and I was 42 and had to restructure my life, the desire to change my life overruled any fear or insecurity that I had inside.
Speaker C:So, and I think that's what is one of the keys to change is you have to have.
Speaker C:It has to, it has to be something that's literally burning inside.
Speaker C:It can't just be a mere thought or, you know, oh, maybe I'll try or maybe I won't know.
Speaker C:You have to want it so bad.
Speaker C:Almost like you need air, you know, you nailed it.
Speaker B:It's the fire within you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that's, that's what I had and that's what I did.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And that's what it took.
Speaker C:That's what I used.
Speaker C:I used all my pain and inner turmoil and fear and trauma and insecurity.
Speaker C:I flipped it around and I used that as a motivator to push myself out of the hole that I was in and say, no, the buck stops here.
Speaker C:And this, I'm going to fix this.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to fix this.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:And actually that very much coincides with the warrior women, right?
Speaker B:I mean we, you guys talk about warrior women and what it takes to be a warrior, right?
Speaker B:You need the strength, yes.
Speaker B:You need the muscles and strength, but you need the courage.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And having that self confidence and faith in you, even though you know, you know that maybe you'll not win this war or battle in life, but having that faith within yourself will take you some place at least, right?
Speaker B:You won't.
Speaker B:It won't put it pull you down, make you feel miserable or in depression or anything else, right?
Speaker B:At least you will have that inner strength and belief that yes, I can achieve it.
Speaker B:Yes I can do it.
Speaker B:Know to what level, what extent sometimes you know really depends on you know what you are trying for.
Speaker B:But you will still keep moving forward.
Speaker A:Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.
Speaker D:Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.
Speaker D:I have one question for you.
Speaker D:Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?
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Speaker A:Learn more@truckingmovesamerica.com welcome welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelley Johnson and Kathy Ticcaro.
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Speaker A:We want to help as many women as possible.
Speaker A:Getting more women into it is the goal of Jasmeet Kaur.
Speaker A:She's a cybersecurity professional, motivational speaker and business coach.
Speaker A:She'd like to see the day when gender doesn't matter in the IT world and more.
Speaker A:Women are taking seats right next to the men as coders, programmers, and IT executives.
Speaker A:She's the author of the book Code Her.
Speaker A:Empowering women across borders, navigating challenges, and cultivating success, Part of leveling the IT playing field and closing the gender gap could lie in providing more examples or role models and eliminating the fear of technology.
Speaker A:There need to be more mentors for girls as they're growing up that will bring more women into the field.
Speaker A:It's also important to teach that failures happen in coding.
Speaker A:A program may work once, but it may not work a second time.
Speaker A:Accepting failures and working through them must be the spirit.
Speaker A:Jasmeet says it's important to teach the younger generation to keep trying and it's okay to fail.
Speaker A:Failure does not define you.
Speaker A:You learn from your mistakes.
Speaker A:There are many opportunities in IT as well.
Speaker A:If a woman doesn't want to code, there are many other jobs in technology that they can assume.
Speaker A:You just need the courage to try.
Speaker A:Jasmeet, did you always have that kind of faith within yourself, or were there some obstacles that you faced that really galvanized you to really become an advocate for women in this industry?
Speaker B:That's a great question.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I wasn't like this all my life.
Speaker B:Like, if you meet my school friends, they were like, oh, you really changed.
Speaker B:You know, I.
Speaker B:I used to be such a shy, quiet person.
Speaker B:And like now, yeah, I'm absolutely at a new person altogether.
Speaker B:And what really changed that is, you know, being an immigrant woman.
Speaker B:I came to this country about 20 years back and was blessed to be here with in the land of opportunity and.
Speaker B:But it's still a challenge, right, where you don't have much support, so you really have to find your way out.
Speaker B:And I have my master's in science and I started my career in science initially.
Speaker B:So I transitioned to IT and cybersecurity eventually.
Speaker B:And the main reason behind was definitely the work life balance and the money.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And there were many times where I've gone through these comments and situation where people say, oh, okay, you make only this much.
Speaker B:Oh, you have majors and still you make only this much.
Speaker B:Okay, maybe, you know, you, you guys, for you guys, masters doesn't mean anything.
Speaker B:You know, in science, it has no value.
Speaker B:And that doesn't, you know, say that I'm not good in things.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And it used to, like, really like, I would listen to those comments, but it really used to bother me within.
Speaker B:And I decided like, you know, okay, how hard it can be to transition.
Speaker B:Well, it wasn't easy, but I never gave up.
Speaker B:I worked through and I wasn't scared of anything.
Speaker B:I think that was the biggest thing.
Speaker B:I would, you know, go to interviews, go to meetups, I would, you know, go to different conferences just to learn, to find, mentor, find people, talk to people who are in this field, right?
Speaker B:So you need to do your groundwork of whatever you want to achieve, wherever you want to go in life.
Speaker B:If you don't have mentors, reach out, find what is available out there.
Speaker B:And there's so many free things available like, you know, meetups, conferences, or even, you know, some, some people like, even podcasts, right?
Speaker B:So there are so many good podcasts that can really help you in different fields, right?
Speaker B:So the thing is you have to keep looking for options.
Speaker B:You have to keep looking for opportunities and keep learning, enhancing yourself.
Speaker B:And not only this, I wasn't a good speaker, right, like coming to this country.
Speaker B:And it wasn't that easy for me to just stand up in meetings and talk in big, big conferences or even meetings.
Speaker B:And I worked on myself.
Speaker B:I did Toastmasters for multiple years.
Speaker B:I was a champion in many contests and I never limited myself, you know, so I just keep trying.
Speaker B:You know, maybe I did fail.
Speaker B:You know, it's not that.
Speaker B:Oh, it was all a success story.
Speaker B:Yes, I failed multiple times too, but it's okay, right?
Speaker B:And one of the things that really helped me in my journey is my, you know, as I say, my grace.
Speaker B:That is my gratitude.
Speaker B:G for gratitude, R for resilience, A for adaptability, C for continuous learning, and E for establishing my community.
Speaker B:So I did need like, like minded people, right?
Speaker B:So there are not many women who will be supporting you when you're going through a hard time, right?
Speaker B:Not, not.
Speaker B:So when you fall, you have to build your own courage to stand up.
Speaker B:There's no one else coming, right?
Speaker B:But once you achieve, you have to see, right, there are people who have gone through things and now there are so many sisterhood communities, support groups, right?
Speaker B:You really need to build that support group, that community where people or women help each other, support each other, mentor each other.
Speaker B:I don't think most of us really need someone to handhold us and teach us, but just giving us an example of how they achieved it will make a big impact.
Speaker C:I agree.
Speaker A:Oh, I do too.
Speaker A:I do too.
Speaker A:And I think the support system is something that women lack in many, many industries across the board, men have had their networks for years, but women need to rely on each other and have a place and not, not be afraid to reach out.
Speaker A:When you think about it, with cyberspace, with the Internet, there are so Many places you can network and there's so many groups you can join.
Speaker A:It's a wealth of information and support.
Speaker B:Yep, absolutely.
Speaker A:Would you say too in the school systems perhaps there should be more mentors?
Speaker A:Do you think that maybe the approach to technology needs to change a little bit to get more girls to get involved and consider this career?
Speaker B:I, to some extent, yes.
Speaker B:I think the more we have like a reach out in schools where, you know, even at the elementary level, you know, we, we invite some guest lectures, you know, people who are established and who, you know, pretty, are doing pretty good in the field of technology and welcome them to share their story.
Speaker B:That, that itself will motivate them because they, I don't know if they really need like bunch of classes and opportunities like to learn because definitely they're, you know, that's one thing, but that, and if they have the internal desire, each and every opportunity will be made of use.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So once you, once they really know that this is something that they would, this is a career they want, this is a life they want, then they will reach out, they will look for options.
Speaker B:And, and nowadays kids are so smart, you know, they have all this technology, all this resources.
Speaker B:If they want to learn something, they have a lot of opportunities.
Speaker B:But the only thing that's missing is that desire to switch.
Speaker B:And I think that desire would come from mentorship, looking for, looking up to somebody and that will definitely make an impact.
Speaker A:Well, they're growing up with gadgets.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:They know a lot.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:And I've actually heard from different people.
Speaker A:It's rewiring their brains in, in how they learn.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which is interesting.
Speaker A:You know, you see three year olds with, you know, these gadgets and they're fast.
Speaker A:It's like, wow.
Speaker C:I know, right?
Speaker A:You know, and the video games, of course that they have and, and then of course you hear about hackers and they start young.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:And when I look at some of the high schoolers, right, when they have to do some projects for school, like research, I mean the depth that they have, like how much they can.
Speaker B:So that their research, right, the content they can research up to and in the knowledge they have, it's, it's amazing.
Speaker B:Like, I mean at that age we didn't have that much exposure or even knowledge of things and these kids are way, you know, beyond, you know, limits to actually, you know, learn and absorb the information.
Speaker A:Oh, it really is.
Speaker A:Well.
Speaker A: ll of that, which even in the: Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:And that's, you know, it limits your outreach, you know, of knowledge that you can really look for.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Things that you can research for.
Speaker A:Well, and when you think about it, if there isn't the equipment that you can work with, you don't understand technology.
Speaker A:You don't understand how it works.
Speaker A:And having people come into the classroom and showing how it's exciting.
Speaker A:And I remember what in kindergarten, we got to go to a fire station and the firemen came to the classroom.
Speaker A:You know, this kind of stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was exciting.
Speaker A:And in creating the inspiration, because children have imaginations and they don't see anything but potential in their life if they're given it.
Speaker B:Absolutely, you're right.
Speaker B:They really need that.
Speaker B:They're good in that imagination.
Speaker B:If it's given the right direction, they can, you know, really make good use of it and establish and flourish in the field.
Speaker A:Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.
Speaker D:Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.
Speaker D:I have one question for you.
Speaker D:Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?
Speaker D:If the answer is yes, then look no further.
Speaker D:I've been around for years.
Speaker D:I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.
Speaker D:So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.
Speaker D:What are you waiting for?
Speaker D: -: Speaker A:Industry movement Trucking Moves America Forward is telling the story of the industry.
Speaker A:Our safety champions, the women of trucking, independent contractors, the next generation of truckers, and more.
Speaker A:Help us promote the best of our industry.
Speaker A:Share your story and what you love about trucking.
Speaker A:Share images of a moment you're proud of and join us.
Speaker A:Social media.
Speaker A:Learn more@truckingmovesamerica.com welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelley Johnson and Kathy Taccaro.
Speaker A:Jasmeet Kaur was galvanized to make her life a success.
Speaker A:She decided at an early age to go into it.
Speaker A:After coming to America, she made her way without the traditional support system.
Speaker A:She transitioned to IT and cybersecurity out of science.
Speaker A:She liked the work life balance and the money that it offered as a career.
Speaker A:And she never gave up.
Speaker A:She networked and sought out mentors.
Speaker A:As Jasmeet says, you need to do your groundwork for whatever you want to achieve in life.
Speaker A:Reach out, find out what's available out there.
Speaker A:See who can help you keep your options open and keep looking for opportunities.
Speaker A:Never stop learning.
Speaker A:Jasmeet is an advocate for women in the IT world and wants to see a day when gender doesn't matter.
Speaker A:She recommends women practice grace to guide them on their path.
Speaker A:That's an acronym that stands for gratitude, resilience, adaptability, continuous learning and establishing your community.
Speaker A:Jasmeet is the author of Code Her Empowering women across borders, Navigating challenges and cultivating success.
Speaker A:Jasmeet, I'm seeing that you have the female code that you, you talk about.
Speaker A:You encourage women to help themselves by using that with tools that include self respect, positivity and self reflection on their path to success.
Speaker A:Did you want to talk a little bit about that?
Speaker B:Sure, absolutely.
Speaker B:In my book, I definitely one of the big thing is this focus on self respect.
Speaker B:I feel the self respect also comes from, you know, when, when we don't respect ourselves, nobody else will.
Speaker B:If we don't trust ourselves and have faith in ourselves, nobody else will.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So whatever we want to achieve in whatever direction we want to go, we have to have that from within and have this positive sound in our head or talk, give ourselves a positive talk saying, yes, I can do it.
Speaker B:I'm going to work on it.
Speaker B:It's okay.
Speaker B:I failed.
Speaker B:I'll try again.
Speaker B:This doesn't define me.
Speaker B:Even if I failed two times, it's okay.
Speaker B:Even if not only this, right?
Speaker B:We talk about imposter syndrome.
Speaker B:You know how many times imposter syndrome, if you Google it, relates to women's only.
Speaker A:Really, I can know that.
Speaker A:That's interesting.
Speaker A:Imposter syndrome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, if we fail in the meeting, if we fail in presenting something, even a minor thing that maybe nobody ever noticed, right.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We just start pulling ourselves down.
Speaker B:Oh my God, I failed.
Speaker B:Oh my God, this was horrible.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And on the other side, right.
Speaker B:I mean, we can be the.
Speaker B:You can be the most beautiful person in this world, Right?
Speaker B:But if you keep feeding yourself negative or if you start believing what people say about you, well, you will feel like you are not even worth anything.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So just having that positive talk is important.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, I can speak from personal experience from that because years, and I mean decades of being told how useless and stupid and ugly and fat and being a waste of skin and how I pollute the air, well, did that affect my decisions and how I felt about myself?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Because I wasn't Taking chances on opportunities because I didn't believe in myself enough.
Speaker C:I didn't think I could do it because everybody else was saying how awful I was.
Speaker C:Well, fast forward, you know, after years of therapy and now my, this job has taught me to flip that switch in my head and I'm like, wait a minute, woman, look at what you're doing.
Speaker C:Take a minute, stop, look around, exactly who you are, who you've become, how hard you've worked.
Speaker C:And as soon as I do that, all of a sudden it's as if I sit taller in my seat.
Speaker C:I stand, I walk with more confidence.
Speaker C:And people can feel that.
Speaker C:They can feel someone who believes in themselves, who's got that self confidence and they can feel that someone who, who doesn't, who doesn't make eye contact, who wants, who's trying to shrink in the, in the, in the shadows sort of thing.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And I, and I really believe that what you put out there is what other people pick up and how they, they will respond to you.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I say the only thing between you and your goals is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.
Speaker B:Nothing can stop you if you just say, okay, you know, I'll work on this, I'll achieve it.
Speaker B:I'll work.
Speaker B:Maybe it is like five years project like, okay, but I divided into every year, every six months.
Speaker B:This is my goal, you know, so plan yourself, plan your life, plan your dreams, and definitely you will achieve it.
Speaker A:And you know, with the right mindset, if you have the self respect, even if you do encounter people who don't want you to succeed, because we all will run into people like that all the time.
Speaker A:They don't have the strength to influence us.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And there'll be people who want to bring you down.
Speaker B:But you know, it's their life.
Speaker B:I mean, it's, I just sometimes, you know, you think like it's their karma, you know, is that is their act and that's okay, you know, let them behave the way they want to behave.
Speaker B:But it shouldn't stop me from keep working on achieving my dreams, my goals.
Speaker B:And I think that is the warrior spirit.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Warriors don't worry how many are with them when they fight.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:They could be a lone single person, but they keep going, moving forward with all their strength.
Speaker A:They have their eye on the prize.
Speaker B:Yes, that's right.
Speaker A:And being around people who bring you down.
Speaker A:There are people out there who, they don't want you to succeed because they Feel they can't.
Speaker A:And they're more comfortable keeping people in this rut.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that can include your own personal family members.
Speaker A:Yes, it can.
Speaker A:Yes, it can.
Speaker C:Yes, it can.
Speaker C:You have to learn to weed out the toxic people and step away from those that are negative and trying to pull you down in any way, shape or form.
Speaker C:I know when I was in recovery, at the very beginning, I had to step away from my own personal family because of their issues.
Speaker C:And it was, it wasn't helping me, it wasn't giving where I was at mentally at that time.
Speaker C:I wasn't getting any strength from them.
Speaker C:So I just chose to just step away until I could focus on myself, until I became strong enough to be able to deal with my own family.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You know, there's a thing which is, I think it said negative comparison, you know, so we have to stop doing that.
Speaker B:That, oh, she achieved and I did not.
Speaker B:So I'm just going to wait for her to fall and laugh on it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:There are many people like that.
Speaker B:But the, the thing is you don't achieve anything by doing that.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:You don't make a story, you know, you don't inspire anyone.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:So you choose what you want to be.
Speaker C:Isn't there a saying, I know I'm going to botch it, but something along the lines of a great leader is not one who promotes himself but makes everyone around them a leader as well or, you know, uplifts everyone around them.
Speaker C:Yep, it's something like that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I'm not saying it right, but you get the gist.
Speaker A:Well.
Speaker A:And when you think about it, that's the way humanity succeeds, you know, it really is.
Speaker A:And women so often encounter things that, where they have the imposter syndrome simply because of the people who are around them.
Speaker A:And it's rather interesting, Jasmeet, that you're seeing it more with women.
Speaker A:It's rather than men.
Speaker A:So there's a message that is being ingrained somewhere along the line where women have this self doubt all the time, Right.
Speaker B:I mean, if you look at the way we bring up the bring up boys and girls, right?
Speaker B:For boys, we let them run, play soccer, get dirty, do monkey bars, they fall, they get hurt, they, you know, it's like, okay, brush it off, keep running, keep moving.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:With our girls, we want to make them perfect, look pretty all the time.
Speaker B:You know, we don't really want to groom them to be tally kit, Right.
Speaker B:We want them to be more brave.
Speaker B:It's okay for them to fall.
Speaker B:It's okay for, you know, if they fail in life, if it's okay if they fall or get hurt, but they have to have the courage to stand up.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And that starts from the very, you know, I would say toddler age, right.
Speaker B:Let them run, let them, you know, get hurt.
Speaker B:Let like.
Speaker B:Like we do for boys, right.
Speaker B:Put them in tough sports, let them get that from within, and it's okay.
Speaker B:You're just making them to achieve better in life because things will happen when they grow up.
Speaker A:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's not going to be rosy.
Speaker B:Rosy for them, you know, when they grow up.
Speaker B:So they will have to learn to deal with rejections, deal with issues and problems and things not working out.
Speaker B:But that doesn't mean that there's a problem with them.
Speaker B:So they just need to understand the situation, build the courage, accept it and move on, focus on the next step, next thing in life.
Speaker A:Dealing with rejection, that's something that people have difficulties with.
Speaker A:And I think it's really profound.
Speaker A:When you're a teenager, you want to be like everybody else.
Speaker A:You don't want to be rejected.
Speaker A:And that's a real stumbling block.
Speaker A:I would imagine boys feel the same way, but I know girls definitely do.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I agree, you know, to some extent.
Speaker B:Like, boys may.
Speaker B:May feel it, but I think they still have learned to brush it off much faster than girls.
Speaker B:I think for girls, it goes way deeper within them.
Speaker A:It really does.
Speaker A:You feel absolutely wounded.
Speaker A:You know, I remember doing feeling that way in schools.
Speaker A:Like, wow.
Speaker A:You know, they say sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt me.
Speaker A:And I never thought, yeah, words do hurt.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, yeah, that's true.
Speaker B:And I think you just need to learn to get over it.
Speaker B:I mean, that's the.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I don't want to mention one thing, right.
Speaker B:Like, you have to build them strong.
Speaker B:And that's what I want for my daughter.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I always encourage her to stand up, you know, face challenges.
Speaker B:It's okay if things don't work out and don't always, you know, focus on the negative things in life.
Speaker B:And not only my daughter, in fact, even my son.
Speaker B:And a few years back, I know where we were, we were in a picnic or something.
Speaker B:And I did mention him one thing, which I remind myself, too, and I said to them that when you grow up, your professional life and your personal life are two different things.
Speaker B:If one of them is not working, don't mess up the other one.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:If personal life, that's a different situation, try to keep your emotions you Know, compose them in a different way that it doesn't impact your professional life.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Because I feel like when we start mixing everything, the message that we give us ourselves at that time is that, oh, we are not worth it.
Speaker B:Oh, my God, this is horrible.
Speaker B:Oh, my God, this has happened.
Speaker B:But that will not give us the strength.
Speaker B:Just being able to segregate emotions is also a very big tool that can help you go further in life.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:Basically.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Compartmentalize.
Speaker A:Put things in their little area because otherwise then it's just super overwhelming.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Especially for teenagers nowadays.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, gosh.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:You know, being a teenager is complicated.
Speaker A:It does even so much more complicated.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You've got some wonderful chapters here, Jasmeet.
Speaker A:The odyssey of continuous Growth, Decoding self respect.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Building a fortress of supportive community, Breaking through barriers, Shaping opportunities through open dialogue.
Speaker A:All of these things.
Speaker A:And then you've got stories of triumph.
Speaker A:So you've got actual case studies, if you will, success stories of people who've done these things to really inspire the reader.
Speaker A:Did you want to kind of maybe give the Cliff Notes on some of that and what people could expect in your book?
Speaker A:Your message is good for anyone, even if they're not going into technology.
Speaker A:I think this is a powerful message.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You know, my book actually focuses on many aspects.
Speaker B:You know, I'm just.
Speaker B:As I say it, it's going to empower you.
Speaker B:It is a manual for you to strengthen your own abilities to succeed both professionally and personally.
Speaker B:And when I say that, like in the book chapters, right, Where I share different stories of established women's and mentors and different programs that are out there for women to achieve their goals in technology and personal life.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But at the.
Speaker B:The most important part of the book also, I would say, is the.
Speaker B:At end of each chapter, I have this pause and reflect section.
Speaker B:So what you are going to read, you have to absorb it.
Speaker B:And you have to think, like, how it relates to me now.
Speaker B:What am I going to do about my situation?
Speaker B:Because just reading is not going to help you.
Speaker B:You have to plan out your own action.
Speaker B:And that is the key of the book.
Speaker B:Whatever you read, you absorb, you digest, and you figure out how I'm going to implement this in my life, how this is going to change my life.
Speaker A:It's a way to internalize it.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker C:Yeah, me too.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So where do people find your book, Jasmeet?
Speaker B:It's available on Amazon.
Speaker B:You can just search up for Code Horizon, Amazon, and you should be able to see it okay.
Speaker A:And it's called Code Her Rising.
Speaker A:Empowering Women across Borders, Navigating Challenges and cultivating Success.
Speaker A:I love all of those topics and I love how you're empowering women across borders.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:Do you see technology changing with a lot more women going into it?
Speaker A:I would love to see that, definitely.
Speaker B:And I think as you mentioned, right, not only kids or younger generation, even us women's, we have a really good imagination, right.
Speaker B:We are such good designers, we are such good in art, right?
Speaker B:So if you talk about AI, how it can change things, how, you know, just designing a process for a system, you know, for a corporate, Right.
Speaker B:We can be very, very creative in that.
Speaker B:You know, we can look for the gaps we can think around.
Speaker B:You know, the.
Speaker B:Because we always, you know, being mothers, you know, we always think of what can go wrong also.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And that is definitely one of the best and our best approach we have.
Speaker B:When we design things, we design tools or even when we are using them, we can look for, even in quality assurance, we are so good because we can actually think of, yes, this is a smooth process, but what can go wrong, at what point it can go wrong, what we need to figure out.
Speaker B:And in hacking, when you learn the tool, you can think of what needs to be checked, what is missing again, in compliance, in it, right?
Speaker B:You know, okay, this is a tool.
Speaker B:We have these protocols that we need to focus on.
Speaker B:But what is still missing?
Speaker B:What is, did I receive the complete answer or do I need to reach out for more information?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So we are a very sincere, hardworking community and we just need opportunities and I think a support because a lot of us women, we do take career break, right?
Speaker B:Once we have family, we have kids, we want to spend time with them.
Speaker B:And that's important, you know, that we are with the kids and we raise them.
Speaker B:But that doesn't mean that, oh, after five years or 10 years that I can't go to work now, right.
Speaker B:I cannot go back to working in an office because, oh, I haven't worked for so many years.
Speaker B:Well, we definitely need.
Speaker B:If we have more of us in technology or in the leadership role, there should be policies around that that support women who come back to work after taking a few years off.
Speaker B:And there should be some trainings or mentorship or support for them that can give them the confidence and courage.
Speaker B:And I'm not saying handholding them, just sometimes you just need that little support and then, you know, you are pretty good from there, right?
Speaker B:So I think that's.
Speaker B:That's what is needed and we need.
Speaker B:That's why we need more of us in that leadership role in the.
Speaker B:In technology.
Speaker B:So it can really, you know, people, the corporate can see, you know, how we can benefit and how it's.
Speaker B:It's important to have an inclusive community, an inclusive workforce.
Speaker A:Amen to that.
Speaker A:Women bring so many wonderful things to the table.
Speaker A:And the way our brains work, like you were talking about, if you're designing a program and you're looking for what a hacker could do.
Speaker A:Well, when you think about it, the biological brain.
Speaker A:With a woman, you're always trying to figure out what your kid's going to be doing.
Speaker A:You have to be thinking ahead.
Speaker A:So it's really the same functionality in the brain.
Speaker A:We're wired to do that.
Speaker A:It's like, what's going to be going wrong here?
Speaker A:What could happen to jeopardize this particular infrastructure with a cyber attack or something like that?
Speaker A:I could see that women could easily be some of the most valuable workers in the technology industry across the board.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And to accommodate that kind of genius just makes sense.
Speaker A:I mean, companies are going to make money if they've got really great employees.
Speaker B:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker C:I think the hardest part is getting the women to believe in themselves that they can make a positive impact.
Speaker C:Just a small example just from my world here.
Speaker C:Yesterday at that women in networking meeting, it was very hard to get women to even come to the meeting.
Speaker C:And there was about, I think, 25 people that showed up and there was only seven women.
Speaker C:It was all men.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And so even when I was suggesting to people on our crew, hey, are you coming?
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker C:You know, they don't want to get involved or.
Speaker C:It's really tough to change the mindset of a group as a whole.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker C:But I believe that by people like Jasmeet and myself and trying to get out there and change the social consciousness, I think that's the first step in.
Speaker C:Because people will see.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker C:Well, you know, she's involved and she's involved and she's empowering.
Speaker C:Well, maybe my voice does matter.
Speaker C:And it does.
Speaker A:Yes, it absolutely does.
Speaker A:I love that, Kathy.
Speaker A:Jasmeet, I love what you're doing.
Speaker A:And where do people find your book?
Speaker A:Again, just in case they didn't write.
Speaker B:It down, you can search it up on Amazon.
Speaker B:And the book is called Code Horizon.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Code Horizon.
Speaker A:Yes, Me.
Speaker A:Bravo.
Speaker A:This is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Speaker A:And this is what's going to make the change that we need.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:It's been an honor having you with us.
Speaker A:I could continue to talk, but we do have a time limit.
Speaker A:This has been great.
Speaker B:Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker B:It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:Jasmeet, you're one of the champions.
Speaker C:You made my day.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker C:You did go to work and I'm thinking, damn, I got this.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:We hope you've enjoyed this latest episode and if you want to hear more episodes of Women Road warriors or learn more about our show, be sure to check out womenroadwarriors.com and please follow us on social media.
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Speaker A:You've been listening to Women Road warriors with Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tacaro.
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