Celebrating International Women’s Day

Happy International Women’s Day! As we celebrate the International Women’s Day theme, #InspireInclusion, we sat down with three SailPoint crew members to hear what this topic means to them and how it can enhance the experience of women in the workplace and beyond. Read on to hear from:

Valerie Farias
Technical Program Manager in Mexico

Nancy Chen
Enterprise Account Director in Singapore

Nicole Ray
Talent Acquisition in the US

Tell us a little about yourself!

Valerie: I’m Valerie Farias, my background is in Mechatronics Engineering, and I have over a decade of experience building and delivering system solutions. I’m passionate about science, history, and books. I joined SailPoint last June and support Spoke and Emerging product Teams as a Technical Program Manager within Product Operations. I feel grateful to collaborate with such talented teams.

Nancy: I’m thrilled to be part of the Singapore sales team as an Account Executive since July 2023. Joining SailPoint has been an enriching experience, allowing me to work alongside a talented team who are Humble, Hungry and Smart. Outside of the office, I enjoy spending time with my family and prioritizing activities that keep me active. This includes integrating yoga, barre, jogging, weight training, and kickboxing into my weekly routine.

Nicole: I have been in the recruiting space for 12 years. I have worked at SailPoint for the last 3.5 years. I am currently a Sr. Manager and lead recruiting teams in the US and India. My team’s recruitment efforts are focused on hiring technical talent like software engineers across the globe. I live in Austin, TX with my husband and 2 kids. Outside of work I spend a lot of time schlepping my kids around, but I also like to do house projects and try new restaurants. This year I set a goal for myself to take a pottery class!

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #InspireInclusion. What does inspiring inclusion look like to you? In what ways do you inspire inclusion within SailPoint?

Valerie:
To me, inspiring inclusion means valuing the contributions, perspectives, and ideas of individuals regardless of their gender, ethnicity, age, faith, nationality, or any other defining characteristic. It entails fostering an environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect consistently, enabling all to feel integrated, motivated, and empowered to be their authentic selves and to give their best. Inclusive spaces for me are the ones where opportunities are granted based on merit, creating a level playing field for all.

At SailPoint, I strive to inspire inclusion through various initiatives. This includes promoting safe spaces where female engineers can openly express their thoughts, concerns, and ideas while also facilitating connections with senior leaders within our organization. Additionally, I serve as a liaison to support organizations that aim to increase female representation in STEM fields. I actively participate in focus groups and forums, collaborating on strategies to support the recruitment, retention, and advancement of female talent. I also take great pride in celebrating the accomplishments of fellow women and providing support whenever it’s needed.

Nancy:
True inclusion means creating a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to contribute fully and reach their potential, regardless of gender. It means focusing on individual merit and qualifications, while actively dismantling the biases and systemic barriers that have historically disadvantaged women and other underrepresented groups.

I actively seek out diverse perspectives to inspire inclusion. I find value in learning from public figures like Indra Nooyi, Sheryl Sandberg, and Michelle Obama through books and interviews. Beyond that, I engage in meaningful conversations with friends, colleagues, bosses, and customers to share personal stories, build allyship, and actively advocate for one another.

At 2023’s Singapore Navigate, we hosted a ‘Women in Identity’ session, featuring female customers, prospects, and our CMO, Wendy Wu. This session provided a valuable space for women in the identity field to connect and share their experiences. Building upon this success, we plan to offer a similar session at the 2024 Navigate, open to all participants, regardless of gender.

Nicole:
It’s a fairly simple concept; if we want to strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace, we have to be intentional about it. In a recent Inclusive Hiring training I gave to our product organization I focused the conversation on just that, being intentional. This means thinking through every stage of the recruiting journey with inclusivity in mind; from sourcing candidates to building out your interview panel with varied perspectives and making sure we are assessing candidates consistently and fairly. We want to make sure we are including various perspectives throughout the process on both the candidate and SailPoint’s side.

At SailPoint, we also are taking a “Build vs. Buy” approach when it comes to tackling this topic. We offer an early career program called Sail-U where we intentionally focus our recruiting efforts on hiring recent grads from diverse backgrounds to expand the pool of emerging talent in the tech industry.

Why do you think it’s important to have ongoing conversations around inclusion in the workplace?

Valerie: Conversations around inclusion in the workplace are crucial for long-term success. I firmly believe that organizations can thrive by prioritizing diversity and inclusion. Embracing different perspectives fosters growth, collaboration, and innovation, which are essential in fast-paced environments.

Nancy: It fuels engagement and captures valuable ideas from everyone. In a diverse workforce, the organization can benefit through a wider varied perspective, collaborative and aids creativity and innovation.

Nicole: We all want to feel a sense of belonging in all aspects of our lives. Striving for an inclusive workplace drives innovation. If we embrace inclusivity, we come to know that anyone can have the next big idea. Research has found that making a concerted effort to diversify the makeup of our teams—and not just gender diversity, but racial, ethnic, experiential and cognitive diversity, too—can bring teams together to come up with innovative problem-solving approaches and ultimately lead to better decision making and results.

What advice would you give to someone trying to inspire inclusion at work and beyond?

Valerie:

• Embrace the strengths of individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Listen actively and objectively to different points of view. Remain open-minded and recognize the value of learning from others.
• Lead by example and letting actions reflect your commitment to inclusion.
• Propose initiatives, sharing ideas and commit time to implement them.

Nancy: It starts with you! Just initiate that conversation, make that move. write that blog. Take that baby step.

Nicole: As an individual, be upfront about what you don’t know and be willing to learn. Some of the best inclusion efforts are employee led. Don’t be afraid to take an idea to your decision makers. Often you will be met with excitement and support to get your idea off the ground.