An excerpt from the book How to Be a Woman in Technology
By Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS
First, I want to shower a heap of thanks on the LinkedIn community that has embraced this series of posts each spotlighting one of the fifteen fascinating women who participated in my book project—How to Be a Woman in Technology (while Focusing on What Matters Most). Your support of women in tech is undeniable and inspirational. Again, thank you LinkedIn tribe!
In this excerpt pulled from Chapter 7, readers get to know Natalia Botti Schenkel. She is a helluva creator with a singularly spectacular story. And she has a generous spirit and genuine warmth that instantly draws you to her. You want to get to know this woman!
When Natalia learned about the possibility of being interviewed for How to Be a Woman in Technology, she tugged at my heartstrings when she told me “I would love the chance to assist your efforts and provide additional value if selected. I’ve had one heck of a learning curve in a very short time. I would consider it an honor to share my story with other women who might be new or struggling with the climate of this field.”
And boy oh boy, she was not kidding.
Now, here’s the excerpt:
Though she didn’t know it at the time, Natalia Botti Schenkel’s big break in tech came when she took a back-office job at a telecom company. She quickly learned the business, advancing from performing cable serviceability checks to learning all she could about telecom carrier operations. Her initiative did not go unnoticed, and the owner of the company suggested a promotion into a sales position working in their call center. But Natalia thought she could contribute more to the company by working in their channel manager group as she felt it was a better fit for her talents. She asked him to give her a shot.
It just so happened that the company was struggling to keep one of their largest clients. The owner agreed to give Natalia a position in their channel manager group and assigned her to their largest account. The very account with which the company was having challenges. He told her “you’re a cute girl, they’ll love you to pieces.” But Natalia remembered some advice a good friend told her—pretty isn’t enough—and she took that advice seriously. She fully intended to contribute more than her looks.
“As I’m learning about the client’s operation, I start to see where we could assist them,” says Natalia. “I find holes and gaps in their portfolio and offer them ideas to help patch those holes and fill those gaps. I ended up taking the account from one that was losing money, to one that was bringing in more than $800,000 within two years.”
And she learned a lot about herself.
After her success in developing the company’s largest client, Natalia was surprised that she still was not taken seriously by her peers. She thought she had proved herself. Instead of getting angry, she took a hard look at her own behaviors and realized that her co-workers didn’t take her seriously because she didn’t take herself seriously.
“As an adult I was diagnosed with a severe form of dyslexia,” says Natalia. “It was a revelation at the time because I had always struggled in school, and the diagnosis explained why I had trouble reciting numbers, reading, and pronouncing things correctly. As I was growing up, I used self-deprecating humor to mask my learning challenges. I felt stupid, but I knew I wasn’t dumb. In that moment after having that success with our channel group, I realized I can’t make fun of myself anymore. When you allow yourself to feel a certain way or to project that out, it allows other people to project that back to you.”
“As an adult I was diagnosed with a severe form of dyslexia,” says Natalia. “It was a revelation at the time because I had always struggled in school, and the diagnosis explained why I had trouble reciting numbers, reading, and pronouncing things correctly. As I was growing up, I used self-deprecating humor to mask my learning challenges. I felt stupid, but I knew I wasn’t dumb. In that moment after having that success with our channel group, I realized I can’t make fun of myself anymore. When you allow yourself to feel a certain way or to project that out, it allows other people to project that back to you.”
She also learned to appreciate and value her strengths, and she frequently tells other women to do the same. “If you’re going to be in tech, you have to understand what you’re good at. Some people are really good at storytelling and marketing, and that’s the bubble I fit in. Other people are insanely good at operational procedures or have excellent technical abilities. When you know what your strengths are, you’ll be led to the right path for you.”
Natalia admits that when she first started in tech, she wasn’t sure what her strengths were. She relied on other people to tell her what they thought she was good at doing. She then took that knowledge and did a SWOT analysis with herself, analyzing her strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for growth, and the threats that she thought were preventing her from moving forward. The exercise uncovered an uncomfortable truth.
“I had to get rid of my old story. I was stuck in it. Not everybody needed to know that I…..(continued)
To read Natalia’s complete chapter, How to Be a Woman in Technology is available on Amazon. All royalty payments earned from book sales are donated to Mission Sisters Who Work to help fund the nonprofit’s book donations, emotional intelligence and self-empowerment programs, and scholarships for women in business- and STEM-related fields.
Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS is a businessperson, author, and emotional intelligence leadership champion. In 2016 she began a series of personal and professional reinvention “reboots” which led to her leave her career as a chief communications officer. She gave away most of her worldly possessions, moved out west to be closer to family, and began to write emotional intelligence and self-empowerment books. How to Be a Woman in Business (while Being True to Yourself) was published in 2018. In 2019, Cheryl’s second book How to Be a Woman in Technology (while Focusing on What Matters Most) was released; currently she is in the process of publishing her third book—How to Be an Emotionally Intelligent Leader (while Crushing Your Goals).
Cheryl leads Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources—a training company that transforms organizations and the results they achieve through proven emotional intelligence leadership practices. Also, in 2018 she co-founded the nonprofit Mission Sisters Who Work. Mission Sisters provides self-empowerment books and emotional intelligence training to all women, as well as scholarships to women and girls interested in business and STEM-related careers who could benefit from a hand up. Philanthropy has played a prominent role throughout Cheryl’s life. One hundred percent of the royalties earned from her book sales go to women served by Mission Sisters Who Work, in addition to a portion of all earnings from her work through Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources.
Receive additional information on how Mission Sisters Who Work supports individual women and women-focused nonprofits, education, and community groups. Or say “yes” and donate to Mission Sisters now and help give women the emotional-intelligence-building tools needed for them to close their own gender, opportunity, and pay gaps .