About 30 people attended a Careers in Tech presented April 6 by Phoenix Girls in Tech featuring four panelists who shared experience, insights and tips.
After a brief informal networking session, Moderator Liana Habicht posed questions to panelists Genevieve Cuevas, Kate Silhol, Lauren Chavez, and Priya Koul.
Cuevas is a Senior Director of Engineering at Slack. She leads the Virtual Headquarters team, responsible for new products within Slack such as Huddles and Clips. Prior to Slack, she was a Senior Staff Software Engineer and Manager at Google, and led teams in Google Workspace and Google Lens.
Koul is the head of Modernization & Convergence at Citizens Bank, leading strategy and delivery for modernization and Digital implementation to drive transformative business value. Prior to working at Citizens, she led the Enterprise Customer Marketing Engineering at American Express, globally across all business units. She currently sits on the Board for GiT.
Silhol is a passionate leader in the criminal justice information technology community. She loves to solve complex problems and is dedicated to maximizing the impact of data and information in order to support law enforcement and public safety. She is the Chief Information Officer of Nlets, the International Justice and Public Safety Network.
Lauren Chavez is a senior software engineering manager who has worked at startups and growth-stage companies where through diligent hiring, coaching, and fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning, she had the privilege of leading high-performing teams and building successful products from the ground up.
Habicht, who founded Connected MBA, expertly guided panelists through a series of questions designed to highlight what it takes and what it’s like to work in technology.
Each panelist fielded questions from the audience as well.
Before breaking for a final round of food, drinks and networking, Volunteer Managing Director, GIT Phoenix Melissa Drake introduced one final presenter. Christina Schaher, founder of ReJeweled, shared the story behind her success as an entrepreneur. The self-described two-times widowed public speaker said she repurposes used jewelry for resale, taking something old and turning it into something new.
The event attracted 18 guests from across the Valley who met with 10 GIT Phoenix Chapter members at the centrally located offices of LAVIDGE, the Phoenix-based ad agency that provided meeting space and sponsored food and drinks.
