Hi First name / Toasters,

 

Let's be real, sometimes being a woman in tech can feel like the Hunger Games—we’re constantly fighting for recognition and advancement, navigating biases and barriers while Sean from Finance is just worried about getting spaghetti sauce 🍝 off his shirt before his next meeting (we’ve got you, Sean—there’s a Tide To Go Pen in our top drawer).

 

Last week during our IWD events, Male Allyship was a hot topic 🌶. We are grateful to the men and women who were willing to engage in difficult conversations that challenge traditional ways of thinking. Some of our key takeaways: 

But while we continue to fight for gender equity in tech, we still need to make that money move—you know what I mean? 🤑

 

 

 

We're not kidding when we say a mentor is like having your own personal hypeperson, therapist, career advisor, and life coach all rolled into one. Your mentor will be more senior than you, and should be someone whose career footsteps you want to follow. They'll help you develop your skills, boost your confidence, and set goals that will get you the work (and the dough 🍞) you want. With a mentor, you'll get insider information on your industry and the roles you're eyeing, while they help you navigate any roadblocks along the way. Plus, they'll hook you up with their network, so you can make vital connections you’ll carry throughout your career. 

 

If you’re looking to take it up a notch, you need a sponsor. Like your mentor, your sponsor will be more established in their career. They will be your ultimate advocate, making sure your name is mentioned in every room where big opportunities are being discussed. Your sponsor packs the influence and connections you need to advance your career. They'll provide you with strategic guidance and feedback, while also acting as your champion behind the scenes, making sure you get the recognition you deserve. ✨ Sponsorship is not just for the ‘boys’ club,’ according to a study by Harvard Business Review (HBR), “68% of women with sponsors expressed career advancement satisfaction. When they have benefitted from having a sponsor, women are 27% more likely to ask for a raise”. 

 

Networking is the first step—you need to be bold enough to ask someone you admire to take you under their wing. Here are some places you can start: 

Mentorship and sponsorship provide valuable support and advocacy in the face of tech industry biases and barriers. Toast helps women do the work they want, for the pay they deserve, with a membership community that supports them. 

Women in tech should be able to do the work they want, for the pay they deserve, right? So, let's start by getting you into our talent pool 👙🩴

 

Our partners have committed to doing more to ensure gender equity in their workspaces, and they’re looking for the best candidates in roles across sales, software engineering, data analytics, and more—that could be you.

 

All you have to do is complete your profile and we’ll check in any time our partners have a role that could be a good fit. No membership required!

 

Senior Product Manager: Key player in driving the development and success of company's product offerings, working closely with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities, solve complex challenges, and deliver products that solve customer pain points.
📍: Ottawa, hybrid (two days per week in office)
💰: $110-150k

 

Web Software Developer: Designing, developing, and maintaining web applications that solve complex problems and deliver seamless user experiences.
📍: Ottawa, hybrid (two days per week in office)
💰: $90-120k

I always knew I wanted to work in digital marketing (the hottest new thing back then) after university. What that would exactly look like, I didn’t know. 

 

My first real marketing job was with an eCommerce price comparison site and that is where I fell in love with working on email marketing, as it required me to be technical (HTML and CSS for email), analytical (analysis + A/B testing) as well as creative (Adobe Photoshop). I then decided to build my career around that and my next job was at a big loyalty program, which allowed me to work on very segmented and 1-to-1 campaigns. 

 

Flash forward to 2021—after having worked on CRM and loyalty projects for many household name brands, I was implementing a loyalty program from scratch for an athleisure eCommerce brand and was looking for something beyond the standard points experience. As fashion, and especially luxury brands, were heavily tapping into Web3 and NFTs at that point, I started to go down that rabbit hole and immediately saw the potential of blockchain and how Web3 and NFTs as tokens can unlock so much and tie in so well with my work in eCommerce and loyalty. 

 

Since then, I have had many opportunities to work on projects in the Web3 space and advise various startups as well as am always happy to share my knowledge and get more women into the space. It is so new, things change daily, and it is a very inclusive space with people always eager to share their knowledge so everyone can become an expert. No matter what area of Web2 tech you currently work in, Web3 offers so much opportunity.

 

🍞: A piece of advice you have for contract/freelance workers
 

I have always seen freelancing and contracting as a great way to try new things, get different experiences, and work with different systems, which has benefitted me in the long run. When looking for that next opportunity, word of mouth is so powerful. Most successful freelancers I know get their gigs through their networks of groups and communities like Toast, and past coworkers who have gone on to found their own businesses or agencies.