Featuring Asya Watkins

FOUNDER OF WOMEN OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

How do you define Project Management?

Project management is the discipline of using established principles, procedures and policies to successfully guide a project from conception through completion. The beautiful thing about Project Management is that there are project management professionals in just about every industry.

Why did you start the Women of Project Management Membership? How has it helped to connect you to your purpose?

I started the Women of Project Management Membership to bridge a gap that I desperately needed in a male dominated industry – to connect women and women of color in the project management industry worldwide.

show up confident and be authentic.

Know Enough To Be Dangerous. If you’re in technology, you don’t have to be a coder, that’s not your job, however, as the IT Project Leader, it’s always necessary to know a little bit about each role of the project team you manage in order to be a great project leader.

Get A Support Squad. Life becomes a lot easier when you have support from people who understand the hurdles you face in your career and they can support you and help you avoid some of the pitfalls.

How could the Women of Project Management Membership benefit someone who is not currently apart of the industry but interested in transitioning?

The beautiful thing about this community is that it was built for women at any stage of their careers, including women that may just be “thinking” of transitioning into the project management industry.

Creating Women of Project Management has connected me with my purpose. It’s made me reevaluate how I can be of service to others. It’s hard to create a space where you service others in any capacity without digging deep to make sure all of your efforts are authentic and helpful to others. This helped me refine how I can use my talents to support women worldwide.

We have members that are college students majoring in project management as well as women starting a second career who are curious about the project management industry.

How has the journey to self-discovery helped you live in a space where you can be unapologetically you?

I created this space for women to globally support one another only because I needed it for myself—and women started showing up. They showed up for themselves, they showed up to support one another, and they showed up to support me as well.

Surprisingly, I didn’t expect the overwhelming amount of genuine support and love that is shown to me from this community. I get to witness women in this community grow and it’s a direct reflection of how I’m growing with the women of this community. I’ve been able to open up more because we’ve all created this safe space where we’re vulnerable and you can’t grow without being vulnerable.

What are the top three things you feel every project manager should do to better their career?

Be Confident. You may be the only woman on the project. You may be the only woman of color. Always

How are women supported as members?

When I created this community, I ensured that it would

include the resources and support that I wished I had in my career. So, even now, as I evolve, I’m putting all that I am learning in this community.

I leverage my 20 years of experience in the project management industry to provide career coaching to support women to get to the next level of their career. We have a Member Directory to connect with members one-on-one and we have a private Facebook group where we support one another. Members also gain access to PMP® Coaching, an on-demand Masterclass series (think Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Red Table Talk, but with women of project management). Further, we partner with organizations to provide industry job opportunities.

How can becoming a certified PMP help me level up my career?

PMP® Certified Professionals typically earn thirty percent more than Non-PMP® Certified Professionals. Being a PMP® Certified professional benefits your company because you have a global certification that shows your employer and your clients that you are an expert and PMP® professionals are employed in just about every industry.

Once I became a PMP® Certified Professional, more career opportunities opened up for me and I gained more confidence as a professional. That was one of the reasons that I wanted to make sure I offered PMP® Coaching to this community.