LARISSA CRANDALL, VEEAM SOFTWARE

I’ve been fortunate to work with some incredible men and women leaders throughout my career, challenging my growth and supporting me. We’ve come a long way in empowering women since I first began my career in the tech space, be it through the growing demand for women of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities to be acknowledged for their contributions leading to greater efforts in implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across enterprises and industries. This year, we speak of embracing equity. #EmbraceEquity validates and reinforces the idea that women must be given the same opportunity to succeed as men, and it provokes internal reflection for women in power to seek the same equitability and working to drive this for future generations.

In the world of tech, I have spent more than twenty years successfully growing my teams and transforming global ecosystems. While the effort involves creativity and strategy, the end goal is quite simple: We grow together. We help each other. No one is an island. #EmbraceEquity is about pushing for a global ecosystem of interconnected humans to work and grow with each other’s support and skillset. As a woman in the tech space, especially a female leader, I feel it’s my responsibility to give back by mentoring women sharing my learnings from my career to help women grow. I would urge young women to continue pushing the norms and know they deserve to succeed. Also, to be an ally themselves with other women of different backgrounds to help support each other. Create your network, expand your inner circles to foster a more diverse and inclusive cohort of powerful women who can support each other and grow together.” Grateful to work at incredible organisations in my career including Veeam, where the culture strong is strong and supportive.”