September 23, 2025 • 33 mins
This week on Clover, I sit down with Emily Gupton—a technology leader, community builder, and soon-to-be President of Austin Women in Technology. Emily’s career path has been anything but linear: from studying neuroscience and working in radiology, to project management in commercial furniture, to building a SaaS platform from the ground up, and now serving as CTO at SKG.
In this conversation, Emily shares how curiosity, resilience, and community have shaped her many pivots. She opens up about navigating male-dominated spaces in tech, the power of asking questions (even the “silly” ones), and how investing in education—from her MBA to an MIT certificate—helped her bridge career transitions.
We also dive into Emily’s passion for building inclusive communities, her leadership journey with Austin Women in Technology, and her past work with the League of Women Voters of Texas. Whether you’re considering a career pivot, looking for inspiration to step into leadership, or craving stories of women making big impacts in Austin and beyond—this episode will leave you energized.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- How to embrace career pivots with curiosity and courage
- Why community and mentorship are essential in tech (and beyond)
- Emily’s approach to leadership, equity, and empowering diverse voices
- Practical tips for choosing the right further education or certification
- How Austin Women in Technology fosters growth, connection, and opportunity
Connect with Emily:
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/emily-gupton
- Website: emilykgupton.com
- Austin Women in Technology: https://www.awtaustin.org/
Communities & Organizations
- League of Women Voters of Texas: lwvtexas.org
- Innotech Women in Tech Summit — partnered event with AWT
- Capital Factory / Austin Tech Week — collaborative events with AWT
- Austin Forum on Technology & Society — partner org for technical topics like quantum computing
Books & Authors
- Smart Brevity — by the Axios team; recommended by her CEO and used as a communication framework
- Neil Gaiman — mentioned as a favorite author for personal, whimsical, and fantastical reading
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Foreign.
Erin Geiger (00:10):
Welcome everybody to another episode of clover.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek, we have Emily Gupton. And
do you go by Gupton? Or what doyou go by for your dream? Okay,
cool. Because I've seen, I don'tknow. For some reason I feel
like I saw somewhere like ahyphenated version, so I wasn't
sure. Oh, it's good. Okay, cool.
Well, thank you for taking thetime. You're one of the busiest
(00:33):
women I know on the planet. Ifeel like you have your very
experienced hands in so manydifferent buckets, so I really
do appreciate it. And on that, Itend to just jump in on these
things. And so I you have such astoried background, and you do
have so much experience atdifferent areas, and you help so
(00:56):
much in the Austin community.
So, you know, disclaimer, Emilyand I are both in the Austin
area, and I actually met Emilythrough Austin women in tech and
such as one of the many thingsthat you have built and grown.
So anyway, let's start at thebeginning. What makes Emily
(01:18):
Emily and how did you come to bewhere you are today?
Unknown (01:24):
Yeah, you know, I think what makes me me,
Emily Gupton (01:28):
and the biggest thing that probably impacted my
journey, but I didn't realizeuntil later in life, was my love
of people and knowing what theydo, and people all do such
different, unique, interestingthings, and that's really a
passion of mine, so that's beena very big, big part of my
journey. But I grew up inDallas. I've been a Texas person
(01:50):
almost my entire life, spentsome time in Houston, and now
I'm in Austin, and I absolutelylove it here. I'm obsessed with
the community and the city, andwhen I was in Dallas, I went to
the University of Texas atDallas, studied neuroscience and
business as my undergrad, playedgolf and worked in radiology for
about eight to 10 years in avariety of different roles. And
(02:13):
thought I was going to be adoctor, and then realized that
that was not a good fit for me,and so I packed up with my
husband and we moved to Houston,I didn't have a job, didn't
really know what I wanted to do.
I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna bein healthcare for the rest of my
life. And then somebody came tome that I met through an event,
and they were like, hey, projectmanagement is a transferable
(02:33):
skill. You should take thisrandom job in commercial
furniture and construction inthe project management field.
And I was like, cool, thatsounds great while I'm trying
I'm trying to find my healthcarejob. And so I did that, and
essentially have been adjacentto that industry since then,
haven't looked back. Didn't knowwhat a vendor was, didn't know
what a purchase order was,didn't know how to read a floor
(02:55):
plan. Like it was a really wildtransition, but super fun. And I
did that for about five years,did a lot of data analytics,
reporting, softwareimplementations for a company
like I started to kind of like,have this technology operations
passion through my work. Andcame to Austin, oh my gosh,
right before covid. So was thatlike six years ago now, and came
(03:15):
to work for a company here inAustin called SKG, their
commercial furniture dealership,and under the leadership of Beth
Goff McMillan, she's our CEO.
And on my journey there, Ibecame Chief of Staff and did
special projects and all kindsof things. And she was like,
Hey, we should build technologyto service our clients. Clients
(03:36):
want this B to C experience. Weshould meet them there. And so
we started to go through thatprocess, and then covid
happened, and we made a bigpivot, and actually built a SaaS
platform that we sell nationwideto commercial furniture dealers,
architecture and design firms,and then some some real estate
players in the commercial space,which was a wild experience. And
now that's just hanging out.
It's called folio. We've got itin revenue. It's out in the
(03:58):
world. And I moved back over inAugust to SKG and the role of
CTO. So I manage everything fromour hardware, software, network
infrastructure, like ouroffices, low voltage stuff and
like AV AI implementation, likewhat that looks like for our
company. So I went from buildinga development like heavy tech
(04:19):
platform to service professionalservices company helping our
teams use technology in the mostefficient way possible. And, and
I love it. So here I am.
Erin Geiger (04:28):
That's awesome. I feel like you went full circle
from like the technology of likeneuroscience and healthcare, now
the technology and, you know,computers and you know, kind of
what we use, um, every day,which is pretty incredible. You
mentioned a few different pivotsand shifts in your career. Can
we talk a little bit about that?
Because I think there's so manywomen that are listening that
(04:50):
are wanting to make a change,or, you know, not sure how to do
it, or, you know, and like,maybe they started down like you
did. You're like, I'm going tobe. Be a physician, like, this
is the route I'm, I'm goingdown. And you're like, you know,
like, you know, drama and dramabreak. We're gonna, we're gonna
switch that. How? How did you,first of all, like, when you've
(05:12):
made these pivots, realize Ineed to make a shift, and once
you did realize it, how did youtake steps toward a different
direction?
Unknown (05:21):
Yeah, so
Emily Gupton (05:23):
the first one, when I moved to Houston, that
was really unexpected, I wouldsay, because I, like, moved and
I was like, healthcare,healthcare all the way, like,
gotta find the Healthcare Job.
And, I mean, leaving my job, andI didn't have a job, right?
Like, my husband works remotely,so we had like, a three month
period where I was trying tofigure out what I wanted to do.
I suppose it was a little bitterrifying, and going into a
(05:46):
new, completely new industry,like, I cannot tell you enough I
had, I had some idea of what Iwas doing, but I also didn't
know what I didn't know. Ididn't know the platforms, I
didn't know the jargon. I didn'tknow, like the players in the
market and how it all worked.
Like, I didn't know commercialfurniture was so incredibly
(06:07):
expensive, like there was somuch that I just had no idea.
And so I've always had a love oflike, learning, and I'm a very
curious person, and so I just,like, dove right in, asked all
the questions, learned, all theprocesses figured out, like
figured it out. And I think thatafforded me the great
(06:27):
opportunity to go from, youknow, project management to the
data analytics kind of stuffthat I started to do for the
business, really understandinghow it all kind of like worked
together on the back end, andgiving some really interesting
visibility into reporting. So Iwould say curiosity, learning
new skills, like not beingafraid to embrace that and not
being afraid to ask questions asyou're navigating that change
(06:50):
was the was part of the mostimportant things that supported
me through that transition, inaddition having a really great
team that I felt comfortable toask questions and be like, I
don't know what this floor planis like. What is this random
square that I'm looking at? Isit a desk? Is it a table? I
don't know. And surroundingmyself with people that really
supported me through thattransition and even building
(07:11):
technology. So I joined Austinwomen in technology because Beth
was like, Let's buildtechnology. And I didn't have a
technology center community. Ihad just moved here, like, eight
months before we started thatproject, I, like, didn't know
anybody. And then covidhappened. And so luckily, AWT
was a powerhouse during covid.
They had like, two events amonth during covid, when
(07:31):
everybody was virtual. Someorganizations kind of had the
opposite thing happen to them,where they weren't really
engaged during covid, becausethat wasn't insane time. Let's
be real. And so when I made thepivot here in Austin, going from
the chief of staff role tobuilding technology, that's why
I joined AWT. It's like I got tofind people that have done this
before. They know what they'redoing. They know how to build
(07:52):
SaaS or manage developers. And Ican ask all of the insane
questions, and I asked all ofthe insane questions, and people
met me with like supportiveanswers. Some of them might have
said, this is interesting, thatyou're building technology and
you're asking some of thesethings, but it was great. It was
great. It was a greatexperience. And I found
incredible community, and alsowent back to school, so I didn't
(08:13):
mention this, but when I wasgoing through the project
management centric stuff inHouston, I got my MBA at the
same time, so that supportedlike project management,
collaboration, learning way moreabout business and way more of
the collaboration that you'llhave with teams. And did a lot
of group projects and thingslike that. And then when I did
the SaaS platform here, I did adigital transformation
(08:35):
certificate at MIT, and thattaught me a lot of the more,
like technical nuances. Learnedhow to open command lines and do
things that I would have reallynever had the opportunity to do.
So it helped me learn, whetherit was through community,
through education, throughasking my team how to better
interact with the people that Iwas interacting with while we
were building the technology, orwhile I was making a transition
(08:57):
in a more of like a corporateTechnology Operations engagement
role when I was in Houston.
Sorry, that was long winded, but
Erin Geiger (09:07):
no, that's great. I mean, there's so much there. So
how do you identify? First ofall, however you're like, Okay,
I feel like I found my footingin my path, but also, I'm going
to go back to school andcontinue my education. Like, how
did you kind of make thatdecision? How did, and also, how
did you identify what to do?
Like, okay, I'm gonna get my MBAand I'm gonna get the
certification, you know. Like,how did you kind of narrow it
(09:28):
down? Because I don't know aboutyou, but I'm, like, just spammed
with all of these different,like, certifications, and get
this, and they get that. I didalso get my MBA. In the last
couple of years, I went downthat path too. Yeah, there's
Yeah. So there's so many thingsyou know that that you could do.
So it's like, what made you goback to education and identify
those two areas to to really go,go forward?
Emily Gupton (09:51):
And yeah, that's a great question. My undergrad is
very specific. Neuroscience isextremely niche. And while
interest. Saying when I waslooking at my master's degree
pursuits, you know, I made a bigpivot from the healthcare
industry to commercialfurniture, construction stuff,
and spent a lot of time thinkingabout what, what would kind of
(10:15):
be broad strokes applicable, nomatter the industry, if I
decided to make a change. And ohmy gosh, I'm trying to think
about when this was, like, maybeeight years ago, was when I
graduated with that and, youknow, it was wonderful. It
taught me a lot of differentskills, facets of business,
collaborative projects, thingslike that. And so I was able to
(10:37):
carry that with me no matterwhere I went, whether it's
building technology, whetherit's managing a team, whether
it's working with the AWTcommunity, it taught me a lot of
those kind of interpersonalskills going through the MBA
program and then sharpening mybusiness document through some
of the more technical courseworkthat I did in our in our
capstone project. So that was agood decision, but when I was
(10:59):
doing that, I was like, do Iwant to go back into science? Do
I want to go back intohealthcare? I actually looked at
there was, like a combo MBAhealthcare master's degree, and
I did not do that. And honestly,like, I'm grateful for that at
this juncture in my life. I lovethe path that I've been on,
albeit not linear at all. I lovewhere I am today and all of the
things that I've learned alongthe way. And so I went real
(11:21):
broad with the MBA, instead ofniche in the digital
transformation certificate, Ispent a lot of time kind of
researching different ones. Imean, MIT would be like if I
went back to get a doctor forsomething goals, right? They're
such an incredible stem focusedschool. And this was a
blockchain was just starting tocome out some really interesting
(11:43):
new technologies, and I lookedat their coursework in it, and
it very much aligned with notblockchain, but some of the
other things that I would needto understand at a high level
when building our technologyplatform. And I'm sure there are
other schools that offer similarthings, whether in the MIT Yale
Harvard aspect, or somethinglocal. But the reason I picked
(12:06):
this one is I got to interactwith there were 50 of us in the
cohort across the world. So Iwas in a global cohort. I got to
interact with people from allover the world for, I think, the
nine months that we were in thein the program together, went
through some really challengingkind of technical coursework,
and so that was more selectedfrom a kind of global exposure,
(12:28):
interacting with a lot ofdifferent communities, types of
people, people involved in abunch of different work and and
then having that kind oftechnical piece to it to Help me
understand what my developerswere doing, and building a
technology application like itreally lent itself to that,
because I knew at that time thatthat's what we were going to be
doing. So I chose that veryspecifically for those reasons.
(12:51):
Yeah, I mean,
Erin Geiger (12:52):
that's genius, because there's so many times we
go out, you know, and we get,you know, okay, we're gonna get
this degree and or thiscertification, and it does not
directly apply to what we areactually doing day to day in our
career. So that's that's prettyclutch. Okay, great. And then so
tech is typically,stereotypically, a very male
dominated industry. Have you hadany kind of situations where,
(13:18):
you know, you felt like, youknow, it was a tough situation
because you were a woman, or wewere like, I'm pretty lucky. I
haven't really come across that.
What has been your experience sofar in your career?
Emily Gupton (13:29):
Mixed Bag. I have definitely had the moments of,
you know, feeling like men,whether we were approaching them
from kind of a venture capitalfundraising lens, or men just
being like, you don't knowenough about technology to
either build a SaaS platform, oreven back in the day, like do
(13:50):
data mining, data analyticslike, and I didn't experience
that as much until moving intoto building the SaaS platform.
That was an insane experience inthe best way, and also had some
challenging moments. So I didn'treally feel that disparity until
(14:11):
that moment in my life from alike really heavy lens. And you
know, there are a couple oftimes where I felt very, don't
know what the word is that Iwant to use. Felt like I was
being spoken to, like I was anincapable person with anything
involving, like technology ordevelopment, and that was really
(14:34):
eye opening for me, and kind oflike made me even more
incredibly passionate aboutequity, and we're all capable
humans. And so, you know, even,like my work through AWT, I
mean, I'm just so epicallypassionate about diverse like
supporting diverse communities,thought leadership, like
(14:55):
everyone should be affordedequal opportunity. I'm a big,
big proponent of equity. And so.
So yeah, definitely, definitelyhad those moments, for sure, and
had moments of like extremesupport and allyship. And I
think Austin and the experienceI've had here on the flip side
is so incredible. There are someamazing organizations that are
led by men in this communitythat absolutely champion
(15:16):
everything we do for Austinwomen in technology. There are
community partners. There arepeople in the community that
that support us so much, andit's so wonderful. And, you
know, really drive through theAustin community, like we need
to be equitable. We need to seewomen in leadership positions.
If you can see her, you can beher type thing. And that is very
real. I feel like we read aboutthat all the time, but that is
(15:39):
like so incredibly real foryoung women to see
representation at the top ofcompanies. And so I'm super
passionate about that. But toanswer your question in very
long form, yes, definitelyexperienced the you're a woman
in tech. Are you sure to be awoman in tech a few times during
during this adventure?
Erin Geiger (15:59):
Yeah, I and how do you kind of navigate that? Is
it? Is it, you know, harnessingyour passion for organizations
like Austin women in tech andkind of like, okay, well, I'm
going to fuel that that way. Or,you know, how do you handle it?
Emily Gupton (16:16):
Um, gosh. And think I'm reflecting this
moment, you know, I thinkdefinitely any way that I can
help a woman, Person of Colorfeel empowered, that they can do
the thing that they're settingout to do. I am just like, here
for that in all the ways. Sothat's definitely a way that I
kind of harness that energy andput that back out into the
(16:37):
world. You know, I think beingthat with some of those
situations in real time, takingit in, debriefing, having a
conversation, maybe with someonewho is present with me, like
expressing my feelings about itdoesn't feel good to be made to
feel like you can't do somethingright. And then part of that is
also me being like, Yes, I can.
Let me go show you how I am verytraditionally driven by if
(17:01):
you're gonna tell me, No, youcan be like, Yes, I can. And let
me go do that now. So that alittle bit of, kind of all of
those things
Erin Geiger (17:11):
got it. And let's talk a little bit more about
Austin women and technology. Imean, I so we're connected on
LinkedIn as well. And I feellike every night, I'm like, I
don't know how this woman doesit, because every night I feel
like, and I'm sure it's notevery night, but it feels like
you are just out on the town.
You are going, you're you'rehere, you're over there, you're
speaking here, you're organizingthis. So obviously, like, you're
so humble. Or like, Well, yeah,I joined, you know Austin, you
(17:34):
know AWT, but it's like, now Ifeel like you're running the
show. So it's like, tell me,tell me about the organization.
For those who in Austin who wantto hear more about it, or for
those that aren't in Austin whoare inspired to start, or, you
know, get involved in anorganization, like, similar to
that, where they are, tell usabout the organization in
(17:55):
general, and then also, kind of,like, your growth within it, and
what you kind of do,
Emily Gupton (18:00):
yeah, yeah. So AWT, gosh. We've been around for
over 20 years. We are agrassroots community in Austin.
Started way back in the daybefore Austin was as big as it
is today, by executive womenthat were here, and we're like,
we need a community space. Therewere a handful of them, and that
has obviously evolved over thelast 20 years. Our organization,
(18:21):
we've got about 600 activemembers, and that's been pretty
steady for the last few years.
People that kind of roll in androll off as they navigate
through careers or move jobs.
But for us, we have a core eventeach month, whether that's just
casual networking happy hour, wepartner with Innotech and do
their women in tech summit. Thatwas actually last week. We've
(18:43):
been selling that ballroom outfor a few years now. It's really
amazing. And so you know, forus, we our mission is we provide
space for women in tech toconnect, grow, learn and lead.
And so we're predominantly like,come find a mentor, network,
find your community, find yourspace to thrive, and whether you
want to make a career changealready in tech, whatever that
(19:04):
looks like at any stage of life,we want you to come and be part
of that community. Tech alsodoesn't have to mean I'm a
developer, it could be sales.
HR, you're trying to move intotechnology marketing. Everything
is like tech driven. So wereally want to just foster this
community of wonderful womencoming together and finding
their space, finding theirpeople to support them. At that
moment in time, I'm clearly verypassionate about what we do, but
(19:28):
my journey with AWT, so Istarted four years, five years
some, some years ago now,getting engaged with the
community, and I rememberspeaking for the first time at
an event, I got asked to speakabout whatever I was working on.
I cannot even remember, but I doremember the people I spoke with
on this virtual thing. It wasstill kind of like covid era,
(19:49):
and I was just so moved bynumber one, the opportunity to
share my story. And number two,the like powerhouse women, I was
able to meet and connect withand. Everybody was so wonderful.
So I immediately was like, yes,I've all been on this community.
And went on to I worked on thePrograms team for a while, and
(20:09):
then moved into a communitypartnerships role, and that was
a new role for AWT. And I wentout and learned about all of the
different technology supportivecommunities in Austin who wants
to partner with us, coprogramming, whatever, promoting
each other's events, because wedon't want to reinvent the wheel
and tee up a bunch of stuffabout quantum computing, because
that's what Jay does over at theAustin forum. And so a lot of
(20:31):
these organizations were like,pro collab, let's all, let's all
work together and notregurgitate or be, you know,
protective, like, Austin's justsuch an incredible supportive
community. And so now I focus alot more on, like, special
collaborative event planning,like in a tech partnering with
Capital Factory for Austin TechWeek, and some other things that
(20:51):
we do throughout the year. Andthen I also just recently got
onboarded on as president elect.
So that's super exciting. Idon't really know that it's like
out in the full ether yet, butyeah, I'm, I'm really jazzed. So
that'll happen. That transitionwill happen about 15 months. But
right now, Nicole Plek has ourour president, and she is just a
(21:14):
passionate, passionate personabout what AWT does, what it can
provide for the community andsupporting women. And she is
just like a powerhouse person,and I'm so excited to to serve
in this role under her, becauseshe's amazing and has nothing
but the most love and passionfor what abt does for Austin?
Erin Geiger (21:32):
Yeah, no, it's an it's an incredible organization.
I myself, personally need to geteven more engaged with it than I
have next Happy Hour exactly, Istill get the email, so I need
to go. No, it's so great.
Because, I mean, I saw you guysout, you know, I was just like,
I was craving that. I neededthat community, you know. So I
went to a few events, andeverything was amazing.
(21:54):
Everybody was very it's veryinclusive, or is very welcoming.
You know, we had Cherie, whodoes Fiesta over at Capital
Factory. She was on the show,and I was chatting with her
about, like, going to Fiesta,and how it was huge. There was,
like, 200 people there, andeverybody was talking to each
other, and I felt this small,you know. And I was just like,
(22:14):
how do I break into aconversation? And, you know, all
that kind of stuff. And ofcourse, everybody there is
lovely as well, but it can beintimidating, you know? And so I
do, and I do find, you know, theorganizations or the events that
care to women to be even moreso, even more welcoming and
everything so the work betweenyou, Cherie, I mean, there's so
(22:36):
many amazing, powerful,intelligent, incredible women in
the Austin community. And we'reso lucky to have you, have you
guys, and you, you were doingwork for the League of Women
Voters of Texas. Is that ourAustin I should say, are you
still involved with them? Tellus a little bit more about that.
That's also, I mean, the listgoes on and on. Emily,
seriously, like what you'reinvolved in, what you're
(22:57):
supporting. So tell us a littlebit more about that.
Emily Gupton (23:02):
Yeah. So I was on the board for the League of
Women Voters at the state level,so at their Texas level board,
and I served on the board, Ithink, for, gosh, maybe two, two
and a half years as their VP oftechnology. And you know that I
love technology operations. Ilove how automation and things
like that can drive a business anonprofit, whatever that looks
(23:24):
like for you. And so I wasengaged with them to help them
do everything from like manageGoogle Drive to how can we set
up some processes and workflowsto help their board and their
internal staff function better.
So I was very much like aninternal facing role for their
board, but the League of WomenVoters. So at the state level,
they are there lobbying duringwhat they call lobby days, when
(23:47):
we're in the legislativesession, putting forward stances
on different issues. They are anon partisan organization. They
do, they do take strong stanceson certain issues, and so they
go and write letters and speakduring the lunch session. And
then, really, everything isabout voter education. So how
(24:08):
can we get people registered tovote, learn how to do that,
navigate that through all theprocesses and actually get out
to the polls and vote? And sothen there's the Austin level
organizations, and the ones thatare in the community, those are,
like, feet on the street.
They're monitoring the pollingstations, getting people signed
up to vote and all of that. Andso just an incredible group of
(24:28):
women and men out there in thecommunity doing that. And so
that was so wonderful, and aspace that I would have probably
never organically found myselfin if it weren't for like
somebody referring me andsaying, Hey, Emily, can come
son, your board in thetechnology bucket and help you
all navigate some of this stuff,because, because that's a lot
like technology soproliferative. Now, for all
(24:49):
organizations, you've really gotto have somebody that's got a
good, good handle on that tosupport that. And it changes so
quickly. So I rolled off thatboard late last year, but
they're still out there. Werejust like crushing it and and
getting the word out, get thevote out, and get all those
things into the to the legissession, which I guess, just
concluded.
Erin Geiger (25:09):
So, yeah, gosh, such important work, really
honestly. And so as you've kindof taken on all these different
these various leadership roles,like, what, what does success
look like to you, and has thatI'm imagining, it's changed over
time. You know, depending uponwhat situation you've been in,
or as you've kind of evolved aswell.
Emily Gupton (25:30):
Yeah, for sure.
You know, when I was muchyounger, I was like, Ah, I gotta
know everything, and I gottaknow how to do all the things.
And if I don't know, it's notokay that I don't know, and
that's that's not feasible. Andso learned that later in life.
And so, you know, success is I'mnot afraid to, like, make a
(25:52):
mistake or fail. I need tocorrect and not do it all the
time, make the same mistake overand over again, but it's gonna
happen. Like, you don't have allthe answers. You don't know what
the market's going to do. Youdon't necessarily know what this
thing over here is going to dothat's going to influence the
decision that you just made. Andso give yourself a little bit of
grace. Don't be afraid to failor admit that this didn't go as
(26:12):
planned. And how can I pivot tomake it work? That's something
that I've really internalized,especially in building the
technology platform and thepivots that we had to make
listening to our customers as welaunched technology tool into
the ether, and, you know, leanon others who are experts in
spaces where you are not to dothose things and do them really
(26:34):
well, and that's okay. And likethe ability to let go of that
and let my team or partners thatare really good at marketing or
these other things take on anddo those tasks like that. That,
to me, is has been a definer ofsuccess for me now in my career
stage that I am now, right?
Erin Geiger (26:54):
Yeah, yeah. It's, it's kind of along the lines of
like, you know, surroundyourself by people who are
smarter than you in other areas,right?
Emily Gupton (27:02):
Yes, very much.
Yes, yes. AWT, right? Who'sbuilt technology before? Let me.
Let me learn from you. Tell meall the things exactly.
Erin Geiger (27:12):
So how do you when you're you have, you have so
much going on in your day likeno day looks the same, I am
assuming. And so how do you kindof, like, set the tone or tackle
each day? You know, some peoplehave things that they do, you
know, meditate, workout, takesome time in the morning. Some
people just like, Get up and go,you know, so kind of, What's
(27:33):
your philosophy there?
Emily Gupton (27:35):
Yeah, I'm pretty structured in my days. No, day
looks the same, but I calendarvery hard. Like, my calendar is
my live or die, but I would say,you know, at the start of my
day, I have a cup of coffee, Iget up freakishly early. I'm one
of those insanely early humans,and I'll do that. I'll kind of
like, refresh what I'm workingon that day, and then I work
(27:57):
out. And I try to do that in themorning. Sometimes I do that at
night, but that's really how Iprep for the day. And my
workouts give me that space to,like, be present with just
myself and my body, and thinkabout, you know, what do I need?
What do I want to manifesttoday? And that's, that's my me
time where I'm not talking toanyone. It's like almost the
(28:18):
only alone time that I have. Myhusband. I live in 600 650
square feet, maybe so tiny spacedowntown anyway. So that's,
that's how I prep for most of mydays, coffee workout, answer, a
couple emails and then, and thenoff to the races after that.
Erin Geiger (28:35):
Yeah, it's funny, because I'm very similar with my
workouts, like, for a while,like I did cross it for years,
and I'll try all I mean, I just,I'm a fitness enthusiast, I
guess you could say so. I'vetried all the things, however,
for the past few years, eventhough once in a while I meet a
friend for a class somewhere,like I work out at home. When I
work out, it's solitude for me,you know. And I work out on my
(28:57):
own, and I typically work outaround the same time every day.
But even if I don't, then I havethat flexibility, right? I don't
have to make it to a class, or Idon't have to, you know, that
sort of a thing, and I can pickand choose my programming, you
know, what I want to like workon that day. So I really get
that. I love that for sure. Sowhat is there like a podcast or
(29:20):
a blog or books or articles youknow that you hold dear, you
know whether or not it'sprofessional related personal
that you would recommend otherpeople checking out.
Emily Gupton (29:34):
No, um, you know one of the most recent books.
There's a lot of books. I'mmostly a books person in all of
those buckets, podcasting forsure, when I'm doing long
drives, one of the favorite onesthat I've read recently that
actually became recommended formy CEO is called Smart brevity.
(29:55):
Have you read this? I have notso Axios. Are you familiar with
Axio? Us the newsletter? Yep, sothey have a secondary now, AI
driven company, but also thisbook called Smart brevity. And
it's like, how do you reallycondense what you're trying to
say from like, a million wordsin an email to the most concise
(30:15):
point that you're trying to getacross? Because in journalism,
it's like you read the headlineyou barely skim the beginning.
And if you've lost me, like,more than likely, you've lost
me, and I'm not going to readthe 1000 words that follow. And
so I actually, I have awhiteboard that's like, right in
front of me, and I've got, like,my favorite bullet points from
the book literally sitting rightthere. So when I, like, read my
(30:36):
emails before I send them outfor an entire company, or
whatever that looks like, I'mlike, Can I turn this down a
little bit? Can I make it moreconcise? How do I say exactly
what I'm trying to say in thefewest words possible? To give
people back that, like, time andnot have have, they need
clarity, right? So that's been,honestly, one of the most
recently impactful books for me,and I am just like embracing
that in all its forms. And then,from a from a personal
(31:01):
standpoint, I love Neil Gaiman'sbooks. So he's got, like, this
is pleasure reading books onNorse mythology and some other
kind of fantastical things thatI just kind of, you know, skim
on vacation, read in my freetime. He's one of my husband's
favorite, favorite favoriteauthors, and he's got some great
(31:22):
books if he needs somethingthat's that's whimsical and
fantastical and a
Erin Geiger (31:25):
little bit dark also, yeah, okay, that's
awesome. I feel like we alwaysneed both, you know, because
sometimes, like, I'm guilty of,like, leaning super into, like,
the non fiction and the businessand the strategy and all that,
it's like, I gotta weave inthese other things too. So
that's great. Where can peoplefind you online if they want to
connect with you, learn moreabout what you're up to.
Emily Gupton (31:47):
Yeah. So LinkedIn, for sure, that is the only
active social media platform Ihave, and it's dash, Emily dash
captain, or like backslash,Emily dash captain is my
LinkedIn handle, and then I dohave a website, so it's Emily
cake upton.com it's got like aoverview of of what I've done in
life, and then talks a lot aboutcommunity, community engagement
(32:08):
and and different things likethat. I promise one day I'll
probably have a blog orsomething of that, but requires
a little more time in my life towrite, yeah, but LinkedIn,
connect with me on LinkedIn,please. I'll, I'll shoot, shoot
me a note if you're interestedin connecting, and I'll respond,
and we can go from there.
However, I can help you coffeerecommendations, whatever you
need.
Erin Geiger (32:27):
Awesome. Yeah, we'll include a link to that in
the show notes, as well as theother organizations that you
help support. And then onequestion I ask every guest
before I let them go, is, if youcould only listen to my music
artists for the rest of yourlife. Who would it
Emily Gupton (32:43):
be? Glass animals, for sure. I was a big fan back
in the heyday when they firstcame out with their first couple
albums, and I've seen them somany times. I saw them at Red
Rocks. It was amazing. Highlyrecommend. But yeah, I could
listen to them on repeatforever.
Erin Geiger (32:58):
Okay, awesome.
That's cool. I love it whenpeople are like, they just know,
some people are like, that's amean question. Mean question.
And why did you ask me? That'sawesome. Well, thank you, Emily,
so much for taking the time.
It's always a blast to chat withyou, and I'm glad we guys
connect in this way as well. SoI really appreciate it.
Emily Gupton (33:15):
Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. And
yeah, it was great. It wasgreat. This is great. Love it.
Thank you. Bye.
Foreign.
Erin Geiger (00:10):
Welcome everybody to another episode of clover.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek, we have Emily Gupton. And
do you go by Gupton? Or what doyou go by for your dream? Okay,
cool. Because I've seen, I don'tknow. For some reason I feel
like I saw somewhere like ahyphenated version, so I wasn't
sure. Oh, it's good. Okay, cool.
Well, thank you for taking thetime. You're one of the busiest
(00:33):
women I know on the planet. Ifeel like you have your very
experienced hands in so manydifferent buckets, so I really
do appreciate it. And on that, Itend to just jump in on these
things. And so I you have such astoried background, and you do
have so much experience atdifferent areas, and you help so
(00:56):
much in the Austin community.
So, you know, disclaimer, Emilyand I are both in the Austin
area, and I actually met Emilythrough Austin women in tech and
such as one of the many thingsthat you have built and grown.
So anyway, let's start at thebeginning. What makes Emily
(01:18):
Emily and how did you come to bewhere you are today?
Unknown (01:24):
Yeah, you know, I think what makes me me,
Emily Gupton (01:28):
and the biggest thing that probably impacted my
journey, but I didn't realizeuntil later in life, was my love
of people and knowing what theydo, and people all do such
different, unique, interestingthings, and that's really a
passion of mine, so that's beena very big, big part of my
journey. But I grew up inDallas. I've been a Texas person
(01:50):
almost my entire life, spentsome time in Houston, and now
I'm in Austin, and I absolutelylove it here. I'm obsessed with
the community and the city, andwhen I was in Dallas, I went to
the University of Texas atDallas, studied neuroscience and
business as my undergrad, playedgolf and worked in radiology for
about eight to 10 years in avariety of different roles. And
(02:13):
thought I was going to be adoctor, and then realized that
that was not a good fit for me,and so I packed up with my
husband and we moved to Houston,I didn't have a job, didn't
really know what I wanted to do.
I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna bein healthcare for the rest of my
life. And then somebody came tome that I met through an event,
and they were like, hey, projectmanagement is a transferable
(02:33):
skill. You should take thisrandom job in commercial
furniture and construction inthe project management field.
And I was like, cool, thatsounds great while I'm trying
I'm trying to find my healthcarejob. And so I did that, and
essentially have been adjacentto that industry since then,
haven't looked back. Didn't knowwhat a vendor was, didn't know
what a purchase order was,didn't know how to read a floor
(02:55):
plan. Like it was a really wildtransition, but super fun. And I
did that for about five years,did a lot of data analytics,
reporting, softwareimplementations for a company
like I started to kind of like,have this technology operations
passion through my work. Andcame to Austin, oh my gosh,
right before covid. So was thatlike six years ago now, and came
(03:15):
to work for a company here inAustin called SKG, their
commercial furniture dealership,and under the leadership of Beth
Goff McMillan, she's our CEO.
And on my journey there, Ibecame Chief of Staff and did
special projects and all kindsof things. And she was like,
Hey, we should build technologyto service our clients. Clients
(03:36):
want this B to C experience. Weshould meet them there. And so
we started to go through thatprocess, and then covid
happened, and we made a bigpivot, and actually built a SaaS
platform that we sell nationwideto commercial furniture dealers,
architecture and design firms,and then some some real estate
players in the commercial space,which was a wild experience. And
now that's just hanging out.
It's called folio. We've got itin revenue. It's out in the
(03:58):
world. And I moved back over inAugust to SKG and the role of
CTO. So I manage everything fromour hardware, software, network
infrastructure, like ouroffices, low voltage stuff and
like AV AI implementation, likewhat that looks like for our
company. So I went from buildinga development like heavy tech
(04:19):
platform to service professionalservices company helping our
teams use technology in the mostefficient way possible. And, and
I love it. So here I am.
Erin Geiger (04:28):
That's awesome. I feel like you went full circle
from like the technology of likeneuroscience and healthcare, now
the technology and, you know,computers and you know, kind of
what we use, um, every day,which is pretty incredible. You
mentioned a few different pivotsand shifts in your career. Can
we talk a little bit about that?
Because I think there's so manywomen that are listening that
(04:50):
are wanting to make a change,or, you know, not sure how to do
it, or, you know, and like,maybe they started down like you
did. You're like, I'm going tobe. Be a physician, like, this
is the route I'm, I'm goingdown. And you're like, you know,
like, you know, drama and dramabreak. We're gonna, we're gonna
switch that. How? How did you,first of all, like, when you've
(05:12):
made these pivots, realize Ineed to make a shift, and once
you did realize it, how did youtake steps toward a different
direction?
Unknown (05:21):
Yeah, so
Emily Gupton (05:23):
the first one, when I moved to Houston, that
was really unexpected, I wouldsay, because I, like, moved and
I was like, healthcare,healthcare all the way, like,
gotta find the Healthcare Job.
And, I mean, leaving my job, andI didn't have a job, right?
Like, my husband works remotely,so we had like, a three month
period where I was trying tofigure out what I wanted to do.
I suppose it was a little bitterrifying, and going into a
(05:46):
new, completely new industry,like, I cannot tell you enough I
had, I had some idea of what Iwas doing, but I also didn't
know what I didn't know. Ididn't know the platforms, I
didn't know the jargon. I didn'tknow, like the players in the
market and how it all worked.
Like, I didn't know commercialfurniture was so incredibly
(06:07):
expensive, like there was somuch that I just had no idea.
And so I've always had a love oflike, learning, and I'm a very
curious person, and so I just,like, dove right in, asked all
the questions, learned, all theprocesses figured out, like
figured it out. And I think thatafforded me the great
(06:27):
opportunity to go from, youknow, project management to the
data analytics kind of stuffthat I started to do for the
business, really understandinghow it all kind of like worked
together on the back end, andgiving some really interesting
visibility into reporting. So Iwould say curiosity, learning
new skills, like not beingafraid to embrace that and not
being afraid to ask questions asyou're navigating that change
(06:50):
was the was part of the mostimportant things that supported
me through that transition, inaddition having a really great
team that I felt comfortable toask questions and be like, I
don't know what this floor planis like. What is this random
square that I'm looking at? Isit a desk? Is it a table? I
don't know. And surroundingmyself with people that really
supported me through thattransition and even building
(07:11):
technology. So I joined Austinwomen in technology because Beth
was like, Let's buildtechnology. And I didn't have a
technology center community. Ihad just moved here, like, eight
months before we started thatproject, I, like, didn't know
anybody. And then covidhappened. And so luckily, AWT
was a powerhouse during covid.
They had like, two events amonth during covid, when
(07:31):
everybody was virtual. Someorganizations kind of had the
opposite thing happen to them,where they weren't really
engaged during covid, becausethat wasn't insane time. Let's
be real. And so when I made thepivot here in Austin, going from
the chief of staff role tobuilding technology, that's why
I joined AWT. It's like I got tofind people that have done this
before. They know what they'redoing. They know how to build
(07:52):
SaaS or manage developers. And Ican ask all of the insane
questions, and I asked all ofthe insane questions, and people
met me with like supportiveanswers. Some of them might have
said, this is interesting, thatyou're building technology and
you're asking some of thesethings, but it was great. It was
great. It was a greatexperience. And I found
incredible community, and alsowent back to school, so I didn't
(08:13):
mention this, but when I wasgoing through the project
management centric stuff inHouston, I got my MBA at the
same time, so that supportedlike project management,
collaboration, learning way moreabout business and way more of
the collaboration that you'llhave with teams. And did a lot
of group projects and thingslike that. And then when I did
the SaaS platform here, I did adigital transformation
(08:35):
certificate at MIT, and thattaught me a lot of the more,
like technical nuances. Learnedhow to open command lines and do
things that I would have reallynever had the opportunity to do.
So it helped me learn, whetherit was through community,
through education, throughasking my team how to better
interact with the people that Iwas interacting with while we
were building the technology, orwhile I was making a transition
(08:57):
in a more of like a corporateTechnology Operations engagement
role when I was in Houston.
Sorry, that was long winded, but
Erin Geiger (09:07):
no, that's great. I mean, there's so much there. So
how do you identify? First ofall, however you're like, Okay,
I feel like I found my footingin my path, but also, I'm going
to go back to school andcontinue my education. Like, how
did you kind of make thatdecision? How did, and also, how
did you identify what to do?
Like, okay, I'm gonna get my MBAand I'm gonna get the
certification, you know. Like,how did you kind of narrow it
(09:28):
down? Because I don't know aboutyou, but I'm, like, just spammed
with all of these different,like, certifications, and get
this, and they get that. I didalso get my MBA. In the last
couple of years, I went downthat path too. Yeah, there's
Yeah. So there's so many thingsyou know that that you could do.
So it's like, what made you goback to education and identify
those two areas to to really go,go forward?
Emily Gupton (09:51):
And yeah, that's a great question. My undergrad is
very specific. Neuroscience isextremely niche. And while
interest. Saying when I waslooking at my master's degree
pursuits, you know, I made a bigpivot from the healthcare
industry to commercialfurniture, construction stuff,
and spent a lot of time thinkingabout what, what would kind of
(10:15):
be broad strokes applicable, nomatter the industry, if I
decided to make a change. And ohmy gosh, I'm trying to think
about when this was, like, maybeeight years ago, was when I
graduated with that and, youknow, it was wonderful. It
taught me a lot of differentskills, facets of business,
collaborative projects, thingslike that. And so I was able to
(10:37):
carry that with me no matterwhere I went, whether it's
building technology, whetherit's managing a team, whether
it's working with the AWTcommunity, it taught me a lot of
those kind of interpersonalskills going through the MBA
program and then sharpening mybusiness document through some
of the more technical courseworkthat I did in our in our
capstone project. So that was agood decision, but when I was
(10:59):
doing that, I was like, do Iwant to go back into science? Do
I want to go back intohealthcare? I actually looked at
there was, like a combo MBAhealthcare master's degree, and
I did not do that. And honestly,like, I'm grateful for that at
this juncture in my life. I lovethe path that I've been on,
albeit not linear at all. I lovewhere I am today and all of the
things that I've learned alongthe way. And so I went real
(11:21):
broad with the MBA, instead ofniche in the digital
transformation certificate, Ispent a lot of time kind of
researching different ones. Imean, MIT would be like if I
went back to get a doctor forsomething goals, right? They're
such an incredible stem focusedschool. And this was a
blockchain was just starting tocome out some really interesting
(11:43):
new technologies, and I lookedat their coursework in it, and
it very much aligned with notblockchain, but some of the
other things that I would needto understand at a high level
when building our technologyplatform. And I'm sure there are
other schools that offer similarthings, whether in the MIT Yale
Harvard aspect, or somethinglocal. But the reason I picked
(12:06):
this one is I got to interactwith there were 50 of us in the
cohort across the world. So Iwas in a global cohort. I got to
interact with people from allover the world for, I think, the
nine months that we were in thein the program together, went
through some really challengingkind of technical coursework,
and so that was more selectedfrom a kind of global exposure,
(12:28):
interacting with a lot ofdifferent communities, types of
people, people involved in abunch of different work and and
then having that kind oftechnical piece to it to Help me
understand what my developerswere doing, and building a
technology application like itreally lent itself to that,
because I knew at that time thatthat's what we were going to be
doing. So I chose that veryspecifically for those reasons.
(12:51):
Yeah, I mean,
Erin Geiger (12:52):
that's genius, because there's so many times we
go out, you know, and we get,you know, okay, we're gonna get
this degree and or thiscertification, and it does not
directly apply to what we areactually doing day to day in our
career. So that's that's prettyclutch. Okay, great. And then so
tech is typically,stereotypically, a very male
dominated industry. Have you hadany kind of situations where,
(13:18):
you know, you felt like, youknow, it was a tough situation
because you were a woman, or wewere like, I'm pretty lucky. I
haven't really come across that.
What has been your experience sofar in your career?
Emily Gupton (13:29):
Mixed Bag. I have definitely had the moments of,
you know, feeling like men,whether we were approaching them
from kind of a venture capitalfundraising lens, or men just
being like, you don't knowenough about technology to
either build a SaaS platform, oreven back in the day, like do
(13:50):
data mining, data analyticslike, and I didn't experience
that as much until moving intoto building the SaaS platform.
That was an insane experience inthe best way, and also had some
challenging moments. So I didn'treally feel that disparity until
(14:11):
that moment in my life from alike really heavy lens. And you
know, there are a couple oftimes where I felt very, don't
know what the word is that Iwant to use. Felt like I was
being spoken to, like I was anincapable person with anything
involving, like technology ordevelopment, and that was really
(14:34):
eye opening for me, and kind oflike made me even more
incredibly passionate aboutequity, and we're all capable
humans. And so, you know, even,like my work through AWT, I
mean, I'm just so epicallypassionate about diverse like
supporting diverse communities,thought leadership, like
(14:55):
everyone should be affordedequal opportunity. I'm a big,
big proponent of equity. And so.
So yeah, definitely, definitelyhad those moments, for sure, and
had moments of like extremesupport and allyship. And I
think Austin and the experienceI've had here on the flip side
is so incredible. There are someamazing organizations that are
led by men in this communitythat absolutely champion
(15:16):
everything we do for Austinwomen in technology. There are
community partners. There arepeople in the community that
that support us so much, andit's so wonderful. And, you
know, really drive through theAustin community, like we need
to be equitable. We need to seewomen in leadership positions.
If you can see her, you can beher type thing. And that is very
real. I feel like we read aboutthat all the time, but that is
(15:39):
like so incredibly real foryoung women to see
representation at the top ofcompanies. And so I'm super
passionate about that. But toanswer your question in very
long form, yes, definitelyexperienced the you're a woman
in tech. Are you sure to be awoman in tech a few times during
during this adventure?
Erin Geiger (15:59):
Yeah, I and how do you kind of navigate that? Is
it? Is it, you know, harnessingyour passion for organizations
like Austin women in tech andkind of like, okay, well, I'm
going to fuel that that way. Or,you know, how do you handle it?
Emily Gupton (16:16):
Um, gosh. And think I'm reflecting this
moment, you know, I thinkdefinitely any way that I can
help a woman, Person of Colorfeel empowered, that they can do
the thing that they're settingout to do. I am just like, here
for that in all the ways. Sothat's definitely a way that I
kind of harness that energy andput that back out into the
(16:37):
world. You know, I think beingthat with some of those
situations in real time, takingit in, debriefing, having a
conversation, maybe with someonewho is present with me, like
expressing my feelings about itdoesn't feel good to be made to
feel like you can't do somethingright. And then part of that is
also me being like, Yes, I can.
Let me go show you how I am verytraditionally driven by if
(17:01):
you're gonna tell me, No, youcan be like, Yes, I can. And let
me go do that now. So that alittle bit of, kind of all of
those things
Erin Geiger (17:11):
got it. And let's talk a little bit more about
Austin women and technology. Imean, I so we're connected on
LinkedIn as well. And I feellike every night, I'm like, I
don't know how this woman doesit, because every night I feel
like, and I'm sure it's notevery night, but it feels like
you are just out on the town.
You are going, you're you'rehere, you're over there, you're
speaking here, you're organizingthis. So obviously, like, you're
so humble. Or like, Well, yeah,I joined, you know Austin, you
(17:34):
know AWT, but it's like, now Ifeel like you're running the
show. So it's like, tell me,tell me about the organization.
For those who in Austin who wantto hear more about it, or for
those that aren't in Austin whoare inspired to start, or, you
know, get involved in anorganization, like, similar to
that, where they are, tell usabout the organization in
(17:55):
general, and then also, kind of,like, your growth within it, and
what you kind of do,
Emily Gupton (18:00):
yeah, yeah. So AWT, gosh. We've been around for
over 20 years. We are agrassroots community in Austin.
Started way back in the daybefore Austin was as big as it
is today, by executive womenthat were here, and we're like,
we need a community space. Therewere a handful of them, and that
has obviously evolved over thelast 20 years. Our organization,
(18:21):
we've got about 600 activemembers, and that's been pretty
steady for the last few years.
People that kind of roll in androll off as they navigate
through careers or move jobs.
But for us, we have a core eventeach month, whether that's just
casual networking happy hour, wepartner with Innotech and do
their women in tech summit. Thatwas actually last week. We've
(18:43):
been selling that ballroom outfor a few years now. It's really
amazing. And so you know, forus, we our mission is we provide
space for women in tech toconnect, grow, learn and lead.
And so we're predominantly like,come find a mentor, network,
find your community, find yourspace to thrive, and whether you
want to make a career changealready in tech, whatever that
(19:04):
looks like at any stage of life,we want you to come and be part
of that community. Tech alsodoesn't have to mean I'm a
developer, it could be sales.
HR, you're trying to move intotechnology marketing. Everything
is like tech driven. So wereally want to just foster this
community of wonderful womencoming together and finding
their space, finding theirpeople to support them. At that
moment in time, I'm clearly verypassionate about what we do, but
(19:28):
my journey with AWT, so Istarted four years, five years
some, some years ago now,getting engaged with the
community, and I rememberspeaking for the first time at
an event, I got asked to speakabout whatever I was working on.
I cannot even remember, but I doremember the people I spoke with
on this virtual thing. It wasstill kind of like covid era,
(19:49):
and I was just so moved bynumber one, the opportunity to
share my story. And number two,the like powerhouse women, I was
able to meet and connect withand. Everybody was so wonderful.
So I immediately was like, yes,I've all been on this community.
And went on to I worked on thePrograms team for a while, and
(20:09):
then moved into a communitypartnerships role, and that was
a new role for AWT. And I wentout and learned about all of the
different technology supportivecommunities in Austin who wants
to partner with us, coprogramming, whatever, promoting
each other's events, because wedon't want to reinvent the wheel
and tee up a bunch of stuffabout quantum computing, because
that's what Jay does over at theAustin forum. And so a lot of
(20:31):
these organizations were like,pro collab, let's all, let's all
work together and notregurgitate or be, you know,
protective, like, Austin's justsuch an incredible supportive
community. And so now I focus alot more on, like, special
collaborative event planning,like in a tech partnering with
Capital Factory for Austin TechWeek, and some other things that
(20:51):
we do throughout the year. Andthen I also just recently got
onboarded on as president elect.
So that's super exciting. Idon't really know that it's like
out in the full ether yet, butyeah, I'm, I'm really jazzed. So
that'll happen. That transitionwill happen about 15 months. But
right now, Nicole Plek has ourour president, and she is just a
(21:14):
passionate, passionate personabout what AWT does, what it can
provide for the community andsupporting women. And she is
just like a powerhouse person,and I'm so excited to to serve
in this role under her, becauseshe's amazing and has nothing
but the most love and passionfor what abt does for Austin?
Erin Geiger (21:32):
Yeah, no, it's an it's an incredible organization.
I myself, personally need to geteven more engaged with it than I
have next Happy Hour exactly, Istill get the email, so I need
to go. No, it's so great.
Because, I mean, I saw you guysout, you know, I was just like,
I was craving that. I neededthat community, you know. So I
went to a few events, andeverything was amazing.
(21:54):
Everybody was very it's veryinclusive, or is very welcoming.
You know, we had Cherie, whodoes Fiesta over at Capital
Factory. She was on the show,and I was chatting with her
about, like, going to Fiesta,and how it was huge. There was,
like, 200 people there, andeverybody was talking to each
other, and I felt this small,you know. And I was just like,
(22:14):
how do I break into aconversation? And, you know, all
that kind of stuff. And ofcourse, everybody there is
lovely as well, but it can beintimidating, you know? And so I
do, and I do find, you know, theorganizations or the events that
care to women to be even moreso, even more welcoming and
everything so the work betweenyou, Cherie, I mean, there's so
(22:36):
many amazing, powerful,intelligent, incredible women in
the Austin community. And we'reso lucky to have you, have you
guys, and you, you were doingwork for the League of Women
Voters of Texas. Is that ourAustin I should say, are you
still involved with them? Tellus a little bit more about that.
That's also, I mean, the listgoes on and on. Emily,
seriously, like what you'reinvolved in, what you're
(22:57):
supporting. So tell us a littlebit more about that.
Emily Gupton (23:02):
Yeah. So I was on the board for the League of
Women Voters at the state level,so at their Texas level board,
and I served on the board, Ithink, for, gosh, maybe two, two
and a half years as their VP oftechnology. And you know that I
love technology operations. Ilove how automation and things
like that can drive a business anonprofit, whatever that looks
(23:24):
like for you. And so I wasengaged with them to help them
do everything from like manageGoogle Drive to how can we set
up some processes and workflowsto help their board and their
internal staff function better.
So I was very much like aninternal facing role for their
board, but the League of WomenVoters. So at the state level,
they are there lobbying duringwhat they call lobby days, when
(23:47):
we're in the legislativesession, putting forward stances
on different issues. They are anon partisan organization. They
do, they do take strong stanceson certain issues, and so they
go and write letters and speakduring the lunch session. And
then, really, everything isabout voter education. So how
(24:08):
can we get people registered tovote, learn how to do that,
navigate that through all theprocesses and actually get out
to the polls and vote? And sothen there's the Austin level
organizations, and the ones thatare in the community, those are,
like, feet on the street.
They're monitoring the pollingstations, getting people signed
up to vote and all of that. Andso just an incredible group of
(24:28):
women and men out there in thecommunity doing that. And so
that was so wonderful, and aspace that I would have probably
never organically found myselfin if it weren't for like
somebody referring me andsaying, Hey, Emily, can come
son, your board in thetechnology bucket and help you
all navigate some of this stuff,because, because that's a lot
like technology soproliferative. Now, for all
(24:49):
organizations, you've really gotto have somebody that's got a
good, good handle on that tosupport that. And it changes so
quickly. So I rolled off thatboard late last year, but
they're still out there. Werejust like crushing it and and
getting the word out, get thevote out, and get all those
things into the to the legissession, which I guess, just
concluded.
Erin Geiger (25:09):
So, yeah, gosh, such important work, really
honestly. And so as you've kindof taken on all these different
these various leadership roles,like, what, what does success
look like to you, and has thatI'm imagining, it's changed over
time. You know, depending uponwhat situation you've been in,
or as you've kind of evolved aswell.
Emily Gupton (25:30):
Yeah, for sure.
You know, when I was muchyounger, I was like, Ah, I gotta
know everything, and I gottaknow how to do all the things.
And if I don't know, it's notokay that I don't know, and
that's that's not feasible. Andso learned that later in life.
And so, you know, success is I'mnot afraid to, like, make a
(25:52):
mistake or fail. I need tocorrect and not do it all the
time, make the same mistake overand over again, but it's gonna
happen. Like, you don't have allthe answers. You don't know what
the market's going to do. Youdon't necessarily know what this
thing over here is going to dothat's going to influence the
decision that you just made. Andso give yourself a little bit of
grace. Don't be afraid to failor admit that this didn't go as
(26:12):
planned. And how can I pivot tomake it work? That's something
that I've really internalized,especially in building the
technology platform and thepivots that we had to make
listening to our customers as welaunched technology tool into
the ether, and, you know, leanon others who are experts in
spaces where you are not to dothose things and do them really
(26:34):
well, and that's okay. And likethe ability to let go of that
and let my team or partners thatare really good at marketing or
these other things take on anddo those tasks like that. That,
to me, is has been a definer ofsuccess for me now in my career
stage that I am now, right?
Erin Geiger (26:54):
Yeah, yeah. It's, it's kind of along the lines of
like, you know, surroundyourself by people who are
smarter than you in other areas,right?
Emily Gupton (27:02):
Yes, very much.
Yes, yes. AWT, right? Who'sbuilt technology before? Let me.
Let me learn from you. Tell meall the things exactly.
Erin Geiger (27:12):
So how do you when you're you have, you have so
much going on in your day likeno day looks the same, I am
assuming. And so how do you kindof, like, set the tone or tackle
each day? You know, some peoplehave things that they do, you
know, meditate, workout, takesome time in the morning. Some
people just like, Get up and go,you know, so kind of, What's
(27:33):
your philosophy there?
Emily Gupton (27:35):
Yeah, I'm pretty structured in my days. No, day
looks the same, but I calendarvery hard. Like, my calendar is
my live or die, but I would say,you know, at the start of my
day, I have a cup of coffee, Iget up freakishly early. I'm one
of those insanely early humans,and I'll do that. I'll kind of
like, refresh what I'm workingon that day, and then I work
(27:57):
out. And I try to do that in themorning. Sometimes I do that at
night, but that's really how Iprep for the day. And my
workouts give me that space to,like, be present with just
myself and my body, and thinkabout, you know, what do I need?
What do I want to manifesttoday? And that's, that's my me
time where I'm not talking toanyone. It's like almost the
(28:18):
only alone time that I have. Myhusband. I live in 600 650
square feet, maybe so tiny spacedowntown anyway. So that's,
that's how I prep for most of mydays, coffee workout, answer, a
couple emails and then, and thenoff to the races after that.
Erin Geiger (28:35):
Yeah, it's funny, because I'm very similar with my
workouts, like, for a while,like I did cross it for years,
and I'll try all I mean, I just,I'm a fitness enthusiast, I
guess you could say so. I'vetried all the things, however,
for the past few years, eventhough once in a while I meet a
friend for a class somewhere,like I work out at home. When I
work out, it's solitude for me,you know. And I work out on my
(28:57):
own, and I typically work outaround the same time every day.
But even if I don't, then I havethat flexibility, right? I don't
have to make it to a class, or Idon't have to, you know, that
sort of a thing, and I can pickand choose my programming, you
know, what I want to like workon that day. So I really get
that. I love that for sure. Sowhat is there like a podcast or
(29:20):
a blog or books or articles youknow that you hold dear, you
know whether or not it'sprofessional related personal
that you would recommend otherpeople checking out.
Emily Gupton (29:34):
No, um, you know one of the most recent books.
There's a lot of books. I'mmostly a books person in all of
those buckets, podcasting forsure, when I'm doing long
drives, one of the favorite onesthat I've read recently that
actually became recommended formy CEO is called Smart brevity.
(29:55):
Have you read this? I have notso Axios. Are you familiar with
Axio? Us the newsletter? Yep, sothey have a secondary now, AI
driven company, but also thisbook called Smart brevity. And
it's like, how do you reallycondense what you're trying to
say from like, a million wordsin an email to the most concise
(30:15):
point that you're trying to getacross? Because in journalism,
it's like you read the headlineyou barely skim the beginning.
And if you've lost me, like,more than likely, you've lost
me, and I'm not going to readthe 1000 words that follow. And
so I actually, I have awhiteboard that's like, right in
front of me, and I've got, like,my favorite bullet points from
the book literally sitting rightthere. So when I, like, read my
(30:36):
emails before I send them outfor an entire company, or
whatever that looks like, I'mlike, Can I turn this down a
little bit? Can I make it moreconcise? How do I say exactly
what I'm trying to say in thefewest words possible? To give
people back that, like, time andnot have have, they need
clarity, right? So that's been,honestly, one of the most
recently impactful books for me,and I am just like embracing
that in all its forms. And then,from a from a personal
(31:01):
standpoint, I love Neil Gaiman'sbooks. So he's got, like, this
is pleasure reading books onNorse mythology and some other
kind of fantastical things thatI just kind of, you know, skim
on vacation, read in my freetime. He's one of my husband's
favorite, favorite favoriteauthors, and he's got some great
(31:22):
books if he needs somethingthat's that's whimsical and
fantastical and a
Erin Geiger (31:25):
little bit dark also, yeah, okay, that's
awesome. I feel like we alwaysneed both, you know, because
sometimes, like, I'm guilty of,like, leaning super into, like,
the non fiction and the businessand the strategy and all that,
it's like, I gotta weave inthese other things too. So
that's great. Where can peoplefind you online if they want to
connect with you, learn moreabout what you're up to.
Emily Gupton (31:47):
Yeah. So LinkedIn, for sure, that is the only
active social media platform Ihave, and it's dash, Emily dash
captain, or like backslash,Emily dash captain is my
LinkedIn handle, and then I dohave a website, so it's Emily
cake upton.com it's got like aoverview of of what I've done in
life, and then talks a lot aboutcommunity, community engagement
(32:08):
and and different things likethat. I promise one day I'll
probably have a blog orsomething of that, but requires
a little more time in my life towrite, yeah, but LinkedIn,
connect with me on LinkedIn,please. I'll, I'll shoot, shoot
me a note if you're interestedin connecting, and I'll respond,
and we can go from there.
However, I can help you coffeerecommendations, whatever you
need.
Erin Geiger (32:27):
Awesome. Yeah, we'll include a link to that in
the show notes, as well as theother organizations that you
help support. And then onequestion I ask every guest
before I let them go, is, if youcould only listen to my music
artists for the rest of yourlife. Who would it
Emily Gupton (32:43):
be? Glass animals, for sure. I was a big fan back
in the heyday when they firstcame out with their first couple
albums, and I've seen them somany times. I saw them at Red
Rocks. It was amazing. Highlyrecommend. But yeah, I could
listen to them on repeatforever.
Erin Geiger (32:58):
Okay, awesome.
That's cool. I love it whenpeople are like, they just know,
some people are like, that's amean question. Mean question.
And why did you ask me? That'sawesome. Well, thank you, Emily,
so much for taking the time.
It's always a blast to chat withyou, and I'm glad we guys
connect in this way as well. SoI really appreciate it.
Emily Gupton (33:15):
Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. And
yeah, it was great. It wasgreat. This is great. Love it.
Thank you. Bye.
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