Tech in the Right Direction

Tech in the Right Direction

Welcome to Tech in the Right Direction! Every week, Directions Training President and CEO, Jennifer Didier discusses how women can take tech in the right direction to drive social change and close the employment, pay, and culture gap for women in technology.

Episodes

August 26, 2025 38 mins

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This week's guest is Jennifer Buchholz, the Founder of Excel and Flourish - a corporate technical training company. Jennifer helps organizations, teams, and individuals leverage their technology to save time, increase productivity, and reduce frustrations.

Today we talk about Jennifer's early experiences with technology and how her childhood helped shape her career path in tech training. We also talk abou...

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This week's guest is Heather Doran, Chief of Staff for Business Applications Marketing & Global Industry at Microsoft. Heather is an enthusiastic leader with a proven record of implementing high-performing marketing, operations, and event strategies. She has an innate ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams to successfully develop a vision based on customer-focused insights and data that de...

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This week on Tech in the right Direction, we’re joined by Kalin McKenna who joined Microsoft in 2011 leading the marketing efforts for Windows Phone and Surface devices, and later transitioning to the AI and Sustainability Market Development Team. Listen in to hear about Kalin’s journey from working in politics to joining the tech world, and her thoughts on the employment, pay and culture gap in the tech ...

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Join Jennifer Didier and Elise Carmichael and they track their roads to success in the tech industry.  They will share about networking, the importance of learning, and growing inside the industry itself.

More About Elise Carmichael:

As Lakeside’s Chief Technology Officer, Elise is responsible for building and delivering the next generation of Digital Employee Experience solutions. She has over 20 years o...

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This week's guest is Supriya Gupta, the General Manager of Recommendations and Head of Product at Credit Karma - a personal finance company helping individuals reach their financial goals. Supriya is responsible for personalizing the Credit Karma app experience for their 120 million customers. She has taken her department to the next level and their recommendation system now makes more than 35 billion mod...

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Our next guest on MENtors that Make a Difference is award-winning researcher and author, Tom Tonkin. Tom holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership with a focus on Leadership and Management and defines himself as a ‘recovering executive’. We discuss the fact that technology has outpaced our ability to acknowledge and accept it, and that we are experienc...

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This week's guest is Andrea Stevenson Conner, the Principal of Stevenson Conner Global Strategies - an organization that collaborates with game-changing, innovative leaders of regional/global nonprofit and for-profit organizations with missions for gender equity that seek significant impact extending to the 7th generation. Andrea is a consultant who knows how to build the team around critical initiatives ...

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This week's guest is Sarah Haggard, the Founder and CEO of Tribute. A peer-to-peer mentorship platform that enhances team collaboration, learning, and productivity by creating real-time access to knowledge sharing via micro-mentorship. Sarah is an innovative people and business leader who has led multiple start-up initiatives within her decade-long career in Product Marketing at Microsoft, raising $40M to...

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July 1, 2025 32 mins

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This week on Tech in the Right Direction we are joined by Ansley Fender, a serial entrepreneur, and Founder/CEO of Atlas. Ansley started out college as a classically trained violinist who had to switch her trajectory when she suffered a hand injury. In order to graduate on time, Ansley decided on a whim to major in Non-profit Management, and later attended grad school for public finance. When Ansle...

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June 17, 2025 40 mins

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As Vice President of Product Management, Liz Ronco is responsible for Spiceworks Ziff Davis’ (SWZD) global product offering, including omnichannel marketing offerings and a comprehensive suite of B2B experiences that enable technology professionals to make the best decisions for their businesses. Liz joined SWZD in 2018 and quickly established new data-driven experiences and pr...

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June 10, 2025 32 mins

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This week dive into true leadership, authenticity, and radical inclusivity as we are joined by Ashleigh Wilson, a San Francisco-based, life-long entrepreneur. Listen in to hear about how Ashleigh went from cleaning homes, to founding her own business, how her motto ‘People Over Profit’ impacts her day to day, and how her struggles led her to where she is today.

 

Thank you - we hope Ashleigh's story helps...

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This week's guest is Gavriella Schuster, the founding sponsor of Women in Cloud and the Women in Technology Network. She currently sits on the board of both, along with being a board member of ChinaSoft International, IAMCP, and the University of Washington Bothell. Last year she gave a TEDx speech on "Gender Equity," where she launched her "Become Framework." As an Athena International Global Leadership ...

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This week's guest is Momei Qu, the Senior Vice President of PSP Growth - the growth equity arm of PSP Partners. They focus on leveraging their multi-faceted experience and expertise across vital economic segments, including business & technology services, housing, and industrials. Their approach is centered on investing in innovative high-growth software and tech-enabled services companies that drive ...

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Enjoy this conversation between Jennifer Didier and Jeff Butler from Cask Canada.  Jeff tells us about the foundations of how Cask was founded and grown into the company it is today.

Jeff Butler Bio:

At Cask Canada, I am the General Manager of the most awarded pure-play ServiceNow partner in the world. I bring over six years of experience in the ServiceNow ecosystem, where I have helped clients and prospects achieve their digital t...

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This week's guest is Susan Sanders, the Founder and CEO of Spinderok - an IT Consulting Firm focused on helping companies harness the power of Microsoft 365 to deliver the ultimate employee experience. 

Today we talk about Susan's career journey and what led her to become the Founder and CEO of Spinderock. We also discuss what it takes to be a leader in today's world and how we can help women forward in t...

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Jennifer and Robin talk about the need for employers and employees to be honest about what they can and are willing to do.  The need to have strong empowering boundaries for all parties is extremely important for business and personal success. 

Robin Corralez is a hands-on, diversified, human resources leader focused on creating sustained value in fast-paced, dynamic environments by building strong teams ...

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Arlene Harris is an award-winning innovator and founder of several companies including GreatCall, maker of the Jitterbug cellular phone and service now owned by BestBuy. Having grown up in a wireless family business, she started working with computers in the late 60’s and has spent the next five decades at the intersection of wireless and computing. Arlene share’s her journey through the Tech Industry, th...

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This week's guest is Veronica Place, an Account Manager at GenCare, a division of General Networks - an organization that delivers technology consulting and managed services for customers who need to collect and process business-critical information. Veronica is passionate about bringing individuals together and whose key strength is coaching people to their potential.

In today's episode, we talk about Veronica's career journey and...

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This week's guest is Binna Kim, the President and Co-Founder of Vested - Communications Agency. She is an experienced financial services communications consultant, working with large and small financial brands on strategy and execution. Leveraging creativity and pragmatism, she worked with firms to craft a compelling strategy with impactful results. As an integrated communicator, she thinks holistically about how brands can leverag...

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This week's guest is Sarah Haggard, the Founder and CEO of Tribute− a peer-to-peer mentorship platform available in Slack and Teams that enhances team collaboration, learning, and productivity by creating real-time access to knowledge sharing via micro-mentorship. Sarah is an innovative people and business leader who has led multiple start-up initiatives within her decade-long career in Product Marketing ...

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