Women in Tech: Breaking Silos and Scaling

What does it look like to build a career at the intersection of tech, business, and people - and realize, looking back, that it was always going to end up here?

Noa Barak is a tech customer and go-to-market enablement and growth advisor who has spent her career doing the work most people don't see - building the infrastructure that helps companies scale without falling apart. 

She's worked everywhere from 50-person startups to large enterprise organizations, co-founded her own ventures, and built enablement programs from the ground up. She also has an engineering degree in biotechnology and an MBA, which honestly tracks once you hear her story.

Her through line across all of it: start with the end in mind. Know your values, know your impact, know what you're building toward, and pull everything back from there.

We also talk about what it means to build diverse teams intentionally, why breaking down silos is harder than it sounds, and what happens when you realize the work you're doing is missing the most important ingredient - the human element.

Noa and I also happen to be part of the same Support Squad, a small group of women from a coaching program we both went through, and getting to witness her journey up close has been one of the unexpected gifts of the last couple of years.

You'll Learn 
⭐ What customer and go-to-market enablement actually is  
⭐ How to build from the ground up and scale without losing what matters 
⭐ Why breaking down silos starts with language and communication 
⭐ What it takes to build and maintain diverse teams intentionally 
⭐ How to hold onto your culture when you're growing fast 
⭐ Why starting with the end in mind works across every size and type of organization 
⭐ What happens when you realize your work is missing the human element

Key Insights

Start With the End in Mind No matter the company size, industry, or stage - this is Noa's north star. What's the impact? What are the values? What does success actually look like? Build everything backwards from there.

Breaking Silos Starts With Language When everyone's using five different words for the same thing, you're not just dealing with a communication problem. You're dealing with a culture problem. Getting everyone speaking the same language is the foundation.

Diversity Makes Teams Stronger Not just in the obvious ways. When people bring different experiences, different expertise, and different perspectives to the same table, the whole team gets better - as long as the values and communication are aligned.

The Human Element Is the Through Line Noa left a biotechnology engineering path because something was missing. That missing piece, the people, has been at the center of everything she's built since.

Timestamps 
02:00 How Noa and Kristin met and what the Support Squad is 
06:00 What enablement actually means 
09:00 The feedback loop between customers, sales, and product 
10:00 Rewinding: from high school youth trainer to biotechnology engineer 
13:00 The pivot away from engineering and toward people 
15:00 Joining a semiconductor company and flying globally as a training engineer 18:00 Moving into the startup world and building enablement from scratch 
22:00 Women in tech: the numbers, the gaps, and what needs to change 
28:00 Male allies and why women-only spaces aren't the whole answer 
32:00 The through line across every role: start with the end in mind 
38:00 How to scale quickly without losing your culture 
42:00 Building diverse teams 
46:00 Breaking silos: communication, language, and steering committees 
49:00 Legacy: leaving the world a little better, one small thing at a time

Resources and Links
Connect with Noa on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/noa-barak/
Find host Kristin Belden on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinbelden/
or at BeldenStrategies.com
Sign up for Kristin's newsletter Big Deal Energy: BeldenStrategies.com/newsletter

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Transcript

Intro

0:01

Hi friends, welcome back to Kind of a Big Deal, where we celebrate amazing women building lives with intention. I'm your host, Kristen Beldon, and I've got a great one for you today. Noah and I met through a coaching program I've mentioned about a hundred times at this point. And she's one of the reasons why. We're actually still part of a small group from that program we call the Support Squad, where we get together twice a month to work through any challenges, ask each other questions, and just generally have a good time. But beyond our friendship, Noah is a total Smarty fan. She's a tech customer and go-to-market enablement advisor, who has worked everywhere from early stage startups to large enterprise, co-founded her own ventures, and built programs completely from the ground up. She also has an engineering degree in biotechnology and an MBA, which I didn't even know about until we sat down to record this. We talk about what it means to break down silos, how to scale without losing your culture, and the through line she's carried across every role she's ever held. Start with the end in mind. I think you're gonna love her, so let's dive

Main Content

1:09

in. Hi Noah. Hi, Kristen. It's so good to see you. You too. It looks like I forgot to ask you this when we were just chatting. Is this like is this the new space? Is this the new you have it all set up now? My new office almost completely done. Like Zerag or something, but yeah. That was quick. I feel like the last time I saw you, it was like bare walls. There was nothing there. Yeah, that's true, actually. It did well, it was planned for the end of the summer, so took a little longer. But we're here now. That's how these things go. I feel like if it doesn't have to do with the kids or something that's like immediate, then it's just not gonna happen right away. Yeah, exactly. But it's it's good because sometimes it's better to take it a little slower and then like choose everything that you want and make it like really the way you want it. So yes, yes. Once I get it the way I want it, though, my husband always makes fun of me. I will change it. I will decide that I need to like move things around or like freshen things up and never buy anything new, but I reposition my desk somewhere else. He's like, Are you ever gonna feel settled? And like, I think this is just like an actual, this is just my life in everything. No, I'm never gonna feel settled. I have to constantly I'm with you. Unlike most people, I like change. Yeah, same. Isn't that interesting? Change a lot of things a lot. Yes. Interesting. Okay, I gotta write that down so that we can talk about it. But I gotta introduce you first. So um Noah and I met Yes. Um, Noah and I met through the same coaching program that I've mentioned probably 45,000 times at this point, because so many of the incredible women um that are newer in my life I met through that coaching program. It is, I think, a true testament to just what an incredible community of folks join the program. It is for me, the coaching itself was super important in the mindset work, but it's this incredible just group of humans that are excited to support each other, that are really looking to evolve and develop themselves. So it was something that was quite surprising to me, actually, that you end up caring deeply about the humans that you're in this program with. And then you get to witness each other's journeys, support each other along the way. Noah and I are actually still part of a group of women that we have dubbed the support squad. We meet every other week to continue to support each other on our journeys. And I really don't mean this dramatically. Like I don't know how I would be doing if I didn't have that level of community support, um, especially amidst such amazing women. Noah is a badass in tech, customer go-to-market enablement growth advisor. That I'm pulling this directly from your LinkedIn, if you can't tell. Doing a great job. This is a world I know nothing about, so I cannot wait for you to share more. She's an entrepreneur, she has worked for everybody from you know, still startups to co-founding her own businesses. And she's just an all-around smarty pants and also super fun human to be around. We got to walk around town. Um, was it San Diego that we were in together? Yes, it was San Diego. And yeah, she's just one of those people that you could sit and hang out with for hours. So welcome, Noah, to kind of a big deal. Thank you. Thank you for your kind words. Uh the feeling is mutual. I love our group and our meetings. I promise I won't brush it off. I'm gonna own the call. It's a constant, it's a constant muscle we have to flex. It's yeah. And thank you for receiving that compliment. Yeah, but I completely agree. I think the network was really the best of that program, and I feel the same with our group. Um, you know, just even sometimes get others' perspective, which like from amazing women, it's it's really a great thing to have. I agree. I think that it is, you know, especially not especially, but for me especially, I joined that program when I had lost the job that I had held for several years prior and left. I did not realize how desperately I needed a community of people. I mean, I really, really, really so much of my energy, so much of my joy comes from being in community with folks. And if you're not working in a full-time role amongst a bunch of people, you know, your friends are amazing, your local community is amazing, but it's not quite the same as when you're collaborating or digging in on a challenge or trying to push something forward. And so to have like kind of fell into that beautiful warm blanket right at that time could not have been a better moment for me. So before we start, well, like I I want to just level set because I think usually I'll kind of like rewind time first, but I think I'm gonna start recording that now because I feel like for folks to have a full understanding of your incredible journey, there needs to be an awareness of kind of the space that you're in, the work you do. And I want you to talk to us like we're in fourth grade, because that is like this is this your world is so it's not something I've ever been in. And so let's just start with the basics. When we talk about enablement in your industry, what does it mean? Um, and what does that mean for the work that you lead? Okay. Um, so I do enablement mostly in tech companies with focus on B2B. I work a lot with uh cybersecurity, but not only. And enablement is basically my um main focus is really ensure that customers, if it's customer enablement and the employees really know what they're doing and are able to leverage the solutions or the product um to see value if it's customer then from what they purchase and if these are employees. So, how to bring that values to customers, to partners. And we do that in all kinds of different programs. Some of it is learning, some of it is communication, and um many other initiatives to really build like seamless and good customer experience throughout their whole journey uh with a company. And it can go different ways. Like so I did different areas, you know, sales enablement is also a little different, and then we want to uh leverage the sales team to be the best of what they do and sell and kind of be the engine of the company's growth from that perspective as well. So are you then getting kind of like a feedback loop from customers or are you know the folks that are utilizing the tech that you are providing? Are you bringing that then back in internally too to help your sales team to better understanding or to better understand what they should be focusing on from a sales perspective? Uh yes, absolutely. Whole feedback, not just that for sales, but also for product to really understand the customer perspective. That's also part of if you do the complete loop, as you said, that's a big part of it as well, because we always want to kind of improve and understand where is the value and then translate it back to what uh to the solutions that we provide and kind of improve them according to that as well. Okay. Got you. That has to be an interesting line to constantly be holding between external and internal, right? Like that's a that's a pretty unique position to hold. I think that's why one of the reasons that I love it, not just external, internal, but it's really a lot of infrastructures and working with different teams that are involved. I think almost everyone that is customer-facing um teams, but across the board of the company. And like that gives me a peek for everything, which I love because we talked before about the change and when it's dynamic, but I guess to work with a lot of teams. And sometimes part of the challenge is really just a line between everyone, you know, in bigger companies, kind of breaking the silos and making sure everyone does speak the same language. Um so it's sometimes it's the challenge, but it's also what I really um enjoy about it. That's amazing. So I think that does allow us then a little bit of a rewind. So because I think it's it's interesting to hear you talk about, you know, the parts of it that you enjoy. And I wonder if, you know, when you started out in your career, if you had an awareness that this would be the industry that you would want to be in, that this is the kind of work that you found compelling. Like, what were those earlier days like for you? And could you have kind of seen where you're at today? That's a good question. The answer is probably no. But if I look back, I do see clues. Always a lot of the things that I did. Yes, hindsight, right? It's always amazing when you're like, Yes. Yeah, even in like my when I was in high school and I was part of this youth organization, I was responsible on the training portion and everything, which kind of connect directly, but I would never thought that's what I would do. I didn't know that I'll do something uh more on the technical, I will be part of the technical side, because you know, I love math, and probably I was like a little rebel when I was a woman, so I wanted to do it. And um, so I did I did my degree. Um, like I have an engineering degree, and um then when I finished and it was majoring actually in biotechnology engineering. And I think I said at the beginning. I said you were smarty pants, and I didn't even know all of this part. So yeah, we'll just double down. I don't know if we ever talked about it, but no. Yeah, I did that. It was biotechnology engineering, and then at the end, I did a huge project and internship, and I really enjoyed the impact part, like this fact that you can, you know, find things that actually helps the world. But it was kind of lacking of the people aspect, which that you probably know. Um I am a people person and I need that aspect. Also, it was kind of too repetitive for me. So I kind of switched. I think that was my first sleep ever. And I joined uh semiconductor company, like a huge corporate, and as an application and training engineer. And basically, that was kind of what led me at the end to where I am because I learned a lot about, you know, um training and business and how to combine that about customers. Basically, flew around globally everywhere and spent time with customers running like training sessions with them, but also helping them kind of leverage what we sold. And I then was promoted to a team lead role, and I learned a lot about like all the management and everything there, kind of behind the scenes. And after a few years, I didn't want to travel as much because I started my family, and then I switched and moved more to the startup world, and that was also my first step in the uh cybersecurity, and joined the company, really building their um training and enablement. Back then it wasn't even called like enablement, but build this whole from the ground up, kind of end-to-end, helping the customers, but also the internal teams from sales to post sales. And I started when they're kind of startup-ish. We were like 50 people, but I spent a few years and we helped grow them tenfold, um, both with business and people. And then I moved like with a few between uh a few companies, bigger companies, really kind of breaking the silos and reinventing the enablement. And in between, I also had my own venture of a startup uh for a couple of years there. But I think what I really love about it and kind of looking back is it's not one thing, it's kind of the connection between the tech, the business, and the people. And I would even say sometimes community, which is something that's also dear to my heart, because that's one way to look at customers and really helps like to grow them. And I think for every, you know, successful plan, the peer and the community is a big part of it. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. That connective tissue kind of like that unseen elements, right? I feel like sometimes this is the work that happens that might not be seen all the time. But it's and I I mean, I I feel this deeply where it's but that work is so important because you can have the best product in the world, or you can have the best whatever in the world, but if everything's in shambles internally, it's just not you're you're not gonna get as far as you want. You might get far, but it you will have a a breaking point at some point. Yeah, yeah, 100%. That's part of it. So I think that's combined everything. So I also did my MBA um throughout uh my career, and you know, that really led me to bring all those pieces together. Yeah, that's amazing. I love what you said too about seeing that there was a moment that you realized there wasn't enough of the human component and you wanted to find a way to bring that back in. Sometimes it takes not having the thing that we care about for to be able to say, like, oh wait, I actually really need that to be part of something that I focus on or do for something to feel complete. Um, I don't know, 18, 20, you're like, okay, oh, I, you know, good attack, let's do it. But oh, I'm more than that, just that. Like I have other aspects that I need to, you know, it's redress too and keep them as part of what I do. Totally. I think I shared this with you, but that was one of my biggest kind of light bulb moments over the last couple of years was as I was building my business, I recognized I was falling totally on my like not technical skills because I don't have them, but more of the like strategy operations, right? The like, how do you scale a company? All of those things, right? They matter. But I was totally missing the human element. It was all of the stuff that had to do with the business and not to do with the leader themselves or the team that they were leading. And as soon as I realized, I was like, oh, well, this is totally gonna change now the way that I want to build my business. Because I if you're if you're missing a key component that actually is number one, what you care about, but also where some of your natural skills lie, then you're you're really missing a huge piece of the puzzle, I think. Yeah, uh it's very much true. And you know, and again, the people component is important for me. And then in the last few years, I also took it more to mentoring and helping like other startups, and that also either from a business perspective or just um giving back to the community and both also kind of filling up that uh that need of working with people. Yeah, yes, that's a good reminder, I think, for folks that maybe don't have elements or an element that they care about as part of their quote unquote regular job. There are other ways to feed that part of yourself that might fall outside of your nine to five or whatever. And I don't think that that was something I really thought much about when I was younger. It was like, will you do your job? It my fulfillment was so tied to my jobs at some point that I forgot that there's like a whole world to engage with that you can be fed by. It doesn't have to be through your company. Right. And it gets you sometimes. Like at some point of my career, I was really totally in it and family, and you don't even see kind of above that. And I think that's where I joined our coaching uh program, and that's helped me to kind of keep rem reminding myself that you can do a lot of things and totally can. Yes. Well, and I think there are there are years, and this is like all the grace in the world. If you start a family and you have a career you care about, it's almost like you are just totally heads down in the trenches for a little while there because you're trying to navigate what it means to be a new parent. And then if you have multiple, then a new parent again and again, and every time it's different, it's never the same. Every child is so, so different that it's like you're starting over in some ways. And so I remember, I'm curious if you felt like this. I there were moments where I felt you can be so short-sighted in those years where it's like, I want to get back to some semblage of myself or like the things that I care about. And I remember fighting against it, you know, for a while there. And now I look back on it and I think, oh gosh, that was such a blip. That was such a short in the scheme of life, if we're lucky enough to have the average lifespan. Like that is really not that huge of an amount of time. And the reality is still very true that many women, when they choose to focus on family or whatever, we can take ourselves out of the storyline and we can take ourselves out, or maybe we don't take ourselves out. We can be taken out of the trajectory, right? Yeah. Um, did you ever feel any concern about that? Or were you able to kind of strike some semblage of a balance that worked for you? Um so I did find a balance, but it's not easy at all. And I agree, especially at the beginning, because when it happens, it's you know it's such a huge change, right? In your life. It's something completely different. And for me, it was how do I, you know, how do I keep this, but also keep my career. And I think even those two things together is the limit at that point in life. Yeah. And yeah, you know, for many years needed to do extra to keep both of them going. So for me, I wanted to be fully also kind of involved in in the kids, and you know, it can be different for different people, and all the answers are right. Like it's 100%. Yes. Yes. But for me, I would make sure I'll pick the Kids, I will be with them, and then at night when they fell asleep, I would go back and kind of do all my US calls and uh because I was still in Europe and doing kind of everything around it. So I think at that specific period of time, sometimes you have to kind of do more to find the balance that is right for you. Yeah. But what I would say if for you know the the younger women is also look at that as an opportunity. And I know it's kind of cheesy because you always say enjoy the moment, but it is true. My little third one is seven now. So that period of time also goes by very, very fast, so fast. And then they're more independent, and you still want to have that time for them, but you get more, you know, you can get more pieces to your life as as well. But yeah, I'm trying to kind of hold through with any point and enjoy um enjoyed that period of my life. Yes, yes. I feel like there are times in those years where I can feel like it will never end that your life was going to be this constant, you know, tension. And I think once they for me, it was when my youngest is also almost seven. And when he hit five, I felt like it was like there's this turn, you know, they're going into kind. There's just like a there's a little bit more of a shift, and you start to see the light on the horizon of life. Oh I can, you know, maybe engage with things that I didn't get to for a while there. I can read a book again and my attention span is back in some way. It's like shocking how terrible my attention span was there for a while. Um, absolutely. And if I would tell that to myself, like in my first gate first year, I would not want to hear it. Like, no, no, you can't score it. This, you know. Yes, you cannot. You have to experience it. Hey, quick pause before we get back into it. If you're listening to conversations like this one and something keeps nudging you, like I know I'm at some kind of turning point, I just can't quite see it clearly yet. That's actually exactly what I do. I work with women leaders who are in the middle of something: a career shift, a business that's ready to evolve, a moment where what got you here just isn't cutting it anymore. Sometimes what you need most isn't a whole program or a big engagement. You just need a few hours with someone who can help you see what you're too close to see yourself. That's the clarity session. It's a focused, one-on-one conversation where we dig into where you are, where you want to go, and what's actually in the way. You walk away with real direction, not a list of homework, but genuine clarity on your next move. If that sounds like what you need right now, I'd love to talk. You can find all the details at Beldenstrategies.com slash clarity. Okay, let's get back into it. I'm curious, you know, you and I have talked about a little bit in some of our conversations, just about women's role in tech and how there's still such a disconnect between ability and talent and how we can be received or perceived. And we were actually at a dinner at an event together, and a gentleman that we love and respect dearly was kind of shocked to hear just how bad it can still be. I think because he has such a good heart, he was like, that can't be true. And we were both like, oh, but it is so true. Can you elaborate a little bit? Maybe it doesn't even have to be your own personal experiences, but just in general, maybe some of what you've seen over the years. Yeah, I think it's much better today than when I started, but you can still see the gap. It's still there. And I guess there's specific industries when it's you know it's more visible or stronger, and I think pack is one of them. When I started, I was the only woman on the team, and it has been like that, I think for many of the roles that I was at, and you know, it's from little things to big things, but I think sometimes it's throughout the years, it still catches you kind of unprepared. And yeah, because you don't always see it. And even for me, when I saw a lot of things through the years, it sometimes got me just not ready. Um and so I'm not surprised, you know, that uh person that we talked to and he said, Oh, I didn't know it even exists, because it's sometimes it's in front of you, but you don't really recognize it. Yes, yes, I totally agree. It's so it can be so insidious, it can be so just like right, it's buried so deep at the core. It can be really subtle, but enough to where when you're starting to witness some of those patterns emerging, you're like, wait a second, am I crazy or is this like a weird thing that's happening? Yes, and you know, years ago it was more out there, and we could even like laugh at it, you know, like totally we always talked about it, and it was kind of more, you know, it was just out there, but throughout the years it kind of became more silent, but it doesn't mean it went away. Goes away, yes, 100%. Yeah, you know, even today you can see a bit the voice club, and it's a thing in specific companies, but you know, it is getting better, and I think women have more opportunities and would say something funny, but it's not just up to us, um it's also up to the men in the group to kind of um in two ways I will say also be uh open and uh not create those uh situations, which is hard to do because again, sometimes we don't even know that you're doing it um because it's so subtle. And I think, but from the other perspective, it's also your home, and kind of going back to what we talked about the family and really have partnership. I know, like with my better half, that that's what was really for me a key to be successful, that we're real partners, because I know for a lot of women it's also that everything that you carry at home does as well. Yes, yes, that's so true. It's interesting. I was gonna say, what do you think it would take for this to shift more? But I think you already answered that, you know. And it's like, sorry. No, no, it's perfect. No, it's perfect. I love we're on the same wavelength in the way we're thinking about this because I recently, and I shared this in another conversation recently as well, where I went to a local event, and this is truly not a criticism of them at all, but it was around venture funding and bringing together startups. And then you have the other half of the room is like investors and people that are interested in getting involved and supporting in whatever way. And shocker of all shockers, I was like one of, you know, 10 women in the room. And I I have no, I'm not like going in from an investor perspective. I was literally going in just because I was curious about what's happening in our region, who's building what, what cool things are happening. And every company was male founded, every company, you know, when they put up their screen about the board that they had created, it was 15 dudes. And I was like, I was so distracted by my just absolute like, how is this still happening? That it was hard for me to really truly be present in the moment. And I think what I walked away with, because all these people are well-meaning, they're incredibly smart, they are obviously trying to build great things for our communities, but I was thinking about it from the perspective of not, well, where are the women? Obviously, that's part of it. But I came back to, okay, but what are the environments and systems that we need to set up in order to make it even possible for women to be in that conversation? And because I think if if that were the case, but that's like years in the making before you get to that event, right? It's there needs to be, here's a path that you can take that's something totally different than you may have thought of when you were considering a traditional career. Oh, here's support as you're trying to potentially build a family or build community and wanting to launch a company, like typically so much of the stuff in life falls on the woman's shoulders. And so it's much, much harder to even imagine starting something. So, it what are those factors that need to change in order to allow that to happen? And I think especially here locally, we really have, as our own city is evolving, we have a real opportunity to think about that. How are we creating environments for that to be true? And I'm certain that there's people that are having these conversations. I just don't know who they are yet. But I'm curious what you think. I mean, you did you have founded a company, you've done advisory. Like, could you imagine what additional support or what different environments might help as women are really trying to think about, hey, I've got this incredible idea. How am I gonna bring it to life when I'm also, you know, carrying all this other stuff around me? Yeah, that's a great question. And I think tracking also women to a specific to do specific things is real. So for me, I think a lot of it should be investment in the early ages. Yeah. Um, first of all, and even imagining or visioning the opportunities. And I'm sure you're wearing all the researchers and you know, how girls are positioning themselves versus boys, and a lot of education also for younger girls about the things that we know today, you know, when we're older, even just basic things like, you know, how men will apply for jobs even if they don't like don't have 80% of what they need. Well, we when even if they have almost 100%, they will think twice and yeah, and that's something that you see, but really educating women around that, or generally people actually, to pay attention to all those deficient terms, um, I think that can be very helpful. Yeah. And later on, it's a tough question because if you look at it on like as it is, you know, there's no limitations that our old women cannot go to a specific university or open their, like there's no regulations or limitations, but still the narrative has not completely changed. And to change that, it's it's uh it's a harder task to do. And I think it's also by including more and more women in those areas when we don't see them a lot. And it's not only like for conferences, for example, you know, it's not that they are not women that are great to come and speak, but usually the way that you network a lot of time comes up to friends, and sometimes men naturally bring first men these pockets of like conferences or initiatives, and that we need to pay attention and make sure that we see more women. I joined this accelerator and mentoring throughout the summer, and we also had just two women out of group of nine. So it's becoming better, right? Because I don't know, it's better than zero. Yeah, exactly. But it's still not there, and you know, you kind of ask yourself why is it just because you know, there's no um no visibility for the options to do that. Um but then if you look at the number of um funds, because you mentioned that, so you can still see that businesses that are founded by all by women only still get funded the less today. Yeah, two percent. Two percent, which is crazy. This is crazy. Like that's it. I don't like that. I mean, if that doesn't speak volumes, uh first of all, part of that is likely because right, the ratio of women-only founded companies is so much lower, but that's part of the problem, right? There's not even enough of them at the table, but even when they are at the table, they're not getting even nearly the same, like it's not even in the same playing field. 2% is, and then I always love it when people throw back that, well, that's not actually the right percentage. Okay, well, if you account for male, female led, like whether it's co-led by, you know, or co-founded by, then the percentage goes up a little bit. But like it's still low. That's still super low. That's right. It's fine, you can edit. And uh, but I think it it's you know, a lot of it is just the networking, and there's still kind of I think segregation, especially with younger people between these two groups. Yeah, you're so right. I feel like there's it's interesting because I'm I imagine that is part of the strategy of why some of the more women-led networking pockets happen, right? Like there's the we have one here locally that's all women, and I think all of that is wonderful. And the reality is we're not gonna get there on our own. We do need our male allies to help kind of elbow some folks out the way. So, right, like we can kind of end up in our own echo chamber, I think, sometimes where it's like we are, you know, of course we want to support each other, but there needs to also be because there's still so many men that still have that seat at the table. How are we then almost like crossing that divide a little bit more so that it's not just I think it's super important to have these spaces for women, to be very clear. And I think there might be something missing there around that networking piece you were just talking about. I completely agree because you know, if most of uh the people that sit at the tables are male, then if you have only women groups, then you're missing, you're kind of missing the point of of getting those connections. And again, I agree, it's also it's not that I think we should not have them, it's still great, especially by providing tools and sharing experience and all the other things. But there's also need to be, you know, um, we also need to be pushed from everyone. It has to be um a joint effort. Yes, I agree. I agree. Um and male allies, if you're out there, then yeah, come join our team. You were talking a little bit earlier about it's not everybody that has such a varied experience that you've had from startups to mid-size to larger organizations to building your own companies. Are there any interesting lessons that you can see that have been like a through line across the board in the work that you do? That's a good question, Kristen. The answer can be no. That's totally fine. But there is, I think what connects everything is I think it's something that is strong also with enablement, is kind of start with the end. Start with like you know, what you want to achieve, your values, the impact, the goals, and then pull back from there. Then that screw in every like position that I uh take or anything that I um ever build. Yeah. Because no matter the surrounding and the type of or size of company, or it's your own thing, having that reminder even in front of you all the time is really critical, not to get lost in the day-to-day, but keep your target and what you really want to impact kind of in front of you. Yeah, yeah, that's so huge. I think you're touching on too. We have talked a lot about your being incredibly intentional about internal culture and creating diverse teams and how all of that is in service of so much of what you're talking about. How have you seen that balance of like sustainability when you're also scaling? I worked for an organization where we were scaling, you know, uh, it was like when you wake up and you don't realize you're on a speeding train, and then you look down, you're like, oh, oh God. Like we're going really fast. And I will say, for regardless of the outcome of that organization, the co-founder, the thing that I just adored about her the most is she was holding on to that culture by the skin of her teeth. It was what mattered to her most. She cared so deeply about what it meant to bring these communities into the tech industry and what it meant to then create an internal culture that was about the whole human and how you should have. I mean, all of these things are, I feel like some of this language is new, right? This is not always the way we've talked about what it means to take care of our people, but it can be really tricky when you have either investor expectations or internal pressures to grow at such a rapid clip. How have you seen what it means to hold space for those teams as you're growing quickly? Yeah. And I think you have your values and you need to stick to them even when you're growing. Yeah. Um, because usually, you know, every company, especially when they're young, kind of need to think about their vision, mission, and values. But as they are closer to what you really believe, it's very easy to kind of make sure that everything is going according to that. Yeah. And I think that's one of the keys to be able to grow quickly, but still pay attention to everything, you know, because if your customer first, they need to be there really first in everything that you do. Or same thing with your employees. If your value is to have like a growth culture, then you need to give the opportunities for the employees to actually grow and take the time to learn as part of their career, even if you also need to, of course, fulfill the requirements and make sure everyone, you know, customer gets what they want, but at the same time, like pay attention to how your people are doing. Yeah. And I think it's a balance that just you need to keep. But it is true that a lot of the way that I build it, and now going back to like how I love change, but the diversity I think is required to have a successful team. And maybe that's what needs to be changed. Because and it's diversity with everything, you know, it's just not like we talked about women, but it can be everything. Also, if I look at it, is also experience that people are bringing. So, you know, some of the team are promoted from inside the company, some bring external information. Everyone have something that they do better so they can focus and own that, even if it's a team that they have similar responsibilities. And really kind of, you know, I think that the diversity gives more at the end because everyone brings their perspective and if their experience is a little different, also professionally, then you're gonna be more successful. As long as you can tr translate the values and like, you know, you still communicate well and everyone is and on the same page, but each one also bring their own thing. Totally. Do you want to sense of question? No, you did. No, 100%. No, I think absolutely, I think it's it kind of brings me to another question I had that you brought up a couple of times when you were talking about the importance of breaking down silos and this kind of cross-departmental work that needs to happen. Right. Which is true for your work, but it's true for so many people when they're trying to build or scale. If there's somebody that is has built their organization to a certain level or to certain size and they're starting to notice that creep in. Do you have any thoughts or advice on how to even start thinking about that work or where you would begin when you're hoping to break down some of those silos so a lot of it is communication and language and in specific companies you will need like steering committee so the people that kind of have a seat at the table can all communicate and start from the top and really trickle down the same messaging and it starts from there like from really good communication from having the right people also communicating it and really building plans or you know looking at initiatives more holistically across the different teens than separately. And I think one more thing that is really important is terminology. When everyone's you know speaking the same language it's very helpful and in larger companies it can get lost yes it doesn't have to be a large company I think I noticed that a lot yes in that scaling company I was just telling you about it was one of our biggest challenges is people would use five different words for the same thing and it caused so much chaos because it was like wait we're all actually saying the same thing but now we're coming at it from a totally different place because of our lens on what you mean by that word, right? So it was like a it was one of I I don't know that I could have seen what the answer was at that moment because it was so difficult. We were talking about some of our work in the public sector and then external affairs and marketing and communications, right? All of these things hold really important pieces of our revenue base and it was like it was literally as if we were in different companies it was really incredible just how disconnected it was yes and then and but you know if you have your the words that you pick up and you share with everyone and you communicate it and you repeat it and you make sure that all the teams are using the same thing. You know it's not just marketing itself but also the post sales team and product and whatever it can be also other industries and other uh teams but the principle is the same. You have to make sure that you're aligned and it's that is definitely something you need to be intentional and to think about and to make sure that as you move forward you have that peace and going back to scalability I think that's also a big part of being able to scale successfully totally yes I agree uh it and it's maybe not it like seems simple ish and then but then when you really get to the heart of it it's not simple at all. It's not it's not it's not especially if people build content to other things already like it's it's a real thing. You really have to kind of as you start earlier and working on it and making sure you grow kind of uh seamlessly with it it's easier but if the company is already even a little bit ahead it's it's a real challenge to get everyone on the same page. Yeah totally agree it and it's like you could be do trying to force it with all your might and it still doesn't quite hit. Okay, moving into our last question, bringing it back to you and you know if you're thinking about your idea of success over the years, from where you started to where you are today and this is the question I ask everyone at the end because in my mind the bridging of your own personal and professional development with whatever it is that you're building externally all of this is in service of something bigger than each of us whether it's the impact you're trying to have whether it's the business you're trying to build whether it's the teams you care about whether it's your family whatever all of these things right are inherently in service of building a legacy. And so I like to ask um for you Noah what does building a legacy mean for you? That's first of all it's a beautiful question. It's really it's really not it's really honestly not it's not fair that I ask this at the end truly because it is I should be giving people some time to think about it because it's not something that you can you know necessarily just riff. But I do I like to give folks an opportunity to answer it because as you might imagine it it is an incredibly varied and unique response that you get. Yes. Right and I love that question because it kind of takes me back to I talked about the impact and you know thinking about the end and this is legacy right it's like what do you want your impact to be and I think for me it's probably everything that I leave a little better at the world across everything that I do. So if it's giving good values for my kids that they will carry if it's like the community work that I do and having a tighter community for people if it's the team that I work with like everyone that I can kind of help grow or you know do something they love a little better. I think I think it's all of these little things together and it will not be for me this one big business that I leave behind. But really the world is a crazy place. It's my backyard and the little things that I can live a little better. I guess I love that I love that so much. I recently heard somebody talking about the little eye versus the big eye impact and how sometimes we can get a little kind of distracted or shiny object with the big eye and thinking that that's really our life's work but ultimately it's the the little eye it's these things that you might not even be aware of in the way you're showing up every day. Right when I said that you're intentional about creating diverse teens for you it's that's just how you show up in the world. That is literally how you are inherently making the world a better place. And I think that the fact that you are spreading that everywhere from community to your family to the places you work like yeah that is creating actual change and we all know we're in a moment in our world where we don't get to affect change at a higher level. It's just not unfortunately the system that we live in. And so how do we then get to have that impact in in these other ways so I think that's really beautiful and I just love it. Yeah. Thank you and I think it's kind of similar how you want to be successful at something and it's not about the one big thing that you'll do but it's about your habits and how you're going to you know keep at it all the time to get there. Um so it's like my daughter had this picture and it says make one person smile every day like you know it doesn't have to be a lot but just yes I love that I love it. Well thank you so much for taking some time to be with me. I just always love getting to chat with you so I just appreciate your time thank you for inviting me. I always enjoy talking to you as well so uh this was really fun and amazing um yeah thank you we'll see each other soon in another support quad all right friend have a good day you too bye bye bye

Outro

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thank you so much for listening and spending some of your time with me here I hope our conversation sparked some new ideas for you if you enjoyed the episode please make sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's next. And if you're ready for even more tools and stories head on over to Beldenstrategies.com slash newsletter. I share fresh insights, stories and tools for women leaders every week. Until next time keep building keep evolving and remember that you are kind of a big deal.