The Women of Crossfuze
From the invention of written language to the invention of the cloud, technology shapes our culture and makes the world what it is. Leading in this field requires talent of all stripes. Forward thinkers find solutions to problems that we didn’t know we had, while technical architects and engineers turn vision into reality.
Technology is genderless and should provide an equal playing field for all. Unfortunately, men far outnumber women in the field. Even so, the technology field produces amazing women – whether they create the technology, implement the technology, sell the technology or write about it.
Women are among those leading the charge here at Crossfuze. Each took a different path and brings her own perspective. But they all have one thing in common, as they lean into their roles, they’re lifting other women up.
Let’s meet five of them:
Dalin Murad, Integrated Marketing Specialist, Crossfuze UK.
After graduating from university with a Biomedical Sciences BSc degree and working in the luxury retail industry, Dalin took up coding as a hobby and quickly developed it into a hard skill for a potential career path in STEM. Soon after, she attended a Microsoft event to learn more about the technology industry, which led to her decision to pursue a career in tech. She leveraged her sales experience and STEM degree to get her foot in the door as a Finance Account Development Representative at Crossfuze. But her passion for the technical side of the business didn’t stay hidden for long.
Within months of her hire, Nick McGillivray, Vice President EMEA, noticed Dalin’s enthusiasm for programming and encouraged her to explore it. Today, she draws on her experience as a Jr. Technical Consultant in Crossfuze’s 3 Months to NOW program to create marketing initiatives for the EMEA market. 3 Months to NOW is for anyone interested in learning ServiceNow and pursuing a career working within the platform.
Dalin is so passionate about bringing other young women into the fold, that she’s working with Crossfuze leadership on a Women in Tech initiative open day to promote the Three Months to Now program. The Women Fuzed in Tech event - aimed at young women in their final year of university or recent graduates - provides an opportunity to learn what it’s like to work in technology. Along with a panel discussion featuring female leaders in the field, attendees will have an opportunity to network with other women interested in working in tech, take part in collaborative challenges and gain experience on the ServiceNow platform.
Outside of Crossfuze, Dalin volunteers with Stemettes, a program in the UK for young women, ages 13 to 25, who are interested in STEM. Stemettes explore STEM career options by hearing from and working alongside experienced women in technology.
Allison Walker, ServiceNow Certified Master Architect, Managing Consultant, Crossfuze NA
Like many of us, Allison Walker learned far more on the job than she did in four years of college. The only woman in her sorority studying technology and the only woman in her major, Allison taught herself how to code and learned the ServiceNow platform on her own. So, it’s not surprising that today, she’s one of only a handful of ServiceNow Certified Master Architects.
Allison credits her success in the field to her good communication skills and her adaptability. In meetings she plays off the experience she has both as a customer and someone who works on the platform. And when the going gets rough, she draws on the relationship-building skills she learned in college and helps the customer solve the problem.
As someone who’s worked remotely for the past ten years, she’s an expert at balancing work and life. And she’s got some good pointers for us. Allison keeps a dedicated workspace in her home. When she’s done for the day, she powers down, shuts the door to her workspace so she can focus on the rest of her life.
Abbey Elias, Director of Commercial Sales NA
As a young girl in Northern California, Abbey Elias looked forward to her elementary school’s annual Medieval Festival. Each year, at the conclusion of their Medieval History unit, students wrote about a person from that era and then played that part in the festival. The festival always had a king rule over the festival. Abbey wondered why there was never a queen. According to her teachers, ruling queens didn’t exist in the Middle Ages. Skeptical Abbey saw an opportunity. She wanted to be the festival queen. One teacher challenged Abbey to find a ruling queen to research and write about. If she was successful, Abbey would have a shot at being the Queen of the Festival.
Every day she dragged her stepmother to the library in search of a ruling medieval queen. Eventually, they found Eleanor of Aquitaine. Abbey’s essay landed her the role of Queen of the Medieval Festival. The first in the school’s history.
As with her role as the first-ever Queen of the Medieval Festival, Abbey saw an opportunity that led to the creation of her current role here at Crossfuze. When ServiceNow started to invest in their Inside Sales Rep program, she proposed the idea of dedicating a team focused solely on servicing ServiceNow ISRs. Today, she leads the team which is currently working remotely but will have offices in San Diego and in Boston when it’s safe to do so.
Abbey naturally surrounds herself with strong women like her mother and stepmother to this day. And the strength she draws from that network fuels her success. In fact, Abbey shared this quote from a friend and former colleague, Margaret Weniger, “According to Harvard Business Review, women who have an inner circle that’s predominantly women have 2.5 times higher authority and pay.”
Danielle Good, Director of Customer Success, ServiceNow – Professional Services
If you think you need a degree in math, science, engineering or business to be a technology leader, think again. Crossfuze’s Director of Customer Success, Danielle Good, has a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, and a Master of Music Degree.
After graduate school at the Manhattan School of Music, Danielle was awarded a fellowship to write, direct and produce a musical – and developed a passion, not only for the creation of a work of art, but for the engineering and project management of putting all those pieces together – and building a team that could work toward a deadline.
Once her fellowship was over, she transferred those project skills to a position at a securities law firm in New York City and eventually became somewhat of a legal technology expert. Her technology expertise was instrumental in growing a second law firm by implementing a system for time tracking, billing and operations. That system helped grow the firm’s client base by 700% and their collections rate by 200% which resulted in a 32% increase in revenue in the first year. For the first time, the firm could see where lawyers were spending their time – which helped them become more efficient and effective.
Eventually, her passion for technology, implementing systems that deliver great output, and ServiceNow led Danielle to Crossfuze where she works as Director of Customer Success. In this role, Danielle is passionate about mentoring new women into STEM and helping them realize that there is a place for them in technology regardless of their background. She encourages the people on her team to mentor one another and grows in their roles together. As she puts it, “everyone has a unique perspective, everyone wants to contribute, everyone wants to be the best company we can possibly be. And when a team is united like that, there is nothing we can’t do.”
Anna Wolbrecht, Managing Consultant ServiceNow – Professional Services
During her final semester at Auburn University, Anna Wolbrecht had her doubts about Computer Engineering. Like many soon-to-be college graduates, she wondered what lay ahead for her – the only woman in her cohort.
Anna got her foot in the door at American Express and, thanks to an incredibly intelligent and tough but still caring woman who mentored her, she worked up the ranks to the position of Lead Programmer Analyst in a male-dominated world over the course of 10 years before embarking on the hardest job of her career – that of a stay-at-home mom.
Her vision of field trips and crafts was not reality. She quickly learned that stay-at-home moms are at once house managers, teachers, accountants, nurses, counselors, negotiators and diplomats – and they don’t get time off. To this day, she draws on her experience as a stay-at-home mom and leads with empathy as the women around her balance work and life.
After five years she eased her way back to American Express as a part-time technical architect before accepting a full-time role at the Friedkin group – where she further developed her leadership skills and learned ServiceNow. Her passion for ServiceNow brought her to Crossfuze. Today, she leads a talented team of ServiceNow Architects.
Reflecting on her experiences, Anna sees how each step of her journey made her the woman she is today. She’s eager to make time for younger women coming up in the field and thrilled to see more young women excited about careers in technology.
The future looks bright for the Women of Crossfuze – and all women in technology.
These five women are just a smattering of the talent we have here at Crossfuze. Each woman expressed genuine excitement for the future. Girls are showing more interest in tech in school and young women are entering technology fields in greater numbers than ever before.
The prevailing sentiment in business today is that every company is a technology company – which means that there’s something for everyone here – whether you’re an analyst, coder, architect, team leader or a technology communicator. Technology is a challenging field where we work together to build our future. We all belong here and when we work together, nothing’s impossible.
If you'd like to learn more about Crossfuze's services, reach out at letstalk@crossfuze.com.
