Our Power of Difference communities (PODs) are employee-driven groups that enhance VMware’s inclusive culture and harness the power of human difference. Our PODs are open to anyone in VMware and are designed to help participants grow as leaders, engage with different communities, and drive business impact.
Meet Ronke Babajide, Lead Solution Engineer Security based in Austria and contributor to the Women’s POD.
Tell us about your work in the Women’s POD?
I’m very passionate about bringing more women into tech and I support the POD by volunteering my time to reach out to women in tech organisations and creating more visibility for what we do at VMware. Through my ‘Women in Technology Spotlight’ podcast series, I try to create interest in the roles that are available by showing what we do in our respective jobs. And I also speak about working in tech as a woman at global conferences such as womentech.net or at Talent Acquisition events.
What does it mean to you to be part of the Women’s POD?
It gives me the opportunity to network with like-minded women and be part of a community that tries to support and uplift each other. Meeting with the other members of the POD, organizing activities and hearing about initiatives and progress we’ve implemented makes me feel more connected to the community. Being part of this POD also gives me the feeling that the topics and agendas that women face in the workplace are given attention and a voice.
You work as a Lead Solution Engineer as well as being part of the Women’s POD how do you balance the two?
Working in this role gives me a lot of flexibility to squeeze in time between meetings to work on preparing for events or a talk. But because the topic is important to me I’m also happy to invest some of my free time, for example, to create the podcast. Talking to all these women is so inspiring that the time I spend on this work is something I always look forward to.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a better ally to the Women’s POD community? A lot of times I feel as if men are not participating because they think the activities, events and talks we host are just for women. They’re not, please come and join them – there will be no change if we as women keep telling other women what we’re facing and what we’re trying to achieve. We already know. We need men to come, listen, contribute and be an ally. In one of my recent interviews with Lynsey Campbell, Director of Customer Success EMEA, Lyndsey called this “harnessing the power of the majority”. As the majority in VMware are men, we need you as men to chime in and support us to create real change.
Click here to learn more about our employee-led Power of Difference groups.
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