Thanks to her dad, Trina Love found an early love for science fiction. “I grew up with my dad, and we would watch Star Wars all the time. I was reading and writing all kinds of scientific stuff, HG Wells, etc.”, Trina remembers. But, she did have an elementary teacher who pushed her to expand her acumen and read other genres, including Beverly Cleary. Trina was hooked! She enjoyed Beverly Cleary’s books so much that she wrote her a letter, and Ms. Cleary wrote back! These early years cemented a love of writing for Trina. This was when she decided that she wanted to become an author and take people to “other worlds with her writing.”
In high school, Trina had another choice to make – what was she going to do next. At 15, she discovered she had an aptitude for coding and had the privilege of exploring that in High School. “My school had a program with IBM where IBM taught us how to code, and we coded for them. And yes, of course, I was the only female in the class.” She soon realized that coding wasn’t something that she wanted to pursue, but “my parents taught me from a very young age that I could be whatever I wanted to be”.
Trina attended Georgia State University with the intention of pursuing her other passion – creative writing, but things shifted while she was there. “I loved writing, but literature was very subjective.” Trina then sat down with one of her professors, whom she now credits as one of her mentors along her journey, Dr. Snow. Dr. Snow encouraged Trina and started her down her technical writing path. “In technical writing, there are rules. It is more cut and dry. I was able to marry my love for technology and my love for writing. It was a dream come true.”
A 30-year adventure
After graduating with a degree in technical writing, Trina embarked on a 30-year career in the tech industry. She has worked for some of the largest Fortune 500 companies, all while pursuing her passion for writing and creating. Reflecting on her career, she admits, “It was uncomfortable at times, being the only girl among all of the guys”. She had to learn how to be comfortable and connect with others. “In uncomfortable moments, I try to find something in common with people that I’m feeling uncomfortable around.” Good thing Trina is strong in the Force and can use fun to connect with her Jedi colleagues.
Another thing that Trina has always done to find her place is to keep learning. She found herself several times faced with needing to learn something because no one else wanted to learn it. She could have resented the task, but she took it as a challenge. To learn new things and become an expert in it, “even if that meant extra studying or time. I was ferocious and just wanted to learn everything I needed to.”
This is how Trina found Security and Networking. She remembers when she was over a group of writers, and “none of them wanted to do networking, so I wrote for the network engineers.” She began by taking classes with them and diving into the subject matter. “I just became really good at understanding it and then being able to diagram the traffic”. It became Trina’s niche, and she went on to expand her skills in Networking and Security by “doing the Visio diagrams for the network. Diagraming networks is just a different aspect of drawing.” This can be a big jump for most writers, but “images and diagrams can tell the story with just one look”.
This ability to tell a story, visual and written, served her well in her career. She currently works for VMware by Broadcom as a Technical Learning Engineer (TLE) for the VCF division. She gets to teach others about how to use VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware NSX. She is creating video content for people to watch on demand and learn how to install, configure, and maintain VCF. “I get to make sure our customers know how to work our products.” Being able to balance her creativity and technical skills to help others learn has become a passion for Trina. “People should not be afraid to use their imagination, even for technical things.”
Embracing beauty
This balance is evident when you look at Trina’s office. On one side, there are beautiful paintings and charcoal drawings, and on the other side, you can see computer screens, recording equipment, and technical training materials. Trina has found the beauty in creating. “We are all born with creativity; we just have to find an outlet and then practice. People are not good at things overnight.”
Trina confessed that even though she has always been creative and is always doodling, she just started formally painting a little over a year ago. Now, she holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the Savannah College of Art and Design for Writing and is a guest lecturer there. “It’s never too late to learn something”, Trina reminds me. She now spends a portion of her free time painting Cityscapes in acrylics or drawing them with charcoal.
The beauty that Trina sees doesn’t stop at her artwork. Trina finds beauty all around her, in music and travel. She enjoys soaking up the sea air at the beach or traveling to Italy to take in the sights. She encourages everyone, no matter their age, to “find great stuff out about yourself and just explore.”
“Holding Space for the Creative and Technical sides of yourself is important for owning balance in your life. 30 years, and I have always loved what I have done, and I want to inspire others to find that balance and beauty for themselves.” Trina recognizes that this isn’t always the easiest road to travel, and there can be many bumps along the way.
When thinking about the next generation of women in tech, Trina has some advice:
- You really have to know what interests you. Your interest will drive you forward.
- You need to mentally tell yourself I can do this. Set your mind firm on your goals.
- Know that you have the acumen and aptitude to learn anything you need to.
When pursuing anything – confidence is important, determination is key. “But like my Dad always said, ‘as long as you are doing what you love, the money will come.’”
Ready to take on Trina’s challenge and learn something new? Trina and our other VMware Technical Learning Engineers have created hundreds of courses to help you. Click here to view On Demand courses available in our Enterprise Learning Subscription.
Interested in reading more inspiring stories like Trina’s? Click here to read about Rebecca Aquino’s evolving career in tech and Amy Agnew’s triumph in trying new things.
