She Designs Presents Episode 1: - Designing your Personal Story

Episode 1: - Designing your Personal Story

Presented by She Designs with Guest Speaker Annie Jean-Baptiste, Head of Product Inclusion, Google

What was covered...

1. Make sure your brand is visible.

2. Know your why. This will help you make informed decisions on the role or company you want to work with.

3. Network broadly and make sure to connect with your peers, various units, and leaders.

4. Find ways to show up and be seen. To develop your personal brand, you can…

   • Develop a 90, 60, and 30-second elevator pitch

   • Write down 5 words to describe yourself

   • Ask friends or coworkers for anonymous feedback. Ask them to describe you and your strengths

   • Think of yourself as a business, what would your tagline be?

     5.    During COVID-19, you could…

   • Update your resume

   • Keep your contacts warm

   • Ask your network if they know of any companies hiring

   • Look into smaller arms of large corporations like innovation hubs

    6.    Highlight your transferable skills if you are looking to pivot into a new industry.
    7.   Make sure you do self-care activities and develop boundaries. Annie mentioned taking a vacation, self-care days, shutting off email past 8pm, and meditating. 
   8.   Interested in product inclusion? Here are some tips: 

   • Have D&I experience

   • Understand core parts of UX/UI like ideation, user research, user testing, and marketing

   • Understand the business aspect of the work

   9.   If you are an introvert and want to speak up more, you can....

   • Try to say 1 thing in each meeting

   • Ask for the agenda ahead of time 

   • Ask the manager to create space for you to speak

   • Leave comments in a shared document

   10.  Be thoughtful about how you approach networking during this time. She suggested reading Andy Raskin's post around  building a Strategic Narrative. 

Helpful Resources:

• Strategic Narrative Tips from Andy Raskin

• Originals Book by Adam Grant 

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