"GO OUT, TRY NEW THINGS, BE BRAVE, BE UNIQUE. INNOVATION WILL FOLLOW".
- ALE BROWNInnovation to me means a lot of different things. It means courage, it means ability to adapt, it means embracing the unknown. It means a brighter and more promising future if you can see where the
opportunities lie and just reach out and grab them.
In my life, I have experienced innovation personally and professionally. I immigrated to Vancouver in May 2000. It was still the height of the dot com era. I had a promising corporate career in IT back in Mexico, but I needed something else and I needed to try my luck in a country as beautiful as Canada. I was old enough to be bold and take a risk but young enough that if the opportunities did not work out, I could start all over. So, when I got my permanent resident visa due to the fact that Vancouver needed more tech people, I made a plan, packed my bags, said goodbye to my life, and embraced my new country.
I had my choice of jobs back then. That is, until the dot com bubble burst and tech jobs became scarce. I was lucky enough that my skills were sought out but usually I was the only or just one of few women in tech. I knew I had to look for a community of women that were experiencing the same challenges that I was and then I found Vancouver Women in Technology.
I joined their events and eventually became part of the board of directors where now I am the president. Having that support group inspired me to continue innovating until I founded my own consulting firm. They were the first ones that invited me to be a guest speaker as a newly minted entrepreneur! And now my passion is to help and mentor women that are pursuing a career in technology to be bold, to be fearless and to be innovative.
Being an immigrant and a woman in tech has been a challenge and a gift at the same time because feeling like the underdog has forced me to be focused, to work hard and not take anything for granted. If something sounds like an opportunity to innovate, I pursue it without hesitation, with the same hunger and passion that I had back when I just arrived. So, I would like to offer some thoughts about what I have found through my career that has helped me move forward to achieve my dreams:
Go out, try new things, be brave, be unique. Innovation will follow.
Ale started her career as an IT professional working for large corporations such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. She also ventured into the entrepreneurial world working for boutique consulting firms when she moved to Vancouver.
She founded a consulting firm where her area of expertise is operationalizing Privacy and Security Programs for organizations to be compliant with Privacy Regulations.