Virtual Tech Talk with Bit.ly - "Meet the Women at Bitly"

This month's tech talk is brought to you by Bit.ly

Talk
Come spend an hour with some of the amazing women at Bitly. At Bitly, we pride ourselves on being catalysts for change & we have lined up a panel to celebrate some of these catalysts that have been working on changing the gender dynamics in the tech space for their entire careers! Cassie Brown (VP of Engineering) will be moderating the panel of inspiring women.

Panel:
Julie Wu:
Has been in Post Sales Account Management, Customer Success & Strategy for the last 18+ years mainly in the digital ad & tech space. Focus for the last 10+ years has been coaching, mentoring & managing dynamic teams responsible for: onboarding, integration, retention, upsell & customer ROI. The tech industry has always been male-dominated, specifically the Commercial & Engineering teams, Bitly strives to break this mold. We still have work to do, but so far it has been one of the most equitable tech companies I have seen in my career. It has always been one of my core values to continuously learn in my professional & personal DEI&B journey, specifically on how women can support & ally with one another to raise our voices - we deserve a seat at the table at all levels of any organization. This is what drives my motivation and work at Bitly & beyond.

Shelby Cer:
Is the Director of Product, Engagement at Bitly and is based in Fort Collins, Co. She has been a product leader for over 7 years and specializes in startups and building product teams at new companies. She started in tech in 2012 with an internship at a startup in Boulder, CO while attending CU, and while looking for office space came across a software development bootcamp inside Galvanize. She ultimately quit her startup job, enrolled in Galvanize, and after 6 months was a full stack engineer. From there she transitioned into a Product Management role and over the last 7.5 years has worked her way to Bitly. This has been one of the most equitable professional environments in her career and is stoked that her leadership meetings are always over 50% (and oftentimes 100%!) female.

Raquel Egbuonu:
Is the Director of the PMO (Project Management Office) & Agile Delivery Team and is based in Houston, TX. Raquel has 15 years of progressive experience leading global teams and initiatives, program management, strategic planning, and business development across multiple vertical industries. She is a dedicated and inclusive leader focused on delivering outstanding leadership while inspiring team growth, development, and retention. She is driven to lead by example and delivers operations at scale empowering organizations and individuals to achieve next level success. Raquel has been at Bitly for 4 months but has also worked at companies such as BigCommerce and Dropbox. She enjoys spending time with her family and all things outdoors!

Samantha Belkin:
Is the Director of Engineering at Bitly overseeing our Engagement teams. She is based out of CT and has been at Bitly for 4 years. Samantha's career began in the finance industry after graduation, but she has been in the tech space for over 7 years after completing a coding bootcamp in 2015, and stepping into a management role a little over 2 years ago. Her background in software engineering involves specializing in APIs, integrations, and backend initiatives at scale. Combined with her business experience, Samantha has become a partner across the organization, as well as with clients and vendors. She enjoys hiring to fully staff her teams as well as mentoring her direct reports and doing her best to further their career goals and personal motivations.

Phoebe Lowery:
Has worked as an accountant in several industries over the last 17 years. I started out working for a franchisor for an athletic company and then jumped into the publishing industry, which I did for 10 years. Seeking a change, I decided to try my luck in hospitality, working for a high-end steakhouse and then a high-end spa/fitness company. The pandemic hit that industry hard and I found myself looking to start anew when the opportunity arose here at Bitly. I had wanted to find a place where not only would I be able to thrive professionally, but to also be surrounded by amazing, supportive people while offering a fantastic product. When I was graduating college, the pendulum for accounting had already begun swinging from a mostly male-dominated field, but I still came across occasional roadblocks throughout my career; encountering some male superiors who viewed women, particularly women of color, as less than capable of performing and/or achieving anything. As co-lead of our Mosaic DE&I ERG here at Bitly, my goal is to prove that we are ALL more than capable of growth and prosperity.

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