According to Evia, (cited by Small Business Trends) women make up less than 20 percent of U.S. tech jobs, even though they make up more than half of the U.S. workforce. According to McKinsy and Company, Gender diversity is correlated with both profitability and value creation. Like gender diversity, top-team ethnic and cultural diversity is correlated with profitability. In the most crude business terms - more diversity means more money. Which I would hope is not the main driver in campaigns and strategies to increase diversity in the workplace, specifically tech. 

Tech and SaaS has an endless amount of complex problems which need a multitude of varying tactics, perspectives and conversations. The more diverse minds you have at the table, the more likely you are to come up with compelling and unique solutions. In short, diversity rocks, it's needed, it makes basic human sense, and I'll continue to advocate for diversity in tech and I hope you will too. 

Which is why I'm happy to highlight one of SaaS' rising heroes, Vanessa Hannay, who not only serves as a Senior Customer Success Strategist at Muck Rack, but also recently co-founded a NYC Chapter for Women in Customer Success. While achieving accomplishments in her role at Muck Rack, she took the opportunity to leverage her success to open the door for other aspiring women in Customer Success, while creating a community of women currently in Customer Success to network. This episode highlights Vanessa's journey which led her to working in customer success and enabling others to do the same.