Breaking Comfort Zones and Growing Wings
In this episode of Unstoppable Stories, the UMGC Podcast, host Lauren Cardillo welcomes D’Yanna Craighead, author and UMGC alumna, to share her journey of resilience, growth, and transformation. From her early experiences overcoming adversity to participating in the Disney College Program, D’Yanna’s story is a testament to perseverance, setting goals and finding ways to accelerate toward success.
D’Yanna discusses the inspiration behind her book, The Butterfly Code, and how it reflects her belief in embracing change and stepping out of comfort zones to achieve personal growth. She also explores the importance of empathy, evolving through challenges, and finding motivation in life’s struggles. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about overcoming obstacles, pursuing dreams, and transforming into the best version of yourself.
Episode Information
D'Yanna Craighead:
You have to evolve, you know, and you have to be willing to get into the uncomfortable places and, you know, do the things that you need to do to go through your own transformation so that you can fly. You can't fly and have wings with those kind of heavy burdens on your shoulders. We have to get out of our comfort zone to, to grow. So many metaphors. We think about a plant, right? A plant will only grow so far in a pot that it's in. And in order for it to continue to grow, you have to pull it out of that pot and put it somewhere else. Fish, right? In an aquarium. You put a fish in a little bowl, they'll only grow that big. You put them into a bigger aquarium, they will grow. There's just so many things in my life that I thought about, man, if I hadn't gotten out of my comfort zone, I wouldn't be here.
Intro:
Welcome to the UMGC podcast, Unstoppable Stories, with your host, Lauren Cardillo.
Lauren Cardillo:
Today I'm joined by D'Yanna Craighead, a UMGC MBA grad. Author, Disney tech expert, many things. Thanks so much for being here.
D'Yanna Craighead:
Thank you so much for having me. Super excited to be here today.
Lauren Cardillo:
We are too. So as storytellers, I'm going to ask you a, uh, you know, a story question. If I said to you, once upon a time, there was a young girl in Pittsburgh who liked technology, what would you say came next?
D'Yanna Craighead:
That she walked into a classroom one day as a. Captain of a cheerleading team, pretty popular person, and she walked into a technology classroom and there was nobody in that classroom that looked like her. So not, not any girls, not any people of color. And that moment could have really changed the trajectory of her future, because she could have walked out of that classroom, feeling like she didn't belong there. Um, but she stuck around. She gave it a try and she learned that she really, really did have something in common with those people in my classroom, which was the love for technology. And here I am today in an amazing technology career because I didn't give up or I didn't walk away because it looked different than what I thought it would be.
Lauren Cardillo:
What was it about the technology that really interested to do?
D'Yanna Craighead:
Honestly, I have a love for figuring things out. So back then it wasn't technology per se, right? Right. I don't even know what it was called, right? It was just, it was just computers, right? Computing. Um, and I had a love for figuring things out, doing puzzles, mind teasers, that kind of thing. And. What I've noticed the first thing in that classroom was that the class wasn't, it didn't come easy for me, and everything else up until that point kind of came pretty easy. Writing, You know, reading class, math, science, they, they were pretty easy. Um, but this was something different outside of the norm of your typical curriculum. Right. This was not something everybody was learning. And I had to. Learn to write this code, which was almost like putting a puzzle together to make things happen and to do things. And if something didn't work, you had to figure out why is this thing out of place? And it really became the gratification of getting it to work. Um, that really excited me, you know, and then being able to then put that together with the real world. Like seeing how a technology program makes a website run, you know, back then, there was no Google yet, the internet was just coming out, right, but seeing it, getting to make something work, um, and make it, make some sound on the screen, it just, I was fascinated by it and was like super intrigued.
Lauren Cardillo:
Where do you think that came from? Because, like you said, only girl in the class, only person of color, it wasn't like, You were surrounded by that at all.
D'Yanna Craighead:
So story time again, true story. Um, my grandfather, uh, he was retired military and he worked security at our convention center in Pittsburgh. And so he was always there when there were conventions going on and he would just, you know, bring home stuff that was left over or somebody gave away. And, you know, it could be, You know, a new, um, it was a, uh, when it wasn't granola bars, but it was like when a certain type of granola bar came out, I remember those when they first came out and brought like a case home, like here, they gave these away, like try it. So he would bring us this stuff. Um, and one of the things that he brought was a Commodore 64 computer. I was probably like 10 years old, right? Right. Love it. A Commodore 64 computer. My mother has three sisters. And so we would share these things, right? Like if it was something big, it would like go to one of our houses for a couple of months and it would move to another one of, you know, the other, my aunt's houses for a couple of months. But we were always at each other's houses. So it didn't matter whose house it was. We'd get to get on his computer and I would just be the person that would sit there And type out all these commands into this, into the TV, right? Because it wasn't a, it was, it plugged into your TV. And I didn't even know back then that that was, um, I think it was BASIC. So I think really that was kind of the, the thing that intrigued me. I just was, um. I was always a dreamer as a kid, like a dreamer of like, what are these things that are different that, you know, you see and can do? And um, that was really the introduction to like playing around on a computer and trying to figure out how that worked and got things going.
Lauren Cardillo:
What was your family's reaction to this and, you know, how did they either support you or tell you? This is not a career, you know,
D'Yanna Craighead:
So, uh, my mother actually was not supportive. Um, and she, she, we've talked about this, so she won't be mad if she hears about this. Um, and it's in my book and I explain why, right? Like it was, it was foreign to her. So she, you know, my family is full of educators. So most people are teachers or, um, in business of some sort or working in nonprofits. So my mom and some of my aunts were big on like community involvement, community outreach. So that's always been instilled in me. And so it was like, go get your degree in business. Like that's what you should get your degree in. Um, and I kind of shared that, you know, Hey, I, I really, I really liked this. She felt like I was going to be pigeonholed because she just didn't understand what that. what that meant. Um, it wasn't something anybody in the family was doing or even understood what it was. And then I remember, uh, showing her a newspaper clipping because that's where jobs were posted. I'm telling my age here, but that's where jobs were posted. And so I paid for this newspaper clipping and I showed like what I could make out of college, like right out of college. And it was a salary that like many family members weren't making, you know, she actually said something that was like a gut punch, but it, it opened my eyes to some of the struggles in life that I began to face, which was, but you're not going to make that salary because you're black. And I remember just like, you know, my face always tells you how I'm feeling, even if I don't say it out loud and she, I didn't respond, but my face was in shock.
And she said, and I'm just telling you that because it's true. Um, and I'm telling this story and I don't want anybody to think that my mother is a horrible person, but what it was was she she was right in a way, in a sense that I. Would be introduced to a pay gap because of my gender and my race. Like that was, that is a reality, right? Um, it was just the way she said it and the way she delivered it. I, it was a way that like, I didn't understand it at the time. And I was like, how horrible, like, you know, and I felt like she was trying to crush my dreams, but she was trying to protect me from the ugliness in the world, you know? And so me being who I am, uh, I was like, I'm gonna prove you wrong. You know, I didn't say it to her that way. I didn't say it, but I was like, I'm going to be wrong. And like, that's, that's really a big part of my personality. You tell me, no, I'm going to find the yes, you know? So I was like, I'm going to go out here and I'm going to be successful. I'm going to show you and, um, and I am, I'm very successful in the role, but, um, You know, as my career began to grow and climb, you know, I did start to see those discrepancies or it's, it's harder, it's harder for me as a woman and being a person of color.
It is, you know, so, you know, I got it now, but back then I was like, what, you know, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Like, I still am happy that I chose this career and, you know, it's just that there's work to be done. As, as, you know, someone that looks different than what the world thinks a technologist should look like. It really wasn't until I came to work for Disney, you know, and I tell people this when people ask, like, what makes Disney? Working for Disney different than other big tech companies. Cause I worked for some really great companies coming to Disney. And my first project out of the door was launching magic bands at Disney world, right? Launching the, my magic plus project. And it was something that she could see. It was something my daughter could see. Right? So if somebody asked. Any one of them, like, what does your mom do? Or what does your daughter do? And she goes, you know, when you go to Disney World and you put that band on your wrist, like she worked on that project, like, you know, so she might even tell you, I invented them, but like.
Like, no mom, I'm not. Of course
Lauren Cardillo:
You did. She's a mom. You're the magic band person. I totally know what she's talking about.
D'Yanna Craighead:
We created the magic band. Like I was on the team. I was not, I didn't create them by myself, but, you know. Um, but yeah, and like, you know, and so that's the part of coming to work for a company like Disney that's so amazing and gratifying because now everything that I work on the world. Touches it and sees it in some way they understand it. And, um, she's super proud. She's super proud and I was super proud of me being an author. Um, you know, so. You know, and then she gets the, she gets the rewards of my labor too, right? Like, you get to go on these amazing cruise ships and come to the parks and, you know, do all the insider things at Disney that people would die to, you know, be a part of. So like, yeah, she's super proud.
Lauren Cardillo:
Through, through your book, I learned you were also at Disney, like, was it an internship career? You know, when you're in college. So. Describe that day for me when you walked, you had been to Disney before, but that day when you walked onto the Disney, I don't want to say lot, but the Disney, you know, um, location, what did that feel like when
D'Yanna Craighead:
You knew that?
So that program is called the Disney College Program and it is a program that's still around today. It's, it's an amazing program and you're, you're selected from hundreds, hundreds of applicants. So just being selected, I felt. And, and special again, true story. My mother was not supportive of me coming to this program because I had to take a semester of school off. Um, she was like, what do you mean you're going to take off college and go run around this, you know, your parents have idea for you. And it's like, stick to the program and, you know, go off and live your life. But this was one of the best decisions I could have ever made back then. It, like, just walking into the magic of Disney. That's what really started, like, my love of it. I had been to Disney one time at 12 years old. So you have little small memories of just walking around as a kid. But to be a part of it and get to go behind the scenes. And learn how the company was created and the values that the company stands on. And, um, honestly learning about Walt Disney is what made me a dreamer.
Like what made me be that person to go, I can dream and do big things. I really just put my mind to it because, um, I learned things about Disney that people don't know about or, or probably wouldn't think about, which is, you know, he. Was a successful businessman and lost the rights to his first character, right? You know, so everybody knows Mickey Mouse, but you might not know about Oswald the lucky rabbit, right? And so when you hear about that and you're like man, like he could have gave it given up He could have you know, just lost it and got gone into a depression, but he kept going and he started over And we're all here today because of that, you know, and so that, that is the inspiration that caused me to be like, you know what, I'm going to be somebody great one day. I don't know if I have a Deonna Craig humor, but like, but you know, it's, it's, uh, it made me feel like, you know what, we can get out here and dream bigger for ourselves. And I do believe that like my life and my career is what it is today because I had goals And dreams of what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be.
Lauren Cardillo:
One of the things you, you talk about in your book is, um, that we should all have goals every year. Like we should set something new, you know. Which I think You know, when you're 20 sounds really good, but maybe you should be doing it your entire life. You know, it's sort of like your career has done that because you went from, was it IBM? You moved. You just kept going when hardship hit.
D'Yanna Craighead:
Yeah. I
Lauren Cardillo:
mean, I mean, what sort of drove you to keep going?
D'Yanna Craighead:
As a young person, as in my twenties, you know, really a lot of my motivation was, um, You know, growing up in the inner city of Pittsburgh and, you know, seeing some of the struggles of, you know, my family, you know, some of my family did very well. Some of us, you know, didn't have all the things we, I mean, I had a great life and a great childhood, but, you know, we weren't rich for sure, you know, um, and I knew what struggle. Was and what it looked like, and I do think that starting to travel right and starting to, you know, go to Disney World when I was 12 and, you know, do the college program when I was in college. So when you go away and then you come back, and you're like there's so much more out there, you know, um, and I think with my, my hometown people. It's a comfort zone. You know, like, like when my father passed away, he had never seen the ocean before we brought him down here and took him to the ocean, you know, um, so people just don't leave sometimes this bubble.
But I felt like that bubble was kind of like suffocating me. And I was like, I just want to see more and more and more. And once I began to see the world and to see that, you know, there's so much more out there. That was just my motivation to want to see more and want to show my daughter more. Um, and you know, my career is what had to drive that. So whether the goal is I want to see the world or the goal is. I want to make six figures or the goal is I want to be a certain job title. You know, I was always writing it down in a journal, you know, and, and setting that
Lauren Cardillo:
Go back to your dad for a second, just because I thought that was a really lovely part of the book.
Um, you were pretty much raised to sing by a single mom and yet you guys sort of reconciled later in life and it sort of helped. Yeah. It helps move you on. So how would you describe sort of your relationship and what you got out of that with him?
D'Yanna Craighead:
Yeah. So to be fully transparent, if you'll allow me to, um, my father, you know, struggled with drug addiction. Um, and so he was in and out of my life as a, as a kid. For various reasons that I didn't understand at the time, and he came back around at my graduation when I turned 18, you know, and so thinking, okay, he's back, and he's going to be in my life, but really wasn't like he was back in Pittsburgh, he was back around, but he wasn't the father that I needed and wanted him to be. Um, and so that just made it a very tumultuous relationship. I was very angry for many years. You know, I do have a stepfather that came into my life at around 16, 15, 16 years old, still around today. Amazing man. Um, so I had, I had a father figure, you know, but you still want the love of your, your own father, your, your blood father.
As I got older, um, really when I probably hit my forties, just learning to have empathy for other people and learning that everything's not about you, right? Like we always think like, You didn't love me and, you know, or you chose drugs over your family, right? You didn't, you weren't there for me and, you know, and I had to learn to, those feelings are valid, but not make it about me and try to understand the man that he was and what was going on in his life at the time. And, you know, just, he was struggling with his own life. Like, he didn't have The ability or a capability to be the man that I needed them to be, you know, so learning to do that, to give forgiveness, right. Doesn't mean I'm, I still don't have feelings of anger about it sometimes, even though he's gone, doesn't mean that like, I still like, man, I'll never get the chance to get this right.
You know? Um, but learning that he did the best that he could with, with who he was and what he had. And he, you know, he had some struggles in life that he just couldn't be. Who I needed them to be. And it had nothing to do with me. And that was a healing for myself that I needed. Um, and so anybody, you know, listening to this or, or going through anything like that with their own. Family member, no matter who it is, like sometimes you have to get to a place of forgiveness for your own healing, um, so that you're not carrying that burden, um, on for the rest of your life. So I'm appreciating that when he got sick, he fought long enough to reconcile our relationship because those were the five years that I needed. To just be able to forgive him and let him go in peace and, you know, have peace in my own life after he was gone.
Lauren Cardillo:
Thank you for sharing that. It's sort of the, you know, going back to your book, it's the whole evolution idea. You can't stay still. You have to go forward. Yeah. And if you don't, and if you don't, nothing changes, right?
D'Yanna Craighead:
Yes. You have to evolve, you know, and you have to be willing to get into the uncomfortable places. Yeah. And, you know, do the things that you need to do to go through your own transformation so that you can fly, you can fly and have wings with those kind of heavy burdens on your shoulders. So I encourage anybody to. You know, if you're, if you're growing and evolving into what I call the full version of yourself, which is the butterfly code is like, sometimes you have to shed the weight of who you were.
Lauren Cardillo:
So go back to the book for a moment. So why did you write the butterfly code? I mean, what motivated you,
D'Yanna Craighead:
You know, it started with just wanting to tell my story, right?
I've always been a writer. I've always, as a kid, you know, I was just recently looking through some old documents. I don't throw anything away. I have all my old report cards, like from first grade on, like, you know, and I love to be able to like, share those with my daughter now that, um, She's in college because it's, it's great to see like, oh, wait, I thought I was a straight A student and I, you know, and oh, I was a chatterbox in the classroom, like, you know, um, but I had all these awards about writing, like, write best writer and, you know, I just, I've always. Love to write. Um, and sometimes they would be, you know, fiction, you know, stories that I created up in my mind. Um, but I also journal, so I've always just sat down and whatever I'm feeling or thinking I would write it down. It just was the best way for me to express myself. So I had these journals over the years of my life. Um, and it really started with trying to. Get through the pain of my dad not being around, right? Writing letters to him, writing letters to myself, writing letters to my mother when I just was, you know, like, how do I express what I'm feeling to somebody to understand this?
Lauren Cardillo:
I loved the idea that pain and sort of lack of comfort is okay.
D'Yanna Craighead:
That it's a process to get you somewhere else. You don't grow in your comfort zone. We have to get out of our comfort zone to grow right, you know, um, you think about so many metaphors we think about a plant, right, a plant will only grow so far in a pot that it's in. And in order for it to continue to grow you have to pull it out of that pot and put it somewhere else. Fish, right in an aquarium, you put a fish in a little bowl. They're only grow that big you put them into a bigger aquarium, they will grow right in. That bigger environment. And so, um, there's just so many things in my life that I thought about, man, if I hadn't gotten out of my comfort zone, I wouldn't be here.
I moved to Atlanta out of college three days after I graduated. I didn't know a single person, you know, and I grew and I learned and I did so much in the 13 years that I lived in Atlanta. And now I've been in Orlando for 13 years, moved again, not knowing a soul with a child. By myself with a seven year old, you know, and I could have said no, like I can't do that. Like, you know, but man, I would not have this life. I have, my life has just been amazing and I wouldn't have this life if I would have not been afraid to just go and give it a try. I always say you can always go home. You can always go home, get out there and give it a try. I haven't been back home in 25 years.
Lauren Cardillo:
I was going to ask you that. And when was the last time you were in Pittsburgh?
D'Yanna Craighead:
I go to visit, but I've not moved back. I've had a couple of close calls where I was like, you know what I need, sir. Pack it up and go home, especially after going through a divorce and having a child, you know, um, but again, I have to owe it.
I have to give it to my mother. Like, sometimes mom gives me really tough love on it. It's like, Oh, I hate it as a gut punch, but she's like, come back here and do what, you know, like get it together, suck it up. You're going to be okay. You know, um, And I did, I stuck it out and we, we continued on, but she was right. Come back home. Like, you know, you just want the comfort of your family, but, um, working for Delta Airlines at the time gave me the ability to get back and forth.
Um, as often as I needed to be.
Lauren Cardillo:
So in that period of like, like recession, get laid off, you know, tech bubble bursts, you know, child is born, you decide to go back to school and get an MBA. What would, what was the thought process there?
D'Yanna Craighead:
You know, um, the, when the tech bubble burst, so this was around 2001, two, I think it was two, um, there were like all these startups. That were like, over in Silicon Valley, they were doing all these dot com startups and like just the tech boom, like there was just all these great jobs. And that one day that ended and um, yeah, there were so many layoffs and I was three years out of college, like I had just bought a house and I was like, Oh my gosh, like, what am I going to do here?
Um, and I, there was so much competition. So now I have to compete with, with all of Atlanta. For people who've been writing computer code, you know, that are men, I kind of let that imposter syndrome kick in. Right. That are men, not women. And, you know, um, how do I compete with that? And, um, I decided to take my mom's advice. Let me go get my business degree as a backup, you know, um, and. It was a great decision because like mirror, like bringing tech and business together, like opened up my eyes to like, I'm not just a computer programmer anymore. Now I understand how technology plays a role in business. Um, but yeah, so I started the program and I, I, it was one of the few programs at the time that I could do online. I am not, um, my attention span is not very... You've been with me the whole time. My attention span is not very long. So like sitting in a classroom, I knew I would not make it through a program like that where I had to go. To a to a room sit in the classroom. Um, so I wanted to do something online about halfway through the program. I found out I was having a baby.
That was like, okay, well, you know, I was back to work at the time. Actually, I had gone back to work. We had found a job back in tech as a computer programmer. I was doing school and I was pregnant and I had her so she was born in April. I think class ended in April. So, like, that. That one semester I took an incomplete and I just had to like finish a couple of papers after I had the baby but I ended up like finishing the paper like literally two weeks after I had my daughter like I remember the teacher was like I was expecting like you to finish this up like some time in the summer but I finished it and I just kept rolling through and everybody told me to like take a break and um, I was like, I, I can't because if I don't finish before my daughter starts walking is going to be harder.
That was the, that was the plan. Like we finished like, like, you know, it's easy for me to have a baby in my arm and write a paper or put her down on the floor and let her play with some toys while I write a paper. She, she's not mobile. And the day I finished my very last paper was 20 pages. It was my final paper of the program, not just the semantics of the program. 20 pages, and that was the day I learned my childhood crawl, because I had just hit the save button, and like seconds later, and this wasn't, How computers work now with the auto save, like if you don't hit the save button, you don't have your work. And, um, seconds later, my computer just cut off and I was like, Oh my gosh. And I looked down and I see this little beautiful kid with these big eyes. Holding the cord in her hand, like, I was like, Oh my God, like, this could have been very bad.
Might have been a child abuse case.
Lauren Cardillo:
Do you tell her that story often,
D'Yanna Craighead:
But she has heard it. Yeah, she has heard it. You know, um, but that was like the confirmation of like, see, this is why, um, and, and she's a spitfire. So I, I made the right decision. Like, as soon as she get walking, like she. She's off doing her own thing in the world.
Um, you know, so I made the right decision, but yeah, like this program definitely gave me the flexibility and the, in the, you know, way to continue on with my life, work, um, raise a child, have a baby, and still continue on, um, with school. So if anybody out there is saying they can't do it, yes, you can. No excuses, yes you can.
Lauren Cardillo:
I love it. How much of your journey do you think she's sort of, uh, what's the word, can relate to or sort of observed and gotten something from it?
D'Yanna Craighead:
I would have to really have a conversation with her to see what her thoughts would be, but I really don't think, I think her life is way different than mine. Um. I think to her, I'm just mom, right? Like, I don't think she gets like who I am to other people in the world, like, you know, or the inspiration that I've been able to give to other people. I think right now, like, I think she'll eventually get there. She hasn't had the opportunity to read my book. Yet, because she's in college and she, she's reading, she's studying. So we, I hope that over the break, she'll listen to the audio. She knows the book is dedicated to her. She's super proud of me. You know, she did have input in some of the, the cover treatments and things on the book. And I've been able to create this, provide this amazing life for my child. And, and, and she's a creative.
So just imagine like this, this, what the things that are in. Her backyard. So, you know, I shouldn't say she grew up. Well, yeah, she grew up in Disney World. She grew up with Orlando. All around her and Florida all around her so we can jump in a car and be in a beach in an hour. We can be in Miami, you know, so it's just her life. I wish I had a life like her.
But if you ask, I asked her one time to give me three words to describe me and why the words that she said was resilient. So sometimes I don't know what she's thinking and I said resilient. Why did you, why didn't you say that? She said, cause you know, you were dealing with a lot and I, I never knew. Right. She never knew. She never knew that when we moved to Orlando that like, I left our house behind and I was like, we're homeless right now. Like, you know, like, you know, we weren't really homeless, but we kind of were like, we were living on a hotel. And so we figured things out and you know, like all this, the transition, I just never let her see that anything was ever wrong or, or awry. And so she was like, you know, I never. You know, I just had this great life and I never knew that there was anything behind the scenes not going the way that you, you know, had hoped. So, I appreciate that from her.
Lauren Cardillo:
Was there ever a moment on a cruise you went with her where you were able to say, I did that, you know, what do you think of that? Where she sort of got that you had created something?
D'Yanna Craighead:
I mean, um, it would be the. The wish, launching the wish, she was on that ship as we were bringing it across. So just what we just recently did with the treasure, where we bring it over from the shipyard to the United States. Um, she was on that ship with me. So she, she had been on 14 Disney cruises up until that point, just as a guest. So she got to see like, wait, like now you got to help. create this shit. But like, you know, like, and she's known that that was always a dream of mine. So she was like, you know, like, like, you got to do it. You did it. Like this is your this has always been your dream.
Lauren Cardillo:
And you did it. So do you ever like pinch yourself and be like, that kid from like the cheerleader, you know, coding class is now Doing this
D'Yanna Craighead:
Every day, every day I wake up and I'm like, whose life is this? You know, um, Yeah, every day. And, and, you know, and work is stressful sometimes and it's hard, but I, I will tell anybody at any time I have the best job in the world. Like, you know, me and my leader, we argue about who has the best, better job. She thinks it's her, I think it's me, but we probably both have the best, you know, it's a, it's an amazing, um, it's an amazing career. You know, I maybe once in a lifetime you get to launch a ship to do it multiple times is a dream maybe once in a lifetime you get to launch a big project in Tokyo, right, maybe once in a lifetime you get to open a land like Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. These are all a part of my 13 year career, and, like, it's been it's an amazing journey. I don't know anybody who would have a, who has a job better than mine. Maybe, maybe our, the owner, maybe while I'm here.
Lauren Cardillo:
Yeah. I have, I have two last questions for you. Um, how much of a responsibility do you feel to help other women of color, other women into your field when it's gotten better, but it's still not there?
I mean, how much do you want to help there?
D'Yanna Craighead:
It is, um, probably the biggest responsibility that, um, I, I feel as a part of my career. So, so probably 50 percent of my job is to go to work every day and do my job and, and do it great. Um, the other 50 percent is that I know that there are others who are watching my career and are inspired by it.
Like I didn't sign up for that, but you know, years ago people started telling me like, Hey, I see you on LinkedIn or I'm seeing this and like, you're inspired me. To be in this career and it's a it's sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's a burden to carry because, um, you know, if you do a great job, great. You don't do a great job, then you know, you feel like you're ruining it for every black woman that's in that role, right? Or that, you know, like, you'll never put another black person in that role if you don't do a great job, you know, but It's, it became passion for me, right? It became that I don't just go to work and go home.
Now, everything that I do is a way to inspire somebody else to be great, whether it's in technology or whatever dream it is that you have, right? Like I'm showing you that through the reason why I wrote the book was showing you like, yeah, you see this success. But let me tell you about some of the struggles that went along with it so that you can also be inspired to just not give up. This is not all rosy and beautiful. And um, you know, so getting people into this tech careers, women, it has, it has changed over in the past five, six years, it has grown, but, um, I'm part of 3%. Of the technology workforce, and the number is not changing because as we're climbing the career we're leaving. So people who want to be executives, people who want to be directors and VPs and CTOs, like, they're leaving because it is harder. Um, and so for me, you know, I, I have a network that keeps me inspired and tells me to keep going too, but I have my days where I'm like, you know, this is impossible, you know, um, but I also know no, it's not, you know, it's not impossible. It's just harder. And I have to continue to show us that we can do it.
Lauren Cardillo:
We can do it. I mean, there's, there's a lot of pressure in being a pioneer, you know, and, and that, that's just the way it is. And you know that, which like you just said, but still.
D'Yanna Craighead:
And the goal is that, that hopefully one day that, that the path is a little easier, right? That the people can come behind me and the path is already there.
Um, but that means you gotta. get all the bumps and the bruises for other people. So, you know, it's a tough job. Somebody has to do it. Isn't that the saying? Exactly.
Lauren Cardillo:
D'Yanna, thanks so much for joining us today and telling us your story. If your goal is to be inspiring, you, you definitely got it. So thanks for our listeners and viewers.
For anyone who would like to watch more Unstoppable Stories, just like or subscribe. Again, thanks so much. And we'll see you next time on Unstoppable Stories.
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