Happy International Women’s Day from StackState

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Allyson BarrChief Marketing Officer
4 min read

On March 8, International Women’s Day celebrates women’s achievements and calls out enduring inequalities in order to forge a more gender-equal world. And while there are a lot of statistics and studies showcasing how much work is still to be done to achieve gender parity, particularly in tech, today we want to focus on celebrating the women at StackState.

Positively, women are represented in departments across our company; we acknowledge, however, we still have steps to make our workplace more gender-balanced.  And on this International Women’s Day we take a moment to showcase the women whose efforts help drive our business forward.  We asked them to share a bit about themselves – answers have been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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  •  Role at StackState: Gina is responsible for the technical documentation and online training curriculum for the StackState platform.

  • Passion: Trying to stay sharp, strong, and healthy

  • Personal talent: Gina says: “Music! I play guitar mainly, but lots of other stuff as well. I was in a band until COVID restrictions made practice and gigs impossible.”

  • Source of inspiration: “My children, they have so much enthusiasm and energy.”

  • What makes her happy: Spring, fresh air and good wine.

  • Her ultimate epic moment: Defeating my eldest son to take the house record for solving a Rubik’s Cube. My record time has since been smashed by my daughter, which is possibly even more epic.”

  • Song that excites her: Blink-182 - All The Small Things

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  • Role at StackState: Enisa is responsible for discovering qualified opportunities and building new business pipeline for our EMEA sales team by responding to inbound leads and targeting outbound prospects.

  • Passion: Economics in a Macro Level and world politics

  • Personal talent: Swimming

  • Source of inspiration: Enisa finds inspiration in yoga and meditation.

  • What makes her happy: Enisa shared this as what makes her happiest: “Being by the beach and taking a long swim in the morning with my dad.”

  • Her ultimate epic moment:  She once put an alarm in the microwave (?!) and said of the episode: “Needless to say, I didn’t make it to my lecture…”

  • Song that excites her: Queen - Don’t Stop Me Now

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  • Role at StackState: Sam is a project manager in the marketing department and oversees the StackState website, all webinars, and the company’s lead nurturing programs.

  • Passion: Sam says: “Personal growth is a big passion of mine. I love to understand what drives people and what brings them in a state of flow. Recently, I have been learning a lot about Human Design. It is a sort of cosmic Myers-Briggs tool to understand humans. It's mind-blowing!”    

  • Personal talent: “I am very creative. When I was younger, I went to art classes on a weekly basis. Now I love to use my creativity in interior design.”    

  • Source of inspiration: “Long walk and talks with my fiancé along the Amstel here in Amsterdam. There is something magical that happens when you have a conversation surrounded by nature. Also, I am a big fan of podcasts. Combining walking with listening to podcasts is one of my favorite things to do these days.”

  • What makes her happy: Sunshine!

  • Her ultimate epic moment: “Packing my back bag to travel around the world for 8 months was an absolute epic moment. Especially now, I miss those travel days so much.”     

  • Song that excites her: Newton Faulkner - Passing Planes “I just can't sit still listing to this song.”

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  • Role at StackState:  Wendy oversees the budget, accounts payable, and accounts receivable for StackState. 

  • Passion: To combine business results with substantiated financial details

  • Personal Talent:  Soccer when young; now she loves to paint and create things.

  • Source of inspiration: “My parents. They have always worked hard and never complained.”

  • What makes her happy: Summer holidays, having food and drinks with friends and family, playing golf

  • Her ultimate epic moment:  In her own words… “Still yet to come. Ask me again in 20 years!”

  • Song that excites her: Epic - Sandro Silva & Quintino

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  • Role at StackState: I oversee the company’s global marketing and US-based sales development efforts.

  • Passion: Travel + trying new food and experiences while traveling.

  • Personal talent: Planning and organizing trips. “There might be 3-ring binders

  • Source of inspiration: The NY Times Cooking app. “I love to try out new recipes, especially now that it’s harder to patronize restaurants as frequently.”

  • What makes her happy: Reading a real book while on the couch with my dog and cats snuggled around.

  • Her ultimate epic moment: Running a 10K in 60 minutes in 38-degree Fahrenheit weather, with ice and snow on the path.

  • Song that excites her: “Anything on my running playlist! You’ll find a mix of musical theatre songs (Rent), dance music (David Guetta or Swedish House Mafia), and pop tunes (Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, and maybe even a Spice Girls song or two…).”

On a personal note: Celebrating women and their contribution to business, community, art, and the world at large is near and dear to my heart. In high school, I was fortunate to have a teacher who challenged me and my classmates to examine what stories were being told and who was telling them, which naturally turned into a conversation about what voices were missing. This examination prompted me to focus more on this in university, where I minored in Women’s Studies. This framework has stuck with me throughout the years and has become even more relevant and applicable in the past two years, as we grapple with the #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the continued shattering of glass ceilings as we saw this year with Kamala Harris’s election as US Vice President. And it’s something I try to be mindful about in the conversations and engagements that take place at home, at work, and in my direct community as well. It’s a lifelong journey of education and activation, and there’s still much work to be done, individually and collectively.

On this International Women’s Day, I invite you to join me on this journey and encourage you to seek out the voices that aren’t being heard – listen and ask why. And learn how gender diversity at work creates stronger teams. Together, we can build a stronger tomorrow.

PS We’re hiring – submit your CV here.