Technology is often perceived as a male-dominated industry, but at Zazmic, we see a different reality. Our female employees are shaping the future, solving complex problems, and driving innovation across multiple domains. Their journeys are inspiring, their achievements remarkable, and their perspectives invaluable.
Today, we celebrate their contributions and share their insights on what it means to be a woman in tech.
Rushelle Forsmann, Customer Success Manager
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
I’ve always been drawn to problem-solving, and I’m fascinated by how technology can improve things and connect people.
Can you tell us about your role at Zazmic and the impact of your work?
As a Customer Success Manager at Zazmic, my role is all about bridging the gap between our customers and the powerful solutions Google Cloud offers. I work closely with customers to understand their business goals and identify areas where cloud technologies can make a real difference.
The impact is incredibly rewarding. I see firsthand how our work helps businesses become more agile, efficient, and innovative. Whether helping a startup scale rapidly or enabling a large enterprise to modernize its infrastructure, knowing I’ve played a part in its success drives me.
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
We helped a startup dramatically cut its GCP costs, freeing up resources to improve its product.
The company was struggling to understand where its resources were being allocated and how to optimize them. We performed a thorough cost analysis, leveraging tools like Cloud Billing and Cost Management, and identified several areas for optimization. We also implemented strategies like right-sizing their compute instances and leveraging committed use discounts.
Our team helped them reduce their monthly GCP spend by a substantial percentage. A truly exciting result of our collaboration was that the business was able to re-invest these freed-up resources into enhancing its product’s features and improving customer experience. They were able to accelerate their roadmap, which was a direct result of our cost optimization efforts. It was fantastic to see how strategic cost management could drive innovation and growth.
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in tech? How did you overcome them?
Yes, I’ve experienced being underestimated. I focused on demonstrating my knowledge, finding mentors, and building a network of women in tech.
What skills or mindset shifts helped you grow in your career?
Staying curious and learning constantly, communicating clearly, being proactive, and listening to customers has been essential for my growth.
What excites you most about the future of technology?
I’m excited about the potential of AI and cloud computing to solve big problems and make technology accessible to everyone.
How do you think women can drive more innovation in the industry?
Women often approach problem-solving with a unique lens, and that diversity of thought is essential for driving innovation. We also tend to be strong communicators and collaborators, which are crucial skills for building effective teams and fostering a culture of innovation.
What’s one change you’d like to see in tech to make it more inclusive?
Making sure everyone feels respected and valued in tech workplaces. Additionally, more diverse leadership in tech.
Vaiya Patel, Account Executive
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
A key reason I decided to transition into IT is that it combines problem-solving with creativity in a way that excites me. I see the IT industry as the driving force of the digital age, and I’m eager to be part of this dynamic field where I can make a meaningful impact. Digital transformation is a central focus across industries globally, and with an increasing demand for tech implementation, technology has become the key to gaining a competitive edge.
Can you tell us about your role at Zazmic and the impact of your work?
The Account Executive role is primarily focused on driving greater support for Cloud services, providing access to Customer Engineers (CEs) and architects to help clients across industries gain a deeper understanding and technical guidance on GCP products and services. The position emphasizes AI, Gen AI, and Security services, as well as all GCP cloud and infrastructure offerings. This role acts as the main point of contact for both clients and internal teams, engaging with both regularly.
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
One of the most exciting projects I’ve been part of was in the healthcare industry. It was a chance to work on something truly impactful and help accelerate the delivery of a cutting-edge AI-powered solution for surgical video analysis and documentation.
Our goal was to develop, test, deploy, and train AI models that could automatically analyze and document surgical procedures. It wasn’t just about building technology; it was about creating a tool that could transform how surgeons are trained, particularly in heart and spine invasive procedures.
The solution itself was fascinating. It processed surgical audio, video, and metadata to generate structured, timestamped summaries of procedures. Bringing all these components together felt like working at the frontier of AI and healthcare, where technology meets life-saving.
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in tech? How did you overcome them?
So far, I haven’t encountered any major challenges. However, some of the common challenges women in tech often face include:
- Being the only woman in the room: This can lead to feelings of isolation or being overlooked. To overcome this, it’s important to find a supportive network of mentors and peers and to assertively contribute in meetings to establish a presence.
- Fighting Stereotypes: Women in tech may face assumptions about their skills or capabilities based on gender. Overcoming this requires confidence, continuous learning, and demonstrating expertise through action rather than letting stereotypes define you.
- Lack of Representation: Seeing fewer women in leadership roles can sometimes feel discouraging. To combat this, women in tech often look for mentors and role models or even strive to become those examples themselves, helping to create a pipeline for future generations.
- Being Taken for Granted: Women may sometimes find their contributions dismissed or overlooked. It’s essential to advocate for yourself, highlight your achievements, and establish a reputation for competence and reliability.
- Payscale: Gender pay disparity is still a concern in many industries. Women can overcome this by negotiating salaries, researching industry standards, and supporting initiatives that advocate for equal pay.
By recognizing and addressing these challenges proactively, women in tech can pave the way for a more inclusive and supportive environment.
What skills or mindset shifts helped you grow in your career?
I’m seeking external resources beyond internal training, such as courses on Udemy that cover the fundamentals of GCP cloud services. I’m also interested in books like Visualizing Google Cloud, which serves as a reference for cloud engineers and architects, written by Priyanka Vergadia.
I make it a priority to regularly browse LinkedIn posts and participate in webinars to gain insights into the various industries that can leverage technology to optimize costs, enhance efficiency, and achieve specific business goals.
What excites you most about the future of technology?
The continued evolution of AI technology is incredibly exciting. As machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and computer vision advance, we’ll see even more personalized and efficient services, including virtual assistants, intelligent chatbots, and automated customer support. Additionally, these innovations will help streamline business operations and foster global collaboration.
How do you think women can drive more innovation in the industry?
Women are making significant progress in the tech industry, from leading major companies to driving innovation through diversity. They’re breaking barriers, promoting inclusivity, transforming STEM education, leading in AI ethics, championing green technology, pioneering entrepreneurship, revolutionizing remote work, making technology more accessible, and advocating for stronger cybersecurity.
These contributions are not only advancing the tech field but also helping to create a more equitable and sustainable future.
What’s one change you’d like to see in tech to make it more inclusive?
Collaboration and teamwork are crucial for driving innovation and success in the tech industry. To make tech more inclusive, women should focus on cultivating strong communication skills, promoting a collaborative work culture, and building diverse teams.
Audrey Deram: Project Manager
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
I learn better by having my hands in the clay, and I was given the opportunity to migrate from the translation industry, which was starting to be taken over by AI, to tech. This was an exciting and challenging transition, and I wouldn’t have done it any other way! GenAI was incognito in my life, and now it is helping me optimize processes in my professional and personal life!
Can you tell us about your role at Zazmic and the impact of your work?
My main role at Zazmic is being a GenAI Project Manager. I manage multiple projects daily, discovering new ways to work and help companies improve their processes and generate more revenue. It is a very dynamic and exciting role!
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
We are increasingly approached by healthcare companies, and once, we had an opportunity to help an NGO share extensive knowledge with people regarding cancer in a chatbot format. Knowing that AI can help improve people’s lives is one of the things that excites me most in working with Zazmic!
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in tech? How did you overcome them?
I thought I would face issues by being one of the only women on the team, but that was before I joined because I have not felt out of place once! The team, which is overwhelmingly masculine, always treats everyone equally and with respect.
Yet, I would love to see more women engineers, as I know they are out there!
What skills or mindset shifts helped you grow in your career?
Responsibility is the ability to respond, so whenever you find yourself in a difficult situation and might even feel guilty for something you did/didn’t do, focus on how you can best respond!
What excites you most about the future of technology?
Although a lot of people focus on the scary aspects of GenAI, which is a big focus of mass media, I believe that there are infinite ways in which it can benefit our day-to-day and collective lives. I particularly like the conversational aspect of Gemini, which allows me to brainstorm and be more productive, focusing my energy where it really counts!
How do you think women can drive more innovation in the industry?
Diversity is key to making anything more inclusive, creative, and flexible. We need as many minds as we can working on technology!
Anum Aslam, QA Engineer
What excites you most about the future of technology?
The efficacy of life will be increased and revolutionized with AI and AI-powered tools, and the level of automation that awaits is truly impressive.
How do you think women can drive more innovation in the industry?
You need to be fearless and confident in your skills – that’s the key to success.
What’s one change you’d like to see in tech to make it more inclusive?
While representation is improving, many women still face challenges in career advancement. Companies should invest in mentorship programs, equal pay initiatives, and inclusive workplace cultures.
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
Testing a healthcare tech on portable devices. It was quite a challenging task because it required a lot of attention to detail and a deep understanding of the goals and specific tasks the solution was designed to complete.
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
Tech has always been a progressive career choice, and I have always wanted to be at the edge of progress.
Esraa Salah, Senior QA Engineer
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
I had an introduction to Software Engineering in college, and I really liked it! Then, a friend of mine told me about black box testing, and I got really curious and learned everything about it by myself. Testing turned out to be so addictive that I became a QA Engineer.
Can you tell us about your role at Zazmic and the impact of your work?
As a QA Engineer, I always get feedback that I’m an essential part of the team because I ask good questions to better understand requirements and do my work effectively. I’m involved in each phase of the development cycle, and my key tasks include providing feedback, assessing risks, and suggesting improvements.
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
I think helping my team to build every feature of the Boostr project from scratch is really exciting work to do! I enjoy my job in general. Testing is like playing a good logic game, and I really love logic games!
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in tech? How did you overcome them?
Working in general while I have young kids is so challenging. I try to do my best at work so that my team accepts moments when my kids join the meetings.
What skills or mindset shifts helped you grow in your career?
When I was in college, I didn’t like what I was studying, and that’s why I didn’t really care about my educational performance. When I failed one year, it was a shock as I have always been considered one of the best students almost everywhere.
I was really upset, so I chose the path of self-education to keep up with everyone: I searched the internet for various topics and discussed with professors any additional questions I had. Eventually, my mindset shifted to being much more persistent, disciplined, and confident. I learned to search for the information I needed, and it made me what I am today.
What excites you most about the future of technology?
The endless capacity of human minds to innovate and push technological boundaries is what excites me most about the future. It’s amazing how much more we always find we can achieve, even when we think we’ve reached the limit.
How do you think women can drive more innovation in the industry?
Women can offer curious perspectives on various problems in tech, so I think it’s important to just let them speak and share their opinions with no limits.
What’s one change you’d like to see in tech to make it more inclusive?
I’d love to have people be more cooperative rather than competitive.
Courtney Bledsoe, Customer Success Manager
What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
To be honest, my career in tech kind of fell in my lap. My degree is in sociology, and I’ve always been passionate about understanding people and helping them solve problems. That’s a core aspect of what I do as a Customer Success Manager. What I found is that technology is a powerful tool to achieve those goals. I realized that by combining my passion for helping people and solving problems with the innovative power of tech, I could make a significant impact.
Seeing how Zazmic empowers businesses, mainly startups, to find their success on Google Cloud really solidified my interest in the tech world. The human element of tech, how it connects and supports people, is pretty exciting!
Can you tell us about your role at Zazmic and the impact of your work?
As a Customer Success Manager at Zazmic, my primary goal is to ensure our clients achieve their desired company goals while scaling successfully on the Google Cloud Platform. This includes onboarding new clients, providing ongoing support, and proactively identifying opportunities for them to maximize their results.
Ultimately, my work is about building strong, lasting relationships with our clients and becoming a trusted advisor. Building trust is paramount in this process; it allows for open communication, a deeper understanding of their needs, and ultimately, their success. When they succeed, Zazmic succeeds, and those personal relationships become very rewarding.
What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on recently?
The most deeply satisfying experience I’ve had was being an integral part of a startup’s growth over three years. It wasn’t a single project but a journey.
I was their Customer Success Manager from the ground up. In the early days, they were operating on tight margins, and I was instrumental in helping them secure credits when they needed extra time to build. Seeing them navigate those initial challenges and knowing I played a part in their stability was incredibly fulfilling. Then, to witness them grow to the point where they entered a corporate partnership with a national household name was truly an “ah-ha” moment for me. It was a testament to their hard work and the value of our partnership.
Knowing that I contributed to their success over those three years was a source of immense satisfaction. It reinforces my belief in the power of strong customer relationships and the impact we can have on a company’s trajectory. It’s that kind of long-term, tangible success that really drives me. It shows me that with patience and creative problem-solving, amazing things can happen.
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in tech? How did you overcome them?
Like many women in tech, I’ve sometimes encountered situations where I felt my voice wasn’t being heard or my contributions weren’t fully recognized. And frankly, instances where my work wasn’t recognized monetarily in the same way as my male counterparts. I’ve learned the importance of advocating for myself and my ideas and of building a strong network of supportive colleagues and mentors.
I also focus on building my expertise and confidence and, importantly, building the confidence to speak up when I have something valuable to contribute. This also includes advocating for proper compensation that reflects my contributions. I make sure my work speaks for itself and that I have the data to back up my requests. I also try to be a mentor to other women around me, helping them navigate these challenges and empowering them to advocate for themselves.
These challenges have made me more resilient and determined to succeed. I am passionate about helping to create a more inclusive and equitable tech industry where women are valued and compensated fairly for their contributions.
What skills or mindset shifts helped you grow in your career?
The tech landscape is constantly changing, especially with the rapid advancements in AI. Adaptability and a growth mindset are crucial. I’ve learned to embrace constant change: this includes looking in different directions to adapt to the ever-changing AI world, understanding how it impacts our customers and our product, and staying ahead of the curve.
The Power of Diversity in Tech
The stories of these remarkable women highlight an important truth: Diversity fuels innovation. At Zazmic, we believe in fostering an environment where all voices are heard, respected, and empowered. Women bring unique perspectives to the tech industry, challenge traditional approaches, and drive meaningful change.
To all aspiring women in technology: Your contributions matter, your ideas are valuable, and your presence is essential. The future of tech is brighter because of you.
