An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
New and Better Stories: While women already do incredible things in business and leadership, stories about male CEOs still dominate. There needs to be parity to show women’s business successes.
Despite strides towards equality, women remain underrepresented in leadership and management roles across various sectors. In this series, we would like to discuss the barriers to female advancement in these areas and explore actionable strategies for change. We are talking with accomplished women leaders, executives, and pioneers who have navigated these challenges successfully, to hear their experiences, tactics, and advice to inspire and guide the next generation of women toward achieving their full potential in leadership and management roles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Theresa Neil.
Theresa Neil is the Founder of Guidea, an award-winning women-owned and women-led UX design consultancy that specializes in strategic product design for clients in Digital Health and Cognitive Sciences. She is recognized as a “Top Designer in Technology” by Business Insider and is the author of two influential books, “Mobile Design Pattern Gallery” and “Designing Web Interfaces,” with another one in the works. Her impressive client list includes notable organizations in healthcare and pharma sectors such as Cigna, Humana, Amgen, Novo Nordisk, Bristol Meyer Squibb, Roche, and Johnson & Johnson. Theresa’s collaboration with clients yields prestigious awards, including the MedTech Breakthrough Award x2, Most Innovative Digital Health Platform, Best SaaS Enabled Digital Health Platform and accolades for innovation in AI/ML within population health insights. Her commitment to making a positive impact includes collaborations with notable non-profits and institutions like Johns Hopkins, Oxford, the Yale School of Medicine and RxOutreach. In 2022, Theresa launched the Femovate UX sponsorship program, providing over $1M to early stage FemTech founders. The success of this program is recognized by Women of Wearables and the WomenTech Network.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I started as a chef and pivoted to technology after designing a digital inventory system for a restaurant. The restaurant owner re-sold the software to other restaurants and encouraged me to try tech. I returned to college and became a programmer. I quickly realized I loved the upfront product strategy, research, and design more than writing code, and I became one of the earliest UX designers.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I was a junior programmer invited to attend usability testing in a lab (two-way mirror, computer, participant, moderator, the works). The software was old and confusing and needed a total overhaul. Instead, the company gave it a facelift, making it prettier but not addressing UX issues.
The participant was an important client from Saudi Arabia, and the company was eager to impress him. He started the test and smiled as he looked at the new screen. Two minutes in, he stood up, slammed his hands on the desk, yelled, “This is the same piece of sh@#!” and walked out (and never returned). I learned then and there not to spend time on aesthetics until the technology and UX improved. You can’t fool the client.
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that significantly influenced your path to leadership?
- It was the end of 2010, and I was taking leave for the birth of my second child. We had a new startup client, and I would be on parental leave during a critical part of the project. I had to let go of the reins and trust my design team to do their jobs (which they were eminently qualified for) without me.
- The project was a roaring success, leading to a five-year partnership and the flagship product for tech unicorn Cloudera, now valued at over $5 billion. Learning to step back and let the team shine was a pivotal shift for me from being a contributor to becoming a leader.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My friend and mentor Bill Scott was my biggest champion, encouraging me to become a writer and speaker and to build my own company. He mentored hundreds, maybe a thousand people in his lifetime, including engineers and designers at Yahoo, Netflix, PayPal, and Venmo. I don’t think he was ever an official mentor; he was just incredibly curious, brilliant, and genuinely interested in people and their passions. He’d start a conversation, and the next thing you knew, he was your biggest fan, connecting you to people in his network, opening doors, and giving you the confidence to succeed.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
A colleague suggested reading David C. Baker’s “Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth.” Reading it inspired me to change our company’s focus. After 17 years of designing software for complex domains, we pivoted Guidea from a generalist UX agency to specialize in healthcare. It was the best decision for our company and our clients.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
I think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s quote, “Nevertheless, she persisted,” almost every day as I work with early-stage startups in Femovate, our women’s health equity program. Female founders in tech raise a mere 1.9% of VC funds, and women’s health is likewise proportionally underfunded, seeing as how we make up half the population. But these founders, my team, and I persist because women’s health equity matters and no one will fix it for us.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
In 2023, we invested 100% of Gudiea’s profits into our women’s health equity program, Femovate. We support 50 early-stage femtech companies with pro bono research and design services. We aim to improve one billion women’s lives, which I know we can achieve with the breadth and depth of selected start-ups. We’re already seeing the impact of this investment, as most companies have launched or are awaiting regulatory approval for their digital health, medtech, and healthtech products.
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become leaders and managers?
We are in positions of authority and changing the culture of businesses from the inside out. The issue is visibility and access. Our stories must be told and shared more frequently so women know there is a path and a place for them. We also need to open executive and leadership careers for people of all backgrounds. Women should become leaders and managers because we can improve businesses and provide a different perspective.
Can you please share “5 Things We Need To Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management?”
1 . Representation: This is the biggest issue; we must ensure access to executive careers for women. The women in those roles must be active advocates for bringing more women into leadership, partnering or hiring more women-owned businesses, and evolving corporate events to be more inclusive for women.
2 . Mentoring: Female executives need to give back and share their insights and experiences with the next generation of leaders, male and female.
3 . Balance: While getting to an executive position is laudable, it often comes with a price tag: family and health go out the window. We must ensure women can care for themselves, safeguard their health, and build full lives outside of work.
4 . A Safe, Inclusive Workpace: There are still far too many stories about women who have experienced sexual harassment at work. Representation will not increase until women know they are safe from harassment in the office.
5 . New and Better Stories: While women already do incredible things in business and leadership, stories about male CEOs still dominate. There needs to be parity to show women’s business successes.
In your opinion, what systemic changes are needed to facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles?
As mentioned above, we must ensure access for women of all races, perspectives, and economic backgrounds. This starts with programs for girls like Girls Who Code and MANA that help girls build skills, become active participants in their communities, find their voice, and develop confidence before even starting college.
What strategies have you found most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions?
The strategies for mentoring and supporting women are similar to those used to mentor and support men. Provide access to education, opportunities to apply new skills and take risks, support and guidance, referrals and introductions, candid feedback, celebrations of success, and access to more and varied mentors as they grow.
Women aren’t typically mentored and supported with the same access to education and opportunities to apply new skills and take risks as men. Many women aspiring to leadership work from a defensive position, defending their request for growth opportunities, decisions, and commitment to the role or career path. In many organizations, women can’t make one wrong move because that proves they weren’t fit for the job, versus receiving the grace all aspiring leaders should receive as they grow into their roles. If you’re mentoring anyone, lean into the idea of ‘generous assumptions’, and your mentee will be able to focus on their learning and growth.
How would you advise a woman leader about how to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role within a male-dominated industry?
All leadership roles require nuance and high emotional IQ to navigate challenges, including those that arise while leading in male-dominated fields. I am constantly working to improve my response to situations in the tech industry. Sometimes, the situations are funny, like when a young developer explained that data tables have both ‘columns’ and ‘rows’ and asked if I understood (I do, thank you). Sometimes, the situations are abusive, and I’ve had to create a policy for my organization around escalating abusive behavior (verbal, emotional, or physical) so I can terminate the engagement with the abusive client if necessary.
Sadly, I’ve experienced gaslighting more from women in the industry than I have from men, and I am not alone. This phenomenon has been documented and termed “Queen Bee Syndrome,” where women treat female subordinates more critically and refuse to help uplift other females. Several online articles outline practical actions to take if you experience this.
How do you balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behavior in professional settings?
Again, balancing leadership expectations is about emotional IQ and reading the room. The leaders I respect most are fluid. The female leaders on my team and I have all had to adapt to situations where there is another leader or a client who does not want a woman voicing their opinion, delivering information, or challenging them in any way. So, we are less authoritative, more supportive, and deferential while delivering the same research and recommendations in a different format. This tends to dampen collaboration, but the situation can be managed.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
My goal would be the same as it is now: a movement to reinvent and improve women’s healthcare and better the lives of billions of women globally.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can learn more about our work at www.femovate.com. Thank you for these thoughtful questions!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
Theresa Neil Of Femovate On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.