BinaryGirl Spotlight: Cheryl

Are you self-employed?

Yes

What is your background? What types of degrees, skills, experiences are necessary for this field?

Self taught

How did you get started in this field?

I began working with the President of Sesssionware, Vern Weitzman on Administrative Functions 8 years ago. I progressed to full time 6 years ago, and have become a business partner.

What are your specific responsibilities?

I run the day to day business and oversee staff from sales to IT support. I do anything that needs my immediate attention from sales calls to customer support. No job is too small.

Describe a typical workday and workweek. What do you do during a typical day?

I work about 10-14 hours a day, including at home about 6 days a week. I usually start off my day by checking my messages on my RIM BlackBerry wireless email device before breakfast, to catch up with the East Coast customers.

After breakfast, I check my RIM BlackBerry wireless device again, to catch any emergencies, and answer some emails.

I arrive at work and listen to my voice mails, and try to respond to people, than process orders, discuss accounts, review financial data or work with staff regarding specific questions or problems they are having. I try to have at least one personal conversation with each staff member each day.

Name 5-7 job skills that are needed for your job.

Typing, phone skills, delegation skills, interpersonal communication skills, IT skills, ability to listen

Are you in a team-oriented position?

Yes

Do you have flextime? Vacation time? Work at home? Telecommute?

Since I am self employed, I have a very flexible schedule, thanks to my great co-workers (staff). I couldn't go away or work from home without them. I usually work at home 1/2 day per week.

How many hours per week are expected or warranted for peak performance?

For myself, I have discovered that I work best with 10 hours of work a day, minimum, in order to stay on top of the business.

For staff, standard business hours are requested, with flexible time for personal business.

Are many evenings or weekends required for your job?

I work most evenings and at least one day most weekends.

How much travel is involved with a job in your field?

Because I am in the wireless industry, I can communicate almost everything I need over the phone or email.

Could you give me examples of projects that you are working on?

Sessionware just launched a new company, itrezzo. It features add-on tools and services for the RIM Blackberry wireless email device.

We can now offer BlackBerry users free coversion for file attachments (such as Word files, excel files, zip docs or pdfs) to text, Global Address Book Lookups and more.

We have a free trial on our website if you want to try it out by sending messages with file attachments to: agnet@itrezzo.com

Could you describe your work settings? Offices, machinery, resources etc.

We have an office suite in an 18 story office building in Campbell, Calfornia. Since we are Microsoft Solution Provider Partners, we are on a Microsoft Platform, with Windows 2000 and NT installed.

What personal qualities do you think are necessary for someone to be successful in this occupation?

The ability offer support where needed without complaining.

What is the major challenge you face at work?

Being able to call back everyone who wants a personal conversation with me.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding? (Pros) Least rewarding? (Cons)

I really enjoy my coworkers, and look forward to working with them each they-they are absolutely great people.

Least rewarding is that I can't bring my dogs to work.

Are you confronted with difficult decisions or situations in your position?

Yes, as the CEO, many difficult decisions have to be answered "right away". And sometimes the quickest answer is not the best answer. I try to evaluate answers whenever I can for the best possible outcome for the staff and customers to work together

Do you have a lot of interaction with a certain occupation? I.E. media, engineers, etc.

Yes-the wireless industry. We work very closely with Research In Motion (RIM) as Wireless Solution Providers for RIM, to provide IT support to Blackberry wireless email customers for medium to large companies

What is the Female to Male Ratio in your position/field?

I'm pleased to say we are almost equal within Sessionware.

Describe the changes taking place in your field. Project future trends?

As the wireless industry expands, we have to be able to offer better service and faster support for products offered by Research In Motion.

What is the turnover rate like in your field?

Very low.

Do you think women avoid technical careers? What do you think can be done to encourage girls to get more involved in the technology field?

I know as a girl, I was not encouraged to pursue anything technical. Fortunately, I think times have changed and that girls and women are offered many more opportunities now.

Sessionware has supported the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship http://www.nfte.com/ for many years. We have actively paid for high risk students to attend the summer business sessions to learn how to run their own business so that they can enter the field of their choice with business knowledge and experience

Do you believe that women will be in more technical jobs in the future?

Yes I do. Since I have been involved in an IT company, the number of women attending events has gone from very few to thousands per major event. It's very rewarding to see the giant growth in just a few years

Do you have any advice for women and girls that are interested in going into the field?

Be sure to read the online and print magazines to stay tuned to what's happening to technology outside your field. You can learn a lot from reading about fields outside your area of interest.

The other piece of advice I have is to get up from your chair and get outside of your office or school to meet people who are also interested in your field. It's great to network with people who have similar interests to yours. And if you are in school, try to attend business functions so that you get an idea of how business functions work.