Diane Vanasse, VP of Marketing Communications, Credo.
I am coming to you from the jungle in the Yucatan. It’s part of a vacation my spouse planned so I can be fresh for the whirlwind tradeshow and conference season that seems to go into full effect once Lunar New Year (LNY) celebrations are complete.
Credo’s own celebrations for the year of the Wood Snake focused on transformation. Transformation seems like an appropriate theme for 2025 as the world seems to literally shift under our feet daily.
But today, I am thinking about Credo’s upcoming annual International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration and am reminded of two quotes I think of daily.
“God gave me two arms – one to push myself forward: one to yank another woman right behind me! Maggie Wilderotter – Chair of the Docusign Board and WLI speaker.
Serena Williams, the undisputed GOAT, expanded on this idea when she said:
“The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: Be strong, be extremely kind, and above all, be humble.”
Looking internally at our piece of the tech world, you will often hear Jodi Shelton talk about how the survival of our industry hinges on fully leveraging all available talent—especially women, who make up half the population and remain an untapped resource. I think about this idea during many of my conversations with my CEO, Bill Brennan, and Credo board members.
They count on me to be strong, kind, and humble while yanking all our people along with me as Credo continues to grow. Bill keeps me motivated with the advice to “focus on what you can change and where you can have impact.”
And this is exactly where I am today – promoting the idea that diversity and merit can co-exist as employment strategies. I am doing this because I can and because we need to, for us to move forward as an industry and as a society.
I hope you will all celebrate IWD this year. To bring it back to Lunar New Year I will add my own thought to the ones stated above: transformation takes time. Please be patient, stay the course, and take strength from the WLI community and all our allies.