Women of Very – Spotlighting Lorena Morales

The Executive Leadership Team at Very is passionate about promoting and celebrating the incredible women in our business. We wanted to devise a way to spotlight some of the accomplishments of our teammates. Welcome to the first monthly installment of the Women of Very. 

The August spotlight is Lorena Morales, Sales Operations Manager @Very. 

Our executive leadership team met with Lorena to learn her story and get her perspective on women in technology. Here’s what Lorena shared: 

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in technology, and how did you get started?

Since my first role as an intern at Microsoft, I discovered my passion for the technology industry. Consequently, during my career, I have looked to be part of companies with remarkable names that impacted humanity and its potential, and the tech industry matches perfectly with that goal. As for my career path, I started my career in compliance and moved into a fully dedicated role in finance and then into my first role in sales ops. Then, I moved on to a financial modeling and data analysis position at Nokia. Before coming to Very, I served the Latin America and the Caribbean division at Apple in the sales operation hub. Currently, I am the Sales Operation Manager at Very, where I have found a perfect place to take all my talent in data management to the next level.

In many of these tech companies, I saw primarily men in leadership positions. I am passionate about the power of promoting more women in the tech industry.

2. Who or what inspires you in your profession?

I was fortunate to have empowered female managers who have been strong leaders who have invested in me and pushed me to improve. With all of these female role models in my career, I feel blessed to be able to give back and inspire other women in the way I have had in my career.

It is my principle that we need not to view other women not as competitors. Instead, we need to grow together and learn from each other.

3.  Have you faced some unique challenges working in technology? If so, how have you overcome them?

One of the challenges I’ve faced is I have unfortunately dealt with some people who unfairly judged a female leader. I am always at a loss on how to manage this incorrect assumption. I think it’s a myth that working with females is different than working with men. There are various personalities, styles, and skills; regardless of who you are working with, gender shouldn’t play a role in this, but unfortunately, sometimes it does.

I’ve tried to overcome these unfair judgments by being an example of leadership and always promoting other women’s ideas to shine a light on their impact.

4. What advice would you give to other women who are interested in pursuing a career in technology?

The best advice I can give another woman who is looking at taking the leap into technology is to find the right company or organization to work for. You need to ensure you understand the impact the technology will create or leave on the world and not look at the company’s size or something else superficial. If you’re passionate about what the company is doing, it’s the right place for you. In some companies (Very excluded), it’s not easy, and taking steps toward leadership is not always easy. This is especially true in highly technical roles like engineering.

I continue to tell myself: “You are smart enough; you are talented enough.” We all, as women, need to continue to say this to each other.

5. How did you find your path to leadership?

Women don’t realize how far we’ve come in tech. I humbly say, “I am a manager,” or “I am a senior manager,” but it’s taken me a lot to get here.

As a leader, I want to say to other women: know your value and show the rest of your team their value. I’ve had amazing female leaders my whole career, and I want to give back to the next generation of leaders. I want to help these leaders feel valued, and I especially want to give back to the women on my team.

When we asked Lorena if she had any final pearls of wisdom to share, she said, “Believe in yourself! Don’t let the doubts take over because we all have them.”

Thanks for your inspiring words, Lorena. We’re appreciative of Lorena, and all of the amazing women at Very.

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