8 Women In Tech Explain How They Broke Into The Industry

Jody Kelman, Director of Product Management, AV, Lyft
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A senator.

What did you study in school?
Social Studies - a mix of economics, statistics, and philosophy. I was also a Fulbright Scholar and got my master's degree from the University of Sydney.

How would you explain your day-to-day role at your job?
We help Lyft passengers try self-driving technology just by opening their Lyft app in locations like Las Vegas and the greater Phoenix, AZ, area. For the majority of these riders, this is the first time they'll experience self-driving technology. People are often surprised, thinking that self-driving technology is something far away in the future, but we're actually doing it today, powered by some of the best self-driving technology companies like Waymo and Aptiv. So my job is to make sure people can take a self-driving Lyft ride as soon as possible, while making sure it's as safe and comfortable as possible.

If you could, would you change anything in your career trajectory?
I would have realized that technology is an accessible field at a younger age. I really got interested in technology when I took a role on President Obama's Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform transition team in 2008 to make recommendations to his administration on how technology could help them govern better. Until then, I didn't understand how important many of the skills we learn as those with liberal arts degrees can be to thorny technology problems. I think about this daily in my role now, introducing self-driving technology to consumers.

What professional advice would you give your younger self?
Stop being so scared! Do good work, be kind, and take big leaps, and the world will respond accordingly. In all honesty, I think I would still give this advice to my current self - anyone who tells you they grow out of fear isn't pushing hard enough

Describe your career trajectory.
I started my career in international development, working in Uganda in the human rights office of a local NGO. My job was to go village to village talking to women about their rights and how they could enforce them. My Fulbright in refugee policy ultimately led to a role at McKinsey and Company in their Sydney office, where I focused heavily on projects that had a public-private component: Australia's green jobs policy, for example, or how to build a high-speed broadband network to support technology development across the country.

But it was really serving on President Obama's transition team that got me excited by the power of technology and spurred my interest in working in tech. So when I moved to San Francisco in 2013, I was looking for a tech company that took a mission-driven approach. I was lucky enough to find a few of these - I started at Serena + Lily, an e-commerce company founded by two amazing female entrepreneurs that has a decidedly social entrepreneurial bent. And then in 2015, a friend introduced me to Lyft's founders, and the rest is history!