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The Women in Technology Podcast inspires its listeners with stories from leaders within the organization, influential women in the STEM industry, the men who help support women rise, and other captivating stories to empower and reinforce WIT's motto of advancing girls and women from the classroom to the boardroom.
Take a listen, get inspired, and rise!
Maryanne (00:53)
Hey Candace, how are you?
Candace Aku (00:55)
I am doing well, Marianne. How are you?
Maryanne (00:57)
I am doing so well. I'm so glad that we get to chat today. And it was right?
Candace Aku (01:01)
Me too. It's always a good time.
Maryanne (01:03)
Yes. And it was the first WitConnect, is actually one of my first WitConnects is when we first connected, wasn't it? When you were the speaker. my gosh,
Candace Aku (01:09)
Yeah. Yep.
Maryanne (01:12)
I love it. Well, quick bio of Candace, everybody. Candace is a senior technical program manager at Google and an entrepreneur. She leads complex cross-functional initiatives and supports scalable, innovative technology solutions.
With over a decade at Google, Candace's career journey spans roles in data center operations, solutions consulting, and program leadership, reflecting her adaptability and commitment to continuous growth. Candace is known for her thoughtful, people-centered leadership style and emphasizes the importance of soft skills in achieving sustainable success.
Her advocacy for overcoming fear of failure encourages others to lead with confidence, resilience, and authenticity in the face of change. Now, Candace, when you look back at your career, is there a moment early on that really set you on the path that you're on today?
Candace Aku (02:03)
Yes.
Maryanne (02:05)
Let's hear about it.
Candace Aku (02:07)
so when I started out, I went to school for industrial engineering and I was able to do all my internships and I had my first job in like distribution because industrial engineering was all about process improvement, supply chain and just you know making things better.
but what I loved most about it was it was people focused. So it wasn't all about the machine and what we were trying to achieve, but it centered the people because you couldn't have, you know, sustainable change without helping make people believers of the change.
Maryanne (02:42)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (02:42)
And so I loved that career. But then I had to take a pivot because I graduated in two thousand nine when the market was just, you know, we were coming
Maryanne (02:54)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (02:54)
out of a
Maryanne (02:55)
Recession, right? Yeah.
Candace Aku (02:56)
yeah, we're coming out of recession.
And
So no jobs were like
Maryanne (03:04)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (03:04)
really available. So luckily, because I had my internships, they were like, you don't have to interview. We know you're you we know how well you work. We have an opening in Ohio. and you know, like we'll relocate you and everything. So that's like 12 hours away from everybody I know. But I was like,
Maryanne (03:23)
Yeah, my gosh.
Candace Aku (03:24)
I'm going for it because it's in my, you know, it's what I went to school for, and I'm gonna take the opportunity.
Maryanne (03:29)
Mm. Take the leave, yeah.
Candace Aku (03:31)
Yeah.
But then life happened,
Maryanne (03:33)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (03:34)
and I needed to be back with family, which is in South Carolina. I applied everywhere where there was an opening for engineering, but nothing was falling through. And so during my search, I found out that South Carolina had a Google data center. And I'm
Maryanne (03:54)
Mm.
Candace Aku (03:54)
like, when did South Carolina get a Google data center?
And I just took a chance and I was like, I'm gonna apply and see what happens. I didn't hear anything for a year though. And I did a whole lot of side jobs. I went back to like Walmart. my mom was like, why don't you get your CDL?
And so I went and got my CDL and I thought that that was pretty cool. I drove
Maryanne (04:18)
Man. Yeah.
Candace Aku (04:20)
bus for middle schoolers, which is the worst class you could drive bus for because they're in that stage of trying to figure life out. So you're dealing with a lot of personalities.
Maryanne (04:24)
yeah. gosh.
Candace Aku (04:30)
And then I had to learn how to go from living on an engineering budget to a bus driver's budget. Huge difference.
Maryanne (04:36)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (04:37)
Very humbling. I have so much respect for my mom after I did that.
Maryanne (04:41)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (04:42)
And then after all of that, Google offered me
a temporary, you know, position to see how things would work.
Maryanne (04:49)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (04:50)
But within three months, I actually made the conversion, which was a record because most people were
there for like six months to a year. They were like, who do you know? What did you do? Like, how did you get offered
a full ride before I did? And I've been here longer than you. And I was just, you know, like
I put in the work. I didn't know anybody. Nobody looked like me, matter of fact.
Maryanne (05:10)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure.
Candace Aku (05:16)
So I had no no kind of like freebies, you know, getting in there. I
Maryanne (05:20)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (05:21)
just I just I'm just a believer in like hard work and the universe and God just looking out for me. Yeah.
Maryanne (05:28)
Yeah, and the hustle. And it's so relatable that like
I feel like so many women are like trying to find their footing and there's like, you know, it almost feels like you're taking steps back when you're trying to like look at all your options and figure out what's the right, you know, path forward. Like what do you think is the most important thing in that stage?
Candace Aku (05:47)
When you're going backwards.
Maryanne (05:49)
Yeah, or like an early career
when you're trying to figure it out.
Candace Aku (05:52)
Giving yourself grace. because
Maryanne (05:54)
Mm.
Candace Aku (05:54)
we we actually think that we have it all figured out. we go to school, we
Maryanne (05:58)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (05:58)
get our degrees, we look for jobs that's within those fields, but then it doesn't always pan out the way that we are thinking because
Maryanne (06:07)
For sure.
Candace Aku (06:08)
companies don't always have openings for what we went to get our degrees in. So how can you take what you learned in your college years and apply
Maryanne (06:17)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (06:17)
it to any job? Because it's so funny that
the longer you're in corporate, you see so many people with varying backgrounds and
Maryanne (06:26)
Mm.
Candace Aku (06:26)
degrees who are doing something totally different than what they went to school for. And
Maryanne (06:32)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (06:32)
it's either because they did have the opportunity to get a job in their profession and decided that it wasn't for them or they couldn't find anything and they found another love that but they were then able to apply what they've
Maryanne (06:47)
Mm.
Candace Aku (06:47)
learned over the years
that's what I tell people all the time. College is not really teaching you what you're supposed to do in any profession. It's
Maryanne (06:56)
Mm.
Candace Aku (06:58)
teaching you how to think.
Maryanne (07:00)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (07:01)
And you take all of those lessons and you know, opportunities that you have when you're in college and you apply them wherever you land.
Maryanne (07:10)
Mm-hmm.
And it's like really you're learning so much after, you know, in those first opportunities, right? Like starting off in your career. You're getting so much like
Candace Aku (07:14)
Mm. Yeah. Yeah.
Maryanne (07:19)
outside of the classroom, right?
Candace Aku (07:22)
Yeah. And I also wanted to say, Marion, on the on the first question you asked me,
Maryanne (07:25)
Mm.
Candace Aku (07:26)
when I landed at Google, my first manager didn't help me at all. Like, matter of fact,
Maryanne (07:33)
Mm.
Candace Aku (07:35)
it seems like I was always the one who was being made an example of. You know, if I sent an email, my email went to the whole site. and the site would be
Maryanne (07:43)
my gosh.
Candace Aku (07:44)
like, Well, Candace, what did you do? Did you not communicate with your manager? And it just put a bad taste in my mouth with management.
Maryanne (07:51)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (07:52)
So at that point I was like, I'm just coming to work to get my paycheck and to make sure that me and my child have benefits.
Maryanne (07:59)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (08:00)
But then came in a manager, I feel like that God just placed there.
And in our one-on-one sessions, he would say, you know, well Candace, you what is it that you wanna do? And I told him exactly what I just told you. I'm just here to get paid and make
Maryanne (08:14)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (08:15)
sure that me and my child can go to the doctor and have benefits and everything like
that. And he was like, it has to be more, you know, to you than that.
And I started telling him about my background and I was like, you know, I tried to bring different things up to my leads and they're like, it's fine. and so he would then find opportunities for me.
Maryanne (08:35)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (08:36)
And those little opportunities showed my strengths, not to just him, but to my peers and to
Maryanne (08:44)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (08:45)
other leaders on our site and then, you know, other sites as well. And so it takes sometimes a good leader, you know, coming into your life and just showing you that there's more.
Maryanne (08:59)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (09:00)
because that's where I was. I wasn't a a techie. I didn't code, you know,
my background was in engineering, but
those who know know engineering and technicians, like people who are coders and like they're just into that stuff, they're two different worlds, even though they're
both technical. and so like just having him to come in and like show me that there was more possible was was a game changer
Maryanne (09:24)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (09:25)
for me.
Maryanne (09:25)
Yeah, that totally is like someone advocating for you and like showing you kind of how to reframe that. Yeah.
Candace Aku (09:31)
Yeah.
Maryanne (09:32)
And especially in terms of like the skills you already had as an engineer and like kind of shifting that into what technical means in that environment,
Candace Aku (09:38)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (09:39)
you know.
Candace Aku (09:40)
Yep. How do you bridge the two? Yeah.
Maryanne (09:42)
For sure.
Yeah. And I mean like how do you? Like for people who do want to become more technical or think that they're kind of like don't know the w right way forward with that, what do you recommend? Like where do people start?
Candace Aku (09:52)
Say what what was put in front of me was a whole lot of certifications.
Maryanne (09:58)
Mm, mm.
Candace Aku (09:59)
certifications is just like a report card, it's just saying
Maryanne (10:05)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (10:06)
that you're you're capable of doing hard things,
but actually doing the work is what's going to make the difference. it's just like learning any new skill. You you go and you practice it until you become good at it.
when I had to be on the floor, you know, diagnosing different machines, I I had no idea what I was, you know, doing. But
the more that you are talking to your peers, you are assessing like I tried this, that and didn't work, let me try this,
and you're reading through the different documents that's out there. That was another thing. there was so much documentation. You just had to like
Maryanne (10:44)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (10:45)
read, apply,
you know, rinse and repeat,
Maryanne (10:49)
Mm.
Candace Aku (10:49)
trial and error, and then over time you just you just become, you know, capable of understanding what's in front of you. It's just like riding a bike or anything else. You just have to apply yourself.
Maryanne (11:00)
Yeah, yeah. And like get the expertise in the field that you're in at the time, right? Like
Candace Aku (11:04)
Yeah.
Maryanne (11:05)
I love that. Yeah.
Candace Aku (11:06)
Relationship building, you know, putting yourself
Maryanne (11:08)
For sure. Yeah.
Candace Aku (11:09)
around the people who do know. a lot of times people seem
hard to approach, but
Maryanne (11:16)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (11:17)
you would be very surprised when you extend yourself and say like, hey, you seem to be an expert.
Like, do you mind if I shadow you? do you mind if
I spend some time with you? And most of the time I didn't get turned down from
somebody being willing to show me what they knew. They they were actually excited to show me. but it takes us getting out of our own way and you know, assuming that somebody doesn't want to show you, somebody doesn't want to extend a hand to help you. you have to just put yourself out there.
Maryanne (11:46)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. my gosh. And
then like in your career, you definitely jumped up out of the operational work and like into that strategic leadership. Can you talk about like what motivated you to break out of the cycle or talk about a time when you were ready for a change and was that the jump from operational work to into leadership?
Candace Aku (12:09)
Yeah, I get bored easy. So once I once I learn something, I'm ready to do something else.
Maryanne (12:16)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (12:17)
and everybody knows like anytime you're trying to promote
it becomes harder.
Maryanne (12:25)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (12:26)
you you start to become have opportunities where you're in rooms with people who you feel like are smarter than you, they know more than you, and you're trying to like figure out how to show up. So that's when your imposter might pop up, where instead of you focusing on the things that you're good at, you start to think of all the things that you're not good at and like how that person can explain the hardest technical things.
And you have
Maryanne (12:53)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (12:54)
no idea what they're talking about. But
Maryanne (12:57)
This is so relatable.
Candace Aku (13:01)
your sweet spot might be that you're the organizer, you're the detailed
Maryanne (13:07)
Mm, mm.
Candace Aku (13:07)
one, you're the one that sees what nobody else sees. And I had a an amazing mentor who and coach who told us, like, learn when to delegate.
Maryanne (13:19)
Mm.
Candace Aku (13:20)
You know, focus
on the things that you're good at and knock those out of the park and use your relationships and delegate the things that you're not good at and that might be somebody else's strength. So all of a sudden you created a team where you're able to focus in your good spots and
Maryanne (13:37)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (13:38)
your teammates are able to show up in their good spots and then together you guys kill it.
Maryanne (13:43)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (13:44)
But
sometimes when we're just starting out, we feel like we have to know from A to Z. Like I felt like
Maryanne (13:50)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (13:50)
if I didn't know everything between A and Z, then I was like the dumbest person. And I had to learn to stop looking at it that way and saying, like, nobody was put on this earth to know and be all. Like we all have our sweet spots. and one of my other mentors, she
deposited in us know where you begin and end and where
Maryanne (14:13)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (14:14)
another person begins and ends. So that
Maryanne (14:16)
Ooh.
Candace Aku (14:17)
way you're not like crossing each other's lanes. It's like I go from here to here.
Maryanne (14:22)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (14:23)
Marianne goes from here to here. So I'ma focus on this and I'm gonna see if Mary Ann wants to get in on this. And then
Maryanne (14:28)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (14:29)
you know we we help each other out like that.
Maryanne (14:32)
For sure. And everyone has their own superpowers, you know. Yeah.
Candace Aku (14:34)
Yeah. Yep.
Maryanne (14:36)
I love that for you it was like seeing, you know, the strength in other people is really what made you like want to step into leadership. It's like to leverage
Candace Aku (14:43)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (14:43)
that and help build on like people's strengths. That's really cool.
Candace Aku (14:47)
Yeah, and another thing, Marianne, is like there's not a lot of people that look like me in tech. So
Maryanne (14:52)
For sure, yeah.
Candace Aku (14:53)
I'm always trying to go hard and
Maryanne (14:56)
Mm.
Candace Aku (14:57)
and and show others that this is possible. And if I stay in one place too long, then that's holding a seat where somebody else can be entering and I'm continuing.
Maryanne (15:06)
yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (15:09)
and so that's also another way that I look at it.
Maryanne (15:11)
Yeah, pave the way behind you, right?
Candace Aku (15:13)
Yep.
Maryanne (15:14)
How do people, you think in general, like know when they're ready for that next step?
Candace Aku (15:19)
You know. It's something that you feel that's missing.
Maryanne (15:20)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (15:24)
it's something where you might feel stagnant. you know, you might feel like you're not showing up in your best version, like, okay, I'm just showing up to work, I'm doing the same thing over and over again, you know,
I'm kind of comfortable. because I know what I'm I know what I what I've what I'm expected to do in this
certain position.
that's a good sign that it's like maybe time to do something else.
Maryanne (15:52)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (15:53)
because sometimes when we're comfortable and we don't take the step, something happens in life that that you know drops just to get your attention that to
Maryanne (16:04)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (16:04)
shake you up, to say like, you know, it's time to do more, it's time to be more.
Maryanne (16:09)
For sure. Yeah.
Candace Aku (16:11)
So you can take it the easy way or you can take it the hard way where where life is gonna teach you and say like, hey, I'm expecting more.
Maryanne (16:20)
Mm.
Candace Aku (16:20)
the world needs to see more of Marianne, the world needs to see more of Candace.
Maryanne (16:23)
Time. Yes.
Candace Aku (16:26)
and so either you can do that or you can, you know, you can watch the signs where I've mastered this this area. I'm a little bit comfortable. I've been in this role for two to three years, or I'm coming up on my third year, you know.
Am I already working at the next level so
that my manager can see, you know, that I'm I've already mastered this level and I'm ready for the next level.
and then you just start working towards that.
Maryanne (16:52)
Yeah. And I feel like it's sometimes it's a person, right? Who's like giving you that harsh reality of like, hey, like it's maybe it's time to shake things up or like
Candace Aku (17:01)
Uh-huh.
Maryanne (17:01)
teaches you something about yourself. and I think there's like so much growth we get from the people around us, but at the
same time, there's like a negative connotation with like networking.
how do you approach
wanting to build a better, stronger like network.
Candace Aku (17:18)
I look at it as, like I said, people are people first.
and
my coach said it so perfectly.
If you do everything transactional, your life will be transactional. Like it'll always
Maryanne (17:30)
Mm. Yeah.
Candace Aku (17:33)
be I'm doing this for this, and this person
Maryanne (17:35)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (17:35)
is doing this for this. But when you do something from a genuine place, your relationships extend beyond what you're
Maryanne (17:42)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (17:42)
in your day-to-day roles to fulfill.
Maryanne (17:46)
yeah.
Candace Aku (17:47)
so you you begin to know this person for maybe a lifetime.
And maybe other opportunities outside of work show up where, you're able to have more more exposure, you know, more opportunities
present themselves to you. And it's not always just within the walls of your job, but sometimes it's within who you are as a person.
Maryanne (18:11)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (18:11)
and I can almost use you for an example, you know, me me and you know somebody,
Maryanne (18:16)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (18:17)
And we were in the same job,
Maryanne (18:19)
That's so funny, yeah.
Candace Aku (18:21)
but we were, we talked to each other. Like we
Maryanne (18:23)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (18:24)
we talked about things outside of just what we what our assignments were for the company. And by doing that, it's like, hey.
My partner is also into this,
Maryanne (18:36)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (18:37)
and I think that you guys would, you know, hit it off. And so
Maryanne (18:40)
Yes.
Candace Aku (18:41)
that gave me opportunities to meet other people and learn about other people and
what they might be going through and how so many of us share so many of the same experiences and how
we relate to each other and how we see that.
There's deficits in technology when it comes to women, but we're
all striving to be better. We're striving to show younger people. my first WIT conference, there were students there, like from high school, college, you know, like
Maryanne (19:14)
Yes.
Candace Aku (19:16)
it's just so many connections from just like one
Maryanne (19:19)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (19:19)
person, two people having like a coffee and just talking. So it goes beyond just like.
Maryanne (19:22)
Yeah. Uhhuh. I love it. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (19:28)
what we're here to do as a company, but what are we doing in life and how can we
Maryanne (19:32)
Yeah, exactly.
Candace Aku (19:34)
use that to help other people?
Maryanne (19:36)
Yeah, just like you learn from every different person in your life. Like even if they're like formally a mentor or in your leadership chain. And yeah,
Candace Aku (19:44)
Yeah.
Maryanne (19:45)
I think that's so special to recognize and kind of like reflect on, you know, like
Candace Aku (19:49)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (19:49)
approaching every person as as a person. That's awesome.
Candace Aku (19:52)
Yeah.
Maryanne (20:36)
I feel like you've talked about how some of your career growth was from someone opening a door.
And
like it's hard to admit, I think, that like you can't just hustle your way all by yourself, like especially if you're a woman or you know, like
in a minority in other ways. Like, can you talk about your perspective on that?
Candace Aku (20:54)
talk about this forever. You
know, and I I just had a conversation with a young man who I was telling, you would think that by showing up every day and giving your all in
your role, somebody would see you and say, you know what, you deserve a promotion.
Maryanne (21:12)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (21:13)
But the older you get, and you know, like you realize that that's not how it works. Because yeah, because Susie
Maryanne (21:18)
Mm-hmm. Wouldn't that be nice though? Yeah.
Candace Aku (21:22)
could be sitting by you, just twiddling her fingers and be in the manager's face
Maryanne (21:27)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (21:28)
every opportunity she gets. And then before you know it, you kept your head down. You were meeting
Maryanne (21:35)
ajá
Candace Aku (21:35)
and exceeding all your metrics.
But then you look up, Susie is average, barely
Maryanne (21:41)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (21:42)
meets their metrics, and Susie gets the position, they get the promotion,
Maryanne (21:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Candace Aku (21:47)
and you're looking like, what the hell?
Well, that goes back to Susie developed relationships where she had the manager's air, where she,
Maryanne (21:58)
Mm mm. Yeah.
Candace Aku (22:01)
you know, spoke so highly of herself, whether it was true or not, whether the data was there to back it up. But you thought that because I am showing up, I am exceeding what they expect of me, you know, they're gonna see me and they're going to give me that. That is not how it works.
Maryanne (22:17)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (22:20)
You have to be your biggest cheerleader, your biggest champion. And
I explained that to one of the young men who's starting out, and I I was able to have a a coffee chat with him, and I was just telling him, Don't, don't expect your manager to just see you.
Maryanne (22:38)
Mm.
Candace Aku (22:39)
use every one-on-one session because it's not just you that your manager has to worry about. It's like probably 10 of y'all. And
Maryanne (22:44)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (22:46)
so use every one-on-one session to explain this is what I'm focused on and this is my career goals. And I would like to know how can I help you meet your goals? Because I know that there's OKRs that we have as a like key objectives that we, you know, that we have
Maryanne (23:06)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (23:08)
for the organization and it's likely for what our leadership wants us to focus on to to help the org meet their goals. And so
Maryanne (23:16)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (23:17)
by you being my manager, what out of those key objectives matter to you? You know, how can I help? Because this young man, he wanted to do an additional project and the manager declined it.
and and didn't tell them, you know, why.
And so I just explained to him, you know, turn it around. And, you
know, when you get that opportunity to talk to your manager, don't let that slide.
You need to know why was my extra project turned down and from that
If there's more than more that you want from me, let's talk about it. Let's
Maryanne (23:58)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (23:59)
talk about how I can help you meet your goals first. And then in turn, you know, you understand like what my goals are and how can we like work together to make sure that you're understanding where I want to go and I'm helping you to achieve the results that you want to, you know, achieve. You have to have those conversations because
what ends up happening is around promotion time, you had an
Expectation that you were going to get promoted, and your manager says, I had no idea that you were doing that. When did you do that?
Maryanne (24:32)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (24:34)
that didn't really help what our goals were. You didn't help us reach our goals. That that was probably a company,
Maryanne (24:43)
Mm.
Candace Aku (24:44)
objective but not necessarily our organization's objective. So you can tell I've been through some of this, right?
Maryanne (24:48)
Right. Yeah.
Candace Aku (24:54)
and so yeah, you always want to make sure that you're like lock and step with your leader. What is it that
Maryanne (24:58)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (24:59)
you're trying to reach first? Let's do that. And then I want to make sure that you'd understand this is what I'm trying to do as well.
Maryanne (25:05)
Yeah.
And like every opportunity you have is like a door that's open, but you have to show up like for that opportunity. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes.
Candace Aku (25:10)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, you have to be loud about it. You can't just say like I'm I'm doing it and they see me. No. You have
to say, This is what I'm doing. this is what my impact was. You know, because it could be
a a group project. but your manager is gonna want to know, well, what did you do out of the group? What was your impactful piece
of that result that you guys accomplished for the company?
Maryanne (25:33)
Yes. And sometimes it's like a little bit before we're like totally ready and comfortable, but it's like those opportunities that we have, you know, of like if it's FaceTime with the manager or like you know, like a product is coming out and you have to like send the demo out and say, Hey, this is like something that I produced, you know, advocating for yourself. It's really
Candace Aku (25:50)
Yes. Yes.
Maryanne (25:53)
hard, especially like as a woman and like in a male dominated field and like in tech, I think, where everything is
so qualitative.
Candace Aku (26:01)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (26:02)
You know, like it's really
it feels kind of you know, like you're exaggerating sometimes to say, Yeah, I built this, but like, you know, you yeah.
Candace Aku (26:07)
Yeah. Yeah. You have to do it. It's so uncomfortable. It is so uncomforta especially
if you're somebody who you were taught to be humble.
Maryanne (26:17)
Mm.
Candace Aku (26:18)
and not and don't be arrogant
it's hard to like toot your own ho own horn. but you
Maryanne (26:23)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Candace Aku (26:25)
have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Maryanne (26:28)
Yeah. man. Yeah.
Candace Aku (26:31)
Yeah.
Maryanne (26:32)
I mean, and y you keep talking about like relationships and like how it how you like play the dynamics of like how you see yourself working with the people around you. Like how important has your network been in your career?
Candace Aku (26:46)
extremely important.
Maryanne (26:47)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (26:48)
'cause sometimes it's not even about helping me directly. It might be helping like a a colleague.
but it's because
I understand what another colleague is going through. I can put them in connection with somebody else who can help them.
and those are things that they don't forget people don't forget. You know, you
helped me solve a problem. Something that was gonna take me 20 hours now took two because
you put me in connection with the right person.
so sometimes it's not even all about just you.
specifically,
but by you knowing other people, you know what they're capable of. Sometimes you're the one that connects the dots and you help
to solve problems that would have taken longer had you not been able to connect dots for people. And in turn, a lot of time that that comes back to you where you can then go to somebody and and the same thing is is given to you in in return. So you always want to be able to
kind of like be able to extend that olive branch to
Maryanne (27:52)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (27:52)
someone else. And it's because of your relationships. Because if everything
Maryanne (27:56)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (27:57)
is transactional, then you only knew the depth of that person for that problem, that one specific problem. And
Maryanne (28:01)
Yeah, that's so true. Yeah.
Candace Aku (28:03)
so you don't look at them beyond, you know, having the ability to help you with that one thing. But when you get to
Maryanne (28:09)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Candace Aku (28:11)
know people, you get to know more about their strengths as well.
Maryanne (28:16)
Yeah. And like your network isn't just at work, you know,
Candace Aku (28:21)
No.
Maryanne (28:21)
it's like it's all people, like you say. And I feel like every time we catch up, you talk about, you know, like leaving those relationships open and like giving back, not just like looking at things in like a what can this person do for me? But like really
Candace Aku (28:34)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (28:35)
how can I open doors for somebody else the way that they were open for me in the past. Yeah. I love it.
Candace Aku (28:40)
So important. So important.
Yeah.
Maryanne (28:43)
And I love that that's just a central part of
your you know, like the way that you interact. It's so genuine.
Candace Aku (28:48)
Yeah, I believe in reciprocity. So like
Maryanne (28:50)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (28:51)
I'm I'm giving because I know it's going to come back to me. I'm not
Maryanne (28:54)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (28:55)
I'm not selfish. I'm not gatekeeping. If I know
Maryanne (28:57)
For sure.
Candace Aku (28:58)
something, I'm willing to share that with somebody else because
the world needs people to show that things are possible.
and some people don't believe in relatability.
Maryanne (29:14)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (29:15)
because when I can see a woman, a woman of color, or you know, like it's a woman first and then a woman of color, I then know that that's possible. It's not just for this group of people, you know, like
Maryanne (29:25)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (29:28)
it's it's it's for if you apply yourself, then there is no limits. It's only the limits that you put put in front of yourself.
Maryanne (29:36)
Yeah, exactly. And I think that like that perspective is so important to say out loud because I think specifically like as women and like as any minority, it's you're it the system is designed to make you feel alone.
Candace Aku (29:52)
Mm-hmm.
Maryanne (29:53)
And like that's why these communities and like why women and technology is so important. And I'm so glad that we got to hear from you today.
Candace Aku (30:00)
Yeah.
Maryanne (30:01)
to just, you know, like show that like you're a real person and you're so accomplished and you have an amazing resume, but like you just like wanna gab and like be a girl and talk about your real perspectives. And it's
Candace Aku (30:12)
Yeah.
Maryanne (30:14)
amazing, you know, like for women who are feeling alone and for younger people it's so important. I am so glad of for the women that I had when I was, you know, growing up in the tech industry. So I love it.
Candace Aku (30:25)
And you
know you just ignited something when you said that that made me think sometimes we can get stuck
Maryanne (30:34)
Mm.
Candace Aku (30:35)
in that spot where you know there's nobody in my field that wants
Maryanne (30:40)
Mm.
Candace Aku (30:41)
to help me or wants to talk to me.
Maryanne (30:43)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (30:44)
But
What I'll tell you is that builds your character and it builds
Maryanne (30:50)
Mm.
Candace Aku (30:51)
your strength because you had to learn everything on your own because nobody
Maryanne (30:56)
We
Candace Aku (30:57)
was going to help you learn it. So now
That you've built that skill set, you can go into almost any room and understand how to dissect what's happening or what's needed
Maryanne (31:11)
Mm.
Candace Aku (31:12)
because you understand and you're not waiting on anybody to help you. You're gonna dive in head first because I gotta
Maryanne (31:15)
Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (31:19)
get this for myself. so it's it's twofold. you build up to the tenacity and the skills to
Maryanne (31:25)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (31:25)
be able to.
figure things out and then you also you don't do that to other people. Like
if you if you can help someone,
you're willing to help someone because you don't want them to have that same experience that you had.
Maryanne (31:43)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (31:43)
It's not to say that you're going to be able to help them or prevent them from experiencing all things,
Maryanne (31:49)
Mm.
Candace Aku (31:50)
but where you can help them, you know, teach them how to fish.
so that they can continue
Maryanne (31:54)
Yeah, yeah.
Candace Aku (31:55)
to help themselves.
Maryanne (31:57)
Yeah. And show other people that like you also experience these things and you did overcome it, you know. Yeah,
Candace Aku (32:01)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Maryanne (32:03)
every person finding that in themselves is really important, you know.
Candace Aku (32:06)
One hundred percent.
Maryanne (32:08)
If you could leave young women entering the tech field with just one piece of advice, what would it be?
Candace Aku (32:14)
Don't doubt yourself. when I was a kid, I was that kid that would take apart a TV, take apart a computer, and you know, put it back together. Cause number one, my parents could not afford to get it repaired. And if I wanted to watch TV or if I needed to get my homework done, I better figure out how to fix this piece of technology. So
Maryanne (32:27)
Yeah. huh. Mm-hmm.
Candace Aku (32:34)
instinctively, a lot of us already have.
what's needed inside of us, but somewhere along the way, we started doubting our ability to do different things. And somebody said, if you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them.
Maryanne (32:53)
Ooh. Yeah
Candace Aku (32:55)
Right.
Maryanne (32:58)
Okay. I don't know how I like that. A lot of feelings there. Lots of reflecting happening.
Candace Aku (33:00)
So yeah. Yes. So if you fight
for your, you know, lack of ability to do something, then you get to stay stuck and you get to stay there.
Maryanne (33:11)
Mm-hmm. Man.
Candace Aku (33:13)
But you're the only one who can prove to yourself that you are more than that.
Maryanne (33:17)
Yeah.
Candace Aku (33:18)
Like I'll use my daughter for example. She is amazing and she is going up for like sports. And
for some reason she's like, I already know that this is how it's gonna turn out. And I'm like, You don't know that.
And if I let you quit now, when you grow up, you're gonna be like, why did you let me quit? Why didn't you why didn't you push me to to
do? And by you doing, you then show you
Maryanne (33:48)
Rise to the occasion. Believe in yourself. I love it.
Candace Aku (33:50)
So my coach, Coach
Mofal.
She is releasing her new book called Soak Soul Cold. And it comes out on September 15th. if you go to my Instagram or my Facebook, I have the link where you can register for her Soul Cold release day. And she's going from like 9 a.m., I think, until the evening. And I'm going to be the 12 p.m. one of the panelists for her 12 p.m. lunch and learn session, where
Maryanne (34:19)
fun. Okay. I love it.
Candace Aku (34:23)
we get to talk.
About how I've applied what I've learned from her soul powered career
coaching programs.
Maryanne (34:31)
that's awesome. And it's Candace Aku on all socials and candisacoup.com.
Candace Aku (34:35)
That's right. Yes.
Maryanne (34:38)
Perfect.