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In this episode of Journeys to Leadership, Agnes Scott College president Leocadia Zak interviews Penny Rogers Collins, a trailblazing IT executive and advocate for women in STEAM. Penny reflects on her unlikely path from a single mother struggling to make ends meet to becoming a highly respected leader in technology. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and the power of learning. She shares how she found her footing in tech, one library visit at a time, driven by a commitment to self-improvement and an unyielding belief in her potential.
Throughout the episode, Penny emphasizes the importance of mentorship and community. She discusses her passion for supporting women and girls in STEAM and how she has dedicated her career to lifting others, including creating a program for single mothers to pursue careers in cybersecurity. Her candid reflections offer invaluable lessons in leadership, perseverance, and the power of continuous learning. Tune in for a compelling conversation that shows how perseverance through adversity can create extraordinary success.
Creators & Guests
What is Journeys to Leadership?
Journeys to Leadership assembles the collective wisdom of local, national, and international women leaders representing a cross-section of industries and organizations that drive our world. From career trajectory and turning points to game-changing wins, the Journeys to Leadership podcast will enlighten and inspire emerging and seasoned leaders through authentic and engaging stories that will enrich their own leadership journeys.
This podcast is produced by Agnes Scott Alumna, Sydni Michelle Perry '21.
Penny Rogers Collins
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[00:00:00] No, the one thing that I, um, that that I am grateful for is the hardships that I've had in my life. Um, I wouldn't say that I was grateful at the time because they were hardships. I was, you know, a single mom living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ramen and mac and cheese. Um, and I vowed that as soon as I got to a place where I could reach out and help others lift them up, that I would.
Hello, and welcome to Agnes Scott College's podcast, Journeys to Leadership, where we explore the paths of inspiring women leaders from around the globe. I'm Leo Kadiazak, president of Agnes Scott and the host of this podcast. I hope that our guest stories not only encourage you, our listeners and leaders of today and tomorrow, but they also inspire you as you take the next steps in your own journey.
From the classroom to the boardroom, today's guest is [00:01:00] passionate about women and girls of all ages, excelling in STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. She served as the President and CEO of Women in Technology. Prior to that, she was Chief Technology Control Officer, Global Lead for Application Disaster Recovery, and Head of Global Cybersecurity and Controls PMO for First Data Corporation.
She was named one of Atlanta Magazine's 500 Most Powerful Leaders in Atlanta, and was a recipient of their 2023 Women Making a Mark Award. She was also presented with the 2023 Atlanta Hawks Forever 404 Honors Award, which is given to people who are fully committed to serving and creating a lasting impact among those in need.
She's dedicated to giving back to her community and believes in the values of continuous improvement, teamwork, results orientation, [00:02:00] integrity, and trustworthiness. Please join me in welcoming the IT Executive Chief of Staff of Insight Global, Penny Rogers Collins. Welcome to Journeys to Leadership, Penny.
We're so excited to have you. Thank you. I am thrilled to be here and thank you for inviting me. On our show, we understand that leadership doesn't just happen. It's a journey. During our time together, we want to explore your journey. The ups, downs, surprises, all of it. We're as close as we can get. So let's begin.
Yes. Um, I am originally from, um, Carlsbad, California. That is in San Diego. Um, it is a beautiful place to grow up. Um. Um. Um, my dad, um, is in the mil was in the military. He, he was a Marine, but you can't say was a Marine, cause you know, once a Marine, always a Marine. Always. So he is a Marine. And my mom, um, is Japanese.
And so we grew up, um, near Camp Pendleton. And we had a great, [00:03:00] great life growing up there. So, when you were growing up, did you imagine being in IT? Was that even a thing for a girl? Not even close. And so, for me it was, you know, I grew up in a, in a household that was very much about, um, not really having a career.
It was really about getting married, having children, and supporting your husband. And so, for me, that was kind of the path that I was on. And as I grew up, um, I realized that, um, that's exactly what I wanted to do was to get married and have, have kids and support my husband. But of course, life changes and your trajectory changes, but I never once imagined first having a career, but having a career in tech that just was not a thing when I was growing up.
So how did that happen? Well, what was interesting is that, you know, what I really wanted to do was, um, go to school and learn how to be an educator. So I wanted to teach music to elementary, um, kids. Um, [00:04:00] music was my passion. Um, we all grew up, me and my siblings, um, with, uh, instruments. We all played the piano.
We all were, um, singers. And that's, uh, It was such a passion of mine that I wanted to teach other children, just the beauty of music and how that can help you in your life. And so that's what I did. I went to one year of school and I majored in music at the wonderful University of BYU, um, who has an incredible music program.
And um, I realized that was not really what I wanted to do. And so I quit school, um, got married very young and had a child. And then, um, through my journeys of being married, I realized that, um, I was not married to the right person. And so we went through a divorce and I quickly became a single mom. Um, as a single mom, I of course don't have an education.
I don't have any skills and I had to learn really quickly that I need to support myself. Um, my ex [00:05:00] husband didn't have, um, a great big career at that time either. So we both were, were very much struggling. Um, that is where I learned about signing up with a staffing company and through a staffing company, they placed me in my first role as being a receptionist.
at a technology company, and it was a company called GTE, which now is Verizon. And that is how, um, in my first job as a secretary, I was supporting a director over technology, and that was my first exposure to this world of tech and actually corporate America. So yeah, it was by chance. But then what happened after that?
You started as an assistant. Look where you are today. What was the next step? You know what's interesting is, you know, the one thing I wanted to do was, um, I wanted to learn everything that I could about everything that I was doing. And I had this incredible secretary who [00:06:00] coached me on how to use a computer, how to turn on a computer.
I had no idea. Um, but the other thing that was really important to me was also about Learning everything that came across my desk. So if my director asked me to be in a meeting and to dictate a letter or to take meeting minutes, I would take the meeting minutes and I would take the meeting minutes and try to absorb the words that were on the paper.
Um, I didn't understand a word, not a word. So what I would do is after work I would go pick up my daughter from daycare and I would go to the library Cause we didn't have, we didn't have real big access to the internet. I would go to the library and pick up books that would teach me about all these words that I was hearing from my boss and we would go to McDonald's.
She would play on the playground and I would read, I would just read every word and learn every word and really trying to learn this art of technology and what all of these things mean. What all of it meant. And so really I was, I was self [00:07:00] taught and after doing that for a couple of years, um, and being in meetings and asking to be in meetings and being exposed to, you know, watching leaders in, in, in conference rooms and really taking note about their presence and how they spoke and taking notes about the word, the words that they were using and, and educating myself.
Um, that is where I had a woman leader. Who, um, noticed me and said you are, I mean, you're consistent in everything you do. You're always present. You're always asking to be a part of meetings that have nothing to do with what your job is. And, um, I want to give you a chance. And so she gave me my chance.
And having my first job, which was carrier relations at GTE. And this is where I got my first role, really understanding what leadership was about, and what managing was about. And also, it delved me deeper into, into the world of technology. And so that's how I kind of learned, was just really self taught.
I [00:08:00] love that. But it was that desire to learn that was so important and really launched your career. It did. You know, the, the one thing that really, um, my mom has always really, really taught me was, um, consistency and always keep your promises. And so when you have consistency with always doing what you say you're going to do, that builds this, this, this trust with people that work with you, it builds a trust with leadership and they're like, She will always constantly deliver.
She will always do what she says she's going to do. And that is where it really exposed me to more leaders and really broadened my ability to grow in my career. And so as, as I started as a carrier, carrier relations manager, then I had another person noticed me and gave me a chance in another area until finally I was ready to kind of blossom out of GTE and look at other opportunities.
And that is where, um, this incredible woman leader at Bell South, before they merged in with AT& [00:09:00] T, I'm now giving you my age here, um, where she gave me the opportunity to lead a project management organization. I didn't even know what that was. And so again, I'm back to researching. Back to researching, back to watching people, back to reading.
And that is where I was leading a team of 50 project managers, um, where we were standing up our very first internet operations center at Bell South. And that is where I really started delving deeper into networks, into infrastructure, into operations. And that really taught me more about the basics of, of technology.
So a theme I'm hearing is that people saw something in you and then you responded to that. Has that been an ongoing theme? How do you encourage that in women? It is an ongoing thing and it is a theme and it is something where that is, I became known throughout my career as being kind of a cleanup girl and [00:10:00] I love to clean up things that are not working.
Yeah. And so when, when I have leaders that said, you know, Penny, I, I know you've never done this before. I want you to come in and help me operationalize the way that we do business in this area. And I was like, sure. I mean, I had no fear. I have no fear. I knew that throughout my journey of what I've had to deal with, that I could absolutely overcome anything.
Um, and I just did it. And so I would go into a new group. I didn't know it. I have no fear of asking questions. That is how we learn is to ask questions. Um, and I really didn't Think about if I ask a question, if it's a dumb question, are people going to judge me a, you know, a different way? Um, that there's just not the way my brain functioned.
It was more about, I'm going to ask questions because I want to learn. And when I learn and I ask questions, I'm better able to support you and I'm able to do a better job with you. And so I would take on all these roles and I would, [00:11:00] you know, you learn it, I would operationalize it and then get it to a stable place.
And I was like, okay, I'm ready for my next journey. And that is how I learned so many different areas of business. and technology and leaders that would give me opportunities was just, um, just leaning in and, and not being fearful and just doing what I thought I could do. So is this desire to learn and eat something that you're born with?
Or is this something that you can teach? How do you mentor others? That's such a great question. Um, Learning was not my thing. I, I wish I would have been a great student. I wish I would have been a learner and better learner in school because I think that would have helped me in my career faster and I would have not struggled so much throughout my career because there are things that, you know, You know, education teaches you that I didn't, it didn't naturally come to me and I had to search that on my [00:12:00] own.
Um, no, it became when I became an adult, really, that I became very inquisitive. Um, not because I wanted to, because I had to. Because for me to survive and for me to take care of my child, I had to get very, very gritty. I had to learn how to be gritty, get my hands dirty and, and just kind of learn. And so, and through learning and achieving, it kind of gave me this natural behavior that I have today, which is, I want to constantly learn.
And so now it's just part of my, it's part of me. It's part of my DNA. So how do we help others? You've been involved with women in technology, technology for girls. How do we encourage young women and girls? You know, the one thing that I, um, that, that I am grateful for is the hardships that I've had in my life.
Um, I wouldn't say that I was grateful at the time because they were hardships. I was, you know, a single mom living in poverty, almost [00:13:00] homeless, um, trying to be the secretary to this director, not making, I made 21, 000. I didn't make hardly any money, um, living on peanut jelly sandwiches and ramen and Mac and cheese.
Um, And I vowed that as soon as I got to a place where I could reach out and help others lift them up, that I would. And throughout my whole entire corporate journey, I was on this upward trajectory. I was the Chief Technology Control Officer at Pfizer, which was then First Data. And I got this great opportunity to look at running, um, the nonprofit Women in Technology.
And, you know, it is It's definitely a lower salary. And when they offered me the CEO position, I looked at my husband, he goes, you know, this is something you're passionate about. You've talked about reaching out and helping other people. Why not just do this? And and so I said, I'm going to do it. So I left corporate America and for five years I.
Had the [00:14:00] privilege and honor of running women in technology and it gave me the opportunity to really reach out, help other women, teach them what I was able to learn from other women and other men, which was how to feel empowered, how to have a voice. How to be inquisitive, how to ask the questions, and to really own your career.
And I think that's something that a lot of us women, at least I wasn't taught growing up was how to own your career. Um, I had to learn how to be gritty and own my career just out of, just out of survival. And so I wanted to teach other women how to do this. And so that's what I was able to do at Women in Technology.
But the beauty of something that I'm very, very proud of. about and I'm very proud of is the single mothers program that we started at Women in Technology. And this was my opportunity to help other single moms. Because when I was a single mom, I thought, you know, shouldn't be this hard. Like, why is it so hard as a single mom to survive?
And so [00:15:00] I wanted to help single moms that didn't have an education, get educated, get educated in a safe space where they could ask questions. They could be inquisitive, they could grow. And then once they graduated in learning technology, which is you're going to have technology forever. Um, and it's going to, it is such a safe space.
Stable industry to be in, and that's what is what I wanted to offer to single moms. Um, but it wasn't just offer them the opportunity to be educated. It was also how do we help them find a job? And so it is helping moms that are making 18, 000 a year. barely making it all, you know, living in their cars to being educated in cyber security and then being placed in a job making 80, 000 a year.
And that is a program that we started at WIT that I'm very, very proud of. And that is how I'm giving back and making sure that I'm leaning into other women and lifting them up. You should be very proud of that. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As [00:16:00] you've gone through your journey, it hasn't been exactly linear.
So often young people think they have to know exactly what they're going to do and to stick with it. What would your advice be? I'm going to give them the advice that I had another woman leader give to me. Um, let me walk you through this scenario when she gave me this advice. There was an opportunity for me to take a lateral move and the lateral move was to lead a team that did what we call project estimation, resource planning, and prioritization.
I had no desire to do that at all. Like it wasn't my passion point. I'm not good with numbers. And this was all about math and prioritization of actual workload. And she said, you know, a lot of times you may have to do something. In a role where you know you're going to gain the knowledge that is going to take you, is going to help you in the future, but you may not know where in the future.
Take the [00:17:00] opportunity that is given to you to learn an area that you may not like, but you may not like it because you're not, you don't think you're good at it. Lean in and learn it. And she goes, and you can do anything for a year. And I'm like, okay, you're right. And so I leaned in, I did that role for literally a year and a week, and I left it and went to another role.
But that, What I learned there has helped me through my whole entire career and actually what's interesting, it's helping me now in the, in the job that I have right now. We are now looking at standing up an estimation, a resource utilization and a prioritization process here at Insight Global. And if I would not have leaned in, you know, 20 years ago and learn that skill set, I would not even know what I'm talking about in this role right now.
And so a lot of times you have to take a lateral move. Sometimes you have to go down in your career to learn the skills that you need to learn that will elevate you in the future. Always look at where you want to be in [00:18:00] the future. You've touched on it beautifully. However, so often we hear, I'm not good at that.
How do you respond to that? Oh, I used to say that all the time, all the time. We are as good as we put in our brain. If you, you know, I truly believe in mind over matter, that you can reprogram your brain. And, and even though I may be fearful inside, Take a chance. I mean, we are, we are so capable. Any human being is capable of learning and growing and expanding.
If you just give yourself the opportunity and the chance, and you know what? Sometimes, sometimes you fail. What you have to learn is how to fail fast and how to fail forward so that You use that opportunity as a learning, not to drag you down, not to say, I'm not good enough, but you use that as an opportunity to say, okay, now I know I've done it.
I will never do that again. And then you move forward. Penny, it's been such a pleasure as we come to a [00:19:00] close, do you have any last words of encouragement or advice for our listeners? Absolutely. The biggest thing for me, it is really know that, um, you have earned where you are today. You deserve. You deserve everything in this world.
Anything that this world has to offer to you. You need to believe it and you need to live it. And so take chances and have no fear. Penny, thank you for sharing your story with us. To our listeners, I hope you were encouraged and inspired. Penny Rogers Collins journey is one of many that we are thrilled to share with you.
Thank you for listening. And thank you to our producer, Sydni Perry, for making this podcast possible. I am Leo Kadia Zak, and this is Journeys to Leadership.