Women in technology — Tina Wang

This year, we’ve kicked off a Women in Technology blog series focusing on some fantastic women in leadership roles here at the Sage Intacct office of Sage. These women come from all walks of life, and are mentors, moms, bosses, and even beekeepers. Their stories and wisdom inspired me, and I trust you’ll find the same.

This profile is with Tina Wang, VP of Product Marketing for Sage Intacct. Here’s what she had to share:

Brittany Benson: Hi Tina, thank you so much for joining me. Can you please me more about your role here at Sage Intacct?

Tina Wang: In my role running Product Marketing here at Sage Intacct, I have the pleasure of leading and growing a team of talented product marketers. We focus on positioning, messaging and content creation. My team works on many of the content pieces you find on our website – including really fun pieces to produce like infographics and videos, to ebooks, blogs, white papers, and more.

Brittany: Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into this role as well as how you got involved in technology specifically?

Tina: Sure, you probably don’t know this, but I actually started my career in the insurance industry. I worked for a life insurance company and was responsible for reinsurance billing, valuation, and treaties. Living here in the Bay Area, I was surrounded by tech companies, and so I too wanted to get into tech. But it was hard to make a switch from insurance environment into technology.
I went back to school and got my MBA, and then I became a product manager in a software company. Over the years, I have held roles in product management, product strategy, product marketing and demand generation. After trying out all these different roles, I knew that I loved product marketing the most, so I came back to it and have been doing that ever since. So that’s how I landed in tech! I tried a bunch of different jobs and found out where I had the most fun.

Brittany: That is a really cool backstory, Tina. Thank you for sharing. Now on a personal level, could you tell me a little bit about a woman who has inspired you?

Tina: My mother, of course, certainly inspired me to make the most of the opportunities of being educated in the U.S. But I also want to share an inspiring story about a woman who worked for me in that first job back at the insurance company. I had been promoted to run the reinsurance department at a young age, and about a year or so later we were having a re-org. I had an open position to fill and was told that I would be filling that role with one of two internal candidates – I got to pick which one. I picked Selma (I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m using her name!).
At the time, Selma was not too many years away from retirement and a few people in the company second-guessed my choice. But you know what? She turned out to be absolutely awesome! There I was, about 25 years old. Selma had been working for longer than I had been alive. Yet she rose to the challenge of suddenly having to start over in a brand new job, working for someone younger than her daughters. She was a fast learner, engaged and a hard worker. At age 25, I had no idea how hard it might be to do what she did. I look back now and really admire her for making a successful late-career job change, breaking stereotypes about age, and doing it with dignity and grace.

Brittany: That’s such a cool insight into her work ethic and her level of inquisitiveness regardless of her age. Thank you for sharing that. On a different note, if you could give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

Tina: I would tell my younger self to get out of my comfort zone more because you really do learn so much more when you don’t know exactly what you’re doing! You may be scared but you should still tackle the challenge. And when you push yourself and you achieve something that you weren’t quite sure you could pull off, that feels great.
I’d also tell my younger self to be more confident in my abilities and to speak up more and defer to others less. Now, when I see young women doing this, I actually speak up and I tell them exactly that. I recently did a recruiting event with MBA candidates and we were in a small group that had three females and one male. When I asked them, who would like to start, since it was a round-table Q&A type of event, all three of the female candidates deferred to the male.. Boy, were they surprised when I pointed it out – and they were really glad that I did!

Brittany: That’s very good advice, regardless of age as well. And then on the same note of advice, what insight would you share with the woman who might be a little bit younger that’s interested in pursuing a career in technology?

Tina: If you want to be in tech, you should investigate what different types of jobs there are, and which ones suit your skills and interests. Don’t overanalyze things, but make a plan, set a goal, and work to execute that goal. There are a lot of women out there that are hesitant to change jobs unless they’re 80%-90% qualified for the job. Don’t wait until you’re that certain. Stretch a little bit and go for it earlier on.

Brittany: What do you feel is the best part of your job?

Tina: The best part of my job here at Sage Intacct has to do with the people that I get to work with. The people here are great and the culture is wonderful. I’ve worked at companies of different types and sizes, and this feels like home. We have a diversity of ethnicities and age, and also perspectives. And this environment extends beyond our company, to our customers and partners as well. It’s quite energizing because there’s never a dull moment.

Brittany: I definitely agree with you with loving the whole company culture and environment. Do you have a vision for the future?

Tina: If I look 10 years out, my kids will be out of the house. So, with that, I would hope to have more time to do charity work, my hobbies, and stuff that I’ve been holding back on while working and raising my family. I think you know that I organized the Sage Intacct team for a novice dragon boat race this summer to raise money for Alzheimer charities. I like doing the novice race since it’s geared specifically towards team building and raising money for charity. And, dragon boat racing is actually my husband and son’s sport, so then it also becomes a family affair!

Brittany: Wrapping up, what advice would you impart on your children?

Tina: Since this is a Women in Technology blog series, my initial reaction is “but I don’t have daughters to give advice to!” But as a mom to two boys, one of the things I care about is raising them to appreciate and respect women. I want them to know that women are wonderful, smart, and capable of doing anything men can do. Also, when they see dad cooking dinner, doing pickups and drop-offs, and attending school events, I want that to be normal to them. That way, it’s not only expected of mom, it’s expected of both of us. When mom and dad share responsibilities, it makes family life a lot smoother and happier for everyone.
I feel like one of the best things I can do for other women and girls is raising my boys to become men who treat women as equals and who will become great husbands, fathers, mentors, and friends.

If you’d like to connect with Tina directly, you can reach out to her on LinkedIn. To learn more about careers with the Sage Intacct team at Sage, please visit here.

To check out the other blogs in Sage’s Women in Tech blog series, view:

• Women in Technology — Melody Williams
• Women in Technology — Stephanie Kleber
• Women in Technology — Carmen Cooper
• Women in Technology — Stefanie Maragna
• Women in Technology — Amy Platt
• Women in Technology — Aravinda Gollapudi
• Women in Technology — Meg Deering
• Women in Technology – Wanda Pansky
• Women in Technology — Nancy Sperry
• Women in Technology — Kathy Lord
• Women in Technology — Nancy Rivas
• Women in Technology — Victoria Keeshan
• Women in Technology — Susan Vincent
• Women in Technology — Eileen Wiens