Get to know Noelle Allon, a member of Women of Cisco!
I/ SNAPSHOT ABOUT NOELLE:
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Career Current role & team:
Years in the tech industry:
Education & certifications:
Key areas of expertise:
One career highlight you're most proud of:
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Personal Hometown & where you live now:
First job ever (not tech-related!):
Favorite way to spend a weekend:
One thing you're currently obsessed with (book, show, activity, etc.):
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II/ NOELLE'S STORY & CAREER JOURNEY:
- Let’s start with a fun one! If you had to describe your career journey in a movie title, what would it be?
Twinning for the win
I have a twin sister. I feel so lucky that Nichole Greb was my wombmate and I can’t imagine how people go through life without a wondertwin. Nikki and I have had similar education paths and career journeys despite being the first on both sides of our extended family to achieve our master's degrees. Additionally, we are two of a very small number in the whole family receiving bachelor's degrees. Our three siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the huge majority of first cousins never pursued education after completing high school. Our dad never graduated high school and instead joined the U.S. Army and was in the Vietnam War as a teenager. Nikki and I have been in tech for a half century combined and are degreed!
We both obtained our master’s from Carnegie Mellon University. Nikki is an incredibly skilled and talented software engineer. I realized I was not a fan of programming and got the cybersecurity bug early in my career. We both worked at the same place for several years and used to drive to work together in the morning, go to the gym, hit up the local coffee shop, and then drive home together. We didn’t live together, just very close. We had different lives and still do, and we remain thick as thieves.
I started my parenting journey like my mom did, as a teenager. Nikki chose not to have kids. I have two wonderful kids and two wonderful grandkids. Nikki and I continue to support each other through the easiest and toughest of times. We walk our dogs together as often as we can and enjoy spending twin time together doing yoga to yardscaping. My grandkids also enjoy their monthly sleepover at Aunt Nikki’s house.
- Women supporting women is huge—can you share a moment when another woman lifted you up or inspired you?
My mom inspires me. As a sophomore in high school, she pursued her passion and started her education in the cosmetology curriculum. My mom got her cosmetology license in the late 1960s. One month after turning 22, she had three children of her own, two stepchildren, and one husband who suffered from several mental health diagnoses (which were sadly undiagnosed and untreated at the time). My mom kept the house going and the kids going. She practiced her profession mostly in the kitchen or basement of our house and kept her credentials updated.
By the age of 32, she achieved her Cosmetology Teacher’s License and was promoted to Supervisor of the entire beauty school only two years later. I remember sleeping at my maternal grandma’s house during this time and playing games and watching shows with her while my mom continued to be busy with her over 40/week job and all the housework and lion's share of the childrearing.
By the age of 37, my mom opened a small business, a beauty salon with her name in the title – it was truly hers. She had support of family and friends, mostly women, from updating the interior to making appointments and shampooing clients. My maternal grandma (MGM) was the receptionist for a few years.
Now in her 70s, my mom continues to practice her beloved vocation over 55 years later for a few select clients. She also still offers support in various ways to her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. Once a week my grandkids have a sleepover at my mom’s house and it’s enjoyed by all parties, including me and my daughter who can have a quiet night.
My daughter and grandkids live with me. They moved in the exact weekend that my son (youngest child) moved over 1,000 miles away to go to college and ultimately reside. I support my daughter’s parenting and don’t overstep my role as grammie. I love hearing how excited my grandkids are to see me even though they live with me and see me almost every day. Studies show that “Investment by maternal grandmother buffers children against the impacts of adverse early life experiences". My MGM invested in me. My mom invests in my kids. I invest in my grandkids. What a truly virtuous cycle!
- What inspired you to pursue a career in tech and what keeps you excited about the work you do today?
In the late 90’s as a young single mother without a degree, I was working in various administrative roles and only perceived a linear path forward. My dad inspired me to pursue a career in computers. He believed in me and wanted better for me than what he had. I wanted better for my daughter than what I had and knew that furthering my education would make me more marketable and higher paid. When I started college in 2000, I was immediately interested in the cybersecurity aspect. While attending an accelerated Bachelor’s Degree program on Saturdays as a full-time student (4 years to complete degree), I worked full time at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute CERT Division which enabled me to easily supplement my practical knowledge with technical hands-on experience.
I remain excited about the work I do today in cybersecurity because the constant continuing advancements in technology mean that the threat landscape expands and creates more fun challenges to solve in this global ecosystem. I also remain hopeful that the next generation of tech workers will have gender parity at all levels of the organization. I’ve witnessed extremely slow yet steady progress in the 2.5 decades that I’ve been in the industry and would love to see some accelerated growth in this area.
- How can companies create environments that support and empower women?
I believe in both bottom-up grassroots campaigns and top-down campaigns to achieve successful results for systemic organizational problems. This action is top-down and relies on organizational leadership’s up-front commitment and continuous follow-through until gender parity at all levels of the organization is achieved.
Organizational Gender Parity Moonshot
From part of U.S President John F. Kennedy’s moonshot speech in 1962, replacing “go to the moon in this decade” with “achieve full gender parity at all levels of the organization by the next generation”
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade achieve full gender parity at all levels of the organization by the next generation and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone”
There have been several moonshot campaigns including the Cyber Moonshot in 2018 whose goal was to “Make the Internet safe and secure for the functioning of Government and critical services for the American people by 2028.”
In my experience, organizational initiatives for improving employee engagement or increasing gender parity, to name a few, fall short because leadership does not follow through when the results aren’t what they want to hear, internalize, and change. It's not the methodology that’s the problem. It’s the lack of commitment and unwillingness to fix the root of the problem from senior leadership that’s the problem.
Steps to Achieving Organizational Gender Parity Moonshot for Senior Leaders:
1. Commit courageously and publicly to gender parity in all levels of the organization within one generation rather than five per IWD which states “At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now”
2. Measure progress and report results transparently at regular intervals in a public forum
3. Investigate where goals fell short, remedy, recommit
4. Keep the inertia going until the goal is achieved not merely letting it disintegrate under new senior leadership
Why not? Leaders - be brave and shoot for the moon!
- What strategies do you use to maintain your well-being and prevent burnout?
I have experienced severe burnout in the past, most recently a few years ago when a barrage of hellfire came at me hard and fast in my personal and professional life. I remember the feeling and I don’t want to go there again. To maintain my well-being and prevent future burnout, I set boundaries with myself, recognize my burnout signals, take breaks to recover, and ask for support and understanding.
A break can be a few minutes or a few days depending on the time it takes to recover. For me, a break can be closing the lid of my laptop, phoning a friend, walking outside, or taking a vacation. Additionally, support and understanding are vital to heal from burnout. I communicate what I need most from whom and how help looks to me during that time. I’m blessed to have a loving and receptive network.
- Cisco is a big company with so many opportunities—what’s one surprising way Cisco has influenced your career or personal growth?
Chuck Robbins’ recent public recommitment to continuing to build an inclusive community is influential and engagement inducing! This is a mic drop moment especially in the industry today under the current administration in the U.S.
I have struggled with the problems that arise from being marginalized in my workplace for decades, including lack of support from people in positions of power. It's not only refreshing but also elating to work at a place where I know I am included and belong. The commitment to create a sense of belonging comes from the upper echelons and is inculcated internally and exalted externally and embodied in Cisco's purpose to “power an inclusive future for all”
Chuck’s public commitment is extremely influential. I have a high work ethic and maintain a healthy work and life balance. Chuck’s words and actions increase my engagement. I just celebrated my two-year anniversary with Cisco. It’s such a great feeling to be really engaged in my work. I enjoy what I do at work. I feel psychologically safe with my teammates. I know my manager, Hatim Othman, supports me. And I know that our CEO believes diverse communities build better businesses, just like I do!
- As the Women in Tech for 25 years, what advice would you give to young women considering starting or pivoting into tech industry?
The advice I would give to young women considering starting or pivoting into tech industry is: come join us, there's plenty of room for us to achieve great things together.
There are many different types of roles in the tech industry depending on your passion, from programming to program management and lots in between. Respectively, there are many different types of responsibilities in fields from aeronautics to augmented reality, with lots in between. Additionally, a massive amount of skills are transferable to the tech industry.
Another piece of advice I would give is to find and stay connected with at least one women’s networking group such as Cisco’s Women in Tech or any of the other several great groups dedicated to women in STEM. There’s so much to learn in these forums and everyone has something to offer. So, to these young women considering starting or pivoting into the tech industry – you are valuable, your opinions matter, your talent is needed here.
III/ RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS (the fun part!)
- What's your go-to way to recharge or step away from work when you need a reset?
Go outside barefoot to ground myself, stare at some trees, walk in the woods.
- What's a tech buzzword that secretly makes you roll your eyes?
“Pipeline problem” as it refers to the lack of women in tech because it’s false and alarmingly ignorant.
- If you could instantly download any skill into your brain (like in The Matrix), what would it be?
To make other people empathetic.
- What's your "tech superpower" that people always come to you for?
Anything related to risk management.
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Want to share your thoughts? 'Reply' to post your question or leave a comment to Noelle HERE!
Did you know the Women in Tech group hub on Cisco Community is a dedicated space for women in networking, cybersecurity, IT, and STEM to support each other and help close the gender gap in tech. Connect. Share. Celebrate. Advocate.
