Cloud Girls is honored to have amazingly accomplished, professional women in tech as our members. We take every opportunity to showcase their expertise and accomplishments – promotions, speaking engagements, publications and more. Now, we are excited to shine a spotlight on one of our members each month.
Our Cloud Expert of the Month is Rokeya Jones.
Rokeya is now leading new innovation within Modern Education at Microsoft that is empowering remote learners connectivity via the most powerful Cloud network in the world, Azure. She is laser focused on driving proof of concepts in partnership with various product teams around the company that adhere to the needs of billions of users worldwide. Previously, while at Verizon she led solution architecture for IOT/ThingSpace platform — where we increased the IOT portfolio by integrating wireless modules/chipsets resulting in over 2000+ new connected devices. She spent early years at Disney working under the leadership of Bob Iger, CEO Disney as Global Technical Manager to digitally transform the use of paper tickets into a next generation business model (#MagicBand) but originally, she learned her consultative approach from Big Blue, IBM.
Her purpose is to impact tech diversity and accelerate the human use of technology which provides her with the opportunity to serve others in the field while staying close to the marketplace to provide valuable insights for implementing next-generation solutions. Known as an influential leader who believes in activating by setting SMART goals and has experience as an Entrepreneur and serves as an Exec Board Member on WorkSource Atlanta.
When did you join Cloud Girls and why?
Three years ago, I joined Cloud Girls to expand my network with women who shared the same goal as me. I wanted to inspire other women to join the technology industry and this was a great fit!
What do you value about being a Cloud Girl?
I value the relationships. It doesn’t matter how long we are apart that as soon as we all see each other again…it’s like a family reunion.
What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice that I have ever received is to never fall in love with your job. And as soon as you start a new role to have the next one in mind which keeps you always looking forward and, in the mindset, to set targets and future goals.
What impresses you the most when you are considering hiring someone?
When considering a new hire, I am most impressed if the person has used LinkedIn to prepare or provides me with work samples. It’s also important for them to be able to conduct a close by asking me for the job and next steps at the end.
What are the most exciting opportunities for women in tech?
I believe the most exciting opportunity for women in tech right now is in the role of being a data scientist. Women are geniuses at understanding the function of operations, customer service as well as business revenue models and the world needs business intelligence from all three in the tech industry.