Rebecca Dennell once believed that to have a say, you had to earn your rights.
Early in her career as an engineer, Denelle felt like she constantly had to prove herself to be taken seriously. Whether she was in a meeting or working on a project, she was always looking for ways to show that she had the skills needed for the job.
But that all changed when Denelle met a woman who worked at her company, which completely transformed her perception of herself and her worth. The colleague began to coach her over time to help her improve her communication skills and confidence.
“That was a turning point for me,” Denelle recalled. “Her kindness helped me understand that my perception defines who I am, and how much control I actually have over how people see me.”
With her confidence restored, Denelle went on to have a successful career, eventually landing her current role as Senior Manager of Product Marketing at CompanyCam. Since joining, she has been part of a very supportive and inclusive group of women. By fostering a sense of community through group activities, happy hours and other initiatives, Denelle and other women in the organization have the opportunity to empower each other in the same way that they were once empowered by their peers.
“By creating more opportunities for women and underrepresented neighbors, we feel we can actively contribute to the change we want to see in the tech world,” she said.
At CompanyCam, women have ample opportunities for growth, fostered by peer support. Jen Shaeffer, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, has benefited from the company’s focus on professional development, honing her skills with a variety of tools and resources and encouragement from her peers along the way.
“The great thing about CompanyCam is that if you have a space to fill, you don’t have to get permission to fill it,” she says.
“The great thing about CompanyCam is that if you have a space to fill, you don’t have to get permission to fill it.”
There are many ways that women “fill the space” across the company, whether it’s work-related or cultural. Senior Product Manager Min-Min Chen said they’ve had opportunities to celebrate diversity by sharing information about important cultural occasions across the company, such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.
For Chen, this ability to showcase cultural heritage is just one example of how the company is giving women a platform to speak out and make a difference.
“If you have a great idea you want to bring to life, there’s a chance you can make it happen,” she said.
Being a woman at CompanyCam means you have the opportunity to make a difference. Though their career paths and personal experiences are different, DeNell, Shaeffer and Chen have one thing in common: they embrace opportunities to grow and are committed to fostering a culture based on transparency and diversity.
CompanyCam provides job site capture and communication tools for contractors. With unlimited cloud storage, their platform enables contractors to capture images and videos, get real-time updates from workers, share live updates on project timelines, and more.
Company Cam
Underrated and overlooked.
This is how Chen felt as a young professional, trying to gain her colleagues’ trust by demonstrating the value she could contribute. But over time, she realized that her main goal was to become the professional she aspires to be, not what others expected of her.
This mindset led Chen to CompanyCam, where she was excited by the innovative product culture and the abundance of successful, professional women.
“It’s really inspiring to be here and see everyone excelling at what they do,” she said.
While Chen enjoys watching other women thrive in their roles at the company, she also had the opportunity for significant personal growth, leading the company’s infrastructure group with the goal of advancing global functionality, as well as serving as product manager for the engineering platform and data teams.
“Being part of these three teams helped me understand the needs of each department and think holistically about how the product team can support those needs while serving customers,” Chen says.
Working in multiple leadership roles has allowed Chen to hone his own skills as well as learn from those around him, which was also the case at Denel, where he took on the role as the company doubled in size in the space of six months.
To say Denelle hit the ground running would be an understatement, as she was tasked with creating, building and growing the company’s product marketing department, taking on new responsibilities.
“I didn’t have any experience managing others yet, so in addition to developing the department, it also gave me the opportunity to learn leadership skills alongside the other two product marketing managers who were hired in my first year,” Dennell said.
“In addition to department development, I was also given the opportunity to learn leadership skills during my first year.”
With this responsibility and support from her colleagues, DeNell has helped research the market and release more than seven new features, countless updates, and more than a dozen new integration connections. For her, the impact of this growth is matched only by her passion for the work itself.
“From a technical standpoint, I love working in product marketing,” Denell says. “The puzzles, the community, and the skills I’ve acquired over the years allow me to utilize all of my natural strengths while always giving me the opportunity to learn something new.”
For the women who work at the company, passion takes many forms, including Schaefer’s passion for engineering, which she has pursued passionately since graduating from college.
When she joined CompanyCam, she had the opportunity to take this interest to new heights by experimenting with automation software tools. Although Schafer had experience with automation, she had never used this particular tool before. However, the encouragement she received from her colleagues made it easy for her to become familiar with the technology.
“It was exciting to learn, there was no pressure to set a timeline goal, and I felt very supported by the company along the way,” she said.
Every day is different for Shaeffer at CompanyCam. No matter what task he’s working on, there’s always an opportunity to expand his knowledge or learn a new skill.
“Every few weeks I get to work on new and interesting projects which makes my job exciting,” she said.
Company Cam
A pro-women culture doesn’t happen overnight, but rather is an ongoing process of putting the right practices and resources in place.
Chen is proud to work for an organization with so many women in leadership positions, and in fact considers having the opportunity to report directly to VP of Product, Tiffany Albrecht, to be one of the highlights of her career at CompanyCam so far.
“I can’t say enough good things about her,” Chen says. “It’s been a privilege and an honor to watch her thrive as a woman in tech.”
In addition to embracing female representation, the company’s leadership also practices work-life balance and taking time off to rejuvenate, and encouraging employees to take advantage of unlimited paid time off has been particularly effective for the company’s women, Schafer said.
“This flexibility can make a big difference for women in how they manage childcare, work and other priorities,” she said.
Though CompanyCam has been successful in empowering women, there’s always room for greater inclusion. That’s why the company regularly conducts anonymous surveys to gauge employee feelings and attitudes. DeNell notes that what’s most impressive about these surveys is that the company actually acts on employee feedback.
“I’ve seen firsthand how suggestions from colleagues become reality within weeks of being shared,” she said.
Schafer added that this focus on feedback doesn’t just end with company-wide surveys: She feels comfortable airing her concerns with anyone in the organization, including the VP of Engineering, who holds regular office hours and has had various conversations with her about improving her team’s work.
For Schafer, the clearest evidence of CompanyCam’s commitment to diversity may be reflected in its recent hiring efforts: She personally participated in the interview process and was impressed with the diverse candidates she met, which she believes reflects a focus on putting real commitment into action.
“It takes a lot of work to create a fair process, but it ultimately leads to improved DEI,” Schafer said.
Handmade naan bread, dumplings, curries, empanadas. These are just some of the culinary masterpieces that CompanyCam employees have shared with their colleagues through the company’s food-focused Slack channel. Chen said such measures reinforce diversity across the company in many ways, bringing team members together to share one another’s traditions and unique experiences.
When employees aren’t busy swapping recipes, there are plenty of opportunities to grow together. Chen said team members can take advantage of a variety of internal resources, including book clubs, lunch-and-learn sessions, and internal workshops like Product Strategy Week and Product Tech Talks. “Any time there’s an initiative for growth and improvement, people respond to the opportunity,” she said.
Company Cam
Reflecting on societal norms throughout her life, Denelle said she grew up in a world where women’s roles in careers, relationships and appearance were clearly black and white – but things have changed over the years.
“What’s really great about living in the times I live in is that I get to see those ‘rules’ crumble and witness living proof that those opinions are not true,” Dennell said.
At CompanyCam, women embrace this “living proof” every day, whether it’s discussing their career goals over lunch or leading an all-hands meeting. Chen says it all comes down to encouraging women to embrace their own “superpowers,” and that this can be done by other women, including herself, leading by example.
“I understand that our work not only helps us express ourselves but also amplifies what women can contribute, so I try to be a role model in any way I can,” Chen said.
“I understand that our work not only helps us express ourselves, but also amplifies what women can contribute, so I try to be a role model in any way I can.”
Peer support is essential to instill female empowerment in the workplace, which is why Schafer believes women should always strive to support each other, work in ways that work best for them, and celebrate their accomplishments.
“Look for ways to say ‘yes’ to accommodations, workplace flexibility, time off, etc., and focus on the outcomes and the value they bring,” she said.
For Denel, cultivating an environment that embraces women’s differences and strengths boils down to one universal goal: to be part of a rebranding where femininity is a strength, not something to be diminished.
Denelle believes the power of femininity can’t be summed up in one word or phrase, and to embrace that power, women should share everything from funny stories to salary ranges with one another and never stop doing so.
“Being a woman is nuanced, complicated and beautiful,” Denelle said. “It is what we say it is, and it’s constantly evolving as we continue to come together and communicate with one another.”
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