#127 Success Secrets To Unlock Your Potential as a Woman in STEM with Tatiana Ryan

Lucy Gernon (00:00.96)
Tatiana, you are very welcome to the 360 Leadership Podcast. How are you doing today?

Tatiana (00:07.309)
doing well. Thank you Lucy so much for having me.

Lucy Gernon (00:10.144)
Well, thank you first of all for your patience. We are recording for the first time with a guest in a new studio and we had some tech issues. So thank you for your patience while we got set up.

Tatiana (00:20.781)
No worries. I know technical glitches happen, especially with new technology. So early adopter here, completely understand.

Lucy Gernon (00:24.832)
Hehehehe

Amazing, amazing. This is why we have an engineer on the show. So Tatiana, would you want to maybe just tell our listeners a little bit about you, who you are and what you do?

Tatiana (00:37.933)
So my name is Tatiana Ryan. I grew up in Guatemala and El Salvador. So English is actually not my first language. And I went to school in the US to be an engineer. I worked for aerospace and defense for eight years, then decided to switch into biopharma because that’s really where my passion was. So I did a master’s at Trinity in tissue engineering. And now I work in biopharma for the past six and a half years, or five and a half years, I should say.

I am married, I have a son and I really love, like I’m very family oriented. They’re definitely my number one priority. And yeah, so I’ve been in Ireland for six and a half years and here I am now.

Lucy Gernon (01:19.232)
Okay, so let’s back up. I actually did not know you worked in aerospace. Is that what you said? Aeroscience?

Tatiana (01:26.157)
Aerospace and defense, yeah.

Lucy Gernon (01:28.512)
Oh my God, so tell me about that. That sounds so interesting.

Tatiana (01:33.389)
It really was, but it wasn’t what I was passionate about. So I worked on things like radars and detectors, mobile offices, things like that.

Lucy Gernon (01:46.848)
Oh my God, how fascinating. Oh my God, I never knew that. So the reason I’m saying that guys is because Tatiana and I have been working together for a while. Tatiana is in 360 leaders clubs, which is why I’m like so overly familiar in case you’re wondering. So let first of all, I’d love to kind of understand a little bit about like, obviously you’re a woman in STEM, you are an engineer, you’ve worked on like aerospace, science and all this good stuff as well as like biopharma and.

You know, everything you do is so technical. So what made you want to become an engineer?

Tatiana (02:19.757)
So it all really started with my grandfather. He was my role model and he was a civil engineer and we would be like driving around to like the beach or to different places and be like, he’d be like, oh, I built this road. I designed this overpass and it was just like the legacy that he left was palpable literally. Um, but also I like to know how things work. I like to understand.

how you can change things physically to get to where you want to go. So, you know, my cousins used to say that I was going to be a bad mother because I didn’t like playing with dolls. I like playing with Legos or chemistry sets, which I was not allowed to use by myself because I created a highly flammable fluid by myself once. So that was not great. So I just I came at it from

like a creative standpoint. So I really am like arts and designs and things like that, but I can’t draw. I can’t do anything like that. But how do you use science and engineering to create beautiful things or make life easier?

Lucy Gernon (03:34.016)
Oh my God, amazing. You just gave me an image of my daughter is exactly the same. Kate, she loves Lego. And it’s so funny because, I mean, that’s what we’re going to kind of talk about today. So I might as well ask you now, like, I suppose little girls versus little boys. I was definitely a girly girl and I obviously have a science background as well. But obviously I was brought up, it was like Barbies and it was all of those things. So how do we, like, I know things have changed, but how do you, how would you recommend that we encourage?

more little girls to get into STEM.

Tatiana (04:06.413)
I, yeah, so that’s something I’m really passionate about. I actually volunteered at the, there’s a science competition in Ireland, the young scientists competition, um, because that’s something I’m really passionate about. I’ve gone to middle schools in the U S to do talks and basically a lot of people think that you have to be a certain way to be an engineer, especially a woman engineer and you don’t. So I was a tomboy growing up, up until a certain point.

and then I became like a really girly girl. And you don’t have to choose. So I guess the idea is encourage everything. So if you like Legos and Barbies, there’s a way you can combine those or you can just encourage looking at the science behind things. So makeup, there’s a lot of science behind makeup or cooking. So…

Lucy Gernon (04:41.472)
Mmm.

Lucy Gernon (05:02.24)
you know.

Tatiana (05:05.229)
just really looking at what people, our kids, are enjoying, what they’re interested about and digging in and finding ways to connect the two. So actually a funny thing is one of my go -to baby shower presents is quantum physics for babies or organic chemistry for babies. It’s actually really good. It’s written by a PhD.

Lucy Gernon (05:15.936)
and finding ways to connect with you. So actually the funny thing is…

Lucy Gernon (05:23.456)
is quantum physics for babies.

What does that look like?

Tatiana (05:35.693)
chemist, physicist, and it actually does make sense. It actually is what it is. And then they’ve expanded and have like blockchain for babies, robotics for babies and things like that. But, you know, start picking that interest, start looking at not just surface level of toys and interests, but what makes it tick. And then people will gravitate, the people who want to will gravitate more towards them.

Lucy Gernon (05:47.712)
You know.

Lucy Gernon (05:58.496)
Mmm.

Lucy Gernon (06:02.688)
Oh my God, amazing. That is so cool. I never I didn’t even know that was a thing. I didn’t even know that was a thing. So I want to ask you, right. So obviously you grew up in Guatemala. Your grandfather inspired you to be an engineer. You said you were a tomboy, but then you were a girly girl and you’ve kind of figured out a way to kind of combine the two. So I’m curious, how was it for you as an engineer? Like, say, starting out, it’s a very male dominated industry traditionally. So how was that for you?

Tatiana (06:32.109)
It was, yeah, it was interesting. So I started off in aerospace and defense, which is a little bit stuck in its ways. So, you know, a lot of the, the networks and things like that, that I, that I was using were from the space age from like the sixties. And so a lot of that thought process was, was like that. But I came on board at a very pivotal time when my company was going from.

that old way of thinking into more modern, you know, how we are working ways of working now. And it was interesting because you’d get both. You’d get the people that were like, and then you get the people that are like, Oh, yeah, sure. You know, where your pink pumps into the lab. Safety pumps not like, you know, but still.

or I would have my, not safety pumps, but they would meet all the requirements for safety.

Lucy Gernon (07:31.936)
Hang on, safety pumps.

Lucy Gernon (07:38.016)
And you can, did you actually have pink ones?

Tatiana (07:41.037)
I had pink pumps and also my safety glasses were purple.

Lucy Gernon (07:44.64)
Oh my God, I love that. That is so cool. So you still got to express that part of you, right? While still being a badass engineer. I absolutely love that. So what was it like then? Were you the only one wearing the pink pumps and the safety glasses or were there others who you were inspiring too?

Tatiana (08:01.805)
So in terms of the pink pumps and the safety glasses, that was just, that’s all me. Um, but there were other, um, role models that I had. So one of the people that I worked with the closest, she was definitely one of my earliest role models. At some point she started getting like purple streaks in her hair before purple streaks were like a thing. Um, and then you’re coming into engineering, very male dominated environment. And she was just.

showed up and was herself. And it was so inspiring that I actually did get turquoise tips on my hair, which is a hilarious area. But just being able to embrace who you were and able to express what you were, but still prove to everybody that your outside appearance was just you and your delivery and your work methods were still up to par or beyond was very

Lucy Gernon (08:39.68)
Oh my goodness.

Tatiana (09:01.645)
It’s a hard balance, but I had pioneers.

Lucy Gernon (09:01.92)
Wow.

Oh my God. I mean, I, do you know what? Like that is so heartwarming. Cause you know me, I’m all about like being authentic and being yourself. And I absolutely love that you had that role model. Cause I wonder like what would have been different for you had you not had that, that role model. Like, do you think you would have conformed or do you think you would have eventually been yourself?

Tatiana (09:25.901)
I think it would have been in the middle. So I wouldn’t have been as in your face about it, but I still would have found a way to influx a little bit of bunk because that’s what I like. Yeah, I’d like to do that. So, I mean, there was other role models that were in the area that I didn’t directly relate to.

Lucy Gernon (09:29.216)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Gernon (09:40.672)
Mmm.

Tatiana (09:53.269)
And when they handed over their spot from, there was like a woman, she was the first one to lead this group. And then she handed over to someone else instead of handing over the baton, she handed over her pumps. So there were other role models are floating around there that made everything else kind of okay.

Lucy Gernon (10:04.896)
Haaaa

Lucy Gernon (10:11.392)
Oh my God, like so cool. Hand it over the pink pumps. I’m just having this vision. So actually. Oh.

Tatiana (10:17.3)
Oh, those were polka dot pumps. And it was, it was like big shoes to fill kind of joke.

Lucy Gernon (10:22.944)
Oh my gosh. I actually love that. So here’s a question. How would you recommend any of our listeners who want to inspire, like any of our listeners who are women in STEM who want to inspire other women in STEM to really rise up? What would you say, like in terms of like handing over the pumps?

Tatiana (10:43.798)
Just be open, have conversations and encourage people. Because, you know, people have an idea of what a woman engineer should look like and should act like, but anybody can do it. Anybody could be, you know, you could come in as yourself. And if you are not into that norm, then you might be a little bit hesitant and you might need a little bit of encouragement. So.

Lucy Gernon (10:50.848)
Mmm.

Tatiana (11:13.782)
Definitely speak up and just bring people on the journey.

Lucy Gernon (11:18.4)
Mm -hmm. And just encourage them. And like, can you think about a time, because I’m wondering, obviously now you work in leadership and Tatiana has a leadership or a LinkedIn top leadership voice and everything. She is super when it comes to her own development. And obviously you’re working with me now as well to continue that journey. But can you think about a time like in your career where you learned a really valuable lesson that you’ve brought forward with you?

Tatiana (11:20.63)
Encouraged.

Tatiana (11:44.053)
Yeah. So there was a time when, um, one of my, another role model, um, she was great. She taught me about flat leadership within a team structure and how to set that up and have really like good buy -in. And because she set up the team that way, I was the least experienced person in the whole team. I was the youngest. Um, I had been on the team for the least amount of time and I kept kind of.

bringing up little issues here and there that I thought, you know, would, you know, being just proactive and be like, these might be issues in the future and things like that. She actually gave me my first leadership role and leading a team of people that are more knowledgeable than you, have more experience than you was an incredible learning experience, especially since, you know, when you come into a dynamic like that, there are people that are just accepting of it and be like, yep, sure, go ahead.

Now you’re the boss. And then there are people that are like, well, why am I listening to someone that’s like half my age? And learning to navigate those dynamics was something that I’ve really brought forward with me because especially in STEM and engineering, people are so specialized in their knowledge. Odds are you’re going to come across with someone that has a lot more knowledge than you, a lot more experience and how…

Lucy Gernon (12:46.848)
to someone that’s like half my age.

Lucy Gernon (12:52.544)
Learning to navigate those dynamics was something that I really brought.

Especially in STEM and engineering, people are so specialized in their knowledge, odds are you’re not.

Tatiana (13:09.397)
bring that team together to work with people who are maybe just starting out or halfway through their career and those dynamics was something that I’ve I’ve treasured since then.

Lucy Gernon (13:19.904)
like how did you, first of all when you say flat leadership what do you mean by flat leadership?

Tatiana (13:26.229)
Where everybody on the team, regardless of what their actual job title is, how many years experience it is, everybody has a say. Everybody has the same amount of input and is listened to and just can raise issues, can take team leadership roles and

Obviously you’re setting people up for success, you’re not giving them things that they might not be able to be ready for at the time, but being able to listen and set up what they need to succeed and breed future leaders.

Lucy Gernon (13:57.632)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Gernon (14:07.2)
Amazing, amazing. And like what did you you said you brought forward that experience in your into your career? So I’m like, I’m getting a vision. First of all, I can totally resonate with what you shared, because I remember a few years ago, I actually ended up being my old boss’s manager. And it was the most strange dynamic for me at the start, because obviously you go from.

You know, she was the one I looked up to, to all of a sudden, like, you know, she was reporting to me and it was a really, really weird dynamic that I found really, really challenging to navigate at the time because I liked her and she was my friend as well. It was so complex. But again, I learned so much from that experience in terms of what you’re sharing too around how to lead. But what would you like? How did you get through that? So like your your first leadership role, your your managing people who and I hear this too all the time from other people.

You’re managing people who are there, they’re set in their ways, they think they should be in the role. How, like if you were to give our listeners like one really powerful tip, what would it be to navigate that?

Tatiana (15:12.183)
If I could stick to just one, I would say listen.

Lucy Gernon (15:14.688)
Go on.

Tatiana (15:17.879)
So really listen to what, you know, why people are reacting the way that they are or how, why they’re saying the things that they say. And if they have more knowledge than you, then definitely listen to them because that’s the whole point of a team dynamic is to bring in the knowledge that each person has and really make it shine. So, um,

listening to what people need, what people want, what their goals are. I know you have tools and acronyms for all of these things. But if it was just one thing, I would say, listen.

Lucy Gernon (15:58.816)
Listen. And what do you do if you’re listening and they’re like, well, I’m more experienced than you and you shouldn’t be in the role, which is an attitude of a lot of people. How would somebody navigate that?

Tatiana (16:12.343)
That’s a tough one. That’s a question I should be asking you. The way that I did it was I had a discussion with them and one of the approaches I took was to give them a leadership role within the team and be like, okay, yeah, I mean, you know way more about me on this little bit. So why aren’t you, you being in charge of it? And then.

Lucy Gernon (16:15.68)
Hehehehe

Tatiana (16:41.335)
If you need anything, I’ll be here more of a supporting role in that scenario. So yeah, I’m in charge of like the overall process, but you’ll be in charge of what you know and what you are. And that kind of brings a little bit of accountability and brings them along in the journey as well.

Lucy Gernon (16:52.16)
Mm -hmm.

I love that.

Lucy Gernon (16:59.424)
Amazing. I think that’s so important. Like just giving them that little bit of responsibility is going to make them feel like, okay, she sees that I have something she’s here to support. So I think that’s a super smart thing to do as opposed to being like, I’m, I’m now your boss and you know, this is how it’s going to be. So I love that you say that. So what else do I want to ask you? So you’ve obviously come from Guatemala to Ireland and you’ve

Obviously you’ve been navigating the corporate space and I know as well, I know you’ve shared openly that you also have ADHD. So how, and I know you’re proudly neurodivergent. I’m just thinking like, it probably hasn’t been easy for you coming into a male dominated environment, moving to a completely different country, different cultures, and then you’ve got the added complexity of being neurodivergent as well, which I know is your superpower. So how did you navigate all of that?

Tatiana (17:33.881)
It’s

Tatiana (17:52.825)
That’s interesting. So I actually was diagnosed in my thirties. So I became an engineer before I knew I had ADHD. And yeah, I think definitely for me ADHD is my superpower. I…

I think I just embraced it. So if you look at the statistics, so about one in five people will have some sort of neurodivergence and the population is about 5 % ADHD. That’s the current estimate. So that’s, that’s general population. But if you look at people who work in emergency services, like first responders,

really stressful volatile environments. The average person there with ADHD is about like the range there is about 30%. So people with ADHD are drawn to high -paced volatile changing environments. And I think that that’s just because the way that we experience the world, everything’s already kind of like a mess. So if it’s like a little mess in average or a big mess in

Lucy Gernon (18:47.488)
Wow.

Tatiana (19:07.226)
emergency situation. The same for us. So how did I navigate that? I guess the question is just how do I navigate life? It didn’t really see that much different to me.

Lucy Gernon (19:09.76)
Mmm.

Lucy Gernon (19:18.496)
And what tools then do you use? Like I suppose, I suppose I’m going to reframe that if I have, we have people who are listening, absolutely will be leading people on their teams who are neurodivergent, potentially undiagnosed, right? So that can be really, really challenging when we, when we don’t understand a lot about like autism and ADHD and all of those things, dyslexia, et cetera. How do you recommend leaders?

begins navigate us.

Tatiana (19:51.067)
So the way that I navigate it and has seemed to work for me is I am very open about my ADHD and not all leaders have a neurodivergence, that’s fine. But the way that I frame it is I say, I have ADHD. If you stop me in the hallway and you ask me something, by the time I get to my desk, I’m not going to remember it. Or if you, you know,

Lucy Gernon (20:12.192)
Mm -hmm.

Tatiana (20:17.019)
If you introduce me, I might not remember your name by the end of the conversation, even though the conversation’s two minutes. So this is what I need. I need you to, when you get back to your desk, send me an IM, like put it in writing. If you don’t see me write it down, assume that I’m going to forget it. And that’s what I need. And then people start telling me what they need. So you don’t have to be neurodivergent or anything like that to start saying things like, because everybody has something. Some people are morning people. Some people are afternoon people.

Lucy Gernon (20:32.192)
Mmm.

Lucy Gernon (20:36.896)
Hmm.

Tatiana (20:47.003)
Some people are visual learners, auditory learners. So if you start posing it as, these are the things that I need to be successful, then other people will start opening up to you about the things that they need to be successful. And then it doesn’t really matter if you’re neurodivergent or not.

Lucy Gernon (20:53.024)
you start posing it on. These are.

Lucy Gernon (21:05.568)
I mean, absolutely. Like that’s something I talk about all the time. It’s like your collaboration guidelines. Like how is it? How does it work for you? Because I’m exactly the same. I think I have ADHD undiagnosed. I’ve told you that already. I don’t remember anything. So if someone sends me a message like I’m like, unless it’s in my calendar, it’s in my task list, like it just doesn’t get done. So I’ve been able to put in a lot of structure in place that supports me so that I can support other people. And I think sometimes.

we think when we set boundaries or we add in our guidelines, like you with, don’t ask me something on the corridor, because I’m not going to remember. You’re not being difficult. You’re actually trying to support the other person to get their job done too, right? So I think that’s a massive reframe that we all need to make when it comes to setting boundaries or guidelines as well. So tell me then, in terms of 360 Leaders Club, I can’t believe I haven’t brought it up until now.

Tatiana (21:54.044)
Exactly.

Lucy Gernon (21:58.816)
Like obviously you’ve been, we’ve been working together for over six months now, right? And how, like, why did you want to join 360Liters Club?

Tatiana (21:59.133)
Yeah.

Tatiana (22:08.734)
So I was looking for something different, but I didn’t know what that something different was. I didn’t know if I needed to go back to school and get a diploma or another degree or if I needed to go to therapist or whatever it was. I didn’t know.

And just talking to you, what really attracted me to 360 Leaders Club was the community that came along with it and the support and the guidance. So you can really collaborate with other like -minded women. I’m in the accelerator group that you call. So having access to people who are at executive level, which is what I wanted to get to was something that really interested me. So that’s the reason I chose it.

But then on top of that, I got so many added bonuses. Like you said, I like structure. I like frameworks. That’s basically what prompted me to start putting stuff on LinkedIn and to be able to get those frameworks already developed and tested. It was like having a golden key to a huge shortcut. So I was not necessarily looking for that, but that was an incredible bonus on top of the support in the community.

Lucy Gernon (23:28.256)
Amazing. And like what, so you wanted the support, you wanted the community, and then you obviously got the bonus of the tools and the frameworks and stuff. But what, like what was missing for you in your career? Like why did you need to join 360 as opposed to just talk to somebody in your workplace?

Tatiana (23:46.367)
So I had a mentor and I did, you know, talk to her in the workplace and things like that. But when you have a mentor in the workplace, they have a very, like the frame of mind is the workplace. Whereas you, like you and 360, it’s holistic, it’s 360. It’s life, it’s just work. But also what was missing for me was direction.

Lucy Gernon (24:06.528)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Gernon (24:14.144)
Mmm.

Tatiana (24:14.687)
So every job that I’ve worked with, I had worked out, I get hired to do one thing and I end up doing something completely different within the first month. So my career was kind of directing me rather than me directing my career. And I didn’t really know where I wanted to go. So having the structures to think about goals and where I want to be in five, 10 years. So I had a five year plan, but it was very squishy.

Lucy Gernon (24:43.68)
Mm -hmm. And what do you think it is now?

Tatiana (24:44.864)
Um, now it’s very directed. It’s very intentional. It’s less kind of based on hope and chance. And it makes me feel more in control, which is basically what I was looking for.

Lucy Gernon (25:04.16)
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. That feeling of control. I know I hear that a lot as well. So guys, in case anyone’s like, what’s she talking about? What do we do? We do. I mean, we do a lot, right? But we we have like a quarterly goal setting session, first of all, where we are really looking at your goals for your career, because I know having been in the corporate world, you know, at the end of the year, you put in your goals and objectives in some system and then they sit there.

And then when you go to revisit them at the end of the year, they’ve usually changed and you haven’t updated them and you’re another year in your career not having achieved something for you. You may have achieved it for the business, but it’s so easy to lose sight of, well, what are my career goals? Where do I actually want to go? How do I actually want to develop? Not only for my career, but as a woman, because you know, I’m all about being the best you can be in leadership and life. And…

I’d love to know, like my heart was so warm last week, I taught the girls my camera framework for conflict resolution. And it’s just one of many frameworks, but I’ve tested this and I integrate positive psychology and MLP and stuff into it. And I was so happy to see so many of you last week saying, I use this with my husband or I use this with my friend or I try this with a peer and it really worked. So would you say like, what would you say about the tools? Like, do you think that they’re applicable to work? And then.

Have you used them at home too?

Tatiana (26:29.665)
I think they’re just applicable to life. Like you approach things, again, 360, it’s more of a holistic approach. So I view it less of, oh, this is gonna help my career. I view it more as this is gonna help me as a person. And my husband doesn’t listen to the podcast, but I definitely used it on him.

Lucy Gernon (26:31.84)
Mm.

Lucy Gernon (26:54.112)
I use it on mine as well, okay? And did it work? Did it work?

Tatiana (26:57.761)
It did. We had a really good conversation, you know, something that we probably should have talked about years ago. That just went unaddressed and we kind of just pushed it to the back and it was fine. But now it’s better.

Lucy Gernon (27:20.672)
Exactly. And things can be fine or they can be better, which is like, why would we not want things to be better? Right. Okay. So what else was I going to ask you then? So in terms of 360, like you joined because you wanted the community, you wanted the network, you wanted to, you know, network with other people. You got a lot more than what you thought, what you wanted, which is benefiting you in life and making you better.

But who do you think 360 is right for? Like given that we have our accelerator group, which is your level, which is that kind of senior manager, associate director level. And then we’ve got our kind of directors, senior directors, executive levels. Like who do you think it’s right for? What kind of person do you think it’s right for first of all?

Tatiana (28:03.394)
I would say someone who is ambitious, who wants work -life balance, and wants to approach things…

in a learn, like they want to learn new things, they want to have an open mind and try different things, but doesn’t really know where to start.

Lucy Gernon (28:27.84)
Mm, mm. And go on, sorry.

Tatiana (28:30.498)
Yeah, sorry, I was gonna say because I listened to your podcast and I’ve read books and things like that and you have all these tools and they’re all good. But how do you connect them and how where do you start and which ones do you tailor and which ones do you follow exactly as is? That’s the hard bit.

Lucy Gernon (28:51.136)
And how does 360 support you to figure that out?

Tatiana (28:55.074)
Um, well, you have the MyVenus framework, which you’ve talked about before. So you have the first seven steps laid out. And then once you have a little bit of a stable foundation, you can start building pillars and roofs and windows and balconies and everything else. Sorry. Going down the house route.

Lucy Gernon (29:16.)
Hmm. Amazing. And you know, something that I’m just thinking of as well is like the power of celebration. That’s something that I know you guys all love. So tell our listeners what we do in terms of keeping the community high vibe.

Tatiana (29:31.107)
Yeah. And I think you go back to positive psychology on this one. And I really do agree with this. I’ve set up in teams and things like that. You really, if you just celebrate the big wins, you lose sight of the journey. And then once you get to the big win, there’s always more big wins. So you feel, you could feel lost or you could feel like in a free fall. So celebrating on a weekly basis, like you have us to. Um,

even the little wins, just the little bits, you can really start seeing the progress of where you were a week ago, two weeks ago, three weeks ago. And it makes it worthwhile. The especially like the hard bits, it makes it worthwhile. So there are times where I’d be like, this week has been horrible. I don’t have any wins. I’m not going to write anything. So usually, you know, we post on a Friday. And then I start seeing everybody else’s wins. And it’s like, well, I exercise too, or,

Lucy Gernon (30:10.112)
Mm -hmm.

Tatiana (30:28.579)
You know, there’s this one thing here and suddenly I have a post and by like Saturday afternoon, Sunday, I’m like, here are my wins. And I feel a lot better than I did before about the outlook of my week.

Lucy Gernon (30:32.512)
Mm -hmm.

Lucy Gernon (30:43.008)
Yeah. Oh, I love to hear that. And I love to see that so much that people say all the time to me, I haven’t really achieved anything or I haven’t really accomplished anything like the exercise. I love seeing, you know, I’m all about balance. So seeing your wins on exercise and that you logged off on time or that you didn’t do this. Like they are not small wins. They’re actually huge. And when we take we take them for granted because they’re not linked to money or they’re not linked to a business metric or a project has.

gone behind or you haven’t met a target and we can all allow that energy to completely consume us or we can choose to look at the progress, which is exactly what growth mindset is all about. So I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud of everybody in there. And I just, I love being your coach so much. I love being your coach so much. So what would you say actually, like what would you say it’s like working with me?

Tatiana (31:38.212)
would say it definitely you get what you put into it. So you can go in and just kind of do the surface level bits and you’ll get surface level bits back. I mean, it will still help, but it’s not in depth. But if you do the work and you follow the steps, it could really change. It might not change your life, but it’ll change the way that you look at it.

Lucy Gernon (32:07.36)
Mmm.

Tatiana (32:07.909)
and then that’ll change your framework and then it’ll change your life, if that makes sense.

Lucy Gernon (32:11.264)
Exactly. It does. It all starts at mindset. All starts at mindset. Amazing. Okay, so just before we wrap up, I just would love to know, you know, I always ask my guests this, best piece of advice you’ve ever received.

Tatiana (32:27.621)
So the best piece of advice that I’ve ever received, and I know it’s trite, I know it’s hokey, but seriously, just be yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I, especially with my ADHD, I’ve thought about toning myself down. And although you do have to tone yourself down a little bit, depending on the situation, not everywhere you have to tone yourself down. You don’t have to…

change who you are, you don’t have to give up the pink pumps. If that’s who you are, be who you are because people will like you or they won’t like you, whether you’re being yourself or not. So you can either surround yourself with people who like the fake you, or you can surround yourself with people who love the real you. And that’s where you’ll get your support group. That’s where you’ll get, you know, all the springing boards that you need to really succeed.

Lucy Gernon (33:27.552)
You said something super profound there. So people are if you’re multitasking, everyone come back to me here. Tatiana just said that people are going to like you or not like you, whether you’re being you or you’re not being you, which essentially means that even if you try to be somebody else, there’s people who are not going to like you anyway. Right. So you may as well just be you. And even just what you were saying about toning yourself down. Like, I always think that we all, you know, we they say we have four faces, that Japanese proverb, you know, I think.

Some people really struggle with the whole how to be yourself and how much of yourself to bring. And I think it’s about bringing the right part of yourself to the right situation at the right time. Isn’t it? Like that’s, is that what you mean by like tone it down or what did you mean?

Tatiana (34:12.773)
Yeah, that’s what I meant. But don’t tone yourself down all the time, because then that’s exhausting. So just pick your battles. And it’ll come with experience or like I have friends, like in my first job, I had a safe word that if I was starting to bounce off the walls, my friend would just be like, ladybug. And I’d be like, oh, okay.

Lucy Gernon (34:14.528)
Mm.

Lucy Gernon (34:19.36)
No. Yeah.

Lucy Gernon (34:37.376)
When what you were like too much in that moment when you say Bounds of the Word. Ladybug. Oh my God, I love that. I’m going to get my husband to say that to me. He’ll be like Ladybug all the time, all the time. Finally, what else I want to ask you? Yeah, if there’s anyone listening to the show and they’ve been listening to the podcast for a while and they’re thinking about joining 360 leaders club when they’re saying to themselves, I don’t really have time.

Tatiana (34:41.83)
when I was… Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tatiana (34:50.278)
Hahaha!

Lucy Gernon (35:03.52)
I’m not sure now is the right time. I’m not sure I can afford it. I’m not sure what I’m going to get. What would you say to them?

Tatiana (35:11.014)
In terms of time, the time commitment is not as much as you might think, but also if you do the work at the beginning, you actually get much more time at the end. And by the end, I mean within a month, not like within six months. So if it’s time, I’d say it’s well worth the investment. If you’re considering, if it’s not for you or maybe it is, I would suggest that they have a chat with you because…

Lucy Gernon (35:25.28)
Mm -hmm.

Tatiana (35:40.229)
You really have to connect with your coach. That’s really, you know, it’s the basis of the relationship. So if they reach out to you, I know you do, um, you know, introductory sessions and things like that. So just reach out and see if it’s a good fit. And if it’s not, then it’s not, but if it is, then we’d be happy to have you.

Lucy Gernon (35:52.928)
Amazing, amazing and finally what does success balance and happiness mean to you?

Tatiana (36:07.589)
For me, it’s feeling fulfilled and being able to have everything. And in order to do that, you need to know what everything means to you. Like what are your priorities and what you really care about. For me, it’s family and being able to…

like have other people thrive in my teams. So if I have those two things, I think I’ll be, I know I will be fulfilled. So that’s what it means to me, but it might mean different things to different people.

Lucy Gernon (36:40.)
Amazing.

Lucy Gernon (36:45.024)
Yeah, amazing, amazing. Tatiana, thank you so much. You’ve been such a lovely guest. Where can people find you if they want to learn more?

Tatiana (36:54.277)
I’m on LinkedIn so if you look for me at Tatiana Ryan you’ll see me there and I do post leadership tips so if you’re interested in those please follow me.

Lucy Gernon (37:07.04)
Amazing, amazing. Guys, we linked Tatiana’s LinkedIn in the show notes as well. And guys, if anyone has listened to this and has been inspired by Tatiana and you know other women in leadership who were in the STEM area, please forward on this episode because Tatiana is and it’s such an inspiring lady and I love, love, love, love being in your world. So thank you so much for being on the show and I will talk to you again soon.

Tatiana (37:32.549)
Thank you, bye.

Lucy Gernon (37:33.76)
Bye.