Alana's Open Road
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Interview (5:49)
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Seizing Opportunity (1:15)
Interview Excerpt -
Glass Half Full (1:02)
Interview Excerpt -
Passport of a Degree (1:19)
Web Exclusive -
Always Aspire (0:43)
Web Exclusive -
Need To Be Equal (1:34)
Web Exclusive -
Left Side of the Brain (0:49)
Web Exclusive
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INTERVIEWED BY:
Team Crazy Babbling Sunshine
ALANA WARD ROBINSON
Owner
Robinson Group Consulting
“I decide, and I do it, and then I figure out: Was it a good or a bad thing? And if it was a bad thing, what did I learn from it?”
INTERESTS:
THEMES DISCUSSED:
Experience Opportunity Success Talent Acceptance Values Negativity Choices Education Hard Work Passion Societal Pressures Desire Goals Courage Money & Financial Security
FOUNDATION:
BIOGRAPHY:
- Grew up in segregated south Louisiana.
- After the "Freedom of Choice" law passed, decided to go to the majority white school to get a better education.
- Rather than wallowing in the fact that no one sat next to her on the school bus, she enjoyed having a seat to herself.
- Found her passion for programming in high school, got her Bachelor's degree in computer science and applied mathematics.
- First woman of color in a programming position at the Shreveport IBM office.
- Faced discrimination at her job at IBM-certain clients didn't want to work with an African-American woman.
- Never saw being the only woman or the only person of color in her industry as a limiting factor.
- Fought for an equal wage after learning that men in her same position were making much more money.