Transcript 0:00 [upbeat music] Welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. Hello, listeners, and welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show. 0:14 My second guest today has been named to the seventh annual Women of MtoM IoT list. 0:20 She was named for her current role in November-- to her current role in November of twenty eighteen, and she is responsible for the operation of the public transit system and management of the city's parking system. 0:32 She coordinates vehicles and equipment purchases, analyzes ridership and controls, and administer budgets. Please welcome Renee Tyler, Director of Transportation Services for the City of Dubuque, Iowa. 0:47 Renee, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Excited to be here. Well, first of all, I wanna say congratulations for being named a Woman of MtoM in IoT. What a wonderful dinner. 1:00 We got a chance to meet you and all those other amazing women, uh, on June sixth at the dinner. It was, it was absolutely superb. 1:10 You know, it was, um, definitely the type of gathering that we as women, that especially women working in technology, we, we need these types of gatherings because it's great to make the connections and to find out what everyone else is doing and how we can help one another. 1:30 So I was super psyched to be a- Well, it-... part of that. [clears throat] I- It was, right? And, and, and that leads into my first question, Renee. Talk a little bit about your... 1:42 Share your experiences, because we had a chance that evening to learn so much about the amazing women and family members. 1:49 We, we had an opportunity personally to meet your aunt who was there, and that was so great to see family members share in the joy of that evening. But how did you get to where you are today? 1:59 Because you do some amazing things for the City of Dubuque e- there, and, and, and it just doesn't happen overnight. You have to work very hard to get where you are. Well, a-absolutely. Um, well, my... 2:13 You know, Peggy, my story is probably, uh, it's, it's a bit different, but I think I represent a core of women that, um, perhaps wanna pursue dreams and change careers, but we're afraid. 2:28 Um, prior to coming into public service, I, I had about twenty-five, thirty years of working in New York City, um, specifically in s- the financial services industry, um, an ex-Wall Streeter. 2:43 I worked with Lehman Brothers, Citibank, um, a few other companies that you may or may not know, and basically, um, 2:55 managed p-portfolios for project management, um, and, and oversaw, you know, the engagements. Um, to be quite honest and great opportunity, great training ground, but I was not feeling fulfilled. 3:11 And there was a nagging instance in the back of my head, "This is not what you're supposed to be doing." You know, 3:19 I really wanted to work in a field that I could see results, I could see the needle move, and I've always been drawn to public service. So I took a big leap of faith in twenty ten, and I changed careers. 3:36 And so, um, I started out as the chief of staff to the former speaker pro tem of the assembly, um, his name was Jerry Green. Assemblyman Green passed last year. But that, that was my start, and he gave me an opportunity. 3:54 And I remember speaking to him, and I said to him, "I'm interested in infrastructure. I want to work with bettering communities." And that was the beginning. So, um, 4:09 with that, you know, comes the interest in how do you make things better? Well, technology helps to make things better, streamline, and that type of thing. So that's how I got started. 4:20 So I've been in public service for nine years. In that role, though, is now you have been able to see how do you encourage others, and there's a whole lot of ways of encouraging others. There's encouraging other women. 4:34 There's other ways of encouraging diversity. There's a whole host of things that are very important to you. 4:40 When you look at the big scheme of things, technology that you're involved in, what right now do you want to-- i-is important? Do you say is it staff diversity is important? 4:51 Do you say is it, it inspiring and equipping women to working with the technology? Talk to me about both of those things, and I know we could talk all day about them. 5:01 [laughs] But let's start with the diversity part of that. Why is that so important to you? Well, you know, I-- for me personally, and, and, and I'll be honest, this is personal because growing up, I, I, I, I... 5:15 You know, I'm, I'm a Southerner, and there were a lot of instances where men, men were the dominant factor. You saw men. You know, you, you saw men doing the cool things on TV. 5:31 You, you know, we, we were always cast in a role that we were only going to be homemakers, and there is nothing wrong with being a mom. I am a mom. 5:41 But at the same time, we have more and more women that have to go to work for a living. It is what it is, and that is the truth. 5:50 So I, I-- my thing is, yes, absolutely encouraging women to step out on faith and to go after those things thatThey might have been told, "Oh, this is, that's men's work," which people actually still use those terms, "men's work," um- [clears throat] 6:11 And then to take it a step further- We're changing that. Yeah. We, we, we, we, yeah, because when... You know what? 6:16 I heard that phrase last year, and that was the first time in eons, and I literally turned and looked at the woman and I said, "Well, what is that? What's men's work look like? 'Cause I don't know. I just work." 6:32 You know? Um, we also have to encourage women of 6:39 different ethnicities, cultures, backgrounds, encourage them to step into these roles because aside from the fact that we are often looking at technological areas and all you see is men, 6:56 you don't see, you don't see women, and you don't see women of color. So we have to encourage one another. 7:03 We have to- You talk about, you talk it a- w- I use it a beautiful term of a mosaic, a collage of cultur- culture. I love that because I think it's a beautiful way of describing the way you put those in terms. Mm-hmm. 7:18 Well, you know, no one's the same. Everyone has their own unique lens and, you know, let's get outside of race. Just people, we all have different perspectives. So technology- Well-... 7:34 works because it covers different perspectives, you know? Renee, we have just about a minute. What's the best advice you would give other women... It goes by fast, doesn't it? That you would give other women- It does... 7:46 and say, what do they have to do? What are, what should they do in their careers right now? Prepare for what you want to do. Prepare for who you want to be. 7:55 Do not allow yourself to be stymied in a role that you currently work in. I've always prepared for the next level, the next level, the next level, not the current level. You gotta put in that work. 8:12 Do you think, do they need to feel and look for other women to help them be a part of that, that that networking is very important? Absolutely. 8:22 Um, if you, you know, we've both attended functions, and it was male-dominated. Men support men, and that's fine, but we as women must support one another. We, we have to uphold one another. 8:35 Otherwise, we become, we do to one another the same things that we are upset about that men do to us. 8:43 Well, I have to tell you, Renee Tyler, Director of Transportation Services for the city of Dubuque, Iowa, thank you so much for your time today, and congratulations on being named a woman of MTAM an IoT list for 2019. 8:56 But what's really exciting is our listeners can hear you speak at our Technology Days in August. 9:02 On August21st and 22nd, you are gonna be one of the keynote speakers, and I'm very excited that you're gonna be a part of that and talking about what's happening and how the industry can learn about infrastructure and what they have to do. 9:15 So that's gonna be wonderful to have you there, and so I hope our listeners will come and participate. What, what are some of the big projects? We've got about 10 seconds. 9:23 What can our listeners know and, and they should know what you're working on? We're working on the creation of an integrated parking platform that will allow our visitors and our citizens to park with a frictionless, 9:38 frictionless. So that's the big thing. Um, I'm also doing- That's-... innovative things with our buses. All right. Renee, we're out of time. We gotta go. Okay. 9:46 But all right, listeners, remember, we broadcast live every Tuesday at 12:00 PM Central. Remember, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 9:56 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Have an awesome week. Constructek TV, your fierce advocates for construction. 10:05 Constructek TV digs into infrastructure, drills into global economic conditions. 10:12 It is changing the talent gap narrative, adopting a new vision and a voice to the new skilled worker in construction, all with the help of technology. 10:21 Constructek TV, everything you need for infrastructure, labor, and technology. 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