My Secret to Silicon Valley Success: “I am faith and works”
Recently I was sitting with a man who’d requested a career and coffee chat with me. We were sitting by the window overlooking the bustling beauty that is Salesforce Park from the Salesforce Tower, drinking a complimentary almond chai latte. I asked the man the same question I ask anyone who requests such a meeting, why specifically did he want to meet with me? He looked at me intently and shared that he admired me and wanted to learn from me because “you work so hard”, “you’ve achieved so much without following the beaten path”, and “how have you, as an African-American woman found a way to succeed in Silicon Valley and last 10 years at the giant that is Salesforce and end up working on their top strategic priority of artificial intelligence?” I’m not kidding, that’s quite literally what he said. I thanked him for saying that, and told him that with schmoozing skills like that he should be in sales! After a few laughs, I added seriously that “were it not for my faith, I would not have the strength to do any of this. People know my name for my works, but I am a product of both faith and works.”
Faith is the last thing we think of in tech
As an engineer who codes, builds and hacks — a designer who experiments, thinks and creates — an inventor and Selfpreneur who architects novel creations to create value for myself and others through data, and algorithms, faith is probably the last thing people would think of when they encounter me. On the surface, I am so scientific. But if you asked me to, I could show you a map and timeline charted fully with the moments of faith-inspired strength that catapulted me onto every noteworthy success in my life and career. Because my work so heavily leverages science, technology, engineering and math, faith is the part of my story which becomes hardest to see.
If you’ve seen me present on stage in a keynote, leading a dev workshop, or a hackathon, it’ll be obvious to you that I have put in the time to hone my craft, and that I didn’t just wake up like that. Reactions usually go in the direction of, “you must be a gifted prodigy”, and “you’ve worked hard, and paid your dues”. Rarely has anyone recognized the strength that my faith has had on my life and outcomes, and so it’s worth really digging into it for a moment to set the record straight.
A learning journey exposed my faith
It’s understandable that faith is often overlooked when others talk about my accomplishments, because my faith is so personal, and so private, that I rarely speak about it. Often even I underestimate its weight and power in my life unless something specifically brings my attention to it. Like that one day when I was with my friend Daryn on one of his incredible learning journeys, where he brings incredible people together from all over the world to explore the themes that will transform our world in amazing ways. On this particular learning journey, we were instructed to bring something of significance to share with the room.
Being a minimalist, I struggled to come up with something to bring and share with the room. I riffled through my photo albums of which I have hundreds and hundreds of carefully curated physical (not digital) photos of family and friends, dating back to the 1800s. There were incredible and significant symbols within the photos, but not a single one that carried the weight of my life in a holistic sense. I considered the cute winter baby suit my daughter wore during her first few months on earth — it seemed significant, an object that kept my dear child warm through her very first winter. But it too fell short. I kept thinking hard, I mean, I really wanted to do this learning journey thing right!
When I think hard I usually fiddle with the meskel (Ethiopian cross) that I always wear around my neck. I kept asking myself, “what’s something that is always with me?” as I fiddled with the meskel. My brows furrowed and I thought, “I am always wearing this meskel, could I use it?” I briefly wondered if a religious symbol would be too triggering or isolating for others. I’ve always been cognizant of the sensitivities that others have toward my religion, given the variety of experiences people have had with Christianity throughout history in many parts of the world, some of those stories fraught with fear and distrust. But then I thought, if they want to know me, this is as authentic as it gets. I relinquished the focus of my preparation, opting to share the story behind a piece of jewelry that I have worn every day since I was a very young child.
The learning journey hosted a group of extremely impressive people, professors, doctors, venture capitalist, serial entrepreneurs, philanthropists, everyone in the room was somebody of great importance. They all shared their symbols. Some very simple, small enough to fit in a pocket, others elaborate and carried in cases or bags, some passed down from generations, others acquired on a vacation. Each symbol represented a tapestry of experiences in the lives of these amazing and accomplished individuals from around the world, illuminating their very human stories. When it came to me I suddenly realized that I hadn’t prepared what I was going to say, and I felt a brief moment of panic. I took a deep breath and my panic was quickly replaced by the presence of my rawest, and most authentic words.
I shared how I had difficulty figuring out what symbol to bring and finally decided to share my meskel because it’s something that I always wear and it’s always with me. As I shared why it was significant my eyes quickly filled with tears and I realized I was going into what was probably a much too personal place, yet I couldn’t stop myself from speaking.
I shared a story of how when we were growing up, my mother would gather us every day to pray together, as a family. I especially remember those moments when there was a crisis in the family, as we would gather to pray about whatever was going on, whatever we were concerned about. Often we would be joined by friends or other families, we would pray to God asking relief of everything from very serious natural disasters affecting people in other parts of the world to our very own food scarcity and economic insecurity. In that moment of sharing, I realized how the strength of that faithful behavior I’d learned from my mother had stuck with me through my entire life. My faith shows up in my life as a prayer on a daily basis. When I am heading into a negotiation, building something difficult, going on stage, studying for an exam or simply waking up in the morning, prayer is with me, as an expression of my deep faith. That learning journey helped me discover how critical the notion of faith was to me, and that although private, it was still important to share in the right setting, even here in Silicon Valley.
What does faith have to do with chai lattes in Salesforce Tower?
I felt compelled to share this because throughout this past weekend I noticed many expressions of disdain toward the black church after Aretha Franklin’s funeral. Statements like “that’s why I left the church” saddened me, not because I have any particular allegiance to the Protestant American churches, but because of any single thing that has aided my life most when I was at my best and at my worst, it has been my faith. When I was nearly crushed in a car accident and stood barefoot in glass on the highway in the dark, my faith was there. When I was interviewing for jobs at companies that required at degrees I didn’t have, my faith was there. When I gave birth to my child at home in my apartment, my faith was there. When I cried about being displaced from Oakland while facing eviction when the house I rented was being sold, my faith was there. When I notarized the deed and officially bought my house, my faith was there. Through every moment of joy and pain, my faith affirms that the outcome will eventually favor me, and I believe it.
So as I sat with the young man seeking mentoring, I knew he had degrees, he was well studied, he’d already earned himself a damn good career in tech — so when he asked me to teach him what made me successful I knew I had to tell him the less popular truth. The greatest asset in my life and career is my faith. Without faith the work ethic wouldn’t be inspired, the opportunities wouldn’t be believed and lept upon, and the sacrifices wouldn’t be made to get things over the line. Quite simply my success is driven first by faith.
I am faith and works.
Ayori Selassie is an expert in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) for CRM and a leader of Product Marketing for Salesforce Einstein at Salesforce. Selassie is also the creator of Life Model®, and the inventor of Life Model Canvas® (the framework to design your life). Selassie hosts and produces a podcast with Tech Sistas called #TechSistasTalk to empower women to succeed in their life and careers, and is a globally recognized thought leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist and innovator. As an entrepreneur Selassie founded Selfpreneur®, a company whose mission is to create a new model for living with Life Model Design®, Work Life Integrity® and the merger of entrepreneurship and employment. Selassie publishes content regularly on TheSelfpreneur.com to share best practices and stories of the need for disruptive social innovation in the fourth industrial revolution.
