#WCW: Recovering From Emotional Challenges, Doing Aerial Acrobatics, and Loving Donuts

Amidst all the social, political, and environmental issues that has been happening, it can be quite difficult to find an escape. Everywhere I turn whether it is on social media or my current surrounding, there is always something controversial happening. Not to diminish the importance of such issues but sometimes we’d all just like a break from it all, right?

In fact, I personally feel that it is necessary to take a break from the world in order to stay sane.

This short list of inspiring women for this week’s #womancrushwednesday segment hopes to motivate, empower, and help you escape (even just for a little bit). We spotlight a kick ass engineer from the creative platform, Kickstarter, a resilient engineer who advocates for diversity in tech, and the VP of Product at Zillow who likes to hang upside down during her free time.

1. Rebekah Bastian

Making the switch from Microsoft to Zillow, Rebekah Bastian oversees everything from advertising to finance as the Vice President of Product at Zillow. She is a wife, a mother of two, a contributing writer for the Huffington Post, and an aerialist. The latter ignites her creativity and productivity at home and in her workplace. 

Maybe I should try becoming an aerialist.

2. Lara Hogan

As a published author and the new Vice President of Engineering at Kickstarter, Lara Hogan advocates for strong web user experience through a good balance of design and speed. She has given a number of talks about championing performance for Google, The New York Times, IDEO, and more. And her book, Demystifying Public Speaking, helps readers face their fear of public speaking. 

Lara loves donuts. Me too, girl. Me too.

3. Erica Baker

“It is ok to say ‘I’m not ok,’ and it is ok to ask for help.”

She left Slack to become the Director of Engineering at Kickstarter but in the end, Erica Baker couldn’t say her farewell to the Bay Area. She had quit her job, decided to decline a new job she originally accepted, and was sleeping on an air mattress while also going through a tough break up. After all the chaos, she snagged a position at Patreon as their Senior Engineering Manager and she could not be more happy to have stayed put in the Bay. 

What is that one saying? When life throws you a curve ball…

I better start learning how to bat.

written by Sheena Tadifa