Blogs > Pismo’s Juliana Motta and Debora Fortes discuss women’s leadership at Edenred
24 marzo –

Pismo’s Juliana Motta and Debora Fortes discuss women’s leadership at Edenred

The two executives talked about how women are conquering ground in technology and what Pismo does to create an egalitarian environment

Fernanda Testa

Pismo’s Co-Founder and CPO, Juliana Motta, and our CMO, Débora Fortes, were featured speakers at Inspi.red Startups, an online conference held by Edenred, the company that created Ticket Restaurant. They talked about women’s leadership in technology and how Pismo encourages female participation in all departments.

Debora mediated the conversation and first asked Juliana why she decided to start a career in technology. Juliana said the sector was not her first choice: she first wanted to work in nutrition. But her older sister, Daniela Binatti, influenced her to jump into the technology industry.

“Daniela was driving her path in technology. When I saw everything she was learning and doing, I realised I was also interested in this area. The first thing I learned was to program in HTML. I followed my sister’s steps, and here I am, after lots of years, managing a company with her”, Juliana says.

Our co-founder remarked men were the majority in her professional environment ever since she entered university. There were also always many more men than women in all the places she worked.

Making the difference

This difference, however, did not discourage her from pursuing her career as a technology entrepreneur. Indeed, it gave her the strength to make something that would change this impression that technology was an area where men ruled.

“I started my career in the payments industry when I was still at university. But over time, I had this feeling that I wanted to change something. I was in a difficult moment in the company I used to work for. I felt it was time for a change. At the same time, my sister came up with this idea to create something that would be disruptive in technology for payments. That’s how we started Pismo,” Juliana explains.

Technology is female

Pismo’s co-founders are two men and two women, and the highest technology positions, CPO and CTO, are held by sisters Juliana and Daniela. “It’s inspiring to see that 50% of the founders are women. You are the soul of the company’s technology. The heart of the technology is female”, says Debora.

Our CMO also asked Juliana what she and the co-founders do to create a better environment for women. Although Pismo’s management group comprises 50% men and 50% women, Juliana says the company still has more men than women as employees.

“We partner with companies specialising in bringing women to the technology market. We also have internal programs where we give a bonus for those who indicate women to work with us. We are always thinking about equalising our staff. And we provide an environment where women can feel safe and confident”, Juliana says.

Tips for women to rock in technology

For women who want to grow a career in technology, Juliana says it is inevitable that sometimes they will go through unpleasant situations. But she also says women have to clarify that they don’t accept being a target just because of their gender.

“I’ve been in the payments industry for over 20 years. For example, when talking about card solutions, I’ve always heard comments like ‘there has to be some functionality to limit the additional expenses for my wife’s card.’ I never let this kind of comment pass. I always tried to talk to the person and show that this was wrong. It was a gender bias”, Juliana explains.

Our co-founder and CTO also said that both men and women have to avoid creating gender issues when talking about talents in technology. “We are all technology professionals. Men or women. We all need to be open to individuals’ skills regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or race”.

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