Alexandra Young, CEO and Co-founder of Awe Media, the first self-service platform in the world to support the creation of true Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) experiences spoke with Th3rd Eye Insider, April Jendrasiak, as part of the Women in Tech Series.
Tell me a bit about yourself. What does being a leader mean to you?
I started in tech in the mid-90s. No one had a clue what I did or why I did it. Up until the last few years when AR / VR started becoming more mainstream they still didn’t.
I started as a developer. I was a particularly terrible developer which is probably why I have the utmost reverence for talented developers now. I realized my skills lay in problem solving and bridging the gap between the technology and the people who use it. This is still what I do every day. Try and make technologies and the interactions people have with them as easy and useful as possible, hiding the complexity that lies behind that.
I’ve always worked in “emerging tech” fields, from early web development to interactive TV, multi-device platforms for different industries and across corporate, learning, arts, and culture. The key theme is they have all been web-based.
In 2006 with another startup I was co-founder of, we launched the world’s first mobile payments system (think Square but well before even the first iPhone). We were way too early, but I learned a lot from that process.
From there, in 2009 we launched the world’s first web-based content management platform for people to create AR in their web-browser, then publish their experiences to the early mobile AR apps Layar and Junaio well before they had their own editing tools.
My AWE co-founder Rob (Manson) and I have always believed the web to be the most democratic development and consumption platform in existence, so it was obvious to us that AR should be supported in the web browser on any device. Not shackled to the confines of siloed “app” platforms and devices. We started R&D in 2007 for what has now become our company AWE, which stands for Augmented Web Experiences. Everyone thought we were crazy wanting to do AR in the web, but in 2016 it became a reality and we released the first web browser based, multi-device supported AR and VR creation platform. It enables anyone to create webAR experiences including image AR, spatial (or SLAM) AR, location (GPS-based) AR, face tracking, relative AR, VR scenes, without needing to know how to code. And, if you do happen to be a web developer you can access our awe.js API to directly manipulate the scene and objects with Javascript and CSS. This is the most exciting time of my career. I love getting to work with super smart people (both in my team and our customers) every day, and working on challenges that haven’t been solved yet as the technology becomes more readily adopted and integrated into everyday life. I can’t wait to see what the next 5 years brings!
What does being a leader mean to me? A complex question, one that I have had different answers for at different periods of my life and not one I can answer succinctly…
One of the most important factors to me right now is to show humility and be the best human I can be. It’s understanding that your role means different things to different people and to understand how to meet or exceed those expectations. Or, if they’re unreasonable to work with to adapt those expectations together.
It’s a challenging time in the world right now, as we all know, and our team and customers are distributed across many countries, all impacted by Covid-19 to varying degrees. From a team perspective, being able to provide a stable, safe and thriving work environment is key. And for our customers, assurance that in the rapidly changing business world we can adapt and meet their needs quickly.
What is your approach to navigating a male-dominated industry and what do you do to go above and beyond gender bias to bring more equality to the field of technology? How can men and women both learn from your approach?
I’m not sure I’ve ever focused on gender. For me, I focus on what I can learn from someone, how they may need my assistance or how we can work well together. There are so many differences and similarities between people that transcend gender. By nature each human may have a completely different understanding of a “goal” and their own thoughts on how to achieve it. Focusing on working together to achieve measurable outcomes, and ensuring everyone comprehends the goal as the same thing are paramount. Open and transparent communication is key. And for our current team, we have a flat structure where everyone is encouraged to cross pollinate ideas and solutions.
What would you say are the biggest challenges you faced as a woman in emerging technology? How did you overcome those obstacles?
Twenty-five years ago, straight out of studying. I started working on the web, which at the time was pretty much the dominant emerging technology. We were moving from development of games, computer-based learning, etc. on CD-Rom to the web. From there every role I’ve had I’ve worked on next generations of emerging tech (always with the web at its core). I’ve heard many stories from women in the industry of the challenges they have had to navigate, however I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been supported by colleagues and mentors (both male and female) throughout my career. Even in the most hardcore tech teams I’ve been part of, people have been willing to share their knowledge in spades.
The few times I’ve experienced any challenging behavior has been from people that are outside the industry or in executive roles within the industry but have a management not technical background. This tends to be more that they are surprised to find I’m female (with a name like Alex many people assume I’m male) and they aren’t sure how to relate to that as they had a preconceived notion of who I am. I find once we work together these issues generally dissipate.
Our hiring focus is on the best person for the role from the perspective of skillset, attitude and communication style rather than specifically hiring for “diversity.” Interestingly taking this approach has resulted in us always having roughly a 50/50 split of female and male team members at AWE too. Currently we’re skewed with a higher percentage of females.
How do you maintain your work-life balance given the demands of owning your own business?
For many years I had no work-life balance. I worked long hours, 7 days a week. In the end, it impacted my health and I had no choice but to take stock of the impact of no “downtime” over that extended period.
For the last few years I’ve found that by maintaining a work-life balance I’m not only more productive at work, I’m better able to guide the business and support our team and customers.
I try not to work weekends (even checking emails!) We have systems and team members set up to manage a lot of the operational side of things, so unless it’s an emergency, I’m not needed. I do yoga daily, walk my dogs on our local beaches with family and friends, garden, hike and ski. All of these activities require me to be in the moment and totally focused which takes me away from the problem solving and strategic nature of my work. I don’t have a 9am-5pm approach to work, rather focus on productivity. Some days this is achieved in less hours. Sometimes it’s achieved in many more hours. If I get into the zone I have an energy that’s sustaining until the task or problem at hand is completed.
How does the fast-growing tech industry affect your role as a business owner?
Emerging tech has been my mainstay so I haven’t experienced what it’s like to work in a traditional business environment. If you flip the question on its head, I’m not sure I would be suitable to work in a business that didn’t have emerging technologies at its core.
Do you see any untapped area of potential for women in the world of wearable technology or emerging technology in general?
I know so many women in creative fields that are excited by the ways technology is impacting the world that don’t consider themselves to be “technical.” They are exactly who tech needs right now. By coming from outside “technology” and allowing their creativity to take center stage we have the ability to guide where the technology goes by pushing what’s creatively possible. When we’re in so deep we often get absorbed by the technology and forget about the other layers that make up the end experience.
What advice would you give to a young woman just graduating from high school or college with an interest in a career in tech?
Welcome to an exciting life! Jump in whole-heartedly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Try, learn, try, learn, try, learn – that’s the cycle. Be a problem solver, by yourself and with others. Find people who have done things in technology that speak to you and reach out to them. Don’t expect handouts, but equally be ready to say yes to opportunities. Don’t do anything “just for the money” – it’s soul sapping. We all need money to live, but that will come when you do something you love. Technology is changing at the fastest pace in history and impacts most parts of all of our lives. Embrace it and see how you can use it for good and not evil. Can’t wait to see what you all build!
