Heather Wilde
AFWERX
Las Vegas, NV USA
"When you’re thinking about what you want to do, think about the feeling you’re trying to give to people. If you don’t feel that yourself, you can’t genuinely put that into other people."
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Heather's work combines: Technology, Design, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
There aren't many women who do what I do because society has fostered this idea that women don't belong in fields like technology. The lack of women around me has often made me question if there's something wrong with me. However, I've learned to ignore that notion and realize that I'm doing what's right for me.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Mathematics, General
St. John's College
Graduate Degree
Medieval British Literature
Cambridge University
Certification
Master Practitioner, Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Certification
Associate Certified Coach
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
One side of my family was very creative, while the other was made up of more logical military veterans—so it always made sense to me to merge the two.
2.
I fell in love with technology at eight years old when I received my first computer—I immediately took it apart to see what was inside and learned to put it back together.
3.
In college, I studied aerospace engineering before transferring schools and receiving a degree in mathematics and literature.
4.
After graduating, I pursued a career in technology, working in game design, coding, and management—I realized the common thread that I loved in each position was experience design.
5.
About 10 years out of college, my husband and I realized we were no longer happy with our work, so we left and helped co-found Evernote, where I worked as the director of technical support.
6.
During the early stages of Evernote, we worked remotely from a sailboat in Mexico and then moved into an RV to be closer to big airports as the company grew.
7.
After almost six years with Evernote, I decided to leave and shift my focus on developing my own projects.
8.
I currently work in a variety of positions, including strategic innovation officer at AFWERX and chief technology officer for ROCeteer.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
Women don't belong in technology.
How I responded:
There aren't many women who do what I do because society has fostered this idea that women don't belong in fields like technology. The lack of women around me has often made me question if there's something wrong with me. However, I've learned to ignore that notion and realize that I'm doing what's right for me.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I dreamed of being an astronaut and was told I could be anything I wanted. But I found out I had physical limitations that excluded me. It was a terrible blow and the depression that followed required help from a psychologist to get back on course.
While following my path, I found myself in getting deeper and deeper into debt. I was too stubborn to ask for help from anyone, which made me feel isolated and alone. I had to become extremely resourceful to pull out of it but I managed to do it!
At one point on our careers, my husband and I realized we weren't happy working in our offices in a big city anymore. So, we left to help co-found a startup and were able to work remotely while living on a sailboat and an RV.