ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ALANA KAREN
Co-Author
Alana Karen is an award-winning tech leader, author, and speaker whose work impacts many of our everyday lives. From Google Search to Ads, Fiber to Google Grants and beyond, Alana has been leading the charge to develop, scale, build and drive team and product development that has seen a rippling industry impact. Alana has spoken at conferences and summits on technology, leadership, DEI, talent and innovation. Her award-winning book, Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay, aggregates hundreds of stories on these topics as well. She lives with her three children, husband, two dogs, and a cat in the San Francisco Bay Area.
MARILY NIKA
Co-Author
Based in San Francisco, Marily Nika works for Google as an AI Product Manager and is also an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School. Marily holds a Ph.D. in Machine Learning from Imperial College London and outside her day role, she mentors entrepreneurs, serves as an advisor to early-stage tech startups, and also empowers people that want to break into tech & product in multiple ways.
Marily has co-founded 3 women in tech communities and has received international recognition after delivering 3 TEDx talks and receiving the Woman of the Year 2018 Award (everywoman) and the Women in Science and Engineering Influence Award 2015 for her contributions. You can find Marily on Instagram and Twitter @marilynika where she posts tips about tech & product management.
SYREEA HUGHLEY
Contributor
Syreea Hughley is a Learning Delivery Senior Specialist, where she is responsible for activating Google’s Enterprise learning portfolio in service of all users. Prior to this role, she was the Manager of Google Fiber Customer Engagement Training where she is responsible for leading a team of dynamic training professionals that launched customer service and sales training pro- grams across the US. Before her career at Google, she worked at WarnerMedia, where she was responsible for managing Learning and Development for information technology applications and global training initiatives. Working in Learning and Development for over 20 years, Syreea has a true passion in exploring interactive learning method- ologies and implementing blended learning experiences that provide training audiences with the tools that they need to be successful.
She holds an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a BS in Biology from Hampton University. She currently resides in McDonough, GA with her husband, Martel, and their two kids, Miles and Megan.
STACEY Y. RIVERS
Contributor
Stacey Young Rivers is a Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Leadership at Mercer University in Atlanta. Stacey’s research focus is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and developing learning strategies to support underrepresented communities for careers in STEM. In addition to capability models and strategies for tech skills development, as Senior Director of People Growth + Enterprise Skills Strategy at Warner Bros. Discovery, Stacey oversees curriculum development, content development, learning delivery, and the learning infrastructure in partnership with enterprise tech teams. In 2019, Stacey was selected as the Association for Talent Development (ATD) “One to Watch” for her leadership in learning & development (L&D).
In 2021, Stacey was a recipient of the national award for Women of Color in STEM “Technology All-Star” by the Career Communications Group. She is also a mom, author, and an avid blogger who loves to write about her career journey. Stacey is passionate about helping people succeed in their career aspirations with a special focus on students and early career professionals. She blogs regularly via her newsletter “Level Up on Learning” on LinkedIn.
GEORGIA DEALEY
Contributor
Georgia Dealey is a Director at Google, currently overseeing content moderation efforts for YouTube. From AdWords to Fiber to YouTube, Georgia has spent over a decade at Google working across a variety of functions including Strategy, Operations, Sales, Customer Service and Trust & Safety.
Georgia is a Texas native and proud Longhorn, graduating from the Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. Georgia is also a marathon runner, wife, and chief interpreter for her two young daughters.