We are counting down the days until next Wednesday for our Innovation Awards ceremony. Our Innovation Awards are an opportunity to celebrate the individuals who make our community stronger. These are individuals dedicated to innovation, elevating emerging leaders, and making our industry a better place. The Stellar Women Innovation Award is one that is dear to my heart. This year will mark the fourth year bestowing the award, with previous winners including Joy Murao, Stephanie Clerkin, and Kenya Dixon. This year’s finalists—Rebecca Grant, Kamaka Martin, and Heena Bhambhlani—are the epitome of what it means to be a stellar woman in tech. Mila and I wanted to give you all a better opportunity to get to know them. Check out this episode to see what makes all these women leaders in e-discovery.

Stellar Women in e-Discovery

58: Catching up with Innovation Award Finalists Rebecca Grant, Kamaka Martin, & Heena Bhambhlani

Stellar Women had the great opportunity to connect with Tiffany Graves this week on the podcast. Tiffany discusses how a dedicated guidance counselor helped start her path in the law, and how her career has evolved since earning her law degree. During the conversation, Tiffany also discusses her transition from the private to public sector, and how her time in both areas prepared her for her current role as the first pro bono counsel at Bradley.

57: Increasing Access to Justice through Pro Bono with Tiffany Graves

1 https://www.relativity.com/blog/prioritizing-mental-health-pandemic-stellar-women-mary-mack-kaylee-walstad/2  https://edrm.net/2021/05/stellar-women-edrm-crossover-mental-health-podcast/

56: Setting & Adhering to Boundaries with Mary Mack & Kaylee Walstad

Oftentimes, our careers don’t follow a linear path. Opportunities may arise that may be completely different than what we expected but may serve us and our goals. This was true for Judge Kimberly Johnson, who went to graduate school to study psychology. Her path changed and led her to law school, ultimately becoming a trial attorney and a judge. In this episode, Mila and I chatted with Judge Johnson on the importance of giving junior attorneys opportunities to argue a case in the courtroom, and why diversity in trial teams is imperative.

55: Mentoring Junior Lawyers with Judge Kimberly Johnson

For Stellar Women, Mila and I had the great privilege of sitting down with Reade Heredia. Reader shares her tips for success as a leader including gathering feedback from her team on presentations in addition to praising in public and coaching in private. When it comes to imposter syndrome, Reade quoted Maya Angelou and said, “when you know better, you do better.” The best way for Reade to overcome any feelings of self-doubt is through preparation. She prepares for any upcoming obligation and encourages her team to do the same.

54: Leading a Male-Dominated Team & Squashing Imposter Syndrome with Reade Heredia

Stellar Women had not one, but two special guests on the podcast this month. Exgier’s Global Head of Marketing Kody Gurfein co-hosted with me as we chatted with Meredith Fineman about her book "Brag Better." During our conversation, Meredith details her writing process, how to brag strategically to advance your career, and why we should talk positively about our professional accomplishments. And, she shares why it is important for professionals to know that their accomplishments are worth talking about.

53: “Brag Better” with Author Meredith Fineman

When entering the legal field, Krista Deurmeier had a set plan. She planned to work as a paralegal and then go to law school. That plan changed when she realized the many opportunities that existed in the paralegal profession.In this Stellar Women episode, Mila and I chat with Krista about the opportunities within the field and why we need to stop apologizing.

Finding Hidden Opportunities & Stop Apologizing with Krista Deurmeier

Stellar Women was excited to welcome Rebecca Grant back to the podcast. If you missed her Stellar Women debut, check it out here.We had the opportunity to connect with Rebecca on her leadership style and how she helps her team navigate their careers, whether that is working flexible hours or taking on a new role on an entirely different team. As a technologist and lawyer, Rebecca also shared why access to justice is important to her and her company, icourts.

51: Helping Your Team Own Their Careers with Rebecca Grant

That distinction is what Mila and I chat with Relativity CEO Mike Gamson about on our latest episode. Action is really the key word there. Mike shares the moment that launched his journey toward active allyship, how he is an active ally in the tech community, and what a more equitable world looks like to Mike Gamson. 

50: Active Allyship with Mike Gamson

Let's be real: The past year has been tough. We have been in a pandemic for over a year, and that can take a toll on mental health. The uptick in vaccinations do bring a beacon of hope, and there is something to be said for light at the end of the tunnel. However, many of us are still struggling.In honor of Mental Health Awareness, I joined the Stellar Women podcast as a co-host alongside Mary Rechtoris to talk about these issues in detail. We brought in the ever-fabulous duo from EDRM, Mary Mack and Kaylee Walstad, to discuss how they have navigated this past year and ways we can all help make mental health and wellness a priority for our peers and ourselves.  

49: Prioritizing Mental Health During a Pandemic with Mary Mack & Kaylee Walstad

#1 Join our LinkedIn group. If you think of the podcast as our way to provide tangible advice for our listeners, the LinkedIn group is a way to provide that two-way communication. Our community is a wealth of knowledge, so we created the LinkedIn group to share tips, check in with each other, and share compelling articles. We also will be including updates to the Stellar Women program, including our next workshop coming up in late June. Please join and invite your friends and colleagues. We also invite our male friends and allies to join the conversation!  #2 Nominate a Stellar Woman. A great part of our Stellar Women program culminates in October when we announce the winner of our Stellar Women Innovation Award. Stellar Women winners include legal tech rockstars, Joy Murao, Stephanie Clerkin, and Kenya Dixon, who elevate the careers of others and pave the way for emerging leaders to make their name in this field. The Innovation Awards are a way to recognize our comrades in the industry who strive for innovation and creating a better industry. We encourage you all to nominate a colleague or yourself.  #3 Help Us Grow and Rate the Stellar Women Podcast. Growing our program is imperative, so we can share the pearls of wisdom our community has to offer and hopefully positively impact the careers of other female professionals in this industry. One way we strive to achieve this is through increasing our podcast’s brand via Apple Podcast ratings. Please feel free to drop us a rating (5 stars preferred…) and a review in your Apple podcasts mobile app. 

48: Uniting the Stellar Women Community

In this episode, Mila and I chat with Karimah about the video series, her passion for inclusion, diversity, and belonging, and the steps we all can take toward creating a more equitable industry. 

47: Launching & Building ‘Black Tech Queens’ with Karimah Campbell

Check out this episode to learn about having transparent conversations with your peers, navigating career changes, and creating and developing diverse teams.

46: Amplifying Voices & Why Representation Matters with Jigisha Lock

TRANSCRIPTMary Rechtoris: Hey, Stellar Women fans. I'm your host, Mary Rechtoris.Mila Taylor: And I'm your co-host, Mila Taylor. Stellar Women shines a light on female leaders, making their mark in tech. MR: Mila and I are super excited to welcome Debbie Reynolds to the Stellar Women podcast today. MT: Hello, Debbie. Welcome.Debbie Reynolds:Thank you so much. I am so excited to do this. I was dreaming about this. I'm like, oh, I can't wait to talk to you ladies.MT: We are excited to have you. I didn't actually mention this in our chat before this recording. The first time that someone had mentioned your name was when I was trying to put together a mentorship program for the Relativity Academic Program that we have. You were so willing to be involved. It turned out that you couldn't come to Relativity Fest when the mentors would meet the mentees, but you still gave it your all and I always have heard such great feedback about you. So, I'm so excited to be chatting with you today. DR:Oh, yeah, that was great. My mentee is amazing. We actually went out and had coffee and went to Lou Mitchell's or something. We had pancakes. I've kept up with him, and I think this is interesting. This is something that wouldn't happen in the pandemic phase now. Relativity Fest that year was the same year I was supposed to be in Amsterdam to speak, so I had to go to Amsterdam instead of Relativity Fest. But now, because of the pandemic, we're doing so many things virtual. I can do multiple things in a week. MT: That's definitely the bright side, but I think I would prefer to be in Amsterdam right now. DR:You know, I miss it quite a lot. MT: You're the CEO of your own company, Debbie Reynolds Consulting. What's something that you've learned about yourself since starting your own company? DR:Wow, that's a really good question. I think the thing that I learned about myself is that I get to use so many more of my skills. I get to do marketing stuff. I get to speak and teach. I consult. To me, this is great because I feel like I feel freer. I can use so many more of my skills. So to me, it's fun to mix it up a bit. MR: Being an all-star in the cybersecurity space, there's something I'd love to know. What's riveting or interesting to you about global data privacy? What's hot right now? DR:Everything's hot right now in data privacy. That's all I can say. Technology never stops. Technology is always going forward regardless of what we want to do. I am startled and fascinated by some new emerging technology and types of data privacy issues. We also see a rise in people being more aware of privacy issues in their own personal lives—not just business. [They care about] personal security and how that impacts them. We are seeing the evolution of how people are starting to care more about their privacy. Businesses are really getting serious, and not just because of regulations and fines. For some people, it's like eating your vegetables when your mother told you to eat your vegetables. They're like, oh, I have to do this privacy stuff. But it can actually be an advantage. You know, we're seeing Apple with their iOS 14 update and giving people visibility into their data about how it's shared. I tell people it's not a coincidence that Apple had their biggest quarter ever due to that. Privacy could be an advantage because people are savvier about how they share their information. If people feel like they can't trust you, you're not going to have those people as customers, regardless of how well you do other things.MT: My mom, if she's listening, I love you so much, and I'm sorry. She's the most technically inept person on the planet. This morning when I was speaking to her…she and I talk via WhatsApp. She called me, and she says, "Mila, I've just read that we have to stop talking through WhatsApp because our data isn't safe." And I said, "do you know what that even means for you?" She's like, "no, I don't." If my mom is starting to talk about data privacy, that definitely means that it's a lot more widespread than I initially thought it was. DR: I agree. I was actually surprised. I thought that the absence of people saying or showing that they care about privacy gave the idea that people didn't care. I think people didn't have a reason to speak out in some way. That situation with your mom illustrates that people are paying attention, and they do care. MT: It's really interesting. Thanks for sharing that. OK, so my next question is a bit more about you. You are also known as the Data Diva. Can you tell us more about that? How did the name start, and what does it all mean? DR: This is a great story. A friend of mine. Her name is Jennifer Mailander. She currently is the general counsel of privacy and cybersecurity for Fannie Mae. We have done panels together, and we've become friends. She's one of these people that I am so thankful to have as a friend and colleague because she's one of these people that if she calls you up and tells you something, you should do it. So she called me, and she said, "hey, I belong to this group called the Quorum Initiative." It's about developing women's leadership and understanding your career and how to move up in corporate America. They were opening a Chicago chapter. She told me that I should go to their inaugural meeting, which I did. They were doing a workshop on LinkedIn on how you present yourself and how people see you. One of the ladies who was doing the workshop there was from The Wall Street Journal. We were broken off into groups, and they were saying, with your elevator speech, make it pop. I was trying to figure out how to explain what I do succinctly in my elevator speech. And, she said, "oh, you're the data diva." We just laughed so hard about it. And I thought, oh, wow, that's so cool. I really never thought about it that way. There was a woman in my group; her name is Yvette Pena with the AARP. And she was like, "oh my God, you totally are." I thought, am I? At first, I was bashful about it because I thought people wouldn't take me seriously if I do. But then I thought, it's an excellent way to sum up, my interests because I think people who know me from e-discovery think that's what she does. But I do many other things. When I started my career, I taught myself computers. When I was a senior in college, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I honestly wanted to go to law school, but I wanted to be able to spend time with her. So I said I have to find something to do where I can spend time with her. So I said, well, let me get a computer and teach myself to use it. I thought I would be doing desktop publishing or graphic stuff. That's really how I got into computers. I read books and learned how to use it. I was asked by a friend to help out another friend who was a director of the university library. At the time, they were trying to change catalogs to databases of a media collection. I helped them with that. I just fell in love with data. Eventually, I was tasked with going into legal to help them create databases because I had done that previously. I've always been interested in data. You probably don't know that I'm a Webmaster and a mapmaker as well. All that stuff helps me. With my business, it is fun to be able to tap into all those things. With privacy, I read a book that my mother was reading. It was called A Right to Privacy. I think it came out in 1995, and I was fascinated. When you're a kid, you know how you think, oh, you want to grow up and do this. I'm like, I want to be able to do whatever the hell I want to do. I thought that when you grow up, you have the right to be left alone. To me, that's what privacy is. When I understood the law, and I started reading that, I found out that I thought I had more rights than I do. That is something that I have followed for many years because it interests me. Then, technology started to evolve and grow, so that my role started to develop and grow. Now, I'm working with people on a more international level. Over the last six years or so, people began to call me for privacy only. So I thought, well, this makes sense for me to go in this direction. People working at Fortune 200s or 500s knew that I knew this stuff. So, that's my story. MR: Going back to when you went to that LinkedIn workshop, did your brand grow organically, or was that something you [intentionally grew]? DR: To grow that brand, the thing that worked out well for me [in addition to] the name is this idea that people have about making an elevator speech. You have like 20 seconds to tell people about yourself. So for me, that helped people understand who I am and what I'm interested in. In all my videos, I say, "My name is Debbie Reynolds. They call me the Data Diva." And then I talk about data stuff. If I say I am the Data Diva and start talking about farming, you'd think that I was crazy. Part of it was to focus on things that I was most interested in and the things that people knew that they could rely on me to talk about. If you go to my LinkedIn page or my website, I'm talking about data right off the top. Or I'm talking about data privacy or some technology or some law issue. That helped me to focus a lot. Even when I helped people out in e-discovery for the last six years, I basically would not talk about a topic that was not data privacy related. So for me, it was about marrying my scope on what I want to focus on. I think the mistake that people make is trying to show that they can do everything. When you do that, you're taking time and attention away from the focus that you should have. MR: That's a great way to put it. So, my next question, why does it matter to have a brand? You just answered that. It helps you focus, and it helps people know that when they come into Debbie, they can ask you about these specific topics, and you're the person to go to for it. You'll get them the answer. There's that element of having that such strong brand that, as you said, makes you that person to go-to. And I think that you've done a great job of that. DR: Thank you. I had gone to another conference in New York. A lawyer was talking about how to get business as a solo practitioner or stuff like that. One of the things that he said that stuck with me and is very important, which is—it is not what you know, and it is not who know. It is about who knows what you know. If people don't know what you know or cannot explain to people what you're good at and how you can help them, it's got to be hard for your career progress. MT: I love that quote.MR: Going back to your brand, what we like to do for the podcast is provide listeners with one or two takeaways. Based on your experience building your brand, what is something that people can do today to march forward to learn and develop their brand?DR: Hone my message. Everyone has a brand, whether they know it or not. You know, that's what I've learned. You want to be the one driving your own bus. Figure out what you want people to know about you professionally and have a message that you can deliver consistently, and have it tied together. One thing that I do on LinkedIn that maybe some other people don't do is that I don't post loads of stuff. Most of my stuff is either data or data privacy or law. Those are the things that I post about. I don't deviate from that. Otherwise, I will confuse a person. MT: This has been so interesting. Thank you so much. Outside of work and outside of data privacy, what are some things that you love to do? DR: People would be surprised. No one who knows me professionally would think that I was introverted, but I am. I like doing things by myself, so reading books or walking. I'm learning more about photography and videography. So I do that a lot. It's fun for me because I have a podcast that I've been working on. It's been fun to learn new data things. MT:What's the name of the podcast? Our listeners should go check it out. DR: It's called The Data Diva Talks Privacy Podcast. It is actually hosted by EDRM Global Podcast Network. If you subscribe to that, you'll see my episodes. I was named one of the top 10 data privacy podcasts recently.MT:That's awesome. Congrats. DR: Thank you. MT:Everyone listening, you have another podcast to listen to if you haven't already. DR: What's fun for me is that I get to work with people in different types of industries. That's probably the most fun. Data privacy is something that touches any industry. A framework of standards for virtual reality and augmented reality devices is very cool because that's very cutting edge and emerging. That's what interesting to me in the future. MR:Debbie, we've had a lot of fun chatting with you. Thank you for joining us.DR: This is so much fun. I'm glad. I hope that some of the stuff that I've talked about will help people as much as they've helped me. For me, it came down to focusing, so I hope that will save people more time. MR: Definitely. I have some takeaways that I'm going to do. MT:Me too. MR: For Stellar Women, I'm Mary Rechtoris.MT:And I'm Mila Taylor.Both: Signing off. 

Building your Brand with The Data Diva Debbie Reynolds

Understanding your value is imperative for professionals today. According to Sonia Chowdhury, doing your research is a key step in having a better grasp on your market value and what you bring to your team and organization.In this episode, Mila and I chat with Sonia about her experience in the compliance world, engaging in conversations with your managers, and mentorship.

44: Voicing Your Value for a Role, Raise, & More with Sonia Chowdhury

Stellar Women in e-Discovery is a monthly podcast, hosted by Relativity, spotlighting and celebrating female leaders making their mark in the legal field. These women are nominated by industry peers and join us to share their tips, takeaways, and reflections on their careers, mentorship, and more.

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Stellar Women in e-Discovery

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