Women in Technology: Susan Jantzen

The Events Calendar’s Head of Product & Design on helping others, the importance of girls in tech, and being motivated by intricate problems.

Originally from eastern Virginia, Susan Jantzen grew up going to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for summer vacations. “My family enjoyed spending time on the beach, boating, and fishing. My grandparents had a passion for travel,” she says, “and I used to be all the time excited once I could tag along on their adventures.” Jantzen has all the time been a Carolina girl at heart, and ultimately moved there for work and college.

With over twenty years of experience within the tech field, Jantzen found her calling while working with AT&T Wireless within the Operations Department of a big customer support call center. “Our team was liable for productivity, forecasting, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting,” she says. “I gravitated toward being a liaison between the business folks I worked with and IT, and looked for methods to streamline processes and improve data management.” Eventually, her role evolved right into a Systems Analyst, and in parallel, Jantzen focused her college courses around database design, programming, and business management.

While at AT&T, Jantzen was honored with a Circle of Excellence peer recognition award, which included an onsite celebration in Maui, Hawaii. It was a serendipitous trip—Jantzen and her then-fiancé decided to increase their stay and get married.

After just a few years, Jantzen transitioned to web application development and grew her product management, project management, and leadership skills.

At Liquid Web, Jantzen is the Head of Product & Design with The Events Calendar, the leader of calendar solutions within the WordPress ecosystem with over 800,000 lively installs. “I lead a team of a few of the most creative problem solvers I’ve ever worked with. They’re dedicated to creating life easier for individuals who manage events,” she says.

Jantzen has had the chance to work on quite a few projects, products, and website launches, from startups to enterprise telecommunication, healthcare, real estate, banking, and better education. “My proudest moments are all the time a mixture of team accomplishments and camaraderie in seeing a project through from concept to launch,” she says. “The worth it brings to the companies we’re working with, in addition to their customers, is amazingly rewarding.”

Working in tech has given Jantzen an appreciation for the ingenuity it takes to maintain up with the ever-shifting landscape of the sector. “One in every of my favorite things about technology is that it’s all the time evolving and improving,” says Jantzen. “In fact, this also brings latest complexities and challenges. Existing code, systems, processes, and marketing approaches turn out to be outdated quickly as customers’ needs and expectations change.” Though it is typically a challenge to experience continuous change across services and products, Jantzen enjoys helping teams navigate these challenges, embrace flexible ways of working, and deliver customer-forward solutions.

Intricate problems requiring thought, iteration, and collaboration are great motivators for Jantzen, who truly enjoys helping others. She looks forward to hopping on calls with colleagues to strategize solutions or simply being there to listen. “Put people first, and the remainder will typically fall into place,” she says. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with family, cooking and trying latest recipes, and being outdoors—whether a temporary walk, gardening, or a day on the beach.

Throughout her profession, Jantzen has found support in her family. “My mom all the time pushed me to do my best and to be independent,” she says. “And my husband supported me going back to highschool and ending my degree. He has all the time supported my profession and helped me balance and live well every day. He makes sure I take outing to recharge.”

Jantzen feels there continues to be much work to remove barriers that discourage women from pursuing studies and careers in STEM fields. “Technology will proceed to create jobs in AI, data analytics, robotics, and engineering,” she says. “There’s a lot opportunity to shape systems and data that can have an increasing impact on our each day lives, starting from unbiased suggestion systems to sustainable energy and biological data. These are major challenges humanity faces that require diverse input and considering to drive business decisions. Having more women in tech is vital for their very own opportunities, in addition to society as a complete.”

She encourages women eager about tech to search out inspiring role models and mentors who can provide support and guidance. “Never sell yourself short,” Jantzen says. “You bring immense value. Be vocal, advocate for yourself, and ask questions. The vision and perspective women provide is vital to creating and implementing solutions for the long run of humanity.”