Shellye Archambeau on Resilience and Her Career in Tech

In today’s episode, I speak to Shellye Archambeau – esteemed Silicon Valley leader and tech CEO.

Shellye was one of Silicon Valley’s first African American female CEOs and pioneered a path in tech for others to follow. She started her career at IBM where she spent 15 years, ultimately leading its Asia-Pacific business for the public sector. 

Shellye later became the CEO of MetricStream in Palo Alto. She had joined tech company Zaplet which was going through some difficulties and was only months away from bankruptcy when she led it through an incredible business pivot, and merger with MetricStream. Shellye built the company into an award-winning global market leader with over 1200 employees serving customers around the world. 

Shellye is the author of two books, the most recent being Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms which came out last year and which we discuss in this interview. It’s a great book which  Fortune magazine named one of its top 10 business books of 2020.

In this episode, we discuss the many obstacles Shellye faced in her life (both personal and professional) and how she overcame them, as well as how she planned her career in tech. And planning is an important thread in Shellye’s book which we dig deeper into – how anyone anywhere can find the career and life they want with intentional planning. There are lots of great lessons in this episode and Shellye’s life story is incredibly inspiring. 

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Let me know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.

Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram: @daniellenewnham

Shellye on Twitter @shelarchambeau and Instagram @shelarchambeau

Shellye website and book Shellye's book Unapologetically Ambitious can be bought here.

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This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. 

Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD.