Melissa D'Arcangelo’s Post

Looking for a way to reflect on successes and how to improve as a team? Create a “safe team space” and run a 90 minute reflection session to think about the shared team goals you had last quarter, what everyone did well, what could be improved, what to stop doing and next steps. Set the expectation that everyone needs to contribute feedback and ideas. If you’re together, use a white board and if you’re all virtual find a virtual whiteboard solution. Really impactful exercise that not only brings to light ideas, but also pulls you closer together.

When I walked into the office my first day working in tech I looked around and realized that I was one of three women in a department of 120+ (less than 1%). When I look at the team I’m on today, 23yrs later, 42% of my team is female. I know there are many other positive stats like this for other diverse groups in the workplace, but I’m here to say if we don’t continue to invest/contribute in DEI + Awareness (yes I’m adding on) in all environments, we will not continue to progress on all fronts.  Here’s to #Womensawarenessmonth

Freshly released. AWS has been at it for years and my team is dedicated to helping organizations achieve their business goals, by transforming into a modern digital business. So what exactly does that mean, check this out! https://lnkd.in/eubCtMPW

Today is women & girls in sports day so here’s a shout out to 2 very important women in my life. 1st my 11yr old daughter that has more doors open for her today, but is still the only female on her entire competitive FreeSki team - way to go Mags. Parents open all the doors for your girls and don’t look back because they won’t either. 2nd a shout out to my wife Lyndsey D'Arcangelo who has been covering women’s professional sports for the last 10+ years when many others haven’t, because you know what…covering women’s sports doesn’t pay like covering men’s sports does. Professional women in sports deserve better coverage, better pay and better facilities. So tune into a women’s sporting event, go to a women’s college sporting event and introduce your kids to these experience as well.

My esteemed colleague Nina Kurth shares years of experience on planning for resilience in your business, no matter the industry, or size - "it starts with your customers". Highly recommend the read - doesn't hurt you if you're all set, only helps you if you gain some new insights. ➡ Download ebook https://go.aws/3RVbVPt ➡ Hear from AWS customers, who are leveraging technology to improve resilience and scale innovation at speed. https://shorturl.at/eHMS7

I just wrapped a multi-week 0-5k training program for young girls in the Buffalo area. It’s my 3rd time doing it in 2yrs and I keep going back because in reality while the girls all have fun, meet new people and learn how to overcome their own obstacles, I learn just as much from them & it brings much joy into my life. Working at Amazon Web Services (AWS) affords me time off to go do this, and I encourage my network to see if your employers offer similar benefits. But don’t just sign up for a volunteer opportunity to check off a box. Take what you enjoy and find a way to share it your community.

If you're heading to AWS Re:Invent, I definitely recommend making time to see my esteemed teammate Jana Werner, and the CEO of Brenntag, share their story on how to accomplish a successful transformation in the Enterprise. It is not very often we have opportunities to hear directly from the C-Suite in such an intimate setting. https://lnkd.in/eq-NjYC2

On empathy. We see all over social media meme’s on being aware that there could be a lot going on in someone’s life that you’re unaware of. This holds true for the workplace as well. This week I have the honor of helping with AWS’s Innovation & Transformation Summit for our global team. The audience experience has been seamless & educational. In the background there’s been a team of people preparing for months, and now onsite in studio to execute every last detail to deliver virtually. Remember, there is always something going on behind the scenes in the workplace too.

It's impossible to tune into business news without someone talking about Generative AI these days, it is the hottest topic in the market. While AWS now has more than 50+ training courses on Gen AI, we just released a great high level overview of Gen AI and why it is such a game changer for any business type. Feel free to take a moment to learn on us. https://lnkd.in/eB75sEBt