After years of working in PR for a Philadelphia-based non-profit, Cymantia Tomlinson found herself at a crossroads.

She had a bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. John’s University in New York and a master's in professional business communications with a concentration in public relations from La Salle University in Philadelphia.

But she was also intrigued by technology.

Cymantia decided to apply for jobs where communication, problem-solving, and relationship management were in the mix.

After a year as an account sales executive for a wireless network operator, she moved on to a data management sales company, where she was exposed to data center operations, colocation, risk mitigation, and disaster recovery planning.

Though Cymantia felt fulfilled in her role, she was hooked by a LinkedIn posting for a customer success advisor.

In this position, she worked with enterprise and mid-market information technology (IT) teams on data integration strategies.

Outside of meeting technical needs and requirements, she created process and procedure documentation, wrote copy for communication outreach, and played a key role in lifecycle management protocols. Her contributions earned her a Significant Contributor Award.

Cymantia spent almost 5 years at Dell Boomi and saw the company grow from a few hundred employees to thousands. She again wondered what was out there and discovered another LinkedIn posting. This time, the job was for a customer success manager at Workato.

Workato is a leader in the Software as a service (SaaS) space. Cymantia is now moving into her second year with Workato and loves the culture of collaboration.

As customer success manager, Cymantia works with a vast array of business and IT users building their automation workflows.

She is charged with removing any barriers to successfully using the tool and expanding their knowledge of Workato capabilities.

One thing Cymantia has made note of during her time in tech is the startling lack of diversity.

“I am often the only one. I go to different meetings and attend different events and I rarely see anyone who looks like me. We do exist, but based on my experience, in very small numbers.”

Despite all the challenges of the past year, Cymantia found relief in what she calls the “slow down” brought on by the pandemic.

“I remember my mornings being insane. I would drive my toddler to daycare, rush my middle schooler to school, and would have to rush to pick them up on time or else face late fees. Life is so much better without spending so many hours in a car.”

Additionally, Cymantia says she has been able to do things like growing her own food.

“I think I cried the first time I harvested my first batch of arugula.”

Cymantia, who was born in Jamaica is also enjoying a harvest of callaloo, which is similar to spinach. She harvested her last batch in early fall and froze.

“On reflection, I am so happy I made the decision to move into tech. Not everyone who works in tech needs to know how to code or have an IT background. There are those in contributing roles, like mine, who keep the machine well oiled and thriving.”