The first Women to Watch summit kicked off with a bang. Panelist, Renata Spinks, led a conversation about women supporting each other in the workspace.

Spinks currently serves as the Acting Senior Information Security Officer and Cyber Technology Officer (CTO) for the U.S. Marine Corps. In this role, she leads an extensive portfolio focused on information technology, policy, investments, cyber operations (defensive and offensive) as well as organizational leadership for the Marine Corps Network and Information Enterprise.

One of the points Spinks made during the conversation was that part of supporting each other is being able to call out when someone does something wrong as well as when they are selling themselves short. Spinks recalled a situation when another colleague, who was a woman, told her that she was not giving herself enough credit.

“To be able to have such individuals in your life that can support you from that standpoint is absolutely critical,” Spinks said. “That’s how we grow, those are opportunities and different people’s perspectives and being able for someone to be comfortable enough to say ‘hey that’s good and all, you’ve done that, but I want you to stretch a little bit.’”

Spinks said that when others see something in her that she cannot see herself, it builds her confidence. She said it is important for women, especially women of color, to help make each other better grow.

There can be certain biases and prejudices in the workspace especially for women of color. Spinks recalled a time when a colleague told her that her home state of Louisiana was among one of the least educated in the country and asked her how she was capable of majoring in information technology. She said she was hurt by this remark and did not know how to respond.

“Why do you think it’s important to judge someone by where they’re from?” Spinks asked. “It’s those kinds of experiences that shake you to the core if you’re honest with yourself.”

An audience member asked how to balance being vulnerable and open at work without falling into pitfalls of being labeled as weak and incompetent.

“There is no balance, I haven’t balanced that scale yet. It is something that I deal with every day,” Spinks said. “I am concerned about being labeled as incompetent, not good enough, not ready for the next opportunity. How I have handled it is understanding that I’m not going to balance it. I’m not going to accept that this whole perspective of me matters because I know who I am, that’s that confidence.”